What Has Trump Done For The Us Military
A round up of US Presidents Donald Trump most important statements regarding military operations.
8th November 2016
Since his inauguration in January, Donald Trump has been far from quiet about military matters.
Now, after a string of controversial announcements, the Commander in Chief has declared that he will be sending more troops to Afghanistan in an effort to combat terrorism.
Before even coming into office, he promised 90,000 more soldiers, 42 more ships and 100 additional fighter aircraft.
He said at the time of his campaign:
“I’m gonna build a military that’s gonna be much stronger than it is right now. It’s gonna be so strong, nobody’s gonna mess with us. But you know what? We can do it for a lot less.”
But how far has he achieved the goals he set out in his campaign?
Heres a timeline of his important military decisions throughout the last eight months:
Donald Trumps Draft Deferments: Four For College One For Bad Feet
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Back in 1968, at the age of 22, Donald J. Trump seemed the picture of health.
He stood 6 feet 2 inches with an athletic build had played football, tennis and squash and was taking up golf. His medical history was unblemished, aside from a routine appendectomy when he was 10.
But after he graduated from college in the spring of 1968, making him eligible to be drafted and sent to Vietnam, he received a diagnosis that would change his path: bone spurs in his heels.
The diagnosis resulted in a coveted 1-Y medical deferment that fall, exempting him from military service as the United States was undertaking huge troop deployments to Southeast Asia, inducting about 300,000 men into the military that year.
The deferment was one of five Mr. Trump received during Vietnam. The others were for education.
His experience during the era is drawing new scrutiny after the Muslim American parents of a soldier who was killed in Iraq publicly questioned whether Mr. Trump had ever sacrificed for his country. In an emotional speech at the Democratic National Convention last week, the soldiers father, Khizr Khan, directly addressed Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, saying, You have sacrificed nothing and no one.
Mr. Trumps public statements about his draft experience sometimes conflict with his Selective Service records, and he is often hazy in recalling details.
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After College Trump Receives A Medical Deferment
Trump graduated in 1968, one of the most turbulent years of the war. He set his sights on returning to New York.
On Oct. 15, several months after his graduation that spring, Trump was granted a 1-Y medical deferment.
In an interview with the New York Times, Trump said the reason he received the medical deferment was because of bone spurs in his heels.
The National Archives and Records Administration does not specify the reason for the medical deferment, only that it resulted from a September 1968 physical exam that disqualified him from service.
I had a doctor that gave me a letter a very strong letter on the heels, Trump told the New York Times.
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks declined to offer additional comment about the deferment.
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Trump Vetoes Military Spending Bill Setting Up Standoff With Gop Lawmakers
President Donald Trump on Wednesday vetoed the annual military spending bill because it did not modify a law that provides liability protections to tech companies and would have authorized the renaming of military bases named for Confederate generals.
The veto, which Trump had threatened for weeks, sets up a showdown with fellow Republicans, who must now decide if they will override his decision.
The National Defense Authorization Act passed both chambers of Congress by margins large enough to override the veto, though some Republicans may decide against challenging the president. Congress has until Jan. 2 to override the veto, which would be the first during the Trump administration.
The NDAA has been enacted to provide for military operations and continue operations for more than a half-century.
“Your failure to terminate the very dangerous national security risk of Section 230 will make our intelligence virtually impossible to conduct without everyone knowing what we are doing at every step,” Trump said in a statement. Railing against renaming military bases, Trump added he has made clear his “opposition to politically motivated attempts like this to wash away history and to dishonor the immense progress our country has fought for in realizing our founding principles.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., lambasted the president for vetoing legislation that provides pay for members of the military.
Republican Veterans Are More Approving Of Trumps Military Policies Than Republicans Overall
Veterans are divided over some of Trumps specific military policies, but in each case, they are more supportive than the general public. Veterans also have a more positive view than Americans overall about Trumps approach in dealing with North Korea, Russia and Americas NATO allies.Even after accounting for differences in partisanship between the groups, Republican veterans are generally more supportive of Trumps positions than Republicans overall.
A majority of veterans approve of sending troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to deal with migrants coming to the U.S., including 42% who strongly approve of this policy. The public is more evenly split: 47% approve and 50% disapprove.
Veterans are more evenly divided in their views on the U.S. withdrawing from the Iran nuclear weapons agreement: 53% approve of this decision, while 46% disapprove. Roughly four-in-ten veterans strongly approve of this policy. Among the public, a majority disapproves of the U.S. withdrawing from the Iran agreement, while 40% approve of this move. Veterans are twice as likely as the public to say they strongly approve of this policy .
Veterans are divided on how Trump is dealing with Russia, while Americans overall disapprove
A majority of veterans approve of Trumps dealings with North Korea , while 40% disapprove. Among all Americans, more disapprove than approve of Trump in this regard .
Also Check: When Does Trump Talk Tonight
Trumps High Lottery Number For The Draft
When the draft lottery for Vietnam began in December 1969, Trump was already shielded because of his medical deferment.
Over the years, Trump has offered few details about his deferments, but has sometimes said the reason he did not fight in Vietnam was because he was fortunate enough to receive a high lottery number.
If I would have gotten a low number, I would have been drafted. I would have proudly served,” he told ABC News last year. “But I got a number, I think it was 356. Thats right at the very end. And they didn’t get — I dont believe — past even 300, so I was — I was not chosen because of the fact that I had a very high lottery number.”
An official for the National Archives confirmed that Trump received a draft number of 356 out of 365.
But before that, Trump was protected from the draft for more than year by his 1-Y medical deferment.
The draft ended in 1973.
Trump: ‘i Always Felt That I Was In The Military’
Donald Trump did not serve in the military, but according to a report, the Republican presidential candidate and multibillionaire business tycoon said in a forthcoming book that he still “always felt that I was in the military” because he attended a military boarding school and “dealt with those people.”
According to an upcoming biography and interview excerpts shared with The New York Times, Trump said that his five years at the New York Military Academy provided him with “more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military.”
After the Vietnam War, all those military academies lost ground because people really disrespected the military, Trump told the author in an excerpt shared with the Times. They werent sending their kids to military school. It was a whole different thing, but in those days 1964 I graduated that was a very good thing or tough thing, and it was a real way of life at military academy.
The book, “Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success,” written by Michael D’Antonio, is set for a Sept. 22 release.
By JAKE SHERMAN and JOHN BRESNAHAN
Trump, who received multiple draft deferments and a high draft lottery number during the Vietnam War, took off a shoe to explain the heel spurs that prompted the medical deferments. The Vietnam war, he added, “was a mistake.”
Also Check: Is Trump Leading In The Polls
Us Election : Has Trump Kept His Promises On The Military
US President Donald Trump has been defending his record on military spending and his pledge to cut back US involvement in foreign wars.
In 2017 he said he would rebuild the country’s “depleted military”. He has also called for a reduction in US troops serving abroad.
We’ve taken a look at the president’s record on the military.
President Trump’s son, Donald Jr, recently wrote on Twitter: “Trump properly funded our military after Obama-Biden decimated it.”
The chart shows military spending has steadily increased since President Trump took office in January 2017.
However, this spending is still significantly lower than during the first term of the Obama administration, using figures adjusted for inflation.
“Defence spending did go up quite substantially under President Trump to date. I wouldn’t call the growth unprecedented, though,” says Michael O’Hanlon, a security fellow at the Brookings Institution.
“Mr Trump can claim credit for a large ‘peacetime’ increase from a state that was already fairly good under Mr Obama, whose defence budgets were strong by historical standards too – more than $100bn above the Cold War annual average, once adjusted for inflation,” says Mr O’Hanlon.
Looking at military spending over the past three decades, comparing it with the size of the US economy, we can see that current spending is at nowhere near record levels.
The Military Speaks Out
Serving and Retired U.S. Military Leaders Views about the Trump Administration
Blog Post
David Sterman
In the early days of his presidency, Donald Trump was enthusiastic about the current and former senior military officers in his administration. But as his time in office continued, relationships between President Trump and some of those officers soured. Some were fired or resigned from the administration, and other senior, retired officers increasingly have made public statements about the president’s actions, statements, and policies. The volume of military leaders speaking out about the presidency is unprecedented, bringing into question norms of civil-military relations and longstanding efforts to maintain an apolitical military. This project tracks statements from current and retired military leaders at or above the 3-star rank, both critical and supportive of President Trump, over time and across issue categories.
Leadership: Purple bars represent statements that broadly speak against President Trumps leadership style. This category covers incidents related to Trumps presidential campaign, his role as Commander in Chief, and leadership of the nation.
Civil Rights: Green bars represent statements about Trumps handling of civil rights issues. This category spans racism, gender discrimination, immigration, and human rights.
to see the full table.
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Read Also: How Much Does Trump Cost
Presidents That Served In The Military
Here is a list of the 31 presidents who served in the U.S. military. It would be easy to assume that an American President must have some background in military servicethe President is the Commander-In-Chief, after all. But the reality is that military service is NOT a prerequisite to hold the highest office in America. That said, a significant number of U.S. Presidents did serve in some capacity.
How many American Presidents served in the United States military? The U.S. Constitution specifies civilian control of the armed forces, and no sitting general may also hold the office of President. But a former military member can, and many did. The actual number of sitting presidents who have served may surprise you of the 46 Presidents, a whopping 31 also had military service.
That means that 15 did not serve. Which presidents did NOT serve? Most notably, Presidents Joe Biden, Donald J. Trump, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Roosevelts entry is notable as he served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during World War One. He tried to resign in order to enter uniformed service but his resignation was not accepted and he did not join.
The last president to serve in the military was George W. Bush who served in the Texas Air National Guard. The last president to see combat was George H. W. Bush.
Years Later Disagreements Over Young Trumps Military Academy Record
From the moment 17-year-old Donald Trump was named a captain for his senior year at New York Military Academy, he ordered the officers under his command to keep strict discipline. Shoes had to be shined. Beds had to be made. Underclassmen had to spring to attention.
Then, a month into Trumps tenure in the fall of 1963, came an abrupt change.
The tall, confident senior with a shock of blond hair was removed from that coveted post atop A Company and transferred to a new job on the school staff another prestigious assignment, but one with no command responsibilities. He moved out of the barracks and into the administration building, swapping jobs with a fellow high-ranking senior who took command of Trumps old group.
Explanations vary as to what actually happened.
In Trumps telling, he was elevated as a reward for stellar performance. I had total control over the cadets, he said in a recent interview. Thats why I got a promotion because I did so good.
Former cadets recall the change differently. They say school administrators transferred Trump after a freshman named Lee Ains complained of being hazed by a sergeant under Trumps command. School officials, those cadets say, were concerned that Trumps style of delegating leadership responsibilities while spending a lot of time in his room, away from his team, allowed problems to fester.
The commandant who ordered the transfer, Col. Joseph C. Angello, has since died. School officials declined to comment.
Recommended Reading: What Is The Latest Trump Approval Rating
He Can Consolidate Power In The Pentagon But The Military Men And Women I Know Arent Going To Subvert Democracy
President Donald Trump leaves the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery on Veterans Day.
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Every Veterans Day, my social media feeds fill with military contentphotos of men and women I served with, decked out in various uniforms and reflecting on their pride in service and love of country. On Wednesday, those posts were interrupted by another kind of military content: news that Trump had installed loyalists in several top Pentagon positions, in an apparent bid to consolidate control of the armed forces. The ironyselfless service and service to self, juxtaposedwas palpable.
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