On December 1, 1969, the Selective Service System

Selective Service System

The Selective Service System is a means by which the United States government maintains information on those potentially subject to military conscription. Most male U.S. citizens and male immigrant non-citizens between the ages of 18 and 25 are required by law to have registered within 30 days of...

 of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 conducted two lotteries

Lottery

A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...

 to determine the order of call to military service in the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

 for men born between 1944 and 1950. "The draft" occurred during a longer period of conscription in the United States

Conscription in the United States

Conscription in the United States has been employed several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the Cold War...

, controlled by the President, from just before World War II to 1973.

The Selective Service System commonly uses the label 1970 or says "Issued 1969 – Applied 1970". These lottery numbers were used during calendar year 1970 both to call for induction and to call for physical examination, a preliminary call covering more men.
The days of the year were represented by the numbers from 1 to 366 written on slips of paper.