(August 26, 2018 at 2:18 pm)Anomalocaris Wrote:(August 26, 2018 at 1:24 pm)Minimalist Wrote: The problem there is that you then require a limitless string of wars to keep your C-in-C with battlefield experience.
Besides, how do you account for someone like Lindsey Graham? Sure, he was an "officer" in the Judge Advocate's office and he spent his active duty career in Germany defending, most notably, pilots accused of using marijuana. There is no bigger warmonger in the Senate than Graham but exactly where is his experience of being sent to die?
A limitless string of wars is something the peace loving US of A, almost uniquely in the world, has never been in want of.
I didn’t say any wearing of uniform will do. I said know what it is to be sent to die.
I value service even though I did not serve. But, I think the logic does not follow that someone who did not serve can't value it because they were not in the moment. Family members of WW2 soldiers were at home, they were not in combat, but they constantly lived in fear waiting for a letter or dog tags or a knock on the door.
It can be trauma in and of itself, even in something as mundane as having police knock on your door to tell you your loved one died in a car accident. You don't have to be a survivor in that same car, to know those at home who got the knock on the door by the police are going to be in pain over that loss.
I still value the service of BOTH McCain and Duckworth. But I do not value the idea that political office should require military service to hold office.
Even in a voluntary military today, while nobody is forcing you to sign up, you still sign, and once you sign, it is a contract. In that context I cannot blame either a Republican or Democrat who serves, enlisted or officer, whom follow the orders of congress and or the President. But policy is a different issue, and that should be questioned, congress and the president, regardless of party, should be questioned as a matter of oversight as to how we use our military.
We do not live in a perfect system, and we have not always done the right thing policy wise. But that is not a slight on service, but policy making.
I would prefer a mix of leadership, both those whom have served and civilians. Not either or.
