Like W., Texas U.S. Senator Cornyn did not serve in the Vietnam War. Both men were of military age at the time and as we know, both are right wing war hawks today. And yet neither was willing to fight in a hot war when they had every opportunity to do so. Cornyn will blindly and routinely supports W.’s war-mongering policies each and every time, as only a true Republican rubberstamp would.
It is apparently so easy for swaggering cowards to send others off into the killing and maiming fields.
I find it rather interesting that Cornyn, who went through the 1971 draft lottery, managed to escape military service altogether as well as a sure ticket to the murderous rice paddies, despite the fact that he drew a very low draft number. Cornyn drew number 28. Numbers 0-97 were supposed to have been inducted into the military and most called would ultimately be shipped to Vietnam. I wonder what happened to Cornyn’s peers who drew numbers 27 and 29? Were they as lucky? What happened to them? What are their stories?
Completely perplexed that Cornyn could escape the draft with such a low number, I contacted a fellow Texas Dem I know who is both a Vietnam War veteran and a former draft counselor. According to him, men who drew as low a number as Cornyn did had to be medically, psychologically or morally unfit to avoid a draft.
But according to an article written in the San Antonio Express News on October 20, 2002 (Section A, page 12), Cornyn somehow magically received a student deferment in 1970.
In 1970, Cornyn requested and received a student deferment from the draft, which was abolished shortly before he graduated in 1973.
"There was a lot of soul-searching going on and a lot of questions about our nation's role in the world," he said. "Ultimately, I turned out to be pretty much a chip off the old block."
And, according to an Associated Press article of 9/28/02 entitled "Kirk, Cornyn Debate Defense Amid National Wrangling Over the Issue"
Both (Cornyn and Kirk) were in college during the Vietnam War. Cornyn, now 50, said he registered for the draft and his number was 28, which meant he was likely to go to war. Cornyn had a college deferment all four years of college. In his senior year, the draft ended, he said.
"I thought college was important and I think certainly I would have been willing to go if we had continued to have a draft at the end of my college deferment," he said.
This is really odd given that student deferments were to have come to screeching halt in 1970. The entire rationale for the draft lottery was to even the playing field for those being called into service. Prior to the lottery, student deferments were possible for those enrolled full-time in four year colleges/universities. Students had to demonstrate they were in good academic standing in order to receive deferments.
And why did Cornyn go through the draft lottery in 1971 if he received a supposed deferment in 1970?
There were few possible deferments available for the young men who followed their fathers into the trades, or for those who did not have the financial resources at the time to attend school, and for the poor. These are the groups that bore the brunt of the draft and most were shipped to Vietnam after basic training.
But Mr. Number 28 Cornyn got off.
There were times in America when people cried out for justice and fairness for all. The vast majority of U.S. elected officials at the time were also not all arrogant crooks, as so many are today, and many had served in the military themselves. And so after enormous public pressure, the draft lottery was put into place. Here is a snippet on its mission and how the lottery was supposed to work.
To make the lottery as fair as possible, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed a unique random calendar and number selection program for Selective Service. Using this random selection method for birthdays, each day of the year is selected by computer in a random manner, and that date is placed in a capsule. The capsules are then loaded in a large drum on a random basis. By the same method, numbers from 1 to 365 (366 for men born in a leap year) are also selected in a random fashion, placed in capsules, and the capsules are placed into a second drum. The process, repeated a second time, results in two sets of drums. Official observers certify that the capsule-filling and drum-loading were conducted according to established procedures. This certification is secured to each drum; they are sealed and placed in secure storage. Should a lottery be conducted, one of the first actions would be an inspection of these stored drums and the selection of a set to be used in the lottery.
So much for the NIST’s mission of fairness where Cornyn is concerned.
So how did he get off? Did his Daddy know Tricky Dick? I am not holding my breath for the Texas press or media to give us the facts on this. Indeed, a recent article about Texas Candidate for U.S. Senate, Mr. Rick Noriega’s service in military, including Afghanistan, stated that Cornyn was too young to have served during the Vietnam War. This is the kind of "fair" and "unbiased" reporting on GOP politicians that is typical in Texas.
Or maybe some of our political journalists are simply as dumb, dazed and confused as Dana Perino.
For more information on the draft lottery please visit the Selective Service website below.
Selective Service System
A special note of thanks to Vince Leibowitz and Hal Heitman who contributed research materials for this diary, and to Randy Erb for his service and contributions as a Vietnam War Veteran and former draft counselor, as well as to my brother and brother-in-law who went through the draft lotteries, one the year before and one the year after Cornyn, as full-time college students in excellent academic standing, with no deferments available to them at the time.