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.
