Photos show Donald Trump in military uniform, with athletic teams before dodging the Vietnam draft

Photos show Donald Trump in military uniform, with athletic teams before dodging the Vietnam draft with ‘bull---t’ injury Subcribe for more: https://goo.gl/m7XQ7F Donald Trump — once a smiling teenage cadet at a military academy — dodged the Vietnam War with student deferments and a boo-boo on his foot, records show. Trump, a gifted athlete and decorated cadet at New York Military Academy in upstate Cornwall in the 1960s, sidestepped the draft with four deferments and a medical disqualification for bone spurs in his foot. One Trump expert said he believes the GOP candidate “skated.” “I doubt it was a serious medical issue,” Trump biographer Wayne Barrett, author of “Trump: The Deals and the Downfall,” told the Daily News Monday. “Up to that time, he was an active athlete. It was bulls--t,” Barrett told The News. “I never heard of any foot problem other than them being well-placed in his mouth,” the biographer said. Barrett said Trump likely got special treatment as a young man with money and influential family connections. “It appears he was actively looking for some justification to evade it,” Barrett said of the draft. “There’s no question it fit a pattern of avoidance that was commonplace in his generation. You cut a corner, maybe got somebody to write a letter or interpret results of an Army physical in a way that was beneficial to you,” he said. TRUMP SAYS HE DOES NOT OWE JOHN MCCAIN AN APOLOGY FOR SAYING 'HE'S NOT A WAR HERO' Trump’s draft avoidance is back on the front lines after the bloviating billionaire dissed Arizona Sen. John McCain on Saturday, saying there was nothing heroic about the Navy pilot spending time in a North Vietnamese POW camp. While McCain was nearly killed serving his country, Trump once got a medal as a cadet for being neat and orderly. On Sunday, Trump said on ABC’s “This Week” that he’d opposed the Vietnam War — and declined to apologize to McCain. Trump's campaign defended his military time Monday, saying in a statement he had "a minor medical deferment for bone spurs on both heels of his feet." The deferment was supposed to be short-term, so Trump entered a draft and got the number 356 out of 365, the campaign said. His high number never got picked. "Although he was not a fan of the Vietnam War, yet another disaster for our country, had his draft number been selected he would have proudly served and he is tremendously grateful to all those who did," the campaign said. Trump topped the GOP field in a new Washington Post-ABC News national poll released Monday, grabbing 24% of likely Republican voters compared with 13% for Scott Walker and 12% for Jeb Bush. In high school photos obtained by The News, Trump is seen with medals pinned to his uniform and posing as a star athlete on several teams, seemingly a hero in the making. Ironically, the draft dodger performed so well in the military environment — with its early morning reveille, daily inspections, drills and taps — he was ranked third among his fellow cadets, a former classmate told The News. “He was quite mature and driven,” classmate George Beuttell said Monday. “He was elected ladies’ man his senior year.” Beuttell recalled playing on the football team with Trump and how the future real estate mogul had an elite air, even then. donald trump,#news,#politics,#trump,2016,2016 Presidential Election,Conservatism (Political Ideology),Donald Trump (Organization Leader),Education,Educational,El Chapo tomonews,GOP,Hannity (TV Program),Immigration (Quotation Subject),Jeb Bush,Lindsey Graham,News & Politics,Politics (TV Genre),Republican National Committee (Organization),Republican Party (Political Party),Taiwanese Animators,Taiwanese animation,Trump president,Trump speech