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Who spent more time in active duty overseas a) George Bush or b) Ron Paul? Are we splitting hairs? The guy served his country.

Both guys served their country. I don't go in for chipping away at W. on his service record. He served. He could have been deployed to Vietnam too.

And RP probably spent his time mostly as an ear/nose/throat specialist for pilots and other AF personnel, a very expensive herd of thoroughbreds whose health is very carefully tended by the Air Force. You can't have them knocked off the ready list because of ear infections and such.

I get the impression RP was mostly stateside. I'd be interested if he served overseas as a specialist, if his rotation was simply part of the military's effort to keep their staff ready or if RP was taking his turn overseas like many other specializing AF doctors. Not that it means much but it would be interesting to know more of the details.

As for how long he spent overseas, if he spent considerable time in Iran, that might lead RP to hold much stronger opinions about that country. So it is relevant in the same way that McCain's service record is when discussing his attitude and policy toward Vietnam and his visits there over the years which paved the way for Bush to visit Vietnam.