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<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nOne of our friends, Nate Thayer, wrote a rather long piece last year about Donald Trump and his military service<\/a>, or rather, the lack thereof. Nate and I don’t see eye-to-eye on politics, generally speaking, so this is presented for informational purposes. Nate got a FOIA on Trump’s draft records;<\/p>\n I know the selective service is ancient history to many of you (the draft ended the year before I was eligible) so I’ll explain what you’re looking at; From 1964 – 1968, Trump was exempt from the draft because he was a student (2-S). In 1968, when he was no longer a student he was classified as 1-A – fully eligible, later that year, after a medical examination in September 1968, he was classified 1-Y – qualified for military service only in time of national emergency (that classification disappeared in 1971). In 1972, Trump’s classification changed to 4F – unqualified for military service, when the 1-Y classification was dropped from selective service. Trump has been unwilling to tell us why he was determined to be unfit for military service in 1968, you know, after years spent as an athlete.<\/p>\n Trump is fond of saying that his draft lottery number in 1968 was too high for him to worry about being drafted. However, the lottery didn’t begin until 1969 and it’s true that his number for his birthday, June 14, 1946, was quite high – 356 out of 365 – and that number would have followed him through out the period of conscription until it ended in 1972, so after the draft lottery started it was unlikely that he would be called to serve. <\/p>\n Many politicians followed the same path through the 60s – Dick Cheney, for example, had student draft deferments in the early 60s pre-Vietnam War years, so did Harry Reid and Bernie Sanders. Student deferments only seem to matter when we’re talking about Republicans, though. You know, as if being drafted was the only way people entered military service during Vietnam. Many of you already know that’s not true. My uncle enlisted in the Army and was sent to Vietnam in 1967 as a helicopter crew chief – he came back unscathed, thankfully. But, my point is that not everyone needed to be told to join the military. Out of the 9 million Americans who served during the Vietnam War period (1965 – 1973), 1.7 million were draftees.<\/p>\n I’m not going to hold Trump’s draft avoidance against him when I pinch my nose closed and vote this November – however that turns out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"trump-selective-service\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/trump-selective-service-300x222.png\")
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