Thanks!
I can't believe this is the hill they want to die on. It's just too easy to verify; why are they going here? It just doesn't make sense.
Perhaps it's just plain old desparation. Maybe their internal polls are even worse than the published ones. Plus they are angry lot, beyond reason. They want revenge for the Swifties.
"I can't believe this is the hill they want to die on."
You'd better believe it. I will relate a story that probably can be duplicated thousand-fold.
Couple weeks ago I went to visit my brother, who is being deployed to Iraq with his National Guard unit.
A man in a wheel chair and his wife were at the house also visiting. The man was a former NCO in my brother's former unit.
He had been deployed earlier to Iraq with that unit. He had health problems, so could have gotten out of it. IN FACT, he put in requests for waivers up the chain of command, so that HE COULD DEPLOY TO IRAQ WITH HIS UNIT. IOW he DID NOT HAVE TO GO. But he did it out of loyalty to his troops. This is what NCOs and officers do. If their unit goes, THEY go, to take care of their men! (people. women. whatever).
I don't know all the details. At a certain point, he was med-evac'd to Germany. Put on light duty. Did not go to the hospital for his symptoms. Suffered a MASSIVE STROKE. Now in his 50s is wheel-chair bound, speaks with difficulty; but with love and devotion. He did what he thought he MUST for HIS troops. He did NOT try to get a Purple Heart or two or three and an out, IOW.
AND he and his wife thought enough of the NG comeraderie, to drive to visit my brother before HE deployed. That level of devotion is, guys, outside the context of the military services, unbelievable . . .
This, folks, is what the NG -- and other branches of the serice -- is all about.
IOW: SELFLESS SACRIFICE.
DU, go stuff yourself. In your dreams could you approach this level of devotion to others, to service.
Yeah, go ahead and claim that active service by a Guard member is not the same as active service by someone serving under a different budget account.
I hope lots of you guys have a HUGE PING LIST for the Guard and Reserve. Those guys in IRAQ have PCs too.