Joe Biden used 5 deferments to keep out of Vietnam

[darrels joy]

Joe Biden used 5 deferments to keep out of Vietnam

Posted on August 31, 2008 by williamamos
AP News
Deferments, asthma kept Biden out of Vietnam


By RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press Writer

DOVER
DOVER, Del. - Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden received five student draft deferments during the Vietnam War, the same number of deferments received by Vice President Dick Cheney, and later was disqualified from service because of asthma as a teenager.

Officials with Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s campaign released Biden’s Selective Service records at the request of The Associated Press. Less detailed records were available from a National Archives facility in Philadelphia.

According to the documents, Biden, 65, received several deferments while he was an undergraduate at the University of Delaware and later as a law student at Syracuse University. A month after undergoing a physical exam in April 1968, Biden received a Selective Service classification of 1-Y, meaning he was available for service only in the event of national emergency.

“As a result of a physical exam on April 5, 1968, Joe Biden was classified 1-Y and disqualified from service because of asthma as a teenager,” said David Wade, a campaign spokesman.

In “Promises to Keep,” a memoir that was published last year and became an instant best-seller after he was tapped as Obama’s running mate, Biden never mentions his asthma, recounting an active childhood, work as a lifeguard and football exploits in high school.

The Obama campaign pointed to media interviews from 1987, when Biden was making his first bid for the presidency, that mention his asthma.

Military service and questions about which presidential ticket would be stronger on national security are intertwined in the presidential race.

Republican John McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent 5 1/2 years in a Vietnamese prison, has argued that he has stronger background to be commander in chief. Democratic nominee Barack Obama counters that McCain would continue a wrong-headed foreign policy from the Bush administration.

Biden has had extensive experience with national security issues in the Senate. McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, has been Alaska governor for two years and before that was a small-town mayor.

Biden’s five student deferments equal the number given to Vice President Dick Cheney, who has been quoted as saying he had “other priorities” than military service in the 1960s.

According to records AP obtained from the National Archives, Biden registered Feb. 15, 1961, with the Selective Service, when he was an 18-year-old student at Archmere Academy in Wilmington. The archives documents do not include any information about his classification or physical exam.

Documents provided by the Obama campaign indicate Biden received a classification questionnaire in October 1963, when he was enrolled at the University of Delaware, and received his first 2-S student deferment a month later. Additional deferments were granted in roughly 12-month intervals, the last coming in January 1968, shortly before he graduated from law school at Syracuse University.

Then in April 1968, when he was 25, Biden was disqualified from service due to asthma.
http://williamamos.wordpress.com/200...etnam/#respond

[SuperScout]

So, where's the W&S squad's condemnation of Joe's lack of service to the country? And asthma got him a 1-Y or 4-F? If this condition was that significant, why didn't it get at least a passing mention in his autobiography?

Most of us have considered our entry into the military as one of those rites of passage, a very pivotal and epochal time in our lives. Whether we were drafted or volunteered, at least at some subliminal level we knew we were doing a good thing, 'serving our country,' or 'answering the call to duty.' And then there are those we have heard of that lamented the fact that they were either 4-F, or some other way disqualified from military service, and the hollow feeling that ensured from that decision.

Apparently, Joe was not so moved. Let the eqivocation and justification from the W&S squad begin.

[Keith_Hixson]

I had a couple of Student Deferments but when I dropped out to get a little more cash to continue school the draft caught me. And, if he really does have a legitimate physical problem that doesn't bother me either. But if these deferments were "fixed" I would have a problem. I think to be fair we need to examine his medical record to see if he really had physical problems.

Keith

[darrels joy]

I tried to find if grad school qualified for a deferment during his time because the rules changed often during that time.

I couldn't find the answer.

Joy

[Keith_Hixson]

The local drafts boards were given plenty of latitude to grant deferments as they discerned the need. I know that farmers and school teachers often got deferments because it was more important for the nation, or the county of the draft board to have a farmer producing food, or teacher in the classroom. I know of one person who didn't fight the draft himself but his school board requested a deferment because they wanted to keep him as a school teacher. In the local politics the good 'ole' boy system was definitely in use. There was a national policy on how the draft should work but latitude could vary considerably from one draft board to the next.

Keith

[Gimpy]

"Joe Biden used 5 deferments to keep out of Vietnam"

Well then, that almost gets him "even up" with Dick Cheney, right?

That should make republicans happy, huh?

Just asking.

Gimp

[darrels joy]

No almost about it. 5 to 5

[Gimpy]

Biden's just as "good" as Cheney is with regards to his "deferments".


So what's your "bitch" then? If it was "ok" for Cheney, why not Biden???


Oh I forgot.............it's that "double-standard" thingee again, right?


How silly of me.


I forget how you folks from the "right" don't like to admit things that may shed a negative light on things that their OWN KIND are portrayed as being "guilty of".


Gimp

[darrels joy]

If it was "ok" for Biden, why not Cheney???

Oh I forgot.............it's that "double-standard" thingee again, right?

So what's your "bitch" then?

[Advisor]

Both of 'em were smarter than I was. Being from a very small board, there was no way I could work the system. I was healthy, I'd graduated college & I'd moved away..was working to support a family..none of the 'patriotic' companies back there would hire me because of my draft status. Couldn't go to grad school & didn't have any political connections that would help me. So, off I went. If I could have figured a way around it, I assure you I would have.