[af_vet_rr]

Those young men sound like a good number of the radio ‘conservatives’ offered to us these days. Few if any served, and some actively sought to get out of serving. Some were antiwar protestors during Vietnam.

It's easy to blame the "radio conservatives", but we have some fairly prominent high-ranking Republicans in power (or who were in power) who looked down upon military service or didn't think anything of it, and either pulled the right strings to get cushy assignments in the US, or flat out got deferments.

That has sent a signal to many young Republicans these days that military service doesn't matter. People are going to jump on me for saying that, but the numbers are on my side. We may have a much smaller military than we had even just 15 or 20 years ago, and many who are currently serving are not Republicans, but any physically and mentally fit young Republican could easily get in the military in some capacity.

My brother said it best - the GOP should have added a plank that states something like "if you are mentally and physically eligible to serve your nation's armed forces, you should do so", because Clinton and George W Bush are just the start of administrations lacking in real military experience.

[Pelham]

“It’s easy to blame the “radio conservatives”, but we have some fairly prominent high-ranking Republicans in power (or who were in power) who looked down upon military service or didn’t think anything of it, and either pulled the right strings to get cushy assignments in the US, or flat out got deferments. “

You’re preaching to the choir, I’m right with you.

My jibe about ‘radio conservatives’ was aimed in part at the author of the piece. Michael Medved didn’t simply sit out the Vietnam War, he was an antiwar activist who played the useful idiot for Ho Chi Minh and General Giap. His pal Dennis Prager likewise avoided service and protested the war. Hugh Hewitt was younger, but never saw fit to offer his service to the peacetime Army. But right now they all like to posture as this era’s Churchills, sending others to do what they themselves avoided. I cite them because they appear to have more than a little influence in recent Republican politics.

My father was a Regular Army officer from WWII through Vietnam. He often expresses to me his unease with the lack of military service of so many of our current political class. It tends to insulate them from the people they are sending into combat. And some recent ones have been notable for appearing to ignore the counsel of the professional military. Of course the military doesn’t have the luxury of deciding what is a wise use of military force, they simply get to enact the policies decided upon by politicians.