You are obviously too young to remember Vietnam and the draft situation. Student deferrals were very acceptable and common. Everyone went to college if they could get in and stayed there as long as the war continued. They either stayed in school or became a teacher.
I actually think that the Vietnam draft contributed to the practice of graduate student assistants teaching classes in colleges and increase in government funded research by graduate students.
this is a very enlightening post. i appreciate learning things like this from the many smart freepers.
thank you!
I remember the draft situation. Nixon got rid of the student deferrments. There was a lottery system. If you got a low number you went into the army. If you were lucky and got a high number you did not get drafted. Trump deferred his exposure through the 2S deferrments. When he was about 23 years old he got a lucky number. I wonder how he got the 1Y status.
By the late sixties the writing was on the wall, the anti-war movement was in full swing, and young American males were assigned lottery numbers to designate the order in which they would be drafted.
However, there were deferments to be had. If you were a full time student or involved in certain industries you would not be drafted until your status changed. These people were not considered draft dodgers. They were simply taking advantage of the opportunity not to get blown up in a far away land that by this time no one gave a crap about.
If your status changed you were given the dreaded 1A designation, i.e. draftable immediately, cannon fodder. at this time the draft dodger label was put into play.
You had three choices: 1. Raise your right hand and join up, 2. Leave the country to dodge the draft (usually Canada), or 3. Refuse to serve, go to jail and become the love object of a rather large man usually called Killer.
Of the three I joined, many fled, and some went to jail. There were no good choices. It was lose lose, and colleges were suddenly filled with young men who took many years to graduate.
You had to be there, and the only true dodgers were those who fled the country. Everyone else was just in survival mode.
By the late sixties the writing was on the wall, the anti-war movement was in full swing, and young American males were assigned lottery numbers to designate the order in which they would be drafted.
However, there were deferments to be had. If you were a full time student or involved in certain industries you would not be drafted until your status changed. These people were not considered draft dodgers. They were simply taking advantage of the opportunity not to get blown up in a far away land that by this time no one gave a crap about.
If your status changed you were given the dreaded 1A designation, i.e. draftable immediately, cannon fodder. at this time the draft dodger label was put into play.
You had three choices: 1. Raise your right hand and join up, 2. Leave the country to dodge the draft (usually Canada), or 3. Refuse to serve, go to jail and become the love object of a rather large man usually called Killer.
Of the three I joined, many fled, and some went to jail. There were no good choices. It was lose lose, and colleges were suddenly filled with young men who took many years to graduate.
You had to be there, and the only true dodgers were those who fled the country. Everyone else was just in survival mode.
“I actually think that the Vietnam draft contributed to the practice of graduate student assistants teaching classes in colleges and increase in government funded research by graduate students.”
It’s even worse than that. Huge numbers of draft deferrals led to a glut in lawyers!
A damn'd lie.