Kennedy's PT Boat Found in Pacific

"They also serve, who stand and wait"

I tried to find that quote but couldn't remember the exact wording. Most of the real heroes that I met were just grateful that others were able to serve and just considered them lucky that they didn't have to go through the nightmares that they went through.

Had I been drafted, I would have gone.

Had I been born 35 minutes later my draft lottery number would have been 18, and I would have been drafted.

Given a choice, by pure provedence, I choose not to fight in a war we weren't even trying to win, that was being needlessly prolonged and was costing us in terms of lives, money, respect, and national pride. Too many of my friends went, some died. For what? Just so Nixon gould get re-elected? Is that really a worthy cause?

Pick and choose? Call it what you will.

But, you should know I did worry about it. Every day. For the duration.

You're claiming that qualifying and flying the hottest fighters we had at the time (not ground attack slowpokes - Bush's flights were too fast and so were set for anti-A-bomber mission in defense of the continent) is NOT 'experience" in the military?

You'vew got to compare Gore's "record" of 1/2 year at a rear press officer's station with a fighter pilot's position: at a time when 1 in 4 ejection seats WERE used to bailout. (In case you don't understand, that means over a ten year period, you've got a 1/4 chance of being killed while flying. Press officers in Vietnam who's father was a senator and assigned bodyguards to their darlings were pretty well protected in comparison.

Seems Kennedy screwed up (got ran over by a far less manuerable ship, far slower, far slower to accelerate!) in the dark ... while PT's next to him saw in time to avoid collision.

Granted, his recovery was good ... but surpassed by many other thousands in that war.

Sorry, you're typically blind, hysterical hatred for conservatives in showing through.

You misunderstand. I am not saying anything about Gore, Bush, or even Quayle's service to their country not qualifying as service. What I am saying is that all three of them, and more, Democrat and Republican alike were able by whatever means to stay away from the forward areas of combat. My opinion is that the means that they all used is money and political clout. Means that the everyday 19 year old Joe did not have access to. They were the ones that were thrown into the meat grinder of war. They were the ones that too often came home in body bags. Not the Bush's or Quayles or Gores. Those three and many more like them were all pretty safe and sound, sleeping in a nice warm bed at night. While others slept in foxholes or even worse a POW camp.

And I do not hate conservatives, or liberals for that matter. Although there are some on both sides that could use some serious check up from the neck up.

One last thought on service to one's country. I think that everyone at age 18 should be made to give two years of their time to service of their country. I don't care if it is in the military or picking up trash on the highway. What I do hate is the whiney bunch of me mongers that this country is turning into.

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