Veteran's Day - How Long, O Lord, How Long?

How long must we sit through the blasphemy of watching George Bush and Dick Cheney "honor" our fighting men and women - when they couldn't be bothered to serve themselves?

Bush basically went the Dan Quayle route to get out of Southeast Asia. He opted for the Alabama Air National Guard, and of course, either was too drunk or too busy smooching asses for his father to fulfil his committments.

Cheney, on the other hand, accepted not one, but FIVE draft deferments to avoid serving in the military during Vietnam. In his defense he only said that he had "prior commitments."

A commitment more important than fighting for your country, Cheney? When the need was perceived to be dire, against a truly existential enemy (international Communism)?

And don't give me that "Clinton did it, too!" blather. True, Clinton didn't serve either.

But if Clinton jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?

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On previous Veteran's Day posts I usually put up a bit of poetry from the First World War (from a time when poetry still spoke to the masses). Here's a poem from the Vietnam War, written by Danny L. Crafton:

THE GUARDIANS

GOD LOOKED AROUND HIS BARRACKS;
AND SAW SOME EMPTY SPACES;
HE LOOKED DOWN ON 'OLE HAMBURGER HILL;
AND SAW AIRBORNES TIRED FACES.

HE PUT HIS ARMS AROUND THEM;
AND TOOK THEM IN HIS CARE;
GOD SMILED AND SAID,
"THIS PLATOON HAS DONE ENOUGH"
YOU SEE HE WANTED THEM "UP THERE"

I CRIED AND CRIED,
WHEN I HEARD THEY HAD GONE;
BUT THEY DID NOT GO ALONE;
FOR MOST OF ME WENT WITH THEM,
THE DAY 1ST PLATOON WENT HOME.

SO BEWARE AMERICAN ENEMYS;
YOU ARE DOOMED WHEREEVER YOU GO;
WE GOT AIRBORNE GUARDING HEAVENS GATES,
THE 1ST OF BRAVO-

badger

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God bless our veterans, of all wars.