It’s not ignorant to say Donald is a draft dodger–it’s a valid interpretation of his actions. What you’re really arguing for is “fighting unreasaonableness”, and I’ve not seen any signs that it’s a meaningfully good way to conduct yourself in political contests.
nm, someone else made my point.
Holy Shit! I got curious to see what my lottery number would have been (doesn’t matter, was too young anyway, and it turns out very high), and looking at the different months, **September **has 3 dates in the single digits and a forth under 20! :eek:
Rough!
I read the history of Trump’s draft situation somewhere last week. It was based on the records obtained from The Gov.
His draft number is irrelevant. He was drafted/ordered to take a physical, in '68 before the 1st lottery took place. He failed the physical for having bone spurs. He provided x rays of his foot or feet with bone spurs. He was given a 1-Y, which was nearly a 4-F but not quite. They could call you back and re-evaluate and re classify you if they wanted. I never heard of anyone re classified. I knew a few guys who were called back for another physical but they both failed again and given 4-F’s the 2nd time.
His comments regarding draft… He’s said many things. Said he got a high number and so was exempted. A lie. He failed the physical. He’s said he never had corrective surgery for bone spurs and can’t remember which foot was effected.
I’m very familiar with the draft regs from the mid 60’s on as it effected me much. I was offered to play football at Navy in '67. I probably couldn’t pass the physical due to knee but was told I’d likely get in anyway due to football. I didn’t want to go to Navy, regardless.
There were loads of ways to fail the physical by '68. That bone spur deal was most prevalent. Docs had xrays of other guys with very bad spurs, wrote a few notes of visits and “great pain,” included the xrays of someones bad feet for your letter for your draft physical and bingo. You’re out.
The changed and tightened up the college deferment by the late 60’s. Previously, as long as you weren’t flunked out you were deferred. By about '66, I’d guess, you had to be progressing toward a degree within 4 years or you lost your deferment. School I attended was on quarter system. You needed 16 x 3= 48 quarter hours completed after freshman year or…bye, bye come Sept. Summer school was full of guys getting… “back in phase.” The school notified the draft board if you were even one hour short. Also, at the end of 4 years, 5 if you were in engineering… you were called, graduated or not.
I’d be shocked if Trump actually had an injury sufficient to flunk. Especially reading his comments saying the high lottery number got him out. A provable lie… That was his attempt, IMO to not admit to the very common in 1968… “bone spur scam.”
There were so many ways to get off it was absurd. When I finally got called for my physical it was weeks after knee cracked surgery. My orthopedic was an Army Captain who gave draft physicals when he was active and told me there was no way they’ed ever take me. I hobbled in to The Coral Gables draft office with hip cast and a thick file and…rejected.
We’re not engaged in a political contest. We are analyzing the political contest in which Trump is engaged.
I tried to enlist in the Navy in 1975 after getting a degree in Aerospace Engineering. My future husband and I went to the recruiting station together. He had a degree in Aeronautical Engineering (slightly different). They were eager for him to enlist and basically told me to go pound sand. We both walked away. I have no proof of this but it happened.
Regards,
sinjin
I do, in the sense of drawing a distinction between breaking the law to achieve a goal versus employing various legal strategies to accomplish the same goal. In a near-identical vein, we have “tax dodgers” and “tax avoiders”, the former being people who withhold information from or lie to tax collectors and the latter being people who use openly use legal strategies to reduce their payable taxes.
If Trump knowingly submitted a medical report of a nonexistent health problem, I’d call him a dodger (though it’s moot if he was never called because he had a low number), but if, for example, he enrolled in college solely to get the deferments, well… that’s on the books as a valid excuse and at most he’s an avoider, as long as he satisfies the minimum college requirements.
Anyway… I’m okay with calling Clinton, Bush43 and Dan Quayle draft-avoiders. Someone who got an induction notice and refused to respond or fled the country or feigned physical or mental illness, though, those are dodgers. Trump might be one, but 40 years later does it really matter?
We certainly are–based on the location in your profile you’re in America, and the country is engaged in a political process.
The mere fact that there is a political contest underway in my country does not mean that I am a participant in the contest in the sense of “being engaged in,” the contest.
Clearly Trump dodged the draft, not that I care about that so much, but the issue offers us a window into his soul or whatever he’s got in there masquerading as a soul.
A normal human person would at least feel a certain tinge of shame knowing that their efforts to avoid the draft meant that some other person would be conscripted in his place. Trump feels no shame about anything, despite the fact that he went through such great effort to avoid actual military service, he consistently suggests that military service is no big deal.
From insulting people who did serve, like McCain, to suggesting that his military prep school was harder than military service, to suggesting that his effort to increase his personal wealth was equivalent to losing a loved one in war, he does not respect military service.
Cheney, who “had other priorities”, doesn’t either.
Nobody I know with a Purple Heart *wanted *it.
It’s not clear. While “dodging,” can conceivably be applied to a wide variety of tactics, I don’t agree that the term is unequivocally applicable here. For example, if the bone spurs were legitimate, I don’t see dodging. And so far as I can tell, the accusation is that they were not real because Trump is known as an unrepentant liar.
Well, also because years later he couldn’t remember which foot they were in.
They were in both. I think I’D remember that.
Also, the bone spur excuse specified that continual walking would become painful, and that was the same time The Donald took up golf.
apples to oranges
comparing golfing to military boot camp