I was reading about Donald Trump, and apparently he attended a military academy in his youth, and was given medical deferments from being drafted. However lets posit that Trump decides to go to West Point and ends up being shipped to Vietnam. What would his service entail? Do you think he would be able to survive war? If he does serve and survive, what would his profile be like with military service on his record?
What if Donald Trump had fought in Vietnam?
- Thread starter Enigmajones
- Start date
The Don would bring it up a lot, you better belive he would write about his experences and trump them up.
And in the election he would bring up his milatary service.
One thing that I will add is that so much about military service comes down to sheer bald faced luck. Postings, operational deployments can at times seem all together random for those that are subject to them. This is before we consider the different impacts that combat can have on a person, there are many variables here.
In this case I would make Trump a combat engineer officer, bit of a nod to his Dad with that, rather than an infantry officer.
Alternatively, what if Trump becomes a Seabee officer?
In this case I would make Trump a combat engineer officer, bit of a nod to his Dad with that, rather than an infantry officer.
Alternatively, what if Trump becomes a Seabee officer?
Second lieutenant fresh out of the Academy was looking at his branch school basic course, ranger school and maybe airborne before he sets foot in Vietnam. Took about a year all told, longer if he went to Special Forces. Assuming he's in a combat arm-by no means a given at that point-he's headed into the field. Give him an MOS that doesn't involve combat, and his odds of getting to MACV or USARV improve considerably, but he'll end up the guy who carries the general's briefcase or something at best. Given Donald's OTL track record, I expect him to end up in Special Services at Long Binh swindling the army out of its military mess and entertainment funds (*).
(*) Scandals involving such were so enormous that they ended up destroying multiple careers-The Sergeant Major of the entire army, for one-and led to the Pentagon abolishing the office of Provost Marshal in the US Army in an effort to get rid of the stench.
Generaloberst
Banned
I think it might be likely, or at least an alternative, that his time in that military academy graduates up to West Point, and he becomes an Infantry officer. There might not be a Donald Trump that survives 1969. Anyone in the infantry was in a very dangerous position, and Vietnam was exceptionally brutal. Or, if he does survive, he is completely unrecognizable from whatever Trump exists on our TL. He would certainly be utterly changed and perhaps even scarred by the war. Maybe he would go into politics like Kerry.
Delta Force
Banned
@asnys, you might like this.
Donald Trump comes from a construction background and seems to be really interested in heavy industry. Maybe he could end up in the Army Corps of Engineers working on bridges and hydroelectric facilities, possibly even ending up with the Army Nuclear Power Program. He could decide to have the company diversify into energy and heavy industry, and maybe his company ends up suffering major losses after the New Jersey nuclear power market folds, especially on the Atlantic Nuclear Power Plant using Offshore Power Systems technology.
Donald Trump comes from a construction background and seems to be really interested in heavy industry. Maybe he could end up in the Army Corps of Engineers working on bridges and hydroelectric facilities, possibly even ending up with the Army Nuclear Power Program. He could decide to have the company diversify into energy and heavy industry, and maybe his company ends up suffering major losses after the New Jersey nuclear power market folds, especially on the Atlantic Nuclear Power Plant using Offshore Power Systems technology.
He'd have been tremendous in Vietnam. America would start winning. Everybody talks about how much America would win with him there.
marathag
Banned
True.
He could have ended up at Schloss Kaserne with 3AD in an M60A1 tank, too. Not everybody went to SEAsia in 1969
I don't know how large the classes were, but which ever included him would be yuge.
Daddy was rich and influential, Donald wasnt going within a thousand miles of anywhere more dangerous than the local golf course.
He could have joined the National Guard though, like Dubya. He'd have an actual service record and would still be a substantially different person.
A trip to the USMC holiday camp at Parris Island might have substantially changed him.
Vietnam service can butterfly everything. He won't be a teetotaler probably and he could end up being like his brother, who died young.
But assuming Trump goes to 'Nam and serves in an okay matter, I agree with the assessment he would build himself to be a war hero and such.
I presume he would start his political ambitions sooner, which ironically would likely result in failure, and having failed at politics, he'll focus on real-estate which made him and his father so much money.
Trump is Prez because of him being in the right time, right place. Nam changes that.
It might make him a better person, actually. If he has to experience some actual hardship he might learn that he can't get his own way all the time.
Well, there's that and the fact that he would encounter people from minority communities who got drafted and didn't have a rich daddy who could pull strings. Basically the arrogance gets beaten out of him. Perhaps literally.
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Napoleonrules
Banned
Telling you right now as some one who was born in to a 1%er family and went out and was literally homeless on the street sleeping on benches after college... hardship and being poor (and going into the military would be similar) doesn't change your basic personality, this isnt a movie social experiment with Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphey, this is real how people are hardwired. By the time Trump is in West Point he is who he is, it will not change him. Trust me, the age is too late for change.