Following Rules, Finding Advantage

"I daresay that you do face the possibility of military service at the end of the current academic year," Link wrote Nov. 8. "I have always taken the line with students that it is best to go ahead and get one's military service out of the way. There could be nothing worse than being in law school with the possibility of being drafted hanging constantly over your head. I should think that you would be very fortunate to be able to do your military service by teaching history at West Point."

Bradley had already reached that conclusion. He approached Col. George Lincoln, then head of West Point's social science department, and offered to do his two-year military service as a teacher. "He did not have the requisite Army experience, and Colonel Lincoln explained that to him," said a member of the department who did not wish to be identified.

By Christmas of 1966 Bradley was searching for other options. Between Oxford academic terms, he flew back to New York, Princeton and St. Louis to seek advice.

Whether he went to law school or played basketball, he needed an answer to the draft. Bradley found one with Maj. Adelson, the ROTC officer and Princeton basketball fan who had watched nearly every practice and home game Bradley played.

Changing Rules

The Air Force Reserve, then as now, relied primarily on former active duty airmen and officers. But under Air Force regulations, civilians with no prior service could also be accepted.

Cantwell, the Air Force historian, wrote in "Citizen Airmen" that the men throughout the 1960s who managed to join in circumstances like Bradley's numbered in the hundreds. They "took advantage of the legal opportunity to join a reserve unit, gambling that the unit would never be called to active duty, thereby reducing their chances of being exposed to danger in what was becoming an unpopular war," he wrote.

Among the requirements Bradley had to meet was a written statement from a reserve unit commander "that a vacancy exists within the unit and the appointment of the applicant is requested to fill the existing vacancy." From his Princeton office, Adelson telephoned the 514th Troop Carrier Wing at McGuire on Bradley's behalf. Col. Campbell Y. Jackson, then the commander, met Bradley on Jan. 12, 1967, and endorsed his enlistment that day.

"The type of billet we put him in, that was on a competitive basis, and he had to take a test and be evaluated with other people who applied," said retired Col. Clayton Bridges, the personnel officer who processed Bradley's application. "We didn't do any favors for him, that's for sure. By the same token it was to the advantage of the reserve wing at McGuire to have Bill Bradley and we knew that. He was a well known person. But we didn't jump his name on the waiting list."

At the time there was no requirement to accept applicants on a first-come, first-served basis. Commanders were entitled to select those "best qualified for appointment." By any standard then in use, Bradley stood out. Apart from his athletic and academic credentials, he scored in the 95th percentile for "officer quality" in the Air Force Officers Qualifying Test.

A month before Bradley's application, Life magazine had published a story headlined "Evading the Draft" that showed how professional athletes received preferential treatment from National Guard and reserve commanders.

Under pressure from Congress, the Pentagon abolished the "best qualified" rule. By Feb. 1, 1967, Deputy Defense Secretary Cyrus Vance wrote, "it shall be normal practice to accept the earliest applicant for enlistment who meets the minimum qualifications for a vacancy." And preference would be given to enlistees under 18 1/2 years, because they were not yet subject to the draft.