Post by e***@aol.comPost by Sarah EhrettSo medical deferments aren't ok with you?
Valid medical deferments for documented conditions are A-OK. Imaginary medical conditions to acquire a draft deferment are evading the draft.
A "bone spur" (enthesophyte) is a bump or protrusion caused by calcium built up on the heel bone, and is diagnosed using x-rays and treated through stretching exercises, orthotics or, in rarer cases, surgery. Unless he had x-rays showing this supposed "bone spur", his claim of a bone spur is and was dubious. He may have had x-rays, but if he did, they are apparently buried next to his tax returns. He has never mentioned x-rays. The only evidence he offered at the time of his request for a deferment was a note from his doctor.
Bone spurs are so common that some radiologists don't even mention them in medical records unless there's evidence of other pathology nearby. Plenty of asymptomatic people have them and they are of little or no consequence. Plenty of soldiers have them (some aren't even aware of them at he time -- once again, diagnosis requires x-rays) and serve without a problem.
Trump was extremely active in sports at Fordham University and Wharton. He regularly played squash, tennis, football, and golf. He applied for and received education deferments for the first 4 years of his college education (the maximum number of student deferments allowed).
At that point, Trump's options were to either possibly serve his country or evade service by such means as going to Canada. Or by finding a medical condition that would qualify him for a 1-Y medical deferment. It was at this point that Trump discovered that he had a "bone spur" and that "marching" would be hard for him.
In the last two years, Trump has said that the bone spur had been "temporary" and a "minor" malady that had not had a meaningful impact on him. He said he had visited a doctor who provided him a letter for draft officials, who granted him the medical exemption. This continued until 1972, although by then the 1-Y exemption had been eliminated and he was switched to 4F. In 2016 he said he could not remember the doctors name and, despite offering to look for a copy of the letter, has never provided one to anyone.
Also in 2016, Trump at first claimed that he still had the bone spur (singular, as in only on one of his feet from the beginning). When asked at a press conference which heel had the bone spur, he could not remember which heel. Then the White House issued a statement that it was both heels.
Then Trump claimed that these spurs had "healed up" and disappeared, but could not provide details regarding exactly when this miracle occurred. The thing is, unless treated, once they appear, bone spurs tend to either stay the same or get larger. They typically do not magically resorb or "heal" spontaneously.
In any case, despite including a physical examination of the President's extremities no evidence of bone spurs were found or reported on Trump's one and only physical (and cognitive) examination earlier this year. You know, the one by long-term (Bush/Obama/Trump) White House funky physician Dr. Ronny Jackson. The one he released at that press conference during which he stated that if Trump had a healthier diet over the last 20 years, he might live to be 200 years old. Anyhow, no evidence of bone spurs.
His whole bone spurs story is damaged further by his overall untruthfulness on the subject of the draft. He unnecessarily added information that he obviously felt would make his bones spurs story sound more credible. Remember he first obtained a 1-Y medical deferment in 1968 by, according to him, providing the Selective Service System with a note from his doctor. That medical deferment was reissued (although later called 4F) every year up to and including 1972 (when the last Vietnam-era draft call was conducted). Trump has felt the need to embellish his draft experience with his comments that in the end, it was an extremely high draft number (based on his birth date) that kept him out of service during the Vietnam War, rather than his medical deferment for bone spurs. He even painted a picture during a 2011 television interview of a vivid memory of Little Donny Trump watching the first Vietnam-era draft in 1969 and being relieved that he was lucky enough to have a very high draft
number. On Fox5 New York he said Ill never forget - that was an amazing period of time in my life. 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. The problem, of course, is that Trump graduated from Wharton 18 months before the first draft lottery. And by that point, he had already (long-before) obtained the 1-Y medical deferment. The only reason his memorable younger self would have been relieved by a high number would be if he knew that his bone spur story was bullshit and he might lose it, or his entire memory is bullshit. And in either case, it didn't happen at Wharton..
Then of course we get to the part where, 30 years after his dubious medical deferment, Trump compounded what some saw as draft evasion with his quote on the Howard Stern Show that his own personal Vietnam had been his sex life in 1980s New York, and how he was lucky not to have contracted a sexually-transmitted disease. He stated Ive been so lucky in terms of that whole world. It is a dangerous world out there. Its scary, like Vietnam. Sort of like the Vietnam-era. It is my personal Vietnam. I feel like a great and very brave soldier.
Thank you for your service, Future President Bonespurs.
PLEASE NOTE that there is plenty of evidence that Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Joe Biden also evaded the draft. None of them, however, used pseudo-patriotism to try to denigrate the patriotism and integrity of an American soldier who served his country, went to war and survived 5 1/2 years of his life as a P.O.W.