Posted on 11/02/2005 10:18:17 PM PST by indianrightwinger
Facing draft, Alito joined Army Reserve
Wednesday, November 2, 2005; Posted: 10:42 p.m. EST (03:42 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito joined the Army Reserve while he was a college student because his lottery number had made it likely he would be drafted for the Vietnam War, college roommates said Wednesday.
Alito was part of the Army's ROTC program during his years at Princeton -- 1968 to 1972 -- a period when the war in Southeast Asia escalated and more American men were drafted.
In 1971, President Nixon ended student deferments, increasing the pool of potential military inductees.
Four lottery drawings were held during that period in which a birthday and 366 blue plastic capsules dictated the order in which all men of draft age would be called.
In the first drawing, held December 1, 1969, Alito received the lottery number of 32, according to the U.S. Selective Service.
Although the military was calling up men with numbers as high as 195, Alito had a student deferment.
He participated in the ROTC program and did two summers of training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and Fort Indiantown Gap in Annville, Pennsylvania.
With graduation looming, the student deferment gone and Yale Law School waiting, Alito joined the Army Reserve.
"It was draft-related," college roommate Mark Dwyer said of Alito's decision. "I joined the teacher preparation program. We were all focused on the draft lottery when those numbers got called. We thought about where we were.
"Sam looked like he was sure to be drafted. He said, 'If I'm going into the Army, I might as well be an officer.'"
Another roommate, David Grais, said he remembered Alito had a low lottery number. Upon graduating from Princeton, Alito attended Yale and "did active duty after law school," Grais said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Non story. My husband knew his number was coming up, too. He joined the AF and went to Nam as an officer.
More Bullshititus
LOL! I like the term. :-)
Seems like a pretty sensible thing to do.
Vietnam War service was a critical issue in the 2004 presidential campaign and has shadowed President Bush since the previous campaign.
Bush joined the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 after graduating from Yale University and questions have been raised about whether efforts were made to get him in the Guard to avoid service in the war.
Vice President Dick Cheney received five student and marriage deferments of service during the war. Democratic Sen. John Kerry, the party's 2004 nominee, volunteered for the Navy and served two tours of duty in Vietnam.
"Sam looked like he was sure to be drafted. He said, 'If I'm going into the Army, I might as well be an officer.'"
Commie traitor it seems to me!!!
The left doesn't play by the rules. Yet they are so angry that the right tries to, that they damn even the lightest infraction as if it were the crime of the century.
You are right. Alito did absolutely nothing wrong. What the democrats can't stand, is that he found a way to serve in a manner that would see him less likely to make it to Vietnam.
This angle from the left regarding Alito is remarkable. They left hated the Vietnam war. Who got us in in the first place?
Lyndon Banes Johnson put 550,000 troops on the ground in South East Asia. Just like Walace was a democrat, so was Johnson.
The dems try to play the righteous card on wars and race, but when the truth be told, they are the worst offenders with regard to lost wars and racial bias.
The leftist media are like zoo monkeys diligently throwing crap at the wall to see if it will stick.
Well, look at what they tried to do with Bush and the National Guard.
They basically slapped every Guardsman in the face with those stories. It's no surprise that the Reserves aren't far behind. I presume the next target will be the Coast Guard.
I don't think the "he avoided military service by joining the military" ploy is likely to gain a lot of traction. Certainly not in the minds of the Army reservists who are rotating back from Iraq...
Facing draft, Alito joined Army Reserve
My God, these ignorant leftists are dumb.... (so what else is new).
What an absolute non-story and waste of trees, ink and electrons.
If the leftists get firm, verifiable information that Alito went to canada or france, rather than serving, or wrote a letter to his Commandant sayingthat he "Loathed the military" let me know.
Otherwise, STFU.
This sounds like a better plan than "If I'm going into the Army, I might as well dupe my Senator into recommending me, dupe my ROTC commander into deferring me, then flee to Oxford and never graduate."
-PJ
Already debunked. The AP is a joke.
To me it matters in a positive way because he found a way to still serve the country.
LOL!! Great fun post.
He actually joined the reserves.
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