Another military reader:

Mr. Goldberg,
After reading your essay in the National Review, I felt it necessary to
email a personal view. To give perspective, my own military service has
included 7 years active duty Air Force, 2 years Air Force Reserve, 2 years
as a Traditional Air Guardsman, and one year as a fulltime active Air
Guardsman. During that time I have worked across many of the potential work
environments for communications in the modern military, to include 2 direct
deployments for operations in Enduring Freedom, and one during the
liberation of Iraq. I do feel that as both a student of military history
and a veteran I have some right to comment on many of the issues of military
force and service in America. But all of that is only a minor point.
I have stood up and taken an oath 3 times to defend the Constitution of the
United States of America. That simple document assures all Americans of the
right to have an opinion and to voice it in any civilized manner they so
chose. For me that is the end of the issue. It is not a matter of
objectivity or subjectivity, it simple a thing that is. I have lost friends
and loved ones in action from terrorist attacks in the mid 90’s through the
atrocity of 9-11, right through to the current thuggery in Iraq. Those
individuals gave their life for that simple document. What it stands for and
embraces is all that matters to me in issues of who has the ‘right’ to speak
of an matter or event.
There are many American service personnel to my knowledge who are quite
unhappy with Bush’s conduct of the war. Those personal reasons range from
inadequate post combat planning to going to soft and letting politics get in
the way of reality and operations. But many more voice distaste for Kerry’s
lack of dignity in the 70’s over his rejection of his military service. The
unspoken word hypocrite hangs in the air during those discussions. Just as
many serviceman have looked tight lipped and haunted eyed at the thought of
Al Gore being president during the past four years. Those of us who wear a
uniform are as diverse a group as any American demographic, but within my
subjective opinion most tend to favor a more conservative stance on issues,
thereby making Bush the canidate for the majority of the military, past and
present.