Veterans Feeling about Romoney 47%

[white cloud]

Romney's disdain not worthy of vote
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has defined me as a member of the dependent 47% ("Romney tries to trim Obama's lead with Latinos," Sept. 18). He believes that I have, by choice, chosen to become part of the roughly half of the country that receives government assistance for housing, health care, even food. In my case, he is correct.

I did choose a path that led me to government dependency. Let me explain. In 1966 at the age of 17, I enlisted. At 19, I was in Vietnam serving as a Marine corpsman in a front-line rifle company. I always felt fortunate to have survived the war when so many others didn't. My service cost me my health and ultimately my ability to work. I rely on my veteran benefits.

Romney disdainfully characterizes me and other veterans as being a part of the dependency culture. He wanted no part of the Vietnam War and apparently holds anyone who has ever served in contempt for accepting compensation for their service.

Veterans and their supporters need to ask Romney why he feels the veterans of this country should be described by him as another group of entitlement victims. Ask him who is to take responsibility for the wounds and illness veterans endure for serving? And what about their survivors and dependents?

I believe Romney thinks everyone who gets a government benefit for service to our country is just another member of a parasitic welfare class and we are the problem. I ask all to vote accordingly.

Thomas L. Ralston
Muskego

[a geek named Bob]

1. White Cloud... Thank you for serving

[pinboy3niner]

2. And remember, news of the 47% remark came on the heels of this...

[Victor_c3]

3. I'm probably just a whiny bitch, but I took real offense to this

I already had a lot of disdain for Romney after hearing about his "service" in France for his church while the rest of his "peers" (as if you could call yourself a peer to a rich privileged guy) faced Vietnam. This thing really got to me - and I made sure that anyone who I knew who was likely to vote for Romney knew it.

My war was different than yours. Many guys in Vietnam were drafted and had no choice about service (I know that you mentioned you enlisted). I too volunteered for my military service. I didn't know what I was getting myself into and when I joined (1997) I thought that we'd never see a war like Vietnam again. I believed in the causes I saw in Iraq in 1991 (to a moderate degree) and I fully believed in our mission in the for country of Yugoslavia in the mid 90's. I think I drank too much of the koolaide and I fully believed that the Army would only be used for good and to spread justice to the world. Then I found myself going to Iraq in 2004. I came home broken and a shadow of what I was.

Without repeating my story yet again, the war and what it did to me is very personal to me. I have no tolerance for anyone who attacks or criticizes me and my service in any way. Like the title of my reply says, perhaps I'm just a whiny bitch. But unless you've served, you probably will never really "get it" like a veteran does.