Reply #26: Mitch McConnell

[Tippy]

McConnell became a member of the 100th Division (Training), U.S. Army Reserve, in Louisville, Kentucky, during his final semester of law school; and he reported for his six months of active service, primarily for training, in July 1967. After induction at Fort Knox, Kentucky, McConnell was released early from his active-duty military service in August 1967.<4> In August 1967, U.S. Senator John Sherman Cooper (R-KY), for whom McConnell had interned, wrote to the commanding general at Fort Knox, asking when McConnell would be "cleared" from active duty to attend New York University. Consequently, McConnell completed no actual military service. According to a former campaign manager, McConnell received a medical discharge for optic neuritis, which is a symptom of multiple sclerosis.<5>

From Wikipedia

Representatives from McConnell’s office offered two differing statements regarding McConnell’s discharge.

“Senator McConnell had polio as a child and he never served in armed services.” said Robert Steurer, press secretary for McConnell in Washington. “I am not aware of him ever serving.”

Kyle Simmons, McConnell’s campaign manager in Louisville, offered a different story about the senator’s military record during a phone conversation yesterday.

According to Simmons, McConnell enlisted for four months of active duty with the Army reserve at Fort Knox.

Simmons said that McConnell failed his physical examination as a result of a doctor’s diagnosis of McConnell having the medical condition of optic neuritis.

http://www.hillbillyreport.com/blog/2007/02/senator_mitch_m_1.html