Creative Excuses for Not Serving Being Peddled by Today's Politicians Who Were Vietnam Era Draft Eligible

I was drafted and attended OCS as a high school graduate still carrying a US serial number and shipped out to Vietnam as a new Second Lieutenant (2LT) not yet old enough to legally vote or drink.  I extended to come home a decorated much older and wiser Captain (CPT) with a CIB.  In that I was originally drafted and inducted, I know how the draft worked and physicals were conducted so who better qualified to address the "Military Records" of politicians who were of draft age back when the Draft was in effect?

To be fair, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and Dick Cheney along with many other politicians including Bernie Sanders, Mitt Romney, Chuck Schumer Newt Gingrich and Michael Bloomberg were ALL Draft Dodgers.  Seems cowardice was a bipartisan malady that afflicted future politicians at a much higher rate than the general population.  ALL these heroes went through so many obscene machinations to dodge the Vietnam draft it was breathtaking. They did everything short of maiming themselves which none of them had the guts to do and after their school deferments ran out and they were unfortunate enough to pass their draft physicals, none were undeterred by that small setback and each found another dodge.  I remind you, the 1968 Webster's Unabridged Dictionary defined a Draft Dodger as "One who avoids Military service."  It didn't distinguish among the various dodges used.

Trump, Biden and Bloomberg all used the same dodge.  After being so unfortunate as to pass their Draft physicals, each went shopping for a sympathetic private doctor who successfully “discovered” a previously “undetected” disqualification. Trump’s private doctor “found” his bone spurs while Biden’s “detected” childhood asthma. Bloomberg claims he was deemed unfit based on his private doctor’s assessment of “flat feet,” but when asked by the New York Times, the members of his draft board in Massachusetts even said that this wasn’t disqualifying. As someone drafted from Biden’s hometown of Scranton, PA, I can attest to the fact that unless you had something disqualifying that a doctor could see with his own two eyes like missing an arm, you were going to pass a draft physical.  I had a dislocated knee and my brother still had Asthma.  I spent 30 years in the Army while my brother managed a 26 year Navy career with asthma the whole time. We both retired as O-6’s.

Cheney and Gingrich both married and knocked-up their wives to become ineligible while Sanders claimed Conscientious Status, he wasn’t against all Wars, just any War he might be called on to fight.  Now Romney was really creative and claimed to be a Mormon Missionary so got a clergy exemption.

Not to be outdone Clinton, the only one to actually receive his induction notice to report for service was really creative and pretended to join the University of Arkansas ROTC to have his induction cancelled.  In the words of Colonel Eugene Holmes, the Army officer and Bataan Death March survivor who had been involved with Clinton's ROTC application, “Clinton attempted to manipulate the situation to avoid the draft and avoid serving in uniform.” He issued this notarized statement during the 1992 presidential campaign: “I was informed by the draft board that it was of interest to Senator Fulbright's office that Bill Clinton, a Rhodes Scholar, should be admitted to the ROTC program ... I believe that he purposely deceived me, using the possibility of joining the ROTC as a ploy to work with the draft board to delay his induction and get a new draft classification.” Clinton then promptly left the country for England where he actively protested the War.

By comparison, ALL these cowards make "W" look like a war hero! Bush 43 actually spent almost two years on active duty and, flying antique Air National Guard Convair F-102s, was probably in more danger than I was during my extended CIB-earning tour in Vietnam!

Ever noticed how the Liberal media manages to leave out all these FACTS about Draft Dodging politicians? What would really be interesting would be if Michael Bloomberg were to be the Democratic Presidential nominee running against Trump -- Bone Spurs vs. Flat Feet. It might be a miracle if either of them were capable of walking in their own Inaugural Parade.