amazing men.  Their dedication, selflessness and integrity are just beyond words!

Thanks for this post.  Regardless of politics, we need young men like these 2.  My son is also among them and has served in Bosnia and Afghanistan (he just returned home, was promoted and made an instructor).

People like this man our walls of freedom, and our way of life.  And as reprehensible as war is, we need these men and women as much now as ever.

Again, thank you.

F.

nightmare for US, those 12 years of intense US involvement had a positive effect on many people around the world.

-- Modified on 7/10/2003 7:26:45 PM

A Father-Son story about love and the US Marine Corps.

Over the years, there are a few politicians' offsprings in the Military.  Some of them wanted to follow their fathers' footsteps.  Others wanted to polish their resume for future run of public office.  Case in point - Albert Gore, Jr.

I would love to be the creamy center of a tillman brother scooter pie. I wouldn't kick either one of them out of my bed if they showed up fresh from a week long ruck, with a full lip of copenhagen and watched sportcenter the whole time.

I am using my connections to get me one of Pats used PT shirts.

There are many ways to help the worlds problems. Most do not involve invading foreign countries with armed forces. If more of the nation's corporate fat cats spent a little time working with the people in public service we would all be better off. Each and every one of us who complains how bad things are should take a look at the other side of the world and see what they can do to make the world a humane place.

60s and 70s.  They only changed things marginally.  Unfortunately, too many people want power in the worst ways, including enslaving their fellow countrymen.

Légion Étrangère

Some guys buy in for life. Used to mean a lot more than it does now. Civilized world ytou know. Peace Corp.... a good Bolshi movement, that...

Perhaps it is called something different now, but that was the given name for doing community/national service in the late 60's. It was a program that was started by Johnson or Kennedy that was supposed to do domestically what the Peace Corps. was doing on a international level. Back then, we principally worked for a year on Indian reservations in New Mexico or migrant camps in California. Basically, it was just a collaborative effort among a group of affluent, well-intentioned, college kids who after four years of doing nothing much more than sex, drugs and rock n roll (with some studying thrown in) wanting to constructively contribute to our society. I credit that experience as being a key element of the foundation that allowed me to be so successful later in life.

Harry S. Truman
Dwight David Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Teddy Roosevelt
Ronald Reagan
George Bush Sr.
And quite a few others!

John S.D. Eisenhower, Dwight's son, graduated from West Point, I think in 1943 and served in WW2, retired as a Brigadier General.  He is also the author of "The Bitter Woods", a definitive hostory of the Battle of the Bulge.

Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.  Landed with the first wave of the 4th Infantry Division on Utah Beach on D-Day.  He was the Assistant Division Commander.  Realizing the US Navy landed the first wave on the wrong beach, he was asked if they should land subsequent troops in the correct place.  His reply:  "Let's start the war from right here."  He died 3 days later of a heart attack.  His personal bravery in both World World Wars is well documented.

Truman served in the Army (Field Artillery battery commander)in WWI.  I don't believe he had a son, only a daughter.



-- Modified on 7/10/2003 3:38:05 PM

There was a program aired on 60 Minutes (I think) not too long ago that dealt with the son of a millionaire from one of the NorthEastern states.  The father was one who apparently was anti-war & anti-military under almost any circumstance.  His son could easily have gone to an Ivy League school & graduated with a degree which likely would have earned him millions of dollars as well.  

But the son felt a different calling & chose instead to enlist, ultimately ending up in the current conflict in Iraq.  Both prior to the outbreak of hostilities there & during them, the father apparently got to know for the first time in his life what his son was all about.  No, it definitely wasn't the path his father would have chosen for him, but he gained true respect for his son for the first time in his life.  The father then became very involved in numerous activities in support of our troops & our military.  The message I got from watching this program was that for likely the first time in his life, the father came to appreciate there are sacrifices more noble than the pursuit of the allmighty dollar.

But there are many other examples as well.  While not dealing with a child, but the person himself, there are few example that stand out in my mind more than the baseball hall-of famer Ted Williams.  This man enlisted in the USMC during WWII, & he didn't raise war bonds...he was a combat fighter pilot in the Pacific.  And if that wasn't enough, he did the same thing during the Korean War, serving again as a combat pilot.  

Perhaps it's not often that those of 'privilige' do this, but if one cares enough to really search for the information it's not as rare as some might think.