Draft dodger Totally Explained

Everything about Draft Dodger totally explained

A draft dodger, draft evader or draft resister, is a person who avoids ("dodges") or otherwise violates the conscription policies of the nation in which he or she's a citizen or resident, by leaving the country, going into hiding, attempting to fraudulently obtain conscientious objector status, or by open resistance (civil disobedience). Although it originated earlier, the term became popular during the Vietnam War to describe citizens of the United States who dodged the mandatory conscription policy, in order to avoid serving in the war, by leaving the country, originally to Sweden, but later in greater numbers to Canada, or (much less often) Mexico. The term may be applied to individuals who avoid military service by other means.
   The United States has employed conscription (mandatory military service, also called "the draft") several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the Cold War. The U.S. discontinued the draft in 1973, moving to an all-volunteer force.
   Today, the Selective Service System remains in place as a contingency; young men aged 18-26 are required to register so that a draft can be more readily resumed. The U.S. armed forces are now designated as "all-volunteer", although, in 2004 as well as during the 1991 Gulf War, some personnel were kept in the military longer than they expected. However, this was consistent with their enlistment contracts because of a clause that permits retention based on the needs of the military, In 2003, legislation to reintroduce general conscription was defeated in the U.S. House of Representatives due to widespread disapproval among lawmakers and the American public. Similar legislation has been proposed for reintroduction recently but it hasn't yet been approved.
   The motivations for draft dodgers and resisters are manifold. Some are individuals who merely wish to avoid the dangers of combat (and may otherwise support the war in question). Others have political or moral objections to warfare in general, or to the circumstances of a particular conflict in which their country is fighting; or may identify with a different country altogether.
   Refusing to submit the draft is considered a criminal offense in most countries where conscription is in effect.

Draft avoidance, draft evasion, draft resistance and desertion compared

It is possible to draw a contrast between draft evasion and draft avoidance. Just as tax avoidance is defined as reducing or eliminating one's tax liability through legal means, draft avoidance is the elimination or mitigation of a potential conscript's military service obligation through some lawful procedure. The term draft dodging is sometimes used more loosely (and to some inappropriately) to describe draft avoidance. Some means of draft avoidance include:

Becoming a conscientious objector, whether one's anti-war sentiment is religious or otherwise. Peace churches, such as Mennonites, Amish, and Quakers, oppose any kind of military service for their members, even in non-combatant fields, but are not opposed to alternative non-uniformed civilian service. Note that many people who support conscription will distinguish between "bona fide" conscientious objection and draft dodging, which they view as evasion of military service without a valid excuse. Conscientious objection would be considered evasion if the sentiment wasn't genuine.
Seeking excusal from military service due to health reasons - this would be considered evasion if the purported health issue was feigned or overstated.
Claiming to be homosexual, when the military in question excludes gay people - this would be considered evasion if the claim was false.
Marrying and/or fathering children, if the military in question will grant deferments to husbands and/or fathers.
Seeking and receiving a student deferment as in the cases of Bill Clinton and Dick Cheney. This would be considered evasion if false or misleading academic credentials were used.
Enlisting in a branch of the military, such as the United States National Guard during the Vietnam War, whose members are less likely to be deployed into combat. U.S. politicians who come from well-established political families, such as Dan Quayle and George W. Bush, have been accused of using family influence to secure Guard assignments that would be unavailable to ordinary citizens. This could be considered evasion if such influence was used unlawfully.
Applying for a job in an "essential" civilian occupation and seeking deferment on those grounds - often this required a letter from the potential draftee's employer to be accepted. After to receiving deferment as a student, 2008 U.S. Presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani received further deferment after his occupation as a law clerk was deemed "essential" by the Selective Service. Furthermore, non-pacifist churches could defer missionaries as "divinity students," during the Vietnam War the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints became embroiled in controversy for deferring large numbers of its young members. The LDS church eventually agreed to cap the number of missionary deferments it sought for members in any one state, however this generally didn't stop LDS missionaries who lived outside Utah (such as 2008 presidential candidate Mitt Romney) from receiving deferments with relative ease.

Simply declining to enlist, if the potential conscript appears likely to avoid the draft through sheer "luck of the draw." During the Vietnam War, not all eligible young men were drafted; many who had a high lottery number simply took no action, knowing that they were unlikely to ever be drafted. Declining to enlist isn't evasion, however some hold the view that young persons (or young men) of combat age have an affirmative duty to enlist in the military during wartime, even if not drafted. Both Giuliani and Romney drew high lottery numbers after exhausting their deferments.
   Many lawyers worked during the Vietnam war "pro bono" as draft counselors for The American Friend's [Quaker] Service Committee and other antiwar groups to counsel men on their options. They were aware that laws, on the books since World War I, actually forbid Americans to even counsel men how to evade the draft, therefore AFSC was careful to factually and neutrally present the young man with his choices.
   Less sober texts on draft "avoidance" (as opposed to "resistance" as described below) included "One Hundred and One Ways to Avoid the Draft" by musician Tuli Kupferberg, a member of The Fugs. Methods he espoused included arriving at the draft board in diapers or feigning homosexuality. Another text popular with men subject to the draft was a 1950s cartoon novella by Jules Feiffer, Munro, in which a four year old boy is drafted by mistake. Some men, taking an idea from the book, said they might ask the sergeant at the draft examination to "button me, Mister", but usually these schemes came to naught in an era where homophobia was normed, and only partly deconstructed by the antics of the counterculture.
   They, and the Selective Service System itself, emphasized that there was no such thing as an "exemption" from the draft, only a "deferment". Even the coveted status of 4-F (which by the late 1960s had lost its shameful connotation) was technically a deferment, implying that even 4-Fs might have to serve if America were invaded, as a home guard. The reasons for this were historical: during the first American draft of the Civil War, rich men or their parents could purchase an actual exemption for the then-large sum of three hundred dollars, and this caused the New York Draft Riots of that era, a major civil disturbance.
   Evading the draft through loopholes or technicalities took planning, literacy and education; therefore, it was much easier for young men with middle or upper class backgrounds to finagle a deferment, even after deferments were ended for graduate students and limited for undergraduates in 1969. These men were more likely to have access to college educations, letters from psychiatrists, and pro bono advice from lawyers. Men without these resources were less able to avoid being drafted. To compensate for this inequality, the U.S. government changed to a lottery system which would treat all citizens equally in 1969.). George W. Bush did serve stateside in the Texas Air National Guard as an F-102 pilot during the Vietnam War, in a unit assigned to the defense of the continental United States and hence unlikely to be deployed overseas; his service in the Guard (and the question of whether his father used undue influence to secure a Guard position for the younger Bush) was an issue in both the 2000 and 2004 U.S. presidential elections. Dan Quayle served in the Indiana Army National Guard during Vietnam, which became an issue during the 1988 election.
   Although there's no longer a draft in the United States, the issues of desertion and conscientious objection remain for soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some military personnel, both active and reservist, have attempted to find asylum in Canada and Europe, though not in the numbers that did so during the Vietnam War.

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