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June 23, 2004
I just want everyone to remember I didn't start this. You can blame Paul and
David.
Soldier's Letter to Kerry
Dear Senator Kerry:
Since it has become clear that you will probably be the Democratic nominee
for President, I have spent a great deal of time researching your war record and
your record as a professional politician. The reason is simple, you aspire to
be the Commander in Chief who would lead my sons and their fellow soldiers in
time of war. I simply wanted to know if you possess the necessary
qualifications to be trusted in that respect.
You see, I belong to a family of proud U.S. veterans. I was a Captain in the
Army Reserve, my father was a decorated Lieutenant in World War II; and I have
four sons who have either served, or are currently serving in the military.
The oldest is an Army Lieutenant still on active duty in Afghanistan after
already being honored for his service in Iraq. The youngest is an E-4 with the
military police. His National Guard unit just finished their second tour of
active duty, including six months in Guantanamo Bay. My two other sons have served
in the National Guard and the navy.
In looking at your record I found myself comparing it not only to that of my
father and my sons, but to the people they served with. My father served with
the 87th Chemical Mortar Battalion in Europe. They landed on Utah Beach and
fought for 317 straight days including the Cherbourg Peninsula, Aachen, the
Hurtgen Forest, and the Battle of the Bulge. You earned a Silver Star in
Vietnam for chasing down and finishing off a wounded and retreating enemy soldier.
My father won a Bronze Star for single handedly charging and knocking out a
German machine gun nest that had his men pinned down. You received three purple
hearts for what appears to be three minor scratches. In fact you only missed a
combined total of two days of duty for these wounds. The men of my father's
unit, the 87th, had to be admonished by their commanding officer because: "It
has been brought to our attention that some men are covering up wounds and
refusing medical attention for fear of being evacuated and permanently separated
from this organization..." It was also a common problem for seriously wounded
soldiers to go AWOL from hospitals in order to rejoin their units. You used
your three purple hearts to leave Vietnam early.
My oldest boy came home from Iraq with numerous commendations and then
proceeded to volunteer to go to Afghanistan and from there back to Iraq again. My
sons and father have never had anything but the highest regard and respect for
their fellow soldiers. Yet, you came home to publicly charge your fellow
fighting men with being war criminals and to urge their defeat by the enemy. You
even wrote a book that had a cover which mocked the heroism of the U.S. Marines
who raised the flag on Iwo Jima. Our current crop of soldiers has a
philosophy that no one gets left behind; and they have practiced that from Somalia to
the battlefields of the Middle East. Yet as chairman of a Senate committee
looking into allegations that many of your fellow servicemen had been left
behind as prisoners in Vietnam, you chose to defend the brutal Vietnamese regime.
You even went so far as to refer to the families of the POWs and MIAs as
Professional malcontents, conspiracy mongers, con artists, and dime-store Rambos.
As a Senator you voted against the 1991 Gulf War, and have repeatedly voted
against funds to supply our troops with the best equipment, and against money
to improve our intelligence capability. I find this particularly ironic since
as a Presidential candidate you are highly critical of our pre-war intelligence
in Iraq. However, you did vote to authorize the President to go to war, but
have since proceeded to do everything you can to undermine the efforts of our
government and our troops to win. Is this what our fighting men and women can
expect of you if you are their Commander in Chief? Will you gladly send them to
war, only to then aid the enemy by undermining the morale of our troops and
cutting off the weapons they need to win?
Our country is at war Senator, and as has been the case in every war since
the American Revolution, a member of my family is serving their country during
the war. Now you want me to trust you to lead my sons in this fight.
Sorry Senator, but when I compare your record to those who have fought and
died for this nation, and are currently fighting and dying, the answer is not
just no, but Hell No!
Sincerely,
Michael Connelly February 14, 2004 Dallas, Texas
Robert Houston
Texan in New Mexico
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded
state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war
is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight,
nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable
creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions
of better men than himself.John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873)
rbhouston@... 32721
Posted on June 23, 2004 06:24 PM
Posted to category(s) Interior | International | Technical Info | US States
