With basic training under his belt, Elvis Presley left Texas on Sept. 18, 1958 and shipped out for West Germany to complete his two-year military obligation.

When the rock ’n roll sensation turned 21 in January 1956, he was automatically subject to the peacetime draft. Colonel Tom Parker, who micromanaged every aspect of his golden goose’s life, told Elvis not to worry, that he would somehow find a way for him to avoid conscription.

But the master manipulator was lying through his teet...