University of Virginia Library

The Draft Loophole

For most people last Thursday was a day
for finishing up the old year's business, a time
to regroup one's thoughts and gird for the
bash which would mark the onslaught of
1972. And for many thousands of
draft-eligible men–including those born
before 1951 who still held student deferments,
especially those with low lottery numbers–it
was a day to visit the draft board. For those,
at least, who got the news in time.

The news, released earlier in the week by
Defense Secretary Melvin R. Laird, was
communicated to many in the form of a page
one story carried by the New York Times
(and by many papers which subscribe to the
Times Wire Service). Laird's year-end
announcement made it possible for many
otherwise vulnerable, low-lottery-numbered
individuals to drop their student deferments
effective prior to midnight December 31.

Those who asked that their deferments be
withdrawn were automatically entered into
what is called Subgroup B, an "extended
priority" group, which already included many
1971 college graduates. For Subgroup B, the
primary pool of draftable men for the first
three months of 1972, the strong chance of
complete and legal draft evasion was
underscored when a variety of draft officials,
Defense spokesmen, and specialists in draft
law widely hinted that there may be no draft
calls at all between now and the end of
March. It is at that time that the extended
priority group ceases to be eligible for the
draft except in the case of a mass
mobilization, which Defense officials said
would have to approach that during World
War II. That is: total.

In any event, it is certain that no one will
be drafted during January, and Laird made it
known–much to the chagrin of discomfited
local board officials, whose headquarters were
besieged throughout the day Thursday with
students dropping their II-S standing–that it
is "quite possible" that there will be no
call-ups in February or March. After March
31, a new and younger pool will assume the
burden of high priority status, and everyone
who managed to find his way into Subgroup
B will be free.

Anyone who read the story and feared
some sort of trap was quickly reassured by
lawyers, draft counselors and officials that
should there be limited call-ups before the
March date, he would have little or no
difficulty in retrieving his II-S determent,
assuming he remains in school and therefore
qualified.

Given the least desirable (and perhaps least
likely contingency, a registrant with an
exceedingly low lottery number who dropped
his deferment Thursday (before the local
board shut down for the long weekend) and
who in February or March finds himself
notified that he must appear for a
pre-induction physical, may according to a
member of the Richmond draft board who is
himself a lawyer–request his deferred status
again. At worst, the registrant who is
determined to avoid conscription will find
himself back again where he started.

After that, there is the almost limitless list
of legal and medical possibilities being
employed across the country in evading the
draft. The mood prevalent among local board
officials seems to be that the draft is now in
the process of steady de-escalation–like the
ground war in Asia which necessitated the
mass draft calls of the 1960's in the first place.
The Army has been ordered to cut its global
strength by ten percent before the end of
June, and with increasing numbers of
volunteers being lured by improved salary
levels, it is quite possible that Laird's
announcement of last week paved the way for
President Nixon's announced goal of creating
an all-volunteer Army.

Best guesses now have it that 1972 draft
calls–if there are any at all–will be quite low.
No one with a lottery number above 50, it
now appears, will face the threat of the draft,
unless, of course, Nixon's accelerated air war,
which was reaching a new peak as Secretary
Laird made his announcement, erupts into
re-escalated conflict on the ground. Any calls
before July, Defense spokesmen say, will be
extremely low–no more than 15,000 to
20,000 men at the highest.

Meanwhile, those in Subgroup B await the
word from their local board: if it fails to
come before April 1, and if indeed there are
no call-ups before the end of March, a small
miracle–like mass reprieve for the thousands
affected–could easily become the order of the
day.