FORT BLISS, Texas (AP) -- One of the last Vietnam-era Army draftees retired Wednesday, 40 years after first donning a uniform.

Chief Warrant Officer Robert Rangel, 61, didn’t plan on a four-decade Army career. When his draft number came up in 1967, he was trying to “fly below the radar” as a college student at what was then Texas Western College in his hometown of El Paso. But his grades weren’t great and then “I got caught,” Rangel said Wednesday with a wide smile.

Rangel said the prospect of being drafted was terrifying after watching numerous friends “coming home in coffins.”

But he opted to stay well beyond the required two-year hitch because “I started enjoying my job and the people I worked with.” And after deployments to nine combat zones, including special forces stints in Vietnam and Cambodia, he’s been around the world “a few times” and knows more about the Army’s air defense systems, past and present, than many folks at Fort Bliss, the current home of the Air Defense Artillery Center.

Maj. Gen. Robert Lennox, the Fort Bliss commanding general, described Rangel as the “foremost expert” on air defense systems at the far West Texas post just outside El Paso.

Rangel was one of just 10 draftees still in the Army, according to Fort Bliss officials. It is unclear when those other soldiers were drafted or if they have served as long as Rangel.

He chose to retire now “because I think it was time to go.” And Army regulations require that he retire at 62, which for Rangel is just a few months away.

Those who know the humble soldier described him Wednesday as “the last of an old breed of soldiers” whose dedication doesn’t seem to have an end.

Michael Zaborowski, a retired lieutenant colonel who has known Rangel for more than a decade, said he has long been impressed by his dedication.

“I did 20 years and I thought that was a lot,” Zaborowski said.

Lennox said he was surprised to learn that Rangel was a draftee.

“I knew he had been around a long time, but I didn’t know 40

years,” said Lennox, adding that he couldn’t remember the last retirement ceremony that involved a draftee.

For Rangel, retiring earlier never seemed like an option. His family and friends asked about his retirement plans every now and again, but he says they understood his decision.

Rangel’s mother, Adelina Rangel, said Wednesday’s retirement ceremony, which Rangel shared with more than a dozen other, younger, retirees, couldn’t have come soon enough.

“He’s through,” Adelina Rangel said softly. “That was a long time that I worried.”

Between Robert Rangel, his brother and his father, the family has had a soldier in nearly every American conflict since World War II. Rangel’s sister, Patsy Gonzales, said the Rangel men have combined for about 100 years of government service.

Rangel’s years in the Army have included more than 200 parachute jumps with a special forces unit in Vietnam and Cambodia, time in battle zones and on projects he still can’t mention for security reasons, a firsthand view of the crumbling of the Berlin Wall, and a tour in the first Gulf War.

The evolution of warfare and defense technology and the development of the all volunteer Army have been among the most impressive changes to watch, Rangel said.

“I had my doubts at first,” Rangel said of the draft’s end.  “But then everything just kind of evolved. It’s been a success story.”

The old soldier said wouldn’t mind seeing a new draft, so long as it was fair and people from all economic and social backgrounds were called up.

But that’s for someone else to figure out.

For now his priority is to take care of his mom and tackle a

list of projects that’s been growing since 1967. Atop that list is a plan to restore the 1964 Plymouth Sport Fury he parked in his mom’s barn when he went off to basic training at Fort Bliss.

“I bought it brand new,” Rangel said. “Little things like that probably don’t mean anything to anyone.”