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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDonald Trump’s Draft Deferments: Four for College, One for Bad Feet
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/us/politics/donald-trump-draft-record.html?_r=0Back in 1968, at the age of 22, Donald J. Trump seemed the picture of health.
He stood 6 feet 2 inches with an athletic build; had played football, tennis and squash; and was taking up golf. His medical history was unblemished, aside from a routine appendectomy when he was 10.
But after he graduated from college in the spring of 1968, making him eligible to be drafted and sent to Vietnam, he received a diagnosis that would change his path: bone spurs in his heels.
The diagnosis resulted in a coveted 1-Y medical deferment that fall, exempting him from military service as the United States was undertaking huge troop deployments to Southeast Asia, inducting about 300,000 men into the military that year.
63splitwindow
(2,657 posts)NanceGreggs
(27,818 posts)... was based on "bad hair" rather than "bad feet".
Live and learn, huh?
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pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Easy for someone with his wealth to do.
The only information about the medical deferment comes from Trump himself, with no evidence or support for the story he tells. He says he doesn't remember who the doctor was, and his campaign is stiffing the media on providing a copy of the doctor's letter that Trump promised to look for.
And according to Trump, he got the deferment because he had a sudden, mysterious--and temporary--bone spur condition that was at the same time serious enough to conveniently disqualify him for military service at a time when large numbers of young men were being drafted and sent to Vietnam.
steve2470
(37,457 posts)trusty elf
(7,402 posts)[img][/img]
JustAnotherGen
(31,902 posts)This was a HUGE scaredy cat.
Response to steve2470 (Original post)
rjsquirrel This message was self-deleted by its author.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)"In an interview with The New York Times last month, Mr. Trump said the bone spurs had been temporary a minor malady that had not had a meaningful impact on him.
He said he had visited a doctor who provided him a letter for draft officials, who granted him the medical exemption."
PatSeg
(47,602 posts)he didn't remember and said to go look it up.