History Main / DraftDodging

* BillClinton dodged the draft with the help of a Senator.

* Bill Clinton dodged the draft with the help of a Senator.

* Subverted in the book ''The Brave Soldier Schwejk'', set right before and during WorldWarI, there are a variety of men trying to avoid conscription through appearing ill — all from injecting kerosene into their legs to other, more outlandish methods (all played for comedy.) Oddly, the crippled protagonist is the only one chosen.

* OlderThanDirt example: In ''TheIliad'', Odysseus tries to get out of fighting the Trojan War by hooking a donkey and an ox to a plow and [[SaltTheEarth sewing a field with salt]]. King Agamemnon calls the bluff by placing Odysseus' infant son in front of the plow; Odysseus proves that he's sane by swerving out of the way.
** Actually it was Palamedes who did that. But Odysseus took his revenge and Palamedes died early in the siege, according to one version because Odysseus planted evidence that "proved" Palamedes' collusion with the Trojans, leading to his death by stoning, according to others by Odysseus and his good friend Diomedes killing him.

* German novel ''Felix Krull'' subverts this: The character knows that the doctors are very generous in declaring even sick people fit for the army; so he instead fakes being a sick but enthusiastic guy, who plays down his obvious-but-fake maladies. It works.

* In ''M*A*S*H'', the main characters try to help a local boy avoid the draft. They make him smoke pot to slow his heartbeat and fake a heart condition.

* The German novel ''Der Untertan'' has a one-shot character, an actor, doing this. (This novel is set in ImperialGermany.)

* In the movie ''Stonewall'', the DragQueen is frightened to go to the draft board and say he's gay, so his StraightGay boyfriend goes in his place. ...in drag.

* Another ''M*A*S*H'' example: some of the Klinger family. Note that Max kept this up even ''after'' it failed. (He did decline the gay option when it was offered, though.)

* In the movie ''Girl, Interrupted'', Susanna's friend flees to Canada to avoid being sent to Vietnam. He invites her to come with him, but she declines.
* Michael, a one-shot character appearing the StargateSG1 episode "1969," gives the time-displaced SG-1 a lift to New York on his way to an unnamed concert (likely Woodstock). During the trip, he and his girlfriend Jenny talk about how he received his draft notice and is considering going to Canada to avoid the war.

* The beginning of RobertHeinlein's novel ''Glory Road'' has an extensive description of various means used to dodge the draft in the United States during the Vietnam War. The protagonist finally chooses to be voluntarily drafted because he has no other viable options.
* In ''A Prayer for Owen Meany", the main character avoids the draft during the Vietnam War by cutting off his index finger. He later leaves for Canada.

* An ''AllInTheFamily'' Christmas special had one of Mike's friends, a draft dodger living in Canada, coming down to the Bunkers' place after Mike invites him over for Christmas dinner. One of Archie's friends, who lost his son in Vietnam, also comes over. As TheNostalgiaCritic puts it:
-->[[http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/14801-ncchlist11 My god, the awkward machine is about to blow!]]

It's about this: A character (AlwaysMale) doesn't want to be conscripted by the armed forces. He may have different reasons, and find different ways to do it, which may work or not.

* AmericanDreams had Helen use her travel agent job to help at least one boy escape to Canada and it was also implied she helped others. Had the show continued she would have been arrested for her trouble. The show also had dealt previously with Nathan a Nation of Islam follower choosing to serve jail time rather than violate his pacifist beliefs.

[[AmusingInjuries I got a ruptured spleen]]\\
[[TeleTubbies And I always carry a purse]]\\
[[DidNotDoTheResearch I got eyes like a bat]]\\
[[PrivateDetective And my feet are flat]]\\
[[EarthboundZero And my asthma's getting worse!]]''

* [[OrSoIHeard According to legend]] LennyBruce wore a dress to his draft bureau in order to avoid service. Klinger on ''{{MASH}}'' is a direct reference to Bruce, except that in Klinger's case he kept on doing it even in Korea.

* In one of WillEisner's works (can't remember which one), a man in an European country made money by [[EyeScream poking a man's eye out]] so they'd be partially blind and unfit for the army.
** This troper saw that one, too. IIRC, he wasn't actually charging for it. The hatpin jockey was a Rabbi who did it for free because he was a pacifist who didn't want to see anybody else get thrown into the meatgrinder.

->''[[CallToAdventure And when it came our time to serve]]\\
We knew "[[RedScare Better Dead than Red]]"\\
When we went to the draft board, buddy\\
[[BlatantLies This is what we said]]:''

->''[[YoungerThanTheyLook Well, I'm only 16]]\\

-->PhilOchs.

** Another version goes that everything was going smoothly untill the shrink asked him what he thought was the value of a human life, to which Feynman responded "64". When asked why he picked 64 and not, say, 72, he replied "[[MathematiciansAnswer 'Cause then you would have asked me "Why 72?"]]." The upshot of all this is that Feynman later wrote a letter to the draft board protesting his failed psych-eval, on the grounds that he was insane enough not to want to take advantage of it. See below.

-->TheSmothersBrothers.