I totally agree with your assessment of Kerry. I would never vote for him.
As a Vietnam vet myself I think the points made above about this issue need to be answered. It is not out of line to ask the Commander-in-Chief to clarify it once and for all. Bush brought this on HIMSELF, and the longer he avoids clearing it up, the longer this issue will fester. If I had decided to take a "year off," I'd STILL be making little rocks out of big ones in Leavenworth, Kansas.
Remember, folks, it's not the act -- it's the cover up (or PERCEPTION of one) -- that sinks the ship.
This was hashed out back in 2000 and it has been settled--like the counting in Florida--for years.
President Bush served and received an Honorable Discharge. And all the deceitful spinning and twisting the dems brought up back then were answered time and again at that time.
President Bush's military service was thoroughly examined in '00 by most people who cared. I don't have all of the details, but he didn't just spend a year to no account. As I remember it, the sequence was:
1. The plane on which he had trained was being phased out of service. Vietnam was winding down, and the military was dumping pilots. I work with a guy who was a Navy pilot from that time. We've never talked about it from a political perspective, but I've heard him telling stories about how pilots were being phased out of the service because there was no place for them.
2. George Bush was shuffled into a reserve unit to finish his service period. He was looking for work and was interested in helping a senate candidate in Alabama. He was hired by that campaign and had his service location transferred to Alabama.
3. The unit to which he was assigned didn't take things seriously. Instead of drilling for a weekend a month, they met for a few hours in the evening once a week or so. Many members treated it as a club, and few attended as regularly as they should. George Bush fell into this habit as well.
4. When the time came for him to leave the service, he was living in Houston again, and the issue of his missed drills had to be resolved before he could be discharged. He went to the Air Force and served a month of active duty doing whatever they needed in order to fulfill his obligation.
5. He was honorably discharged.
Certainly this history doesn't make him a hero, but it doesn't show any flaws either. In wanting to fly planes for the military, he was following his father's footsteps. There's nothing wrong with that desire or taking steps to pursue it. He didn't make it into a front line plane, but there's nothing to indicate that he was trying to shirk service. He was wrong to skip drills in Alabama, but when the unit is being handled the way that his unit was being handled, I don't see a major issue in his following what was a common practice. The important point is that he made everything right before he left the service.
For those who are determined to run him down, no explanation will matter. Maybe you are one of those people. For the rest of us, the truth shows that the charge of desertion is just a partisan, Democrat lie.
WFTR
Bill