Someone had to pay for the tanning bed upkeep... :o)



>>>>Sam, some of them do sign up. They just never get sent to where the fighting is. Remember Dubya's stellar military career?
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>>>I do, but I can't seem to recall any of Bill Clinton's or Ted Kennedy's.
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>>I am not defending the non-existent military careers of either of them, because there is nothing to defend. Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows they evaded the draft, as did most Ivy Leaguers back then. They had means and they used them. Dubya, a Yale guy who never would have gotten into Yale if not for his family connections, took a slightly different approach to the same end. His military career was a cushy assignment in the Alabama National Guard, a year of which remains unaccounted for. So please, let's not paint this as Republicans and Democrats. It's rich and poor.
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>>A conspicuous exception was JFK, who volunteered (contrary to his father's advice and wishes) and put himself very much in harm's way. The story of PT-109 may have been doctored, amped up, but the basic facts are incontrovertible -- JFK was the skipper and the boat was sunk. He is credited with saving crewmates despite sustaining injuries which left him with a bad lock the rest of his life. Hell of a difference between that and the Alabama National Guard, no matter how much the stories have been spun.
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>>I suspect you have a sneaking admiration for JFK. For a Democrat ;-)
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>Mike;
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>Do not forget Joseph Kennedy Jr. Joe Jr. was widely assumed to be the future politician in the Kennedy family. He was attending Harvard Law School when World War II began; he enrolled in the Navy and became a bomber pilot. Joe Jr. didn't survive the war: he was killed on a volunteer mission when his plane, loaded with volatile explosives meant for a German rocket base, exploded after takeoff.
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>World War II and today are very different. People were in World War II for different reasons then exist today.
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>Then we have Jimmy Stewart. He was the first movie star to enter the service for World War II, joining a year before Pearl Harbor was bombed. He was initially refused entry into the Air Force because he weighed 5 pounds less than the required 148 pounds, but he talked the recruitment officer into ignoring the test. He eventually became a Colonel, and earned the Air Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Croix de Guerre and 7 battle stars. In 1959, he served in the Air Force Reserve, before retiring as a brigadier general.
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>Another well-known actor – Clark Gable was a gunner on B-17’s. Many actors and well known people were in World War II.
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>Jimmy Stewart’s son Ronald was killed in Vietnam.
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>Then we have George Hamilton – one time friend of one of LBJ’s daughter Lynda Bird. He received his draft notice and was given a hardship – he had to support his mother!
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>Tom