How to Escape a Draft

[lupaglupa]

A wonderful story - if true!

From the Green Mountain Freeman, Montpelier, Vermont, 22 August, 1862

 

[Nathan Stuart]

It was a clever, albeit misleading, ploy.

 

[Bruce Vail]

Funny...but, as always, there is an angle for the clever.

During the Vietnam War, one enlistment ploy was to enlist in the National Guard (see Pres. George W. Bush). Friends of my older brother with high draft numbers also talked about enlisting in the Coast Guard, or even in the US Navy, where chances of getting shot in a Vietnamese jungle were pretty low.

Enlisting in militia units was a way for some Civil War-era men to avoid the draft (Confederate Gen. DH Hill complained loudly about this). You could also migrate to the Far West and enlist there, with little chance of getting killed in the fighting.

 

[lupaglupa]

It was a clever, albeit misleading, ploy.

The advice was accurate but not helpful!

 

[amweiner]

It would've been awesome if the article had been from someone in the Nigerian Royal Family suggesting that the unwilling draftee deposit $30000 USD in the Bank of Lagos to keep them safe in eternal friendship.

 

[RobertP]

Funny...but, as always, there is an angle for the clever.

During the Vietnam War, one enlistment ploy was to enlist in the National Guard (see Pres. George W. Bush). Friends of my older brother with high draft numbers also talked about enlisting in the Coast Guard, or even in the US Navy, where chances of getting shot in a Vietnamese jungle were pretty low.

Enlisting in militia units was a way for some Civil War-era men to avoid the draft (Confederate Gen. DH Hill complained loudly about this). You could also migrate to the Far West and enlist there, with little chance of getting killed in the fighting.

The Guard units filled up fast and connections were needed to get a slot. The Air Force and Navy were options but they required 4 year enlistments instead of 2 years in the Army. Of course if your doctor said you had flat feet, bone spurs, asthma, etc. that would excuse you.

But sometimes it was simpler. I knew a guy from Indiana who was called up for his draft physical and that day showed up with about 50 others to get his. There were multiple stations in the clinic where you had different tests administered and the process took about an hour as you made your way through each one. About half way through he saw a side exit and simply walked away saying nothing. A month later he got a letter saying they had lost his paperwork and he needed to come back and repeat the exam. He did with another large group and when he got to the same exit he walked out a second time. The guy said he never heard from his draft board again and was just lost in the shuffle.

 

[Lampasas Bill]

There is nothing new in this world. That's how I avoided the draft in 1968; I enlisted in the Navy. And I didn't have to spend a dollar for advice!

 

[Nathan Stuart]

The advice was accurate but not helpful!

Agree!

Wording was literally true but misleading or deceptive (by giving respondents the wrong idea or impression).

Clever and novel approach by the advertiser though.

 

[USS ALASKA]

"How to Escape a Draft"

Buy new thermo-sealed windows. Don't stand next to ill-fitting doors. Insulate your house properly...oh wait...wrong type of draft...

Cheers!
USS ALASKA

 

[Joe Whitworth]

The Guard units filled up fast and connections were needed to get a slot. The Air Force and Navy were options but they required 4 year enlistments instead of 2 years in the Army. Of course if your doctor said you had flat feet, bone spurs, asthma, etc. that would excuse you.

But sometimes it was simpler. I knew a guy from Indiana who was called up for his draft physical and that day showed up with about 50 others to get his. There were multiple stations in the clinic where you had different tests administered and the process took about an hour as you made your way through each one. About half way through he saw a side exit and simply walked away saying nothing. A month later he got a letter saying they had lost his paperwork and he needed to come back and repeat the exam. He did with another large group and when he got to the same exit he walked out a second time. The guy said he never heard from his draft board again and was just lost in the shuffle.

So he went out the side door wearing only BVDs and shoes? if memory serves me correctly disrobement was one of the first things you had to do for you physical. I advised my brother not to wear boots when he went as you looked rather stupid standing around in BVDs and boots .

 

[RobertP]

So he went out the side door wearing only BVDs and shoes? if memory serves me correctly disrobement was one of the first things you had to do for you physical. I advised my brother not to wear boots when he went as you looked rather stupid standing around in BVDs and boots .

I don't remember that except at the end for the short arm and bend over for me stations.

 

[lupaglupa]

Short arm? Was that a cause for dismissal?

 

[John Winn]

Or you could have your front teeth extracted.

I didn't avoid the draft but did avoid conscription by having become something of a very good pistol shot without using hearing protection and thus failed the hearing test. I think they figured if I survived and my hearing got worse - as it likely would - then they'd have to pay me disability.