Current Events > Why didn't Jimmy Carter serve in WWII?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Can't really find an answer to this. He turned 18 in 1942, just as the US was starting to get involved in the war. He was in the US Naval Academy but why wasn't he deployed?

he was probably too fat

They don't send people still at the service academies into the field until they graduate.

So assuming he starts in 42, the war is over by the time he finishes.

https://youtu.be/3RmQTYLD398

WWII was obviously a different time, but even in the war on terror, I've heard that only something like 10-15% of units in the military wound up being deployed.

So even if 85-90% of units in WWII deployed, that still leaves a chance for him to have been in a unit that didn't.

Also if started attending in 42, and the school was the proper length of 4 years and not shortened as a result of the war, then he wouldn't have graduated til 46.

President James Earl "Jimmy" Carter graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946 with distinction, after which he was assigned to USS Wyoming (E-AG 17) as an ensign. After completing two years of surface ship duty, Carter applied for submarine duty. He served as executive officer, engineering officer, and electronics repair officer on the submarine SSK-1. When Admiral Hyman G. Rickover (then a captain) started his program to create nuclear-powered submarines, Carter wanted to join the program and was interviewed and selected by Rickover. Carter was promoted to lieutenant and from 3 November 1952 to 1 March 1953, he served on temporary duty with the Naval Reactors Branch, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D.C., to assist "in the design and development of nuclear propulsion plants for naval vessels."
From 1 March to 8 October 1953, Carter was preparing to become the engineering officer for USS Seawolf (SSN-575), one of the first submarines to operate on atomic power. However, when his father died in July 1953 Carter resigned from the Navy and returned to Georgia to manage his family interests. Carter was honorably discharged on 9 October 1953 and transferred to the retired reserve at his request with the rank of lieutenant. The Seawolf-class submarine Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) is named for the 39th president.

https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/people/presidents/carter.html