⬅ Donald Trump: Draft Records

At the height of the Viet Nam war in 1968, 22-year-old Trump was found medically unfit to be drafted, because of one or more heel spurs. In reality, the heel spurs did not exist. They were fraudlently concocted to evade the draft. Under oath, his personal attorney testified to the ruse in 2019, confirming the previous year's revelations from the daughter of the podiatrist who signed the papers. MORE

A complete chronology of Trump's draft status is available. SEE BELOW

A section on Trump's draft card entitled "obvious physical characteristics" notes a "birthmark on both heels" 1. SEE BELOW

Comment: None of the released medical examinations have mentioned this.

This is Trump's draft card, presumably issued in 1964. Unlike his classification record (scroll down), it has little of medical interest beyond his height, weight, and identifying marks.

The local draft board's ledger page is also available. MORE

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This extract of Trump's draft records shows his various classifications over more than seven years. A more comprehensible narrative (scroll down) provides context.

Aside:
Uninformed speculation has suggested the "YXX" annotation indicates a diagnosis of Klinefelter syndrome, in which there are three sex chromosomes, XXY, instead of the normal two (XX or XY). In fact, YXX was a standard abbreviation in Selective Service records of the Viet Nam era with this meaning:

Remarks Column: "yxx" -- these symbols indicate the registrant's physical, mental and administrative qualifications, in that sequence. A symbol with the letter "y" appearing in one of the three elements indicates that the registrant may be acceptable for service in the Armed Forces only in time of war or national emergency declared by Congress. Vietnam was not a declared war or national emergency by Congress. We have no record which provides the specific reason the registrant was found conditionally acceptable for service. 2

The ledger from Trump's local draft board shows numerous other records having the YXX annotation in its column 10 MORE.

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The table below captures the important events in Trump's journey through the draft system. To make it understandable to readers born after 1956, who have not had to navigate the draft, the rightmost column provides context in a first-person narration. Any person who went through the same sequence of birthdays, college enrollments, medical exams, and status revisions as Trump would probably have the same thoughts about the mechanics of the process. These thoughts are made up and there has been no attempt to square them with what Trump may or may not have been thinking at the time. (A few items in the rightmost column are not thoughts. They have references, and are not in italics.)

Date		Draft Classification	Event	Thoughts of a Person Going Through This (No one in particular)
1964 18	June 14	-	Turns 18	All males must register for the draft at age 18.
	June 24	-	Classification questionnaire -- Mailed
	July 28	2-S	Student deferment	Status 2-S is a "student deferment" that prevents me from being drafted into the military. As long as I'm in college, I can maintain the 2-S status.
	September		Student at Fordham U.
1965 19	Dec. 14	2-S
1966 20	spring		Leaves Fordham
	? autumn		Enrolls at U. Penn
	Nov. 22	1-A		Men in status 1-A are the first group of people to be drafted. Selective Service applied this classification to me because they [mistakenly] had no proof I was still in college. If I furnish such proof, I can regain 2-S status.
	Dec. 13	2-S		My 2-S (student) classification has been re-instated, as I am still in college.
	Dec. 15		Physical examination	A military doctor examines me in person, to see if I am physically qualified to serve in the military should I be drafted. Unless something disqualifying is found, I can expect to enter 1-A status after I graduate from college.
1967 21
1968 22	Jan. 16	2-S
	May 20		Graduates from college 3	Trump claims he watched the draft lottery while a college student at Wharton, but this is demonstrably false. In reality, the first such lottery in the Viet Nam era occurred 18 months after Trump graduated. 4
	July 9	1-A		I have finished college. My student deferment has therefore ended. Because I was found physically qualified during my medical examination, I am now in 1-A status and move much further toward the front of the line to be drafted.
	Sep. 17		Physical examination - Disqualified	Because a person's physical state can change over time, medical assessment is not a one-time event. My physical status has changed. The military has determined that I have a medical condition that would impair my ability to be a member of the armed services.
	Oct. 16	1-Y		This change to the 1-Y status represents paperwork catching up to my recent physical examination. Status 1-Y says that I am not to serve in the military unless every normally-eligible man has already been drafted. That would occur only in an extreme war or national emergency -- a scale that the Viet Nam conflict does not approach.
1969 23	Dec. 1		Draft number picked: 356 4	A lottery drawing assigns each person a "draft number" based on their birthdate. The lower the number, the closer you are to the front of the line to be drafted. Persons with the highest possible draft number, 366, are last in line among all the people in 1-A status. My number, 356, is based on my June 14 birthday. It doesn't really apply to me because I am in 1-Y status. But if I were in status 1-A, I would be near the back of the line, almost at the same place that 1-Y status puts me.
1970 24
1971 25	Dec. 10		Policy change	"The 1-Y classification was abolished December 10, 1971. Local boards were subsequently instructed to reclassify all 1-Y registrants by administrative action." 5
1972 26	Feb. 1	4-F		The 4-F status is more or less a mere re-naming of my 1-Y status. The 4-F classification was used in World War II and thus is familiar to millions of Americans of all ages, almost like a word in the English language.
1973 27	Jan. 27		Peace treaty. Draft ends.	Peace. No more conscriptions will occur. Now my draft status doesn't matter.

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A pictorial view of Trump's draft classification status is below, designed to show the relative amount of time spent in each status over the time he was subject to the draft. The horizontal axis is to scale for the passage of time.

Status		Years									Status Explanation
1-A				.			.				Fit to be drafted
1-Y								.			Qualified only in time of war or national emergency 5
2-S		.	.		.	.					Student
4-F									.		Unfit
		|← 1964		1974 →|