Marine veteran does not approve of draft dodging
I really can’t believe Thomas Carney’s rationalization on Donald Trump dodging the draft because serving in the military is dangerous. [“Letters to the editor,” Sept. 24] Duh?
Draft dodging for fear of personal danger is unpatriotic and cowardly. If you dodged the draft because you believed the war was wrong or for conscientious reason, that is a different thing.
Do you think all those who were drafted and served weren’t afraid of dying? They had no choice because their fathers didn’t own a building where a doctor worked who would give them a medical exemption for alleged bone spurs. They were also afraid of dying but served anyway.
I was not high on the draft, but I volunteered for the Marine Corps in 1967 because I believed it was the right thing to do in serving my country, just like my father did in World War II. I served 21 years and am proud of my service and my Corps and country.
Ray Belongie, Sunrise
Neither does this vet
I could barely believe what I read from the letter writer saying draft dodging was OK and that calling them out was shaming them. Was he trying for irony or sarcasm? Hard to tell given the utter stupidity of his premise and his letter.
As a Vietnam era veteran who certainly had better things to do than go to war, I nonetheless did. Was I fearful? Of course. Did I even believe the war was just? Absolutely not. But I went and was lucky enough to come home and move on with my life. Unlike Trump, who said with pride to Howard Stern on the radio that the New York dating scene in the 1970s was his personal Vietnam. If there is shame here, it is that this draft dodging rich man’s son has the gall to call himself the Commander in Chief.
Harvey Starin, Delray Beach
Or this one
I refer to the letter in your Letters to the Editor of September 24, saying that Trump was only 23 when he dodged the draft because he “was afraid to die.” Does the person who wrote that letter realize that the American people would now be speaking German or Japanese if the hundreds of thousands of Americans who fought in the second world war felt like poor Donald, and avoided the draft?
I guess I should have dodged the draft instead of going to Korea (when I was 21). Instead, I came home with Chinese shrapnel in my body. How stupid was I to be drafted!
Not only was that letter one of the dumbest and insulting letters I’ve ever read in the Letters to the Sun Sentinel, but it agreed with Trump that all those who served in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, etc. were suckers!
Jerry Schechter, Fort Lauderdale
Or this one
A letter writer excuses Donald Trump for evading the draft, citing Trump’s fear of dying. What an insult to the millions of young Americans who did their duty and served in the military! We were all afraid to die, but we loved our country more than we feared the possible outcome. It’s a truism that freedom is not free, and the price is sometimes high. Anyone who legitimately could have — and should have —served when called, but weaseled out, doesn’t deserve the benefits and blessings of this wonderful country. That person did nothing to protect, preserve and defend it.
Lester Schwartz, Boca Raton
Family members of those drafted aren’t fans either
In reply to your reader’s justification of Trump’s draft dodging, the military draft was initiated during the Revolutionary War and used again during the Civil War, both world wars, Korea and Vietnam, not just when Trump was 23, as he stated. Millions of men were drafted and went. Draft dodging was considered shameful. My wife is named for her uncle, Sidney Becker, who was killed on the Pacific island of Guadalcanal. Her other uncle’s plane was shot down over Belgium. My uncles served as a crewman on B-17 bombers and as an infantryman in North Africa. None of these brave men wanted to go, and none wanted to die. They regarded their service as their patriotic duty as Americans. Those, like Trump, who dodged the draft were, and still are, cowards.
Fred Muenz, Delray Beach
