Why do men who spent much of their lives defending America, with guns… in combat…as opposed to fake deferments in Wyoming or coked up in Alabama, hate America?
Colin Powell: Powell was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army, and was one of the 16,000 military advisors dispatched to South Vietnam by President Kennedy in 1962. In 1963, Lieutenant Powell was wounded by a punji-stick booby trap while patrolling the Vietnamese border with Laos. He was awarded the Purple Heart, and later that year, the Bronze Star.
Powell served a second tour of duty in Vietnam in 1968-69. During this second tour he was injured in a helicopter crash. Despite his own injuries, he managed to rescue his comrades from the burning helicopter and was awarded the Soldier's Medal. In all, he has received 11 decorations, including the Legion of Merit.
John McCain: After graduating from Annapolis, McCain reported to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida to begin training as a Naval Aviator. While in training, he suffered a mishap during which his aircraft crashed into Corpus Christi Bay, though he escaped. Eventually he graduated and entered the U.S. Navy's light attack community.
McCain escaped death once again on July 29, 1967. While the USS Forrestal steamed off the coast of Vietnam preparing to launch attacks, a Zuni rocket from an F-4 Phantom was accidentally fired across the carrier's deck. The rocket struck McCain's A-4E Skyhawk as the jet was preparing for launch. The impact ruptured the Skyhawk's fuel tank - after which leaking fuel ignited, knocking two bombs loose. McCain escaped from his jet by climbing out of the cockpit, walking down to the nose of the plane, and jumping off the nose boom onto the burning deck. Ninety seconds after the impact, the bomb exploded underneath the airplane. McCain was struck in the legs and chest by shrapnel. The ensuing fire killed 134 sailors, destroyed at least 20 aircraft, and threatened to sink the ship.[1] Film shot aboard the Forrestal shows McCain narrowly escaping the explosion.
On October 26, 1967, McCain was shot down in his A-4 Skyhawk over Vietnam, by a Soviet-made anti-aircraft missile, landing in Truc Bach Lake. McCain was held as a prisoner of war in Hanoi for five-and-a-half years, mostly in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. He suffered two broken arms and a broken leg after ejecting from his plane. After he regained consciousness, a mob gathered around him and stripped him of his clothing. He was then tortured by Vietnamese soldiers who bayonetted him in his left foot and groin. His shoulder was crushed by another soldier's rifle butt. He was then transported to the Hanoi Hilton, also known as Hoa Lo Prison.
He was released from captivity in 1973. McCain was reinstated to flight status and became Commanding Officer of VA-174 Hellrazors, the East Coast A-7 Corsair II Navy training squadron. He then became the Navy's liaison to the Senate. He retired from the Navy in 1981 as a Captain. On the same day he watched his father buried next to his grandfather in Arlington National Cemetery. During his military career he received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart, and a Distinguished Flying Cross.
John Warner: The Senator’s first public service opportunity began during World War II when, in January 1945, at age 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He served on active duty until the summer of 1946 when he was honorably discharged as Petty Officer 3rd Class, electronic technician's mate. Following the war, he attended Washington and Lee University on the G.I. Bill, and was awarded a B.S. degree in 1949. He then entered the University of Virginia Law School.
At the outbreak of the Korean War in the summer of 1950, Warner interrupted his law studies and commenced a second tour of active military duty, beginning in October 1950, this time as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. A year later, in October 1951, as a first lieutenant in communications, he volunteered for duty in Korea and served as a ground officer with the First Marine Air Wing. Following his active service in Korea, he remained in the Marine Corps Reserve for 10 years and was promoted to the rank of Captain.
Lindsey Graham: From 1984-1988, he was assigned overseas and served at Rhein Mein Air Force Base in Germany. Upon leaving the active duty Air Force in 1989, Graham joined the South Carolina Air National Guard where he served until his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994.
During the first Gulf War, Graham was called to active duty and served state-side at McEntire Air National Guard Base as Staff Judge Advocate where he prepared members for deployment to the Gulf region. His duties included briefing pilots on the law of armed conflict, preparing legal documents for deploying troops, and providing legal services for family members of the South Carolina Air National Guard. He received a commendation medal for his service at McEntire.
Since 1995, Graham has continued to serve his country in the U.S. Air Force Reserves and is the only U.S. Senator currently serving in the Guard or Reserves. He is a colonel and is assigned as a Reserve Judge to the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals.
As opposed to:
George W. Bush: 6 years National Guard “duty”; never showed up for National Guard duty for a period of approximately one year, possibly more, in 1972-1973.
Dick Cheney From 1963 to 1966, Cheney received five deferments: four student deferments while attending the University of Wyoming and one for having a child. "I had other priorities in the '60s other than military service," Cheney told a reporter in 1989.
Paul Wolfowitz, did not serve
Donald Rumsfeld - Mr. Rumsfeld attended Princeton University on academic and NROTC scholarships (A.B., 1954) and served in the U.S. Navy (1954-57) as an aviator and flight instructor. In 1957, he transferred to the Ready Reserve and continued his Naval service in flying and administrative assignments as a drilling reservist until 1975. He transferred to the Standby Reserve when he became Secretary of Defense in 1975 and to the Retired Reserve with the rank of Captain in 1989.
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