The Selective
Service was a United States federal agency that was created by the
Selective Service Act of 1948. This agency drafted male citizens
and residents aged eighteen to twenty-six to serve in the armed
forces (Selective). The Vietnam War was fought by 2.2 million
men drafted by this system, although of the 16 million men not
already drafted or enlisted voluntarily, over 60 percent of those
eligible for the draft, avoided military service entirely during
the Vietnam War because of exemptions allowed awarded on certain
bases. (Selective). The system of exemptions that was put in
place was more easily exploited by those of a higher economic
status and the well connected, making the
Selective Service Systemduring the Vietnam War unfair.
One of the most common legal ways of avoiding the draft was
being a full-time college student. As a result, [c]ollege
enrollment increased sharply among those who could afford a college
education (Preface). Only 2 percent of all draftees were college
graduates, revealing a severe and unjust bias toward those who
could not afford an education. A college deferment was a relatively
safe option, as it was difficult to lose. In order to lose a
college deferment, one would have had to flunk out of college.
However, this threat was extremely reduced or eliminated by
professors who opposed the war [or]
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The system of
deferments were much more easily abused and manipulated by the
wealthy and those with a relative amount of power. Many deferments
in this system required money that the average working class
citizen could not afford, including a college education or draft
lawyers that could utilize the many loopholes. Moreover, those who
knew the right people could use these connections to either get
them to certain doctors that could inevitably find a disqualifying
ailment or to receive a spot in the more exclusive, more safe place
of the National Guard or the
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