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Volume 41, Issue 11
March 9, 2004
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March
9,
2004
As troops die, Bush, Kerry argue
old wars
History can often shed light on the future. What remains
to be seen is if the future president will be affected by military history.
Democratic frontrunner John Kerry and President George W. Bush attempt
to personally avoid the issue of military service, while followers of
both have been using the candidates’ participation in Vietnam as
political weapons.
U.S. troops are currently in Iraq, Afghanistan and other regions, risking
their lives. Most of these soldiers are not going to use the experience
as fodder for future political campaigns. But today the soldiers are
all voluntary. There are no draftees and there is no war that is claiming
vast amounts of U.S. soldiers. It is a different time.
Some have accused Kerry of disrespecting the National Guard because he
said Bush’s joining of the Guard was a draft-dodging tactic.
When President Bush joined the Texas Air National Guard in 1968, it was
a time when taking such action was a common way to avoid the draft. Most
college graduates were looking for ways to stay out of the Vietnam killing
fields and were not scorned for it.
Bush even said in 1990 to The Dallas Morning News, “I was not prepared
to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment. Nor
was I willing to go to Canada, so I chose to better myself by learning
how to fly airplanes.”
Bush admitted his desire of avoidance, although not quite as directly
as Bill Clinton’s decision to flee the country as a conscientious
objector (a stance that Kerry supported).
Kerry was not taking away any dignity from the National Guard in general;
he was pointing out a trend of the time to join as Bush did for the purpose
of dodging the draft.
Even Secretary of State Colin Powell in his 1995 book “My American
Journey” pointed out that many men of privilege “wangled” slots
in National Guard.
Kerry’s military record is incomparable to Bush’s because
the two years that they graduated from Yale University represent two
completely different perceptions of the Vietnam War and what it meant
to enlist. When Kerry joined in ’65 it was the expected thing to
do. After Kerry served his time with the Navy he returned as a decorated
soldier, he then joined the ranks of long-haired dissenters who stood
in opposition to the war. At about the same time Bush was gearing up
with the National Guard.
What Kerry would have done in Bush’s shoes or vice versa is an
impossible question to answer, as impossible as it is to quantify patriotism
through the lens of military service.
While the question of whether or not Bush actually fulfilled his duty
in the National Guard remains under investigation, one truth remains;
the military history of both of these candidates will probably fall low
on the voters’ list of important issues. Back to Top
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