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Mormon Church Obtained Vietnam Deferrals For Romney - Huffington Post

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Posted by Alex Hammer at 11:17 AM

1 comment:

Unknown said...

The article on Mormon-missionary draft deferments omitted a relevant fact: the 1-each-6-months agreement with the government included the provision that we would receive *no* deferments after returning from our missions.

I had a student's (2-S) deferment before receiving my minister's (4-D) deferment for my mission in Argentina 1971-3 but when I left, I would not have been able to renew my student's deferment afterwards. Back then, we pretty much assumed that a nominal 2-year mission actually would be a 4-year commitment, the last two in military service. I had friends that served these 2+2 missions and some of them continued to teach and baptize informally in the military.

For my part, halfway through my mission in 1972, I received notice that I had been reclassified as 1-H, "not currently classified." I knew several other missionaries who received similar unrequested reclasifications to 1-H that summer. I soon realized that Mr. Nixon was running for re-election that year -- I still wonder whether there was some connection.

I've wondered since whether this was illegal discrimination by the government because I don't believe ministers of other religions lost their ability to claim student deferments when they left their active ministeries. My mission clearly was ecclesiastical and not a draft dodge: I spent about 65 hours per week in active missionary service and I taught more than 20 people who joined the Church.

My main point is that rather than being a way to avoid the draft, an LDS mission increased one's likelihood of being drafted by sacrificing other ways to be draft-deferred.

FYI, I differed from Mr. Romney in *not* longing to be in Viet Nam!

8:17 PM

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