Some Now in Congress Joined Reserve or Guard-From 1988

The article below was found in a newspaper database that I can access through my state libary from home. I was looking for info regarding Kerry's comments about the National Guard/Reserves and came across this article pertaining to the questions being raised about Dan Quayle in the 1988 election. .

New Orleans, Aug 19 - Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana is among at least a dozen members of Congress who, as young men in the Vietnam War era, joined local Reserve or National Guard units and served out military tours near their homes.

Senator Bill Bradley, a New Jersey Democrat, for example, enlisted in the Air Force Reserve in 1967, and like Mr. Quayle served a six-month tour of active duty. He returned to New York to play professional basketball.

"I felt the Army Reserve was a perfectly legitimate option for me and my family, and preferable to enlisting for a three-year tour," said Mr. Bingaman, a Democrat, who performed six months' active duty and then attended monthly meetings and two-week summer camps for the rest of his tour.

Nick Donatiello, a spokesman for Mr. Bradley, said he did not know the details of the Senator's Reserve service but said Mr. Bradley had stayed in the Reserve for 11 years, five years longer than he was required to.

Of 131 members of Congress born from 1942 to 1950, and therefore most vulnerable to the military draft and duty in Vietnam, nearly two-thirds never entered into military duty of any kind, according to their official biographies.

Mr. Quayle, nominated for Vice President by the Republicans this week, has insisted with some defiance that he and his family, prominent newspaper publishers in Indiana, did nothing improper on his behalf about openings in the Guard.

At an appearance before a meeting of the Republican National Committee here this morning, Mr. Quayle squared his shoulders and shouted in a clipped voice: "I stand at attention. Name: Dan Quayle. Serial number: 303504096. Indiana National Guard, six years and proud of it.

But for many, the debate over Mr. Quayle has stirred uncomfortable echoes of another era, a time when the specter of Vietnam and compulsory military service was the dominant reality in the lives of young men.

It has also recalled the complex, changing and often criticized system by which young men, particularly those who were white, from the upper and middle classes and college educated, were able to avoid military service altogether by using student deferments or other exclusions, or to ease their service by seeking haven from possible combat duty in the Reserves or National Guard.

The questions being raised about Mr. Quayle's situation are not new. Indeed, it was not uncommon during the late 1960's for employers to help young men who had run out of other options to find openings in Guard or Reserve Units.

In 1967, Representative Lucien N. Nedzi, a Democratic Congressman from Michigan, released a Defense Department report that he said raised questions about professional athletes receiving "apparent immunity" from the draft by being enrolled in Reserve or Guard Units.

In 1970, there were repots that a Washington-based public relations firm was receiving fees of up to $2,000 to help men find openings in such units in order to avoid service in Vietnam.

That same year, a former Johnson Administration official estimated that 80 percent of those who had enlisted in the Reserves or National Guard had done so just to escape the draft.

According to the Selective Service Commission, the draft peaked in the years between 1966 and 1969, the time of the greatest United States military activity in Vietnam.

Linda Stalvey, a public affairs spokesman for the Selective Service, said 38.3 million men between the ages of 18 and 35 were registered for the draft in 1969, the year Mr. Quayle joined the National Guard, of whom 21.2 million were under the age of 26 and therefore eligible for military duty. She said that about 13.5 million, or about 35 percent of the total, held deferments of some sort.

Of the 131 members of Congress born between 1942 and 1950, 41 were listed as having some military duty, according to data from Congressional Quarterly. About half of those served in the regular military, including several, like Senators Larry Pressler of South Dakota, a Republican, and John Kerry of Massachusetts, a Democrat, who served in Vietnam.

In addition to Senators Bingaman and Bradley, Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, a Democrat, served in the Army Reserve from 1969 to 1975, and Senator Don Nickles, a Republican of Oklahoma, served in the National Guard from 1970 to 1976.

Among those members of Congress whose biographies list six-year tours of duty in the Army Reserve, Air National Guard or National Guard during the Vietnam era are Richard H. Lehman, Democrat of California; Jim Slattery, Democrat of Kansas; Jimmy Hayes, Democrate of Louisiana; Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, Wayne Dowdy, Democrat of Mississippi; Robert S. Walker, Republican of Pennsylvania; Martin Frost, Democrat of Texas, and Robert Lindsay Thomas, Democrat of Georgia.

Not all of them could be reached for reaction today, and five other Congressmen whose biographies make incomplete references to Guard or Reserve duty did not return phone calls or could not be reached.

It's interesting that many of the members of Congress listed as having joined the Reserves during the Vietnam War were Democrats, the same party that sent troops over there to begin with. But then they were the same people to question Quayle's service, and continue their hypocrisy today by attacking President Bush's service as well. Who'da thunk?

I recall reading that "W's" selective service number was well into the 300's. He was in no danger of being called to the draft. Still he joined the Air National Guard, to learn to fly fighter jets, something "dummies" never get to do by the way, thus serving this country with honor. Jet training, and flying is inherently dangerous, and if necessary, guardsmen can be called to active duty at any time they are needed. He and his group did volunteer to go to Viet Nam and fly for our country, but they weren't needed at the time. I see no shame in what he did.

John Kerry tried to get a deferrment to go to France to study for a year. That was denied, so he enlisted in the Navy, where he thought he would be safer, he never expected to go into Viet Nam either. When he did, he made sure he got out as quick as possible with 3 questionable "injuries", none serious enough for even 1 day in a hospital.

What was his draft number I wonder?

Bill Clinton was ordered to report for duty not once, but twice, and he never served. Not only that, he left the country, organized anti-war protests, and visited Communist Russia.

Kerry didn't think that precluded him from becoming President, why does he think it isn't "honorable" enough to serve in the National Guard, when he didn't question Clinton's draft dodging?

"That was denied, so he enlisted in the Navy, where he thought he would be safer, he never expected to go into Viet Nam either. "

In fact, Kerry enlisted in the Naval Reserves in February of '66, before he graduated from Yale. He was on "inactive" status at that time. He didn't leave for active duty until October of '66, spent the first year in this country in training and didn't leave on his first tour of duty until December of '67 on board the USS Gridley.

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