I have no idea who wrote this, but it is the best I have read on the subject.
IF IT DOESN'T QUACK LIKE A DUCK ...
I'm not worthy to question John Kerry's war record.
Because I don't have one.
I spent the Vietnam War in elementary school. And the four years I was in the
Army were all behind a desk. My fort was unofficially known as "Uncle Ben's
Rest Home."
So I don't know anything about war.
Though I do know a little bit about men who've been to war. I've been around
plenty of those.
Like my step-father.
He got bunged up pretty bad in France. I know that because I saw him in a
swimming suit once.
But he never talked about it.
Not once.
If you asked him about the war he'd tell hilarious stories about basic training,
or where the guys he served with were from, or how fun it was learning to fly
the gliders, or the time they stole the ambulance to go into town and get drunk
in France, or a few of the phrases in German he learned.
But he'd never actually talk about the war.
Unless he was really drunk.
In which case he still wouldn't talk about it. He'd cry about it. He'd put his head
in his arms in the wee hours of the morning and sob to himself about how the
men around him were broken and torn when the gliders crash landed into the
French countryside.
But that was only once or twice, and that was never about him.
And the little box of medals at the bottom of his footlocker never came out.
It was kind of the same way at the Legion and the VFW. Every day he'd check
in at both places, to sign the book and to have a beer, and I would tag along.
All those men had been in the service, and most had been in combat, but I never
heard a war story.
Lots of Army stories, and Navy stories, sure. About guys they knew and leaves
they were on and officers they messed with. But nothing about the war.
It was the same way in the Army.
In my day, it seemed like everybody above staff sergeant or captain had been in
Vietnam. I went in 10 years after the war ended but the guys on the second half
of their careers had all gone.
You could tell when they wore their dress uniforms.
But that was the only time.
Men didn't talk about what they'd done in the war. They didn't boast of their
accomplishments. They didn't brag about their medals. But if you chanced to
see them in their dress uniforms, with the rows of service ribbons, you could
read their history there, you could see that those who'd done the most spoke
of it the least.
Like one of our drill sergeants in basic training.
Buffing the floor in his office one day we saw the service ribbons pinned to his
Class A uniform on the coat rack. Comparing them to the poster in the company
day room we learned he'd gotten the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the Purple
Heart.
We asked about them and he made us do push-ups for being nosey.
The night before graduation, when he welcomed us as fellow soldiers, we asked
him again, we almost pestered him. Finally he relented and gave us two sentences:
"I was in a war. I got hurt."
And that's all he'd say.
Kind of like a man I know, who received the Medal of Honor. One night he stood in
a long line to shake hands with Colin Powell. The man, because of the nature of the
event, wore his medal around his neck.
As he came to Colin Powell the man said, "General, it's an honor to meet you."
And Colin Powell responded, "No, sir - it's an honor to meet you."
Anyway, I know this man, and he's often asked to tell his story, of how he earned the
Medal of Honor. And he never does. Oh, he answers, and he talks, and he inspires,
and he talks about the war.
But he neglects the part about the lives he saved and the courage he showed, and
instead talks about a young Vietnamese man who helped him to safety when his legs
were too shot through to hold him anymore.
I don't know anything about war.
But I do know a little bit about men who've gone to war.
And none of them act the way John Kerry does.
None of them brag about, boast of, talk about or otherwise try to benefit from their
service. They don't prostitute their time in uniform for personal gain and ambition.
They all modestly and insistently say that they "didn't do anything."They minimize
their contributions and put them in the context of the similarly courageous and noble
service provided by their comrades.
A true hero doesn't boast.
In fact, he kind of keeps his deeds to himself. Which is what makes John Kerry so
different. Which is what makes John Kerry so unbelievable.
I don't know war.
But I do know war heroes.
And he's not one of them.
IF IT DOESN'T QUACK LIKE A DUCK ...
I'm not worthy to question John Kerry's war record.
Because I don't have one.
I spent the Vietnam War in elementary school. And the four years I was in the
Army were all behind a desk. My fort was unofficially known as "Uncle Ben's
Rest Home."
So I don't know anything about war.
Though I do know a little bit about men who've been to war. I've been around
plenty of those.
Like my step-father.
He got bunged up pretty bad in France. I know that because I saw him in a
swimming suit once.
But he never talked about it.
Not once.
If you asked him about the war he'd tell hilarious stories about basic training,
or where the guys he served with were from, or how fun it was learning to fly
the gliders, or the time they stole the ambulance to go into town and get drunk
in France, or a few of the phrases in German he learned.
But he'd never actually talk about the war.
Unless he was really drunk.
In which case he still wouldn't talk about it. He'd cry about it. He'd put his head
in his arms in the wee hours of the morning and sob to himself about how the
men around him were broken and torn when the gliders crash landed into the
French countryside.
But that was only once or twice, and that was never about him.
And the little box of medals at the bottom of his footlocker never came out.
It was kind of the same way at the Legion and the VFW. Every day he'd check
in at both places, to sign the book and to have a beer, and I would tag along.
All those men had been in the service, and most had been in combat, but I never
heard a war story.
Lots of Army stories, and Navy stories, sure. About guys they knew and leaves
they were on and officers they messed with. But nothing about the war.
It was the same way in the Army.
In my day, it seemed like everybody above staff sergeant or captain had been in
Vietnam. I went in 10 years after the war ended but the guys on the second half
of their careers had all gone.
You could tell when they wore their dress uniforms.
But that was the only time.
Men didn't talk about what they'd done in the war. They didn't boast of their
accomplishments. They didn't brag about their medals. But if you chanced to
see them in their dress uniforms, with the rows of service ribbons, you could
read their history there, you could see that those who'd done the most spoke
of it the least.
Like one of our drill sergeants in basic training.
Buffing the floor in his office one day we saw the service ribbons pinned to his
Class A uniform on the coat rack. Comparing them to the poster in the company
day room we learned he'd gotten the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the Purple
Heart.
We asked about them and he made us do push-ups for being nosey.
The night before graduation, when he welcomed us as fellow soldiers, we asked
him again, we almost pestered him. Finally he relented and gave us two sentences:
"I was in a war. I got hurt."
And that's all he'd say.
Kind of like a man I know, who received the Medal of Honor. One night he stood in
a long line to shake hands with Colin Powell. The man, because of the nature of the
event, wore his medal around his neck.
As he came to Colin Powell the man said, "General, it's an honor to meet you."
And Colin Powell responded, "No, sir - it's an honor to meet you."
Anyway, I know this man, and he's often asked to tell his story, of how he earned the
Medal of Honor. And he never does. Oh, he answers, and he talks, and he inspires,
and he talks about the war.
But he neglects the part about the lives he saved and the courage he showed, and
instead talks about a young Vietnamese man who helped him to safety when his legs
were too shot through to hold him anymore.
I don't know anything about war.
But I do know a little bit about men who've gone to war.
And none of them act the way John Kerry does.
None of them brag about, boast of, talk about or otherwise try to benefit from their
service. They don't prostitute their time in uniform for personal gain and ambition.
They all modestly and insistently say that they "didn't do anything."They minimize
their contributions and put them in the context of the similarly courageous and noble
service provided by their comrades.
A true hero doesn't boast.
In fact, he kind of keeps his deeds to himself. Which is what makes John Kerry so
different. Which is what makes John Kerry so unbelievable.
I don't know war.
But I do know war heroes.
And he's not one of them.
