Who fights, who sends other peoples kids to fight. (John Kerry, Al Gore, McCain)

[KoZmiC NinJa]

Prominent Democrats

• Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) -- rifle platoon and company commander with the Fifth Marine Regiment in the An Hoa Basin west of Danang; was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star Medal, two Bronze Star Medals, and two Purple Hearts. (1 (broken link))
• Representative Tim Walz, D-MN - Twenty-four years of service in the Army National Guard, retiring in 2005.
• Representative Joe Sestak, D-PA - 31 years of service in the Navy, rising to the rank of Vice Admiral.
• Representative Chris Carney, D-PA - Lieutenant Commander in the United States Naval Reserve, Carney served multiple tours overseas and was activated for Operation Enduring Freedom, Noble Eagle, and Southern Watch.
• Representative Patrick Murphy, D-PA - extensive career in the U.S. Army from 1993-2004; earned Bronze Star and Presidential Unit Citation.
• Representative Phil Hare, D-IL - Served in the United States Army Reserve for six years.
• Representative Jack Murtha (D-PA) - distinguished 37-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps, Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts, retired from the Marine Corps Reserve as a colonel in 1990. (1)
• Former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt - Missouri Air National Guard, 1965-71. (1 (broken link), 2)
• Representative David Bonior - Staff Sgt., United States Air Force 1968-72 (1, 2)
• Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle - 1st Lt., U.S. Air Force SAC 1969-72 (1, 2 (broken link))
• Former Vice President Al Gore - enlisted August 1969; sent to Vietnam January 1971 as an army journalist, assigned to the 20th Engineer Brigade headquartered at Bien Hoa, an airbase twenty miles northeast of Saigon. More facts about Gore's Service

• Former Senator Bob Kerrey... Democrat... Lt. j.g., U.S. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam (1, 2)
• Senator Daniel Inouye, US Army 1943-'47; Medal of Honor, World War Two (1 (broken link), 2)
• Senator John Kerry, Lt., U.S. Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, and three awards of the Purple Heart for his service in combat (1)
• Representative Charles Rangel, Staff Sgt., U.S. Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea (1, 2 (broken link))
• Former Senator Max Cleland, Captain, U.S. Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam (1 (broken link), 2)

• Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) - U.S. Army, 1951-1953. (1)
• Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) - Lt., U.S. Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74. (1 (broken link), 2 (broken link))
• Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) - U.S. Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91 (1)
• Former Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) - served as a U.S. Army officer (broken link) in World War II, receiving the Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons. (1)
• Representative Leonard Boswell (D-IA) - Lt. Col., U.S. Army 1956-76; two tours in Vietnam, two Distinguished Flying Crosses as a helicopter pilot, two Bronze Stars, and the Soldier's Medal. (1 (broken link), 2)
• Former Representative "Pete" Peterson, Air Force Captain, POW, Ambassador to Viet Nam, and recipient of the Purple Heart, the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit. (1, (broken link) 2)
• Rep. Mike Thompson, D-CA: Staff sergeant/platoon leader with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, U.S. Army; was wounded and received a Purple Heart. (1, 2 (broken link))
• Bill McBride, Democratic Candidate for Florida Governor - volunteered and served as a U.S. Marine in Vietnam; awarded Bronze Star with a combat "V." (1)
• Gray Davis (broken link), former California Governor, Army Captain in Vietnam; received Bronze Star. (1)
• Pete Stark (broken link), D-CA, served in the Air Force 1955-57
• Wesley Clark, Democratic Presidential Candidate - 38-year career of public service in the Army, culminating as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.

Prominent Republicans

• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY - did not serve (1)
• Senate Assistant Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-MI - avoided the draft, did not serve (broken link).
• Senate Republican Conference Chairman Jon Kyl, R-AZ - did not serve.
• National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair John Ensign, R-NV - did not serve.
• House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-OH - did not serve (broken link).
• House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-MO - did not serve.
• House Republican Conerence Chair Adam Putnam, R-FL - did not serve (broken link).
• House Republican Policy Committee Thaddeus McCotter, R-MI - did not serve.
• National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Tom Cole, R-OK - did not serve.
• Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani - did not serve.
• Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney - did not serve in the military but did serve the Mormon Church on a 30-month mission to France.
• Senator John McCain - McCain's naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross. Why did the Bush campaign smear him so in 2000? At least Senators Cleland (D-GA), Kerry (D-MA), Kerrey (D-NE), Robb (D-VA) and Hagel (R-NE) defended him.
• Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert - avoided the draft, did not serve.
• Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey - avoided the draft, did not serve.
• Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay - avoided the draft, did not serve (broken link) (1). "So many minority youths had volunteered ... that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself."
• Former House Majority Whip Roy Blunt - did not serve (broken link)
• Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist - did not serve. (An impressive medical resume (broken link), but not such a friend to cats in Boston.)
• Rick Santorum, R-PA, formerly third ranking Republican in the Senate - did not serve. (broken link) (1)
• George Felix Allen, former Republican Senator from Virginia - a supporter of Nixon and the Vietnam war, did not serve. (1)
• Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld - served in the U.S. Navy (1954-57) as an aviator and flight instructor. (broken link) (1) Served as President Reagan's Special Envoy to the Middle East and met with Saddam Hussein twice in 1983 and 1984.

• GW Bush - decided that a six-year Nat'l Guard commitment really means four years (broken link). Still says that he's "been to war (broken link)." Huh?
• VP Cheney - several deferments (1, 2 (broken link)), the last by marriage (in his own words, "had other priorities than military service") (1 (broken link))
• Former Att'y Gen. John ******** - did not serve (1 (broken link), 2); received seven deferment to teach business ed at SW Missouri State
• Jeb Bush, Florida Governor - did not serve. (1 (broken link))
• Karl Rove - avoided the draft, did not serve (1), too busy being a Republican.
• Former Speaker Newt Gingrich - avoided the draft, did not serve (1, 2)
• Former President Ronald Reagan - due to poor eyesight, served in a noncombat role (broken link) making movies for the Army in southern California during WWII. He later seems to have confused his role as an actor playing a tail gunner with the real thing.
• "B-1" Bob Dornan - avoided Korean War combat duty by enrolling in college acting classes (Orange County Weekly article). Enlisted only after the fighting was over in Korea.
• Phil Gramm - avoided the draft, did not serve, four (?) student deferments.

[ontheroad]

Thanks for the list! A friend of mine sent me that list or one similar about two years ago.

It is eye-opening in many ways, but apparently not taken seriously enough for true debate and people apparently just gloss over it. It seems they don't see the irony in who serves, and who talks about serving.

[ontheroad]

Jim Webb (VA) could be put on both lists. He was a Republican when he served!

[KoZmiC NinJa]

I like Webb......Did you see his response to Bu$h in reference
to Webbs military serving Son ?? Wow...........
Regardless of party, it still clear those who have been there
generally do not support doing that to someone else.
McCain being the exception, I guess.

[spunky1]

Umm, many democrats voted for this war. . Hilary did. When is Chelsea enlisting?

[ontheroad]

I think I missed it.

But Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska) and Jim Webb have really been very forthright in their opinions about the Iraq War, and both served in Vietnam. I also just heard a stream on NPR from a college professor who served in 'Nam who lost his son on Mother's Day.

More and more Veterans are coming out against the war. I am an honorary member of Veterans for Peace, and the guys are just appalled that the US has done again what it did to my generation of young men (few women in those days served in a fighting capacity).

We don't learn; we repeat our mistakes.

Originally Posted by KoZmiC NinJa

I like Webb......Did you see his response to Bu$h in reference
to Webbs military serving Son ?? Wow...........
Regardless of party, it still clear those who have been there
generally do not support doing that to someone else.
McCain being the exception, I guess.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by spunky1

Umm, many democrats voted for this war. . Hilary did. When is Chelsea enlisting?

You don't know your history. Only your propaganda. Nobody voted for the war. There never was a vote on the war. Bush called the October 2002 result a Vote for Peace. The authorization for the use of force was as a last resort, intended only to put a credible threat of force behind the demands upon Iraq. Not coincidentally, this was the same credible threat of force that Bush was about to head up to the UN to request. How can I go to the UN and ask them for what my own Congress won't give me, Bush sobbed in his usual crocodile tears. Politics end at the water's edge, said the neocons. We can't humiliate our President on the world stage, no matter who he is. Why, it's a matter of patriotism here.

So in the end, that vote came down to whether you were willing to take the President at his word or not, and if you were a Democrat knowing that the Republican majority was going to pass this thing anyway, whether you wanted to vote your conscience or your nationality.

After the vote of course it turned out very quickly that there was no reason at all to have taken the President at his word. His promises were all a sham. He skipped over or actively undermined all of the promised pre-steps, proceeding directly to the last resort, rushing in the end to get a bunch of still poorly equipped soldiers into battle before Hans Blix could prove that there was no need for any of them to begin with. That's our boy Bush!

[KoZmiC NinJa]

At 48 I remember Viet Nam well....and at that age the
images of the non-censored TV news back then were so
horrific I still remember them vividly.
In PA I rode in a motorcycle club that was comprised of a lot of
Viet Nam vets. Some of them wouldnt even talk of the experience
but the ones who did all spoke of demons to deal with. It was beyond
their scope of imagination of how a government would willfully
do that again to another generation.

[ontheroad]

I can not name a single Vietnam Veteran who is not carrying around scars!

Originally Posted by KoZmiC NinJa

At 48 I remember Viet Nam well....and at that age the
images of the non-censored TV news back then were so
horrific I still remember them vividly.
In PA I rode in a motorcycle club that was comprised of a lot of
Viet Nam vets. Some of them wouldnt even talk of the experience
but the ones who did all spoke of demons to deal with. It was beyond
their scope of imagination of how a government would willfully
do that again to another generation.

[silas777]

Since anyone that becomes president, has the duty to send troops into battle, is the premise here that you should not be elected president unless you have served in the military?