|
U.S. Draft Categories
Although most people think
of the draft – conscription – as a twentieth century phenomenon in American
history, it actually has its roots in colonial times, when virtually all of the
colonies had provisions for mandatory militia service, and could even draft men
from the militia for more permanent duty with provincial forces and later with
the Continental Army. This form of the
draft continued under the early Republic, especially whenever volunteerism did
not yield enough troops. A federal draft
was first enacted during the War of 1812, but that ended before anyone was
actually conscripted. The Confederacy
instituted a “confederal” draft in 1862, followed by the Union
in 1863, in both cases with often acrimonious, and sometimes bloody
objections. But these were temporary
measures.
It was in the twentieth
century that federal conscription became something of a commonplace. After much acrimony, the draft was implemented
in mid-1917 and continued until just days after the Armistice of November 11, 1918. A rudimentary draft organization continued to
exist during the years of peace, and plans for a resumption of conscription
were developed. In September of 1940,
with the country still at peace but with war raging in Europe
and Asia, the draft was reinstituted, and,
with modifications, continued until the end of 1946. The onset of the Cold War, however, led to a
resumption of the draft in March of 1947, and continued until draft calls were
ended in December of 1972. Since then
the draft has been on “stand-by” status.
When a man registered for
the draft he was given a series of tests to determine his eligibility, and
placed into one of 13 categories, which have changed somewhat over the years.
| Class Explanation |
|
I-A
|
Fit for military
service
|
|
I-B
|
Fit for limited
military service
|
|
I-C
|
Already in the armed
forces
|
|
I-D
|
Student, fit for
military service, temporarily deferred
|
|
I-E
|
Student, fit for
limited military service, temporarily deferred
|
|
II-A
|
Deferred,
essential war worker
|
|
III-A
|
Deferred due to
dependents, usually fathers of families
|
|
IV-A
|
Already served in
the armed forces
|
|
IV-B
|
Deferred by law;
government officials and some others
|
|
IV-C
|
Alien
disqualified from service (usually an Axis national)
|
|
IV-D
|
Clergyman
|
|
IV-E
|
Conscientious
objector (several categories)
|
|
IV-F
|
Unfit for
military service due to physical (including ‘extreme ugliness’), mental, or moral
(i.e., criminal record) condition
|
A man’s draft status could change. Many men classified IV-F
due to physical shortcomings worked to overcome their problems and requested
reclassification. In addition, as time went on, and casualty lists grew longer,
physical, mental, and moral standards were modified. For example, men missing their teeth were
often classified as IV-F early in the war, but were later accepted for service,
receiving false teeth as a gift from Uncle Sam.
Many men with minor felony convictions also frequently found their
status changed as the war lengthened.
Similarly, increasing manpower demands in 1943 led to most men
classified as III-A to
be reclassified, usually to I-A.
Although draft registration is still mandatory, men are not
subject to physical examinations and other processing, and are thus not
classified.
Improbable Wars: The Pastry War (1837-1838)
The city-states (poleis)
In 1828 the
newly elected, but not yet inaugurated, President of Mexico, Manuel Gomez
Pedraza, a moderate liberal, used the army to eject the governor of the State
of Mexico, Lorenzo de Zavala. Not a man
to take such high-handed and illegal treatment lightly, in December, supported
by General de division Antonio Lopez
de Santa Anna, a hero of Mexico’s War for Independence, Zavala rallied most of
the garrison of Mexico City to his side. There followed four days of bloody
fighting. Zavala's men won the fight,
and installed another supposed liberal, Vicente Guerrero, as President.
Now, during the
fighting there was considerable looting on the part of the city's underclass,
aided and abetted by soldiers and even officers. When the property owners sought redress, they
were ignored. For those among the victims
who were Mexicans there was no further recourse. However, some of those who had lost property
were French citizens, and they promptly took their cases to their consul. But they found that that the consul was only mildly
interested in the matter, doing little more than sending occasional notes to
the Mexican government. So the matter
died.
But in 1838 one
of the French claimants, a pastry cook known as Monsieur Remontel managed to get the ear of someone higher up the
food chain in the French government. He claimed
that his shop in the Tacubaya district of Mexico City had been looted by Mexican
officers during the four days of fighting back in 1828, and he wanted compensation. This time, word went up the chain-of-command,
and King Louis-Philippe decided to champion his subject’s claims. Soon, the French Minister presented a demand
that Mexico
pay some 600,000 pesos in
compensation, an enormous sum for the times, since a common Mexican workman's
daily pay was only about one peso.
Now for some
years Mexico
had been in a state of considerable disorder.
Domestic affairs had never been orderly, with the presidency changing
hands repeatedly by coups and counter-coups over the previous decade, and
secessionist movements had threatened to separate various states from the
central government, with Texas
actually achieving independence in early 1836.
And in any case, of course, the country was broke.
So President
Anastasio Bustamante rejected the demand.
And on March 21, 1838,
a French naval expedition showed up off Vera Cruz and presented an ultimatum;
pay up or suffer the consequences.
Bustamante tried negotiations, while making efforts to bolster the
country’s coast defenses, but on April 16th, the French imposed a
blockade of the Mexican
Gulf coast and bombarded
the island fortress of San Juan de Ulua, which guarded the harbor of Vera Cruz,
and quickly seized it, thus controlling maritime access to the country.
This marked the
beginning of desultory hostilities that came to be known as "The Pastry
War" in both France
and Mexico. There was little fighting, though the French
made occasional raids into the interior to "sting” the Mexicans into cooperating. On November 27th, the French commenced
a heavy bombardment of Vera Cruz proper, which was followed by some listless negotiations,
and then on December 5th, the French took the city by a coup de main. They remained for most of the day, hauling
off considerable loot, including most of the Mexican fleet.
The disaster at Vera
Cruz, coming on top of the increasing impact of the blockade, was the final
blow for Mexico. Negotiations resumed, and the Bustamante government
promised payment in full. On March 9, 1839, the French
politely sailed for home
The Pastry War had
complex historical consequences. The
loss of the Mexican fleet proved an immense handicap in Mexican efforts to curb
a secessionist movement in Yucatan,
as well as recover Texas. In addition, the war led to the return of the
amazingly corrupt, yet remarkably adept Antonio Lopez de Santa to the scene.
Ousted from
political life in 1836, after bungling the suppression of the Texas War for Independence, Santa Anna
had retired to his hacienda at Jalapa,
in the mountains west of Vera Cruz. When
the French invested Vera Cruz, Santa Anna rode down from the mountains, quite illegally
took command of the defending forces, and helped prolong the resistance. Actually in the city when the French stormed
in on December 5th, legend has it that when the final French assault
began, he was in the arms of his mistress and had to flee through the night
wearing only a towel. Santa Anna
redeemed himself, however, after a fashion, later that same day when, as the French
pulled out of Vera Cruz, he led some troops in pursuit through the streets of
the city. As his men tangled with the French
rear guard, the general’s left was leg mangled by some grapeshot, necessitating
an amputation that left him in considerable pain for the rest of his life. Santa Anna had the severed limb preserved in a
richly decorated casket, like a saint’s relic, and would parade it on special
occasions to remind everyone of his devotion to the patria, which he otherwise served so poorly.
|
