Trump, the Draft and the Recent Military Pardons

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I'm always perplexed by the views of those who didn't live through the Vietnam War era.

There was NO universal Military Draft at that time...and more's the pity.

Instead of a universal Military Draft, what we had was one filled with endless exceptions, waivers and loopholes for avoiding that Draft. They ranged from Medical (as Trump took), Academic (as Dick Cheney and countless others took - many switched majors numerous times to stay in school), there was even a Marriage deferment.

Bill Clinton simply refused to go, rejecting the deal he made with his local Draft Board allowing him to attend Cambridge.

Once safely in England, he simply refused to honor that deal.

The sad fact is that none of this is new. EVERY war has had Draft exceptions...even WWI & WWII. In the American Civil War you could simply buy your way OUT of Service to the Union Army for $300 (a good deal of cash back then).

Fact is Trump, like 15+ MILLION other Americans got LEGAL deferments. I lived through that era, although I was in HS through 1972 and by early 1972 the U.S. troops were being evacuated en masse. Only some "Advisors" being left there.

The Draft ended on January 27th, 1973.

An article in the Atlantic put it into a proper perspective, "More than 15 million men of Trump’s generation sought to avoid active-duty military service, including George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, and Dan Quayle. Up to 60 percent of men in the Vietnam generation took active measures to qualify for a deferment from the draft, while up to 90 percent of enlistments in the National Guard were draft-motivated by 1970.

"His (Trump's) story says less about the president as an individual than about the choices America has made as a society about who should bear the burden of military service."
(https://www.theatlantic.com/…/trumps-military-draft…/579265/)

ALL of that, in the Atlantic article, is true, America's history of blatantly unfair Military Drafts isn't the issue in this case, these ridiculous rules of engagement, that hold U.S. soldiers to the standards Police Officers, are absurd. Many of those rules of engagement have been implemented by people who've sat behind desks their entire careers.

Trump, like 15+ million Americans, including GW Bush, Dan Quayle, Bill Clinton, avoided Military service. As POTUS, Trump has pardoned a number of combat Soldiers over violations of various rules of engagement.

Generally, the people who actually support the line (combat) troops, tend to support these pardons, so WHY is Trump's lack of Military service an issue in this particular matter? (https://www.usatoday.com/…/donald-trump-block-r…/4257573002/)
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