DRAFT DEFERMENTS

I developed allergies, or at least noticed tham, after we moved down to Springfield. I was finally tested my junior year. It included pine trees, smoke, the mold and dust in old books (guess whose work study job was in the university library old books up the pipe) and I forget the others. Never went into full blown asthma. I'd get stuffed up, used an inhaler when I needed it. My doc tried the old inject dilute amounts of the trigger and hope it would lessen the symptoms. Funny thing about allergies. As long as you stay away from what you are allergic to, you don't have many problems. 

It was the staying away that could be a problem. It used to be OK to smoke in the university classrooms. Can't remember how many times I grabbed a seat near the door so I could bug out if I needed to. Funny, I could tolerate my uncle's cigars but, they were straight tobacco. Heaven only knows what was in those cancer sticks. 

I bring this up because Joe Biden's draft deferral history was brought up yesterday. Four for student deferments for college and law school and one for asthma he had as a teenager. With the ha ha he was life guard and played football. Never had asthma but I can tell from my years of allergies that as long as you can avoid the triggers you don't get stuffed up. 

Checked his bio in Wickipedia, Biden comes from a definitely middle class back ground. I'm going to play a hunch here and suspect that he couldn't afford to buy a doctor to sign off on the asthma diagnosis. He was classified 1-Y. To be called up in a national emergency. I suspect the military did not want to end up with a list of places he couldn't go or chemicals etc. he couldn't be exposed to. I bring this up for a reason.

There are so many more treatments for asthma now. So many. This was the late sisties. And asthma, then as now, could kill you. I only really remember her name, Kathy. She was a freshman, I was a senior. We shared a locker in girl's locker room. I think her session was either before or after mine. I doubt if we said more than hello, how's the world treating you today. I remember she didn't seem all that strong to me. When Christmas break was over Kathy didn't come back. She's had a final attack. A fatal one. Who knows, if her family had lived in Eugene, near a hospital, she might have survived. Funny I remember her around Christmas time and wonder. 

So, tht chances are good that the army docs actually had a decent medical history to go by and decided to OK the deferment. It' not as if his family could buy one for him. 

For the record my dad was 4F during WWII. The doctor took one look at his bow legs and basically said "why the hell did they send you in?" Not good enough for the infantry, but OK for logging in the coast range. Shrug.