Senator John McCain Criticizes Bone Spur Deferments During Vietnam War

In an interview with C-SPAN to mark the 50th anniversary of his capture during the Vietnam War, Senator John McCain criticizes the uses of bone spur deferments that helped wealth Americans get out of fighting in combat, while low-income, often minority Americans were sent to fight in the conflict. "One aspect of the conflict, by the way, that I will never ever countenance is that we drafted the lowest-income level of America, and the highest-income level found a doctor that would say that they had a bone spur," Senator McCain says. "That is wrong. That is wrong. If we are going to ask every American to serve, every American should serve." close