Was Donald Trump a Draft Dodger?

Last updated on: July 1, 2016 at 7:09 pm by Kermit Zarley

Was Donald Trump a Draft Dodger? 2016-07-01T19:09:01-07:00 Kermit Zarley

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Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for U. S. president, says if president he will strengthen our military, aid our veterans, and be really tough on ISIS. So, Trump is campaigning as a friend of the military, sometimes giving speeches to veteran gatherings.

During this political campaign last summer, Donald Trump made a disparaging remark about longtime-serving Republican Senator of Arizona, John McCain, a decorated navy captain and pilot who served in the Vietnam War. His plane got shot down, he had broken bones so he could not escape, and he was captured by the enemy. He was kept as a prisoner-of-war in Hanoi for over five years. The Vietnamese military sometimes tortured him to try to get information from him. After nearly five years, they learned that John’s father and grandfather were four-star admirals in the U.S. Navy. Because of their respect for military officers, Vietnam officials then offered John McCain a release from military prison so that he could return to the U.S. McCain, thinking of other U.S. prisoners there, some of them his friends, nobly refused and spent more months as their prisoner.

Trump said of John McCain’s hero status as a prisoner-of-war, “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” What a JERK! In my opinion, only due to this one statement, anyone who votes for this man Donald Trump to be the president of our great country is an absolute FOOL!

Despite this Trump disparaging remark, John McCain recently endorsed Donald Trump for the U.S. presidency. Strange? Yes. A shame? I don’t know. McCain feels he’s between a rock and a hard place. He’s up for reelection, and he’s got a fight. If he doesn’t endorse Trump, he’ll lose some of Trump’s voting supporters and thus might lose his reelection after serving as a U.S. senator for something like 26 years.

The U.S. has had some great presidents who have also served in our military. How about Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower? My dad served in the Army during WWII. I served in both the Army and Air Force during the Vietnam War, six months in active and seven plus years in the reserves. I easily could have been called up to active duty and sent to the conflict in Vietnam. I can’t stand people who make remarks like this that Donald Trump made about John McCain.

Let’s look at Donald Trump’s history regarding the U.S. military draft. Our draft existed for decades and was ended in 1973. Our military then developed an all-voluntary force that has existed ever since. But until then, all able-bodied, young American men were subject to our military draft to serve our country bravely.

Donald Trump, in accordance with U.S. law, registered with the Selective Service Board in 1964 at eighteen years of age. He had just graduated high school from the New York Military Academy at Cornwall, New York. There he played football and basketball at 6’2″ tall and 180 pounds. His friends have said he may have been talented enough to play professionally.

Trump then entered college and obtained a deferment from the compulsory military draft, just as I did. In 1966, he had his first military physical examination. He was classified 1-A, which means he was physically and mentally qualified for the draft. In 1968, Trump graduated from college and thus no longer had his college deferment from the draft. He then had his second armed forces physical examination. At that time he was reclassified to 1-Y, meaning he had a physical deferment. It supposedly was due to a bone spur on his heel. But such military records were destroyed years ago. In 1968, the Vietnam War was in full swing.

Months ago, during Donald Trump’s political campaign in state primaries to become the Republican nominee for the U.S. presidential election this upcoming November, media reporters asked him what was his ailment that got him a medical deferment from the military draft. He said it was a bone spur on his heel. When asked which heel, he said he didn’t recall. His campaign staff later said it was classified as “minor” and expected to be temporary. (I’ve had bone spurs and still do, and my experience is that they don’t go away, but just get worse.)

In 1968, Trump’s medical deferment from the military draft was changed, so that he was classified 4-F, which meant not qualified for military service. He held this 4-F status until 1972, soon before the draft expired.

Back in those days of our compulsory military draft, rich fathers and those with political influence oftentimes got their sons out of the military draft one way or another. That didn’t speak well for local people who worked for the U.S. Selective Service Board. Donald Trump’s father was a successful building contractor in New York City. Donald Trump claims that when he graduated from college, he himself had $200,000. That’s some clout that could be used to influence someone.

I don’t know if Donald Trump dodged the U.S. military draft during wartime by somehow getting his medical records falsified with a claimed bone spur or not, but I wonder. His history in this political campaign about telling the truth is VERY lacking. And he is so contradictory. How can you believe this guy? I can’t.

The Apostle Paul wrote the great so-called “love chapter,” in 1 Corinthians 13. He says love “believes all things” (1 Cor 13.7). But Paul certainly was not a gullible fool. He surely didn’t mean to believe people even though they have a poor track record for telling the truth. There is discretion, which means showing discernment and making good judgments. We all have to decide about situations and people all the time. I think Paul would have explained his clause, “believes all things,” to mean that we should believe what people say until facts prove otherwise or their track record for telling the truth is appalling. If the latter, keep your distance.

Then, what about Hilary, you ask? I may not vote, unless the Republican party wizes up and dumps Trump at the Cleveland convention soon to come.

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