Palin's son was sent away to 'improve his hockey'; later joins military

[Arm Chair Politician]

OK, I need some help from my fellow Alaskans.

Some time ago I heard that Palin's son was sent away to live in another state before she became governor. The reason stated at the time was he needed 'to work and improve on his hockey skills'. For those of you who don't know, Alaska is one of the top places in the United States for hockey - just ask Palin, a self admitted 'hockey mom'. I find this curious and uncanny at best. It was later reported Palin's son decided to enlist in the military and serve his country. I never gave it much thought...until now.

Why did Palin's son really move away? Was Palin's son a troubled child? And if he was - or wasn't, why did Palin send him away to live outside of her immediate influence when there is more hockey in Alaska than the remainder of America? Does this show a long term pattern for the Palin family and how their children respond to their mother's political life and their fathers absence working on Alaska's north slope?

I'm bringing this up because Palin has used her son's military enlistment as political fodder. In her acceptance speech, she made her family open game by introducing each of them and using them for political gain. Because of her actions, she can't have it both ways on the campaign trail but we need to tread lightly. If Palin has had long term family issues with her children rebelling and her work took precedent, what kind of person is she really? Is her focus really on her family or climbing the political ladder?

I'm sure we can all agree my questions may open pandora's box. While I understand and somewhat agree with Obama's comments regarding a candidates family, I had to ask the question because it was Palin that first made her family the issue.

Please, before you start posting - keep it civil and respectful. I don't want to harm our candidate by this boards content...with our collective intellect we should be able to have a discussion without throwing mud and looking like idiots.

[Howardx]

1. are you sure it was another state....

and not canada?

[Arm Chair Politician]

3. I heard another state. I may be wrong. (no text)

[KittyWampus]

17. I heard he vandalized a bus ( I think that was it). Here it is, but no link to original post

Alaskans are a very gossipy group - a neighbor of Sarah's said that Track wanted to play hockey in college but that his 2.0 gpa kept him from being accepted. Thus the enlistment.

Posted by designated defendant
September 1, 2008 6:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Another neighbor has posted that they made him join up because he vandalized a bus. (Of course both could be true, since bus-vandals don't usually clean up on athletic scholarships.)

[polly7]

2. self-delete

[beac]

4. Probably b/c they were counting on his making the Alaska U hockey team.

Alas, he could't pull the 2.0 GPA required.

SO, off to Iraq he goes!



(BTW, I'm not from Alaska, but this is my understanding of the matter.)

[SKKY]

5. She may have sent him to work with a specific coach...

...or he was invited to play on a traveling team of "All Stars". I spent the summer before my sophomore year in high school in Las Vegas living with my Aunt so I could play on this team that had a very well respected coach who specialized in outfield players. He helped me a lot. I knew kids who spent their entire summers at the Doyle Baseball Camp in Winterhaven, Florida because their coaching methodology is second to none. I'm just offer what I would consider a plausible explanation.

[Viking12]

6. Son was rejected from college hockey due to poor grades...

Military was last resort for kid w/ no options.

[LisaL]

7. Do you have a link for that?

[ncteechur]

19. I had read that SAT scores were too low for collegiate hockey.

[BlueIdaho]

8. Fascinating as stories of her kids may be - they will not help us win any election.

Sarah is a walking disaster in her own right - but the more this becomes about personalities and the less it is about issues - the more the republicans are gonna like it. If we can question both, great, if we can't then keep the focus on McCain's lack of judgement and poor temperament for being commander in Chief. Sarah Barracuda and her spawn are a sideshow - Gramps McCain is the real deal.

[Forkboy]

9. It's not really weird in the world of hockey at all.

I had friends that went away to various prep schools/colleges for hockey, and I live in Mass, which is a pretty good place to learn the sport. Sometimes you just go where you're accepted.

Plus, if he ended up enlisting it might indicate he wasn't very good at the sport, supporting the idea that he might have to leave the state to find a place to play.

[Duer 157099]

10. Michigan. He went to Michigan.

Here's some more info

http://www.mlive.com/kzgazette/news/index.ssf/2008/08/son_of_alaska_gov_sarah_palin.html

http://alaskanabroad.typepad.com/an_alaskan_abroad/2007/09/track-palin-enl.html

[Arm Chair Politician]

13. Thanks for the links (no text)

[chatnoir]

14. Scary resemblance to her

in that 1st link...

[rainbow4321]

11. Locals are saying he was told to join the military by his father...

cuz his GPA of less than 2.0 was not good enough to get him into Univ of Alaska to play for their ice hockey team.

[Arm Chair Politician]

18. new twist about father forcing military on Track Palin

Today on talk radio, a story was broke about Trig Palin. I am going to post my comments below in an individual thread but thought I would respond to your post.

An old story from 2005 concerning school bus vandalism in Wasilla, Alaska has come back to light. It was reported on 1080 KUDO today - and quoted from a non-disclosed judicial source, that Track Palin was the unidentified minor who was involved with the vandalism at the time. His reason for disclosing the data was that it would be released sooner or later.

Even more interesting is the fact that it was the Alaska State Troopers who did the investigation and report on the incident. To add fuel to the fire, Trooper Wooten (the trooper Palin has tried to get removed from the Alaska State Troopers) was assigned to that post at that time and may have worked on the case. I'm trying to secure a copy of the police report.

Rumors are circulating (and have been in the past) about Track being forced to accept military service or jail time. While its unfortunate this is another story about Palin's children its just more fuel to the fire surrounding Palin. If I'm correct Trooper Wooten's divorce paperwork was filed with the Alaska court system in April of 2005. It will be interesting to see if Palin was involved with this if it proves to be true and/or if Wooten used his power to get Palin's son out of trouble.

I'll post more as details as I learn more that isn't reported in the media.

[truthisfreedom]

12. She uses her children as stepping-stones for political gain.

Disgusting.

[rcsl1998]

15. She Said He Joined On September 11, 2007

What a surprising coincidence!

[sniffa]

16. I think he's the actual mother of Trig

His poor grades prevented him from going to college (or more aptly, a hockey college).