John McCain's Son, 18, Joins the Marines

[LynneSin]

I may not agree with McCain's war stance but at least HIS kid is enlistng. What about the rest of you in DC?

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-mccain30jul30,1,1030458.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true

A McCain Son, 18, Joins the Marines
From Reuters
July 30, 2006


WASHINGTON — The youngest son of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a former prisoner of war in Vietnam and a vocal proponent of more American troops in Iraq, will soon report for duty in the Marine Corps, Time magazine reported.

Jimmy McCain, 18, will spend three months in boot camp in California this fall and another month in specialized training.

<<<<<snip>>>>>>

About 1% of members of Congress have children serving in the military

1%, that means of the 550+ senators and representatives, only 5.5 of their children are enlisted and serving?

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. I just read this morning

on a RW blog site that only .3% of all families have children in the military. When I have time I will check into that stat.

[Turbineguy]

6. This family has one

Maybe we should have a poll to see what percentage of DU'ers have children in the military.

[MaineDem]

2. Doesn't he have another son at Annapolis? n/t

[City Lights]

18. Yes, Jack is there. eom

[YOY]

3. They're getting him ready to run...

His only true distinctive advantage over the blue blood wana-be cowboy 'pubs. Whether there would actually would be a difference in their leadership would surpise me. I highly doubt any of his kids would pull dangerous duty.

[reichstag911]

4. Right. Even if they went,...

...they'd be REMFs, no doubt. It's all about '08 for McCain.

[LynneSin]

5. At least the guy is enlisting

which more than we can say for 99% of the other elected officials in DC

[YOY]

7. True

n/t

[Nimrod2005]

8. Looks like he won't make it to Iraq? 18 months of training, we won't be

in Iraq...

[Lerkfish]

9. we'll still be in Iraq 18 YEARS from now.

those bases were builty permanent for a reason, that embassy complex, larger than the vatican was not built to just abandon in 18 months.
Face it, we will never leave, as long as the neocons have any say in the matter.

[Nimrod2005]

11. We won't have the money or the moral authority to stay there...

We will leave with our tail between our legs soon.

[Lerkfish]

12. your lips to god's ears, but I don't think so.

you have to look at the PNAC's larger agenda. The whole purpose in taking IRaq FIRST was to use its strategic location and oil resources to provide logistical support to reshape the entire middle east.

And, frankly, we've not had moral authority anywhere since 2000. That's not stopped them.

[nickinSTL]

17. "moral authority"?

:spray:
:rofl:

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. I agree

They plan on staying there forever.

[Nicole]

21. 18 months of training?

I read that it was 4 months.

Jimmy McCain, 18, will spend three months in boot camp in California this fall and another month in specialized training.

[shain from kane]

10. 5.5? I'm guessing that the .5 is enlisted in the Texas National Guard, and

never shows up for duty.

[surfermaw]

13. reminds me of Gore

Gore's dad was in a political fight , when Gore joined up..he was sent o Vietnam, some say by Nixon, rumors are that some in Washington told Nixon, he had better get Gore out of Nam before he was killed and he Nixon would have the devil to pay.

[greenbriar]

14. publicity stunt. this kid will be soooo protected

that he will be the safest soldier in the military

[Totally Committed]

15. The only way we'll know if this is a publicity stunt or not is

whether or not he ever sees any real combat.

My guess is he won't, but I could be wrong.

TC

[Donald Ian Rankin]

19. This is lunacy.

"I believe the war in Iraq is justifiable" and "one or more of my children want to join the military" have nothing, whatsoever to do with one another.

The idea that children should be conscripted because of their parents beliefs is obscene.

The idea that being intellectually in favour of something means that you have a moral duty to take personal risks for it is ludicrous.

It makes no more sense to say that supporters of the war should make their children join the army than it did to say that opponents of it should be made to go and live under Saddam Hussein's regime.

The war in Iraq is a bad thing. Supporting it is wrong. This has *nothing* *whatsoever* with whether or not your children are in the military.

[LynneSin]

20. I have no problem with wanting the children of war supports to enlist

Right now we don't have enough ground troops to deal with the insurgency in Iraq and we have very little protection at home should, god forbid, another massive hurricane hit our country or other disaster.

And why should innocent children who's parents had no say about the war be our token sacrifice?

[Bake]

22. It's the hypocrisy

The chickenhawks are all in favor of sending YOUR kids and MY kids to die, but they'd never THINK of letting THEIR OWN KIDS serve. That's what sparks the reaction here. Not that anyone favors the war (although I'm sure SOMEONE here probably does). It's the hypocrisy of the chickenhawks.

Bake

[Donald Ian Rankin]

23. No, there's no hypocricy.

They're in favour of sending the kids of those people whose children have volunteered to serve in the army to die.

That's not a position I agree with, but it's not hypocritical.


On edit: or rather, they may well be hypocrits, but that particular position isn't hypocritical.

[newsguyatl]

24. deployed where? to the green zone

:eyes: