Author says Cheney draft deferments weren't unusualPage 2 of 2 -- Flynn said many students returned periodically to local draft boards to renew deferments. He likened Cheney's case to that of a former Democratic president who was famously a student and not a soldier during Vietnam.
''Cheney got legal deferments, as did thousands of others, including Bill Clinton," Flynn said. ''Nothing odd about this behavior. What is odd is that Kerry, a Yale graduate with terrific credentials and opportunities, decided to volunteer for the war." Cheney received four student deferments, a category called 2-S, according to Patrick Schuback, a spokesman for the Selective Service System. They were dated March 20, 1963; July 23, 1963; Oct. 14, 1964; and Nov. 1, 1965. The deferments were issued as Cheney was in the midst of an on-and-off college career. He started at Yale in 1959 but flunked out, by his own admission, and eventually earned bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Wyoming. His last deferment, dated Jan. 19, 1966, was category 3-A, usually issued to men with a family hardship. That was given as the Cheneys, who had married in August 1964, were expecting their first baby. Elizabeth Cheney was born July 28, 1966. Critics have noted that her birth occurred nine months and two days after a change in government policy that made childless married men more likely to be drafted. Deferments were common in the 1960s. More than 3.5 million men received 3-A deferments the same year Cheney got his, Schuback said. And 1.7 million others got 2-S deferments that year. More than 343,000 were drafted from July 1, 1965, to June 30, 1966. Cheney's record also shows he was twice given 1-A status, indicating he was able to serve. The first instance was Feb. 15, 1962, when he was first exposed to the draft because government policy then was to confer that status on men who had reached their 20s, specialists say. The second time was May 19, 1965. As a result, there were apparently several months -- especially in 1965 -- when he could have been drafted. In all, 1.8 million men were drafted from 1964 to 1973.
When Cheney faced Senate confirmation hearings in 1989 for his nomination to lead the Pentagon, he was quoted as saying he ''would have obviously been happy to serve" had he been called. Another Cheney quote from that time: ''I had other priorities in the '60s than military service." © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
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