# What exempted Bob Dylan from military service?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exempted-bob-dylan-from-military-service/406631>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 4, 2007, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exempted-bob-dylan-from-military-service/406631 "2007-06-04T00:59:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2024, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exempted-bob-dylan-from-military-service/406631/102 "2024-07-29T01:59:10Z")

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At some point they changed the number of units required to be full time. My friend didn’t get the memo and the next thing you know he was taking his physical and was 1-A. He was able to get a National Guard spot. This was at the tail end of the war. He was a weekend warrior well into the 70s.

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**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2024, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exempted-bob-dylan-from-military-service/406631/103 "2024-07-30T20:02:47Z")

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> [@Kent\_Clark](#):
>
> More to the point, according to my buddy who flunked out of college in 1970, **somebody** told his draft board, because he was suddenly reclassified 1-A.

As someone in college at that time, I had the distinct impression that a lot of the college administration, many of whom had been in WW II, were not all that sympathetic to deferments. And I was in Cambridge, Mass, I’m sure college admin in Alabama were a lot less sympathetic.

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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exempted-bob-dylan-from-military-service/406631/104 "2024-07-31T00:41:05Z")

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> [@Voyager](#):
>
> I’m sure college admin in Alabama were a lot less sympathetic.

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/38F0BEbbFKQ/hqdefault.jpg "Teachers Used to Have More Threats At Their Disposal") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38F0BEbbFKQ)

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**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exempted-bob-dylan-from-military-service/406631/105 "2024-10-20T05:34:14Z")

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> [@hajario](#):
>
> My possibly wrong assumption is that draft boards had a lot of discretion.

I realize this is a ridiculously late response, but I think you’re correct. My late friend Frank was born and raised in a small (under 2,000), remote town in the Rockies. Something like 95% of the inhabitants there belong to the LDS Church. Frank and his family were only nominally Mormon. They didn’t attend services or wear the sacred undergarments. Frank said they were the black sheep of the town. He got drafted in 1967. The local draft board declared the local Mormon boys 4F. The sole exception was Frank.

From basic, he was sent directly to Danang. It was the Tet offensive.

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