He said he ''never served'' because of deferments to finish a college career that lasted six years rather than four, which he attributed to subpar academic performance and the fact that he had to work to pay for his education.

He added that he ''would have obviously been happy to serve had I been called.''

Away from the hearing room, he told the Washington Post that he had sought his deferments because ''I had other priorities in the 60's than military service.''

''I don't regret the decisions I made,'' he added. ''I complied fully with all the requirements of the statutes, registered with the draft when I turned 18. Had I been drafted, I would have been happy to serve.''

But others contend that Mr. Cheney appeared to go to some length to avoid the draft.

''Five deferments seems incredible to me,'' said David Curry, a professor at the University of Missouri in St. Louis who has written extensively about the draft, including a 1985 book, ''Sunshine Patriots: Punishment and the Vietnam Offender.''

''That's a lot of times for the draft board to say O.K.,'' Mr. Curry said.

In February 1962, when Mr. Cheney was classified as 1-A -- available for service -- he was doing poorly at Yale. But the military was taking only older men at that point, and like others who were in college at the time, Mr. Cheney seemed to have little concern about being drafted.

In June, he left Yale. After returning home to Casper, a small city in east-central Wyoming, he worked as a lineman for a power company.

At that point, the Vietnam War was still just a glimmer on the horizon. In 1962, only 82,060 men were inducted into the service, the fewest since 1949. Mr. Cheney was eligible for the draft but, as he said during his confirmation hearings in 1989, he was not called up because the Selective Service System was taking only older men.