A lengthy Associated Press story that noted Mitt Romney’s “military background is facing new scrutiny as he courts veterans and makes his case to be commander in chief” is puzzling, notes Grumpy Editor, because the Republican presidential candidate, as with President Barack Obama, never served in the military.
One newspaper, for example, picked up the military angle (when there wasn’t one) yesterday with this headline over a hefty half-page spread:
Romney’s military
past under scrutiny
That should be news to Romney since he never wore a military uniform.
Steve Peoples, AP’s national political reporter, mentioned Romney “avoided military service at the height of the (Vietnam War) fighting after high school by seeking and receiving four draft deferments.”
Nothing unusual there.
As accorded to others at the time, deferments stemmed from attending college and later as “a minister of religion or divinity student” while Romney was in France working as a Mormon missionary.
Near the end of the AP piece, Peoples wrote, “Some veterans say Romney’s reluctance to serve irks them,” then ran a quote from someone who served in Vietnam who said, “I volunteered for the draft.”
But no one volunteers for the draft.
A draft, if held today, would continue to use a lottery to determine order of call.
While the U.S. military has been all volunteer since the discontinuance of mandatory conscription in 1973, young men 18 through 25 still are required to sign up with the Selective Service System --- just in case the draft resurfaces.
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