Ryan ChartrandI will give you the bottom line at the top (to spare the closed-minded people some time):
Do not assume you know the thoughts and feelings of the average veteran (or anybody, really) because veterans are a very heterogeneous mixture of the American population.
I have read many articles while at Poly that mentioned the view of veterans with regards to politics and war. Usually, it goes something like this: “What would the veterans think?” or “What about all those that lost their lives.?”
To the authors: Do not be so ignorant to think that every active or former military man or woman falls into a single category. Some (especially a certain column for the Mustang Daily) feel that every veteran is a conservative, Christian, white male. Do not think that every active soldier, marine, seaman and airman (right now) believes in the war they’re fighting. This may have been close to true of WW era veterans but not today: NO WAY!
To the readers: Think about what you read (maybe even research it) before you take it in as fact.
To everyone: Look into the voting patterns of veteran politicians, the books written by veterans, and the veteran organizations with political ties before you attempt to categorize this powerful voting bloc (maybe even read a few of those books). DO NOT gauge based on those “set-up” commander’s calls with all the uniformed personnel in the background that are shown on TV (they are usually mandatory formations).
Ever wonder why veterans repeatedly come out (against Bush) AFTER retiring? Google: “UCMJ ‘freedom of speech.'”
Ryan Morton
Computer engineering senior