Drudge: Dean Dodged Draft?

Drudge Report ^ | 11-21-03 | Drudge

[elli1]

You asked: "But why would this be an exemption? I'm sorry it just doesn't make sense to me."

Because, as you said, "80,000 soldiers during WWII required hospitalization." That's a LOT of people in the hospital. That requires a lot of resources. Resources & personnel (with doctors often being in very short supply) that are being tied up treating something other than battlefield trauma. It would be like sending the Army into combat w/ tires that have known flaws and having a shortage of jacks. Some of those 80,000 were critical personnel, leaders, etc. and thus other personnel are put at risk. And what seems like a relatively minor condition can quickly turn into a deadly infection under battlefield conditions. Moreover, this is a condition subject to reoccurence and known to be exacerbated by certain military conditions...like riding in a jeep or truck. The military is driven to reduce risks; that's why every serviceman who goes overseas is vaccinated for everything (virtually) there is a vaccine for.

I agree that the military sometimes makes illogical decisions. But if you really break it down & think about it, this is a very logical one.

[finnman69]

Obscure enough to allow for skiing in Colorado.

[finnman69]

The scion of a wealthy Republican Wall Street family, who grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and in the Hamptons. Dean's father was a top executive of Dean Witter Reynolds. The Deans lived mostly in East Hampton, where in the mid-'50s the family built a house on Hook Pond, one of the most wealth-infested towns in America. The Deans belonged to the superexclusive Maidstone golf club, which for decades allowed no minority or Jewish members.

Governor of the second smallest state, Vermont being about the size of Austin, Texas, or Memphis, Tennessee. Many county commissioners throughout America manage populations and budgets larger than Vermont's.

Dean's loudest claim of executive experience is in providing "free" health care to Vermont's 613,000 citizens while simultaneously balancing the state budget. As of 1998, Vermont had the third highest percentage of Medicaid recipients in America. In other words, Vermont's so-called state-provided health care comes primarily from federal taxpayers. Dean is taking credit for state-provided health care when, in fact, most of this is funded by Washington. This kind of supposed health care system has no application on the national level.

Dean declined to fight in Vietnam, finagling for a deferment because of a minor back problem. But within a short time--after graduating from Yale in 1971-- he spent a year skiing and bumming around Aspen, Colorado. While skiing the slopes, he smoked a bit of pot, worked as a dish washer and a concrete pourer, and consumed large amounts of beer.

[finnman69]

funny pro-Kerry Dean bashing site....

Is Howard Dean the Crypto-Republican Candidate?

[Squantos]

He had a doctor declare that he had a condition in his spine that prevented him from military service

Yeah his wife would'nt let him out of the house alone with it......

[The Raven]

Isn't this a plus for him?

[cb]

I dodged the draft, too. I joined the Navy.

[Non-Sequitur]

I dodged the draft, too. I joined the Navy.

I had been accepted into NROTC just before the draft ended, so I can't say that I dodged it. I just spent the next 27 years in the service, active and reserve.

[Spok]

It's the same old crap. If a liberal dodges the service entirely, they get a pass from the media. But if a Republican merely joins the reserves, i.e. Bush and Quayle, it's tantamount to treason.

[Don Corleone]

He had a doctor declare that he had a condition in his spine that prevented him from military service.

Jaundice?

[OldFriend]

He brought a letter from his doctor to the army physical and he was declared unfit. That yellow streak was deemed too too large.

[dwd1]

I thought Daschle was Air Force Intelligience for awhile...

[dwd1]

I remember the story of Robert Kalsu who was the only professional football player killed in Vietnam...

Let's be honest....

A lot of decent people did not want to go...

[Kenton]

Daschle did serve in some capacity, I believe it was the Air Force.

For real, isn't there some sort of minimum height requirement?

Nah, that's just for Coast Guard guys. They all have to be over six feet tall, so that if their boat sinks they can walk ashore without drowning.

[At least that's what we always said about the Coasties when I was in thr Navy~~~ ;) ]