Trump’s ex-bunkmate reveals nickname he earned after dodging Vietnam draft

WASHINGTON, DC: Donald Trump has lived under the glare of the public spotlight ever since he entered the business world, but one of the most revealing portraits of the president may come from someone who knew him long before the White House.

A cadet from New York Military Academy, who shared a two-cadet room with the President in 1962, is now pulling back the curtain on the President's teenage years.

The bunkmate Art Davie also revealed the nickname Trump earned after a medical deferment allowed him to avoid the Vietnam-era draft.

Art Davie reveals how Trump earned the embarrassing moniker

The Vietnam War, which lasted from November 1, 1955, to April 30, 1975, exacted a staggering toll in both human lives and economic resources.

A number of cadets were drafted for the war from the New York Military Academy. However, Trump was able to avoid being drafted for the war five times through four education deferments and one medical deferment for bone spurs in 1968.

The final medical deferment has long been controversial, with the daughters of the podiatrist who issued the diagnosis later alleging that it was granted as a favor to Trump's father, Fred Trump, who owned the doctor's office building in Queens.

The founder of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) revealed that Trump's medical deferment became a source of relentless teasing at military school, earning him the unflattering nickname "Cadet Bonespurs" from fellow cadets.

According to Davie, Trump displayed a victim mentality even as a cadet. He recalled his roommate frequently bristling at the military hierarchy, believing he was being unfairly overlooked for advancement.

“He was very upset and frustrated that the school did not recognize that he should have been promoted faster,” Davie told The Daily Beast. “He was an egomaniac when he was 16. He was a great flag-waver for himself. He wanted everyone to recognize he was the GOAT in everything he did out there.”

Dave remembers furious argument with Trump

Davie said it was the only major clash he ever had with Trump, and he has long wondered whether their disagreement played a role in the school's decision to separate them after the Christmas break.

“I never knew why,” he noted, “What I do know is that they separated us, and I went down to Section 9, which was behind the main barracks, and everybody down there was kind of an oddball. We all got single-bedroom rooms.”

The UFC founder also shed light on Trump’s beliefs that true stars deserved recognition, a belief he felt was validated by John F. Kennedy's rise to the presidency.

“He was enormously impressed with John Kennedy. Kennedy had become a media star, and Trump once said something to the effect of, ‘He doesn’t even have to boast,’ meaning that the media picked up on the fact that he [had a star quality,” Dave noted.