A useful e-mail (with a sidebar of humorous NPR ambience commentary):

I am in the military and stationed overseas (not in Iraq or a forward
deployed location), we have the pleasure of listening to NPR as part of the
Armed Forces Network radio programming–they do give us Rush Limbaugh in the
evenings so at least I feel like it’s even. For the most part NPR doesn’t
bother me–although subversive in their means–at least they don’t yell and
every now and then there is a good story. Although they do have to do away
with all that “authentic” background noise during their stories. If I hear
one more person stacking boxes, breathing heavy, or the sound of seagulls on
the coast–I’m going to scream. WE GET IT–you’re tying to keep it real.
Anyways on my way back from lunch I heard Bob Edwards morning edition. On
it he was interviewing a reporter about President Bush’s guard service
record. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY OFFENSIVE TO GUARD AND RESERVE PERSONNEL! I
realized that the media attention on the service record shows no deep though
or true flushing out of the entire issue. THEY COMPLETELY MISUNDERSTAND
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE GUARD OR RESERVE SERVICE MEMBER. Here is a copy of the
e-mail I am sending to Mr. Edwards for your review (I think it explains my
thoughts the best):
Mr. Edwards-
Sir I have always considered you an even handed reporter of most
situations and in addition you are always well read and knowledgeable about
nearly every issue. However, your story this morning about the President’s
guard service record disappointed. Your show, in addition to the most
recent media coverage, does not understand the basics about what service in
the National Guard or Reserves means. It is NOT full time active duty.
Guard members shuffle their training exercises, extra details, and required
training throughout the year in order to maintain their guard status. In
addition their are several layers of service–full-time, part-time, active
duty reserve, and active duty guard. Guard members will often bounce back
and forth between different statuses–active, inactive, etc…–throughout
their careers. They truly are “citizen soldiers” that supplement the active
duty military in peacetime and wartime. Many guard and reserve members
spend much more time as “civilians” than as “military members.” With recent
events the necessity of calling up so many more guard and reserve personnel
has switched that paradigm–many now spend a lot of time being “military
members” and less time as civilians. So while you have reported in the past
about the trauma to communities and families caused by the activation of
guard and reserve communities–you do not see the connection between that
anxiety of being called to full time active duty (when one is used to being
a part-time guard member) and what the President did. It is obvious from
his pay statements and medical records that the President was serving a part
time guard requirement–like many of his counterparts did and continue to
do. Rather than explain these nuances or fully explain the story this
morning–you got into the specifics about dental records. Rather than look
at all sides, you see one detail. It appears to me that the story was
designed to convince the listener that President Bush was not serving his
military requirement. The unfortunate bi-product of that report was to
communicate to those individuals who proudly serve as part-time guard
members (and there are a significant number) that there service is not good
enough.
Sincerely,
[NAME WITHHELD]
On the slim chance that you get to read this–along with the other 200
e-mails you get a day–please do not refer to my name. This is my opinion
and not the opinion of the military. Thanks for leading the way on the
corner–you all keep many of us in the military going!
One final note. In order to become a fighter interceptor pilot, President
Bush had to complete Undergraduate Pilot Training. UPT–as we call it–is
the most demanding training program in the Air Force and one of the most
demanding flight schools ever created. It is a year long brutal trail by
fire. The washout rate when he went through was probably about 30% (and
these are college educated highly skilled motivated people). I don’t have
any hard data on that, but that’s about the historical washout factor. The
T-38 would have been his last training jet and is still considered on of the
most difficult aircraft to land due to its high approach speed and large
amount of power. Your brain has to think at about Mach 5! They just don’t
graduate people from pilot training because their fun to be around–you have
to pass numerous checkrides and EVERY SINGLE FLIGHT is graded–(upwards of
37 separate times). If you can’t do it–you’re gone. How’s that for a free
market, conservative program?
Thanks for listening to the rant!