The person probably suffered from a defect that would reasonably be considered, even before a classification ruling after an appearance at a local board as to final disposition, to be manifestly disqualifying from any gainful military service, such as loss of a limb or limbs, blindness, or other permanent disability from birth defect or serious injury. The reverse side of the draft registration card had space for a question which read "Has person lost arm, leg, hand, eye, or is he palpably [noticeably or clearly] physically disqualified (specify)?"

Per the 1917 Selective Service Regulations, all male citizens and aliens from the ages of twenty-one to thirty inclusive were required to register; this was later extended to all men eighteen to forty-four inclusive in 1918. Dependent upon the results of a local board classification, they were placed into one of five classes. Men in Class I were immediately available for military service, while men in Classes II, III, and IV were temporarily deferred. Men in Class V, including those persons "totally and permanently physically or mentally unfit for military service" or "morally unfit to be a soldier of the United States" were exempt altogether. In a given local board's jurisdiction, men from Class II would only be called for service when all men from Class I had been selected, men from Class III when all men from Class II had been selected, and so on and so forth.