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I believe that Kirk is making some erroneous assumptions about the makeup of the military. This isn't the Vietnam draftee military.

I recall a Wall Street Journal article from the late 90's that noted that the combat arms had become dominated by white males.

First, minorities (but most especially blacks) entering the military were more likely to look upon it as a career so they were entering support branches because those tasks often had civilian equivalents (i.e. truck maintenance in the Army is going to give you a career in civilian life), unlike say infantry (though if Bill Gates decides to become a supervillain, that could change).

Second, many white guys looked upon the military as an adventure for a few years so they joined the various more elite combat arms and special ops. It was something to do while young and crazy.

So far this has been a war of elite ground units and pilots (a group that requires a college degree). These are people with very different backgrounds than the Vietnam era draftees.

That 'blank' don't fly. This is a VOLUNTEER army, and I think Texas understands that. This is a Texas race, right? I have trouble believing that a Texas candidate would be talking like this Kirk clown.

What are we paying our soldiers for? Good grief. This loser might be a senator of the United States of America? From TEXAS???!!!

Here's a response: "I think that Black American soldiers would be insulted by what Mr. Kirk is saying. They don't want to be left at home when the shooting starts, I can tell you that. ALL soldiers in our military get it. They understand the importance of regime change in Iraq. Hiding behind race in this VOLUNTEER army is as cowardly as hiding behind women and children."

Take that, Mr. Kirk, the same bozo who things that parental consent for an underage girl to have an abortion is extreme.

I believe it's been documented that the "black grunt only" stereotype was wildly exaggerated even in Vietnam.

And if it comes to that, Gore seemed to be pretty sure that military personnel are predominantly Republicans.

I recall an article in the Wall St Journal maybe 5-10 years ago worrying about surveys showing that the Officer's Corps was becoming overwhelmingly Republican, whereas it traditionally had been independent. But what else could have happened back in the seventies when leftist protestors were trying to shut down ROTC. Democrats just weren't gonna be in ROTC in any numbers back then.

You are spreading misinformation that you must have gotten from watching Hollywood films about Vietnam. Blacks were drafted, and killed in FEWER numbers in Vietnam than their percentage of the draft age population (12.5 versus 13.1 percent). Wake up and stop spreading lies; of course, what can one expect when "history" is made-up in films by "artists" who think sleeping with five Korean male midgets is perfectly normal.

Here is an interesting book which exposes a great many myths about the Armed Forces of the Vietnam war--why the myths are maintained and who benefits from exploiting the myths.

Of course the most well-known myth is the racial/ethnic make-up of the troops. In reality, white men were overrepresented among the troops fighting in Vietnam by some small percentage. Also, the men sent to fight in Vietnam were the most well-educated in American history.

It also exposes the lie behind the stereotype of the dysfunctional Vietnam Vet--and why this stereotype is so dear to the government bureaucracy.

The name of the book is: "Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation was Robbed of its Heroes and its History" by: B.G. Burkett.