For my money, the ‘disconnect’ betweem civilians and the military has NEVER fully healed.
Kerry, in his continuing flip-flop between milking his ‘military career’ (such as is was) and bashing the Military, when it suited his political career, did the civilian/military schism NO good.
If you remember, the ‘Swift Boat Vets’ yanked the bandage from THAT wound and America bled anew.
The Military is ONE US institution which tolerates NO wannabe’s and no impostors. They succeed or fail in full public view. Fortunately, OUR Military has continually acquitted itself honorably. That their image is less than golden it due to the ongoing Liberal campaign to foul and defame anything THEY cannot control or invalidate.
I venerate the Swift Boat Vets. They saved this country nearly singlehandedly from the scum that is John Kerry. They could have just sat at home, watched television, read the papers and groused about John F'n Kerry. Nobody would have thought less of them (and some definitely would have thought more of them!)
But they didn't.
They put their gear on, and got back to work. One of the highlights of my life was being able to spend several hours with these men outside Walter Reed Hospital in a crappy, sleeting, freezing March Friday night in 2007 before the Gathering of Eagles in Washington DC...
During the 2004 election, this was what I had on my car up here in Massachusetts:
I actually got the middle finger from a granny with a gray bun...a highlight of my life as well...:)
God bless those men, and all who served and serve (including YOU, Little Bill...:)