Definition:
: a person seeking to avoid military service (as by working in a government office)
About the Word:
It seems safe to make the assumption that for as long as there has been military service there have been people trying to avoid it. Considering this, a word to describe such a person came into the English language rather late; embusqué makes its earliest appearance in 1914, during the First World War. It comes from the French ((s')embusquer, meaning 'to lie in ambush'), although in the 19th century the French were also using the word to describe a soldier who was removed from military duty.
Example:
"In every place where there was red tape, wherever there was a comfortable requisitioned motor car to drive, or a Red Cross ambulance to pilot, guards to furnish, reports to write or to carry behind the lines, sick to help, funds to raise, the embusqués swarmed during the first three months of the war." — The Evening Star (Washington DC), 1 Dec. 1914
