Who Served and Who Didn't in our Government...

[cease_fire]

Here is where and when our leaders served in the army. While the majority of Democrats did serve their country, the majority of the Republicans did not.
And (surprise!) none of the Pundits served anywhere at anytime.

----Democrats

Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.
David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.
Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.
Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-'47; Medal of Honor, WWII.
John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with
Combat V, Purple Hearts.
Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam.
Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-1953.
Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII, receiving the Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.
Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars, and Soldier's medal.
Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and Legion of Merit.
Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.
Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze Star with Combat V.
Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.
Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57
Chuck Robb: Vietnam
Howell Heflin: Silver Star
George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.
Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received 311.
Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.
Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal with 18 Clusters.
Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg.

----Republicans

Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
Tom Delay: did not serve.
Roy Blunt: did not serve.
Bill Frist: did not serve.
Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
Rick Santorum: did not serve.
Trent Lott: did not serve.
Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage.
John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
Jeb Bush: did not serve.
Karl Rove: did not serve.
Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee." The man who attacked Cleland's patriotism.

Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
Vin Weber: did not serve.
Richard Perle: did not serve.
Douglas Feith: did not serve.
Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
Richard Shelby: did not serve.
Jon Kyl: did not serve.
Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
Christopher Cox: did not serve.
Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as aviator and flight instructor.

George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year National Guard; got assigned to Alabama so he could campaign for family friend running for U.S. Senate; failed to show up for required medical exam, disappeared from duty.

Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.

B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.

Phil Gramm: did not serve.
John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.

Bob Dole: an honorable veteran.
Chuck Hagel: two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, Vietnam.
Duke Cunningham: nominated for Medal of Honor, Navy Cross, Silver Stars, Air Medals, Purple Hearts.

Jeff Sessions: Army Reserves, 1973-1986
Colin Powell: Long career in military management.
Don Nickles: National Guard, 1970-1976 Jim Inhofe, Army, 1954-1956 Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.
John M. McHugh: did not serve.
JC Watts: did not serve.
Jack Kemp: did not serve. "Knee," although continued in NFL for 8 years.

Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.
Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
George Pataki: did not serve.
Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
John Engler: did not serve.
Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.
George H.W. Bush: Pilot in WWII. Shot down by the Japanese.
Tom Ridge: Bronze Star for Valor in Vietnam.
Sam Johnson: Combat in Korea and Vietnam, POW in Hanoi.
Ted Stevens: WWII pilot, DFCs, two Air Medals.
John Warner: Served in the Navy during WWII as a RM3 Heather Wilson: Air Force 1978-1989 Gerald Ford: Navy, WWII

Pundits & Preachers

Sean Hannity: did not serve.
Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a 'pilonidal cyst.')
Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.
Michael Savage: did not serve.
George Will: did not serve.
Chris Matthews: did not serve. (Peace Corps) Paul Gigot: did not serve.

Bill Bennett: did not serve.
Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
John Wayne: did not serve.
Bill Kristol: did not serve.
Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
Clarence Thomas: did not serve.
Ralph Reed: did not serve.
Michael Medved: did not serve.
Charlie Daniels: did not serve.
Ted Nugent: did not serve.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. Toby KKKeith did not serve either. As a matter of fact....

Right Wing Country "Artists" have a history of not serving.

[Larkspur]

2. Sen. Joe Lieberman, of IWR Rose Garden infamy, didn't serve either

yet he was just as glad to send other people's children to serve in a war that he knew was for Israel's benefit moreso than the USA's. I guess that puts him right up their with the Repukes.

[Bucky]

3. I hate this kinda stuff. I'm a teacher and I think that's service too

No one's shooting at me, but then I'm pretty nice to my students. Still, the idea that you are a better man for having served is goofy. I happen to have a shoulder problem and eyesight problems that would've kept me out of a war, but I've done what I can. I also am of an age (41) that means I wasn't the right age to face the bullets of either Vietnam or the First Gulf War. I'm thankful for the service of those who wore the uniform--I know they "won" my liberties, but I also know that as a teacher I'm helping to maintain those liberties into the next generation.

We as a society are starting to overvalue military service alone as a test of citizen leadership. I think that's wrong. And, quite frankly, it's the Democrats leading the way. Should we bust the chickenhawks for being chickenhawks? Hell yes. But let's make sure we don't make a fetish out of military service either. It's a good thing to have done, but it's not the only honorable choice people could have made.

[molly]

4. You may be too young to remember Viet Nam - I'm not

it was a different time - of course, now is similar.