It doesn’t appear that military service means much to the American people in terms of who they vote for. At least it isn’t like it used to be.
A recent STORY by the Associated Press (AP) talks about military service among the 2008 Presidential candidates being very low.
John McCain has the most military experience of all the contenders.
Also in the AP story, it is reported that in Congress, currently only 131 members have some sort of military service. If The Western Word’s (TWW) math is correct, that’s only about 24% (131 of 535 members) and these people make decisions about the military and veterans every day.
In Montana, our Congressional Delegation has zero, zilch, military service. If a candidate, whether an R or a D comes up to run against one of those three people, then TWW would have to give them a very strong look. TWW believes that with the number of veterans in Montana (around 110,000) and with a strong National Guard and an active Air Force base, the experience of being a veteran would be very helpful.
TWW would also like to know how all members of Congress, who were of age during the draft, received deferments up until induction ended in 1973. In Montana, there appears to be only one member who was of age during the draft (Baucus).
TWW also contends that Congress needs to take a close look at what committees these non-veterans are assigned to. TWW believes that any military, defense, or veterans committees should have all or at least a super majority of veterans serving on them.
Although it appears that having worn the uniform is not too important to Americans these days, it still weighs heavily with this writer.