"A lot of us who volunteered back then, were (at least partially) motivated by the draft."
Kerry has admitted as much, it did steer many men into the navy and air force, but almost 80% of the combat deaths in Vietnam were volunteers, not draftees.
I myself fought a lottery number of 14 for two years, won a permanent deferment and then enlisted in the army.
In my personnel clerk activity I had access to the records of many draftees. They were like me in that we VOLUNTEERED FOR THE DRAFT... WE WANTED TO GO... but for only 2 years, not 3. We figured we could always re-up later if so motivated.
We were truly motivated by a sense of duty and obligation to country... that included both conservative Republicans and John Kennedy Democrats who truly lived the words "Ask not what your country can do for you; but what you can do for your country."
I saw numerous files where guys were begging their draft boards to draft them, as I was. In August '64 I wrote my draft board asking them to re-classify me 1A and draft me. It took them 18 months, thanks to the incompetent bureaucracy that is the US Government. My story was typical. Many of us had our lives on hold for ove a year trying to get drafted, and unable to get a good job because we were honest with employers about trying to get drafted.
Don't believe the lies of the MSM on this. The vast majority of us who went in LBJ's buildup of 66-67 wanted to go.
Coming out of basic training, it was the same. Overwhelmingly guys wanted to go to Vietnam. Some were assigned to Germany, Korea, etc and actively tried to get their orders changed to Vietnam.
My point was not that it was to avoid combat; but to have CHOICES. Prequalification, no 6 years of N.G. camps after discharge from Active, etc.
OTOH, a volunteer was not given one choice that a draftee had: when a "volunteer" for a nasty assignment was needed, a draftee didn't need to step forward, but a volunteer was considered to have ALREADY volunteered for any duty needed.
OTOOH, a buddy of mine was drafted into the Marines. His bad luck to be sitting up front, & too close to the aisle, and that the Marines were coming up short for the month, when he reported to his Draft Board.
I enlisted in a deferred service program, near the end of my junior year of high school. Spent 2 years in the Navy Reserve, then was medicalled out and reclassified 4-F for a disqualifying congenital condition that the original enlisting doc had noted on my med records, but was overlooked. Two years later, time to go active & get a year of Electronics School, it was seen on there by the active duty physical doc, who took official notice of it.
I spent another 6 months in the Inactive Reserve fighting the discharge, and lost.