- Democrats are taking President Bush to task for missing
a year of monthly meetings in the National Guard, which he presumably joined
in an attempt to avoid being sent to fight in the Vietnam War. Apparently
believing that skipping such meetings is something to be ashamed of, Bush
is being circumspect about the entire episode.
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- Nonsense! He ought to be taking the same attitude about
those meetings that I do: I didn't attend those monthly meetings for seven
out of the eight years I served in the Reserves and, some 30 years later,
I'm still as happy as I can be about it!
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- During the first three years I was at Virginia Military
Institute " 196871 " I was faced with the prospect of being sent
to Vietnam. During my freshman and sophomore years, I had bought into the
standard government line that the war in Vietnam was being fought for freedom
and democracy; and during those two years, I was what might be called "gung-ho,
even joining an elite military unit known as VMI Rangers during my junior
year.
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- It was during my junior year (197071), however, that
I began breaking through to the truth and recognizing the U.S. government
lies surrounding the Vietnam War. By the time I was a senior, every time
an announcement was made in the mess hall about a VMI graduate dying in
Vietnam, I knew that he had sacrificed his life for nothing or, more accurately,
for a worthless cause based on official lies and deception.
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- (By this time, much of the VMI cadet corps had turned
against the war, much to the chagrin of the VMI administration. I still
smile when I think of the reaction of the VMI administration to the large
number of cadets who sought permission to attend an anti-war rally at Washington
and Lee University, which is adjacent to VMI, to hear a talk by the famous
anti-war radical Jerry Rubin. While the administration reluctantly granted
the request, it made an interesting exception to a VMI regulation that
required VMI cadets to wear their uniforms while visiting Washington and
Lee. Apparently wanting to avoid any embarrassing photographs popping up
in the press, the administration not only decided to temporarily rescind
the rule but actually prohibited cadets from wearing their uniforms to
the rally.)
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- One day during my senior year (197172) an army officer
walked into our military science class and announced that because of our
withdrawal from Vietnam (the best thing President Nixon ever did), manpower
requirements for the military were being significantly reduced. Anyone
who would like to trade his 2-year active-duty commitment (to which we
had obligated ourselves) for a commitment entailing 3 months of active
duty and 8 years in the Reserves was asked to raise his hand. I raised
my hand so fast my arm hurt for a week!
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- After graduation from VMI, I received a commission as
an infantry officer, with an 8-year Reserve commitment hanging over my
head (with the prospect of having to attend 96 monthly Reserve meetings!),
but at least the prospect of fighting and dying in Vietnam for a worthless
cause " and one based on lies and deception " was no longer a
threat.
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- The Army agreed to defer my 3-month active-duty commitment,
and I entered law school at the University of Texas in the fall of 1972.
UT is located in Austin, and the reason that's significant is that Austin
was what might have been called "Hippy Heaven during the 1960s and
1970s. That meant not only that the city attracted multitudes of draft
resisters and anti-war activists, but also that the Reserve units in the
area were filled to capacity with the rich and influential boys who used
the Reserves and the Guard as a "respectable way to avoid being sent
to Vietnam, since everyone knew that the military's policy at that time
was not to use Guard and Reserve units for Vietnam. (Those who experienced
the "honor" of being sent to fight and die for "freedom
and democracy" in Vietnam were mostly the members of the regular Army
and the young men who were being drafted; the draftees mostly consisted
of those who lacked the money and political influence to get into the Guard
and Reserves.) That meant that there was no room available for the Army
to assign me to a Reserve unit in Austin during my law-school years. After
four years savoring the wonders and beauties of military life at VMI, I
was one happy camper over that situation because it meant that I didn't
have to attend those monthly Reserve meetings!
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- On graduating from law school (and after having served
3 months on active duty at infantry school at Ft. Benning, Georgia), I
returned to my hometown of Laredo, Texas, to practice law. It seemed that
the Army sort of forgot that I even existed because even though I notified
it of my change of address, I didn't hear from it for a few more years
... until one day at the start of the seventh year of my Reserve commitment,
when a set of military orders arrived at my home advising me to report
to a U.S. Army Reserve detachment in Laredo.
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- By that time I had completed 6 years of my 8-year Reserve
commitment without having had to attend a single monthly Reserve meeting,
so you can imagine my dismay at this turn of events! I immediately wrote
letters and made telephone calls asking to be relieved of those orders.
One reason I cited was the demands arising from my law practice, but because
Reserve meetings are held on weekends the Army didn't find that argument
very persuasive.
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- I employed what I considered to be my most convincing
argument, one that I was sure the Army would accept in relieving me of
having to attend those meetings. The Reserve unit in Laredo was a supply
unit, which meant that it was a support unit rather than a combat unit.
I told the Army, "I'm a combat officer. What could be more humiliating
and demeaning for an infantry officer than to be assigned to a supply unit?
You can't do this to me!
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- Well, they could, and they did. During the seventh year
of my 8-year commitment, I reported to my first monthly Army Reserve meeting
" with my short-hair wig on, of course. Ironically, a friend from
elementary school who had been in the corps at Texas A&M had received
the same orders I had and felt the same way I did " and so the Laredo
unit had two new lieutenants, both of whom had attended military colleges,
and neither of whom was very excited to attend these meetings.
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- Since Laredo was 150 miles away from the nearest city,
there really wasn't anyone around for a supply unit to deliver supplies
to. So during much of the weekend, the men would ... well ... just sit
around (or, even worse, hurry up and wait), which actually is pretty much
the nature of military life everywhere. Given that there were important
sports events being played on the weekends, my fellow lieutenant Doug brought
in a television set so we could watch football, basketball, and baseball.
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- At the end of one year of boring and ridiculous monthly
Reserve meetings, I put in another request to the Army suggesting that
they ought to consider relieving me from having to attend any more monthly
meetings in order to make room for another officer to experience the honor
and pleasure of them. Lo and behold, the Army granted my request! So out
of my 8-year Reserve commitment requiring 96 monthly Reserve meetings,
I'm pleased to say that I had to attend only 12 monthly meetings in all
(and no two-week summer camps either!). While I would have preferred none,
I'm grateful that it was only 12.
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- At the end of my eighth year, the Army sent me a letter
saying that if I would agree to re-up for a few more years in the Reserves,
they would promote me. I'm happy to say that even though I still might
not have had to attend those monthly Reserve meetings, I took the honorable
discharge instead. As President Bush says, that's the bottom line anyway.
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- Mr. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future
of Freedom Foundation and delivered the 1972 valedictory address at Virginia
Military Institute. Send him email.
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- © 2001-2004 The Future of Freedom Foundation. All
rights reserved.
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- http://www.fff.org/comment/com0402i.asp
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