[Rhodes22-list] But, It Makes for a Good Story, Right? (Political)

[Steven Alm]

You did not have to register in 1979.  The draft ended in 1975--the year I
graduated.  I actually tried to get into the Navy but I was pronounced 4-P.
That is--in case of war, I'm a prisoner.  Just a joke--actually I was 4-F
with a bad elbow.

Slim

On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 7:53 AM, <jbconnolly at comcast.net> wrote:

> I also graduated high school in 1979.  I registered at some time during the
> summer after freshman year college (that would be summer 1980).
>
> 28 years later, I had to think some about exactly when (after high school
> gradiuation) that was.  The only reason I recall exactly when is that I
> registered during lunch on a summer job I held only that one summer.
>
> I can say honestly during the summer of 1980 that I did not (at that time)
> consider entering the military, although I was commissioned an Ensign USN in
> October 1982.
>
> Jim Connolly
> s/v Inisheer
> '85 recycled '03
>
>  -------------- Original message ----------------------
> From: Herb Parsons <hparsons at parsonsys.com>
> > Senator Obama said in an interview with George Stephanopoulos that he
> > considered joining the military when he graduated from high school.
> > There's an interesting detail to the story:
> >
> >  From the article:
> > =====
> > Mr Obama was asked by George Stephanopoulos of ABC's "This Week"
> > programme whether he'd ever thought about military service and replied:
> > "You know, I actually did. I had to sign up for Selective Service [a
> > means of conscription in case of war] when I graduated from high school.
> > =====
> >
> > While Senator Obama my think that "considering" serving is noteworthy,
> > there's one small hole in his story:
> >
> > There was no requirement to sign up for Selective Service in 1979!
> >
> > President Gerald Ford suspended the requirement in 1975, and it was
> > reinstated in the summer of 1980 by President Jimmy Carter. So, maybe
> > Senator Obama REALLY meant that he considered dropping out of college to
> > enlist, but I suspect that's not the real answer. I suspect he had to
> > have at least SOMETHING to appeal to those that are pro-military, and he
> > felt that his "newly-disclosed military ambition" would help without
> > disenfranchising the anti-military folks (after all, he DID decide not
> to).
> >
> > Read the story  here:
> >
> >
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/2700555/Ba
> > rack-Obama-wanted-to-join-the-US-military.html
> >
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