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steve2470

(37,457 posts)
Tue Aug 2, 2016, 02:09 AM Aug 2016

Donald 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=0

Back 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.
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Donald Trump’s Draft Deferments: Four for College, One for Bad Feet (Original Post) steve2470 Aug 2016 OP
We NEED to see certified medical proof of this condition. 63splitwindow Aug 2016 #1
I always thought the final deferment ... NanceGreggs Aug 2016 #2
.... trusty elf Aug 2016 #6
. RapSoDee Aug 2016 #9
Did Trump buy off a doctor to attest to a nonexistent medical condition to get out of the draft? pinboy3niner Aug 2016 #3
+1! nt steve2470 Aug 2016 #4
I think it must have been foot-in-mouth disease. trusty elf Aug 2016 #7
This was no conscientious objector JustAnotherGen Aug 2016 #5
This message was self-deleted by its author rjsquirrel Aug 2016 #8
Mr. Trump said the bone spurs had been “temporary” left-of-center2012 Aug 2016 #10
And when asked "which foot" PatSeg Aug 2016 #11
kick nt steve2470 Aug 2016 #12

NanceGreggs

(27,818 posts)
2. I always thought the final deferment ...
Tue Aug 2, 2016, 02:33 AM
Aug 2016

... was based on "bad hair" rather than "bad feet".

Live and learn, huh?

pinboy3niner

(53,339 posts)
3. Did Trump buy off a doctor to attest to a nonexistent medical condition to get out of the draft?
Tue Aug 2, 2016, 02:39 AM
Aug 2016

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.

Response to steve2470 (Original post)

left-of-center2012

(34,195 posts)
10. Mr. Trump said the bone spurs had been “temporary”
Tue Aug 2, 2016, 12:43 PM
Aug 2016

"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."

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