Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to OK

You misunderstand
Larry J — (archived)

It's one thing to serve in the military. Millions of us (I was on active duty for over 12 years with another 2 years in the reserves) did. It's another to claim having served a combat tour of duty when it isn't true. Millions of us, myself included, wore the uniform for years but were never anywhere near combat. Falsely claiming combat veteran status is an unpardonable sin in the military. Back in 1996, Admiral Borda committed suicice when accused of falsely wearing combat decorations. It's that serious.

Like the other military members who didn't see combat, I did my job every day to the best of my ability. In that regard, I served my country, but most definitely not in a combat capacity.

There are a lot of people out there who also serve our country without ever being in the military. If anything, 9-11 showed how emergency workers like police officers, firefighters, parametics, etc. serve our country. Civilization would literally burn down without them.

In a related note, InstaPundit has a good article today about Senator Tom Harkin. Earlier this week, Harkin blasted Dick Cheney and called him a coward for taking perfectly legal student deferments during the Vietnam war. However, in earlier campaigns, Harkin himself had falsely claimed to have been a Vietnam combat vet. He was a Navy pilot, but he never served in Vietnam and never saw combat. Like President Bush, Harkin flew military jet fighters, only Bush never lied about when and where he flew them.

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