Posted on 07/18/2015 11:37:29 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Despite Donald Trump’s claim this week that he avoided serving in the Vietnam War solely due to a high draft number, Selective Service records show that the purported presidential aspirant actually received a series of student deferments while in college and then topped those off with a medical deferment after graduation that helped spare him from fighting for his country, The Smoking Gun has learned.
During a TV interview Tuesday morning, Trump--who spent his high school years enrolled at the New York Military Academy--said, “I actually got lucky because I had a very high draft number. I’ll never forget, that was an amazing period of time in my life.”
He went on to recall, “I was going to the Wharton School of Finance, and I was watching as they did the draft numbers and I got a very, very high number and those numbers never got up to.” The word “deferment” was not mentioned by Trump during his chat with the morning show hosts on WNYW, the Fox affiliate in New York City.
However, Selective Service records reveal that Trump, the fortunate son of a multimillionaire real estate baron, took repeated steps to avoid serving in Vietnam.
By the time his number (356) was drawn during the December 1, 1969 draft lottery, Trump had already received four student deferments and a medical deferment, according to military records on file with the National Archives and Records Administration. An extract of Trump’s Selective Classification record, seen here, was provided in response to a TSG records request.
In fact, the December 1969 draft lottery occurred about 18 months after Trump graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied business at the Wharton School. So, while claiming that he would “never forget” being at Wharton watching the draft numbers being drawn, the 64-year-old Trump seems to have misremembered, as candidates are fond of saying.
Trump obtained his first two Class 2-S student deferments in June 1964 and December 1965, when he was student at Fordham University in the Bronx. He was briefly reclassified as 1-A--or "available for military service"--in late-November 1966, but that classification was switched back to 2-S three weeks later.
Another 2-S deferment is dated January 16, 1968, just months before his graduation from UPenn (to which he transferred following his sophomore year at Fordham).
Following his UPenn graduation, Trump--no longer qualified for a 2-S deferment--was again briefly classified as available for service on July 9. However, three months later, on October 15, his classification was switched to 1-Y, which was given to men deemed qualified for military service “only in time of national emergency.”
The 1-Y classification came a month after Trump underwent an “Armed Forces Physical Examination,” according to Selective Service records, which note the results of the exam as “DISQ.” While the military records do not further detail why Trump was granted the 1-Y deferment, a 1992 biography of the businessman by journalist Wayne Barrett reported that Trump received a medical deferment following the September 17, 1968 exam.
Trump’s 1-Y classification stayed in effect until February 1, 1972 when it was changed to a 4-F classification (which covered registrants not qualified for military service). The change in classification was likely prompted by the military’s December 1971 decision to abolish the 1-Y classification.
The Selective Service records also include a copy of the registration card signed by Trump in June 1964, 10 days after he turned 18. The possible future Commander-in-Chief, it turns out, has birthmarks on both his heels. (3 pages)
2-S status was free when I got mine, as was my 2-H later.
Didn't know you could buy one.
How many politicians served in the military? I bet the percentage today is quite low.
I am a strong Cruz supporter as well but I have to take exception to your choice as veep. The vice president has to support the presidents agenda and I can't see Trump being a loyal soldier. Cruz could never count on his support. And I don't see Trump willingly taking second place to anyone.
I can’t wait until Obama milks this for all its worth when he attends the VFW Convention. Bank on it.
Obama won't have to. The other Republicans will - Perry is already calling Trump unqualified to be commander-in-chief - and the media will run with it.
As an aside, Two of my Nephews. Air Force and Marine served in Afghanistan and Iraq. We are all very proud of them.
My dad was army and married my mom when he was at Fort Leonard Wood. Most of my uncles were in the army and a couple of cousins have served tours. I have a lot of respect for people willing to serve. Because of them I have the freedom to shoot off my mouth on forums like this.
Thanks just trying to do the math and had no idea how old the ole bag was and trying to figure out if still drafting etc.
“Millions sought to avoid the draft back then.Trump’s situation is no different.”
Millions received their draft notices and reported as ordered. Over 50,000 gave their last full measure; hundreds of thousands were maimed or seriously wounded. The lucky ones who returned unscathed were spat upon by the Bill Clintons and Donald Trumps of the that era, who had pulled strings to obtain deferments, sending some other less fortunate lads to take their places.
And some want to send such scum to sit in the CofC’s chair..
Others went into the service without attempting to avoid the draft because they respected their country and understood their duty. I went in before the war really heated up and ended up serving in CONUS the entire two years but already contemporaries were scurrying to get medical deferments, family deferments (early on), join the National Guard, and later going to Canada. For many, chance played a major role and I can’t really criticism educational deferments. But it does limit ones standing to call someone like McCain essentially a coward for being caught.
Thanks just trying to do the math and had no idea how old the ole bag was and trying to figure out if still drafting etc. She lies so much just checking to see if this was another one. I understand she would not have been drafted, just have to verify most of what these people say and do, and this one just sets some bells off for me.
Sorry but I think anyone will to put his life on his line by serving in the military is a hero. Anyone who fights for his country in a war is a hero. Anyone who is captured while engaged in combat is a hero. The four Marines and the sailor from Thursday are heroes. They are people who are prepared to lay down their lives at any given moment to protect my freedom and your freedom. That makes them heroes in my book and I'm sorry you don't feel the same way. And because they serve and I didn't then I think that makes me unqualified to criticize their service to this country in any way. And I'm sorry Trump is too much of an arrogant ass to feel the same.
and anyone that hides behind hero status and uses that to then attack conservatives that only want to protect the greatest nation on earth is a huge loser.
You have to be a citizen of the US to get drafted.
I still feel dirty voting for McCain but i will never vote for Trump. I will write in a candidate
The oppo is bringing this up??? He did nothing illegal or immoral.
Would your response be the same if we had the same info on bammy?
2nd, he is on our team...
He is posting things that need posting on Trump...after the McCain comments, this could stick. We will see.
He’s a Trump detractor for the sake of hating Trump. I’ve seen his posts. He’s not on anyone’s team.
I thought he was on the Cruz side...
Obama is the original Teflon coated turd.Nothing sticks to him anyway.
But to answer your question,I just don’t know how I’d respond.If the deferments were legal,I don’t blame anyone for trying to not be thrown into the meatgrinder.
No, you were misinformed or something.
He was smart enough to realize that Vietnam was just a place to make cannon fodder. There has not been a decent war that had real objectives since WWII. Korea, Vietnam, Bosnia, the several Middle East “wars,” were all a disgrace because they were all fought by politicians and not warriors. The blood of our young )and a huge chunk of our money) are on the hands of the politicians since the 1950’s.
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