33 Years Later, Draft Becomes Topic for Dean (NYT)

[Octafish]

33 Years Later, Draft Becomes Topic for Dean

By RICK LYMAN and CHRISTOPHER DREW

Published: November 22, 2003

n the winter of 1970, a 21-year-old student from Yale walked into his armed services physical in New York carrying X-rays and a letter from his orthopedist, eager to know whether a back condition might keep him out of the military draft.

This was not an uncommon scene in 1970, when medical deferments were a frequently used avenue for those reluctant to take part in the unpopular war in Vietnam. And this story would have little interest save that Howard Dean was the name of the young man. Now, 33 years later, he finds himself a leading Democrat in the quest for the party's nomination to be president of the United States.
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Dr. Dean got the medical deferment, but in a recent interview he said he probably could have served had he not mentioned the condition.

"I guess that's probably true," he said. "I mean, I was in no hurry to get into the military."

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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/22/politics/campaigns/22DRAF.html?ex=1070082000&en=a4240500ff458bcb&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE