unitedstatesAFA2013 stated...(Also- this ties in with the "how a doctor doesn't have to be a good physician because he/she went to Johns Hopkins Medical School." This is also a broadly accepted misconception.
SO the 5 yrs he didn't lie down or stand up b/c he was in a cell didn't show his leadership...the minute McCain didn't take the deal to leave was the minute he showed his leadership. He could have walked out instead of being tortured...the enemy know he was a valuable asset and abused him for it. He followed the rule
FIRST IN FIRST OUT...he showed to all of the other POWs that he was a leader by enduring pain. He can not raise his arms above his cranium because of the torture he endured.
When you get commissioned into the AF you will demand respect, you will get it when you have earned it through leadership. Anybody who has done even 2 or 3 yrs active quickly realizes that the military believes in these people and see them as leaders. That is what the Navy saw in McCain.
As far as the Bronze Star...Bronze Stars are given out for 2 reasons...1 gets a V for Valor, the other is for doing an amazing job that surpassed every expectation they had placed upon the soldier. Bullet has a Bronze for his actions in OIF, we had friends over our house and I just had it sitting in a dish on an entry table, our friend a FULL BIRD was horrified and even told me so..to me Bullet made no biggie out of it so, I just used as decoration...to them it was something else. I learned through them that it is something special and not a piece of candy that everybody gets...i.e. SE Asia medal is commonly referred to I was alive in 90...everybody got them. Give the Bronze star its respect and due...10 yrs from now if you get one for any reason you would not like it if somebody with no military experience downplayed as
NO BIGGIE
You speak of his age...his mother is 96 and did the campaign trail with him. Reporters were astounded by his vigor and said he tired them out. He walked the Grand Canyon end to end about 18 mos ago with his son Jack in
3 days! I am more afraid of some nut case like John Hinkley trying to assassinate Pres. Obama and getting good ole Joe than McCain's age. One of our greatest Presidents was only a few months younger than McCain, his name was Ronald Reagan...a president that re-invigorated the military after the very painful Carter yrs.
My good faith with President Obama is waning very quickly...I am old enough to realize that his actions were tried before with very bad results...look up FDR the shovel ready projects did not bring us out of the depression...WWII did. It was by having to build military items quickly and drafting everybody, leaving Rosie to work that got us out of the depression, not building roads. I am not suggesting or implying that we should get a war going to get us out, but it is true the shovel ready idea didn't work. Look at Carter, he thought
TALKING to our enemies would gain us respect and that somehow they would come to the table...yep...Russia was quaking in their boots...Iran was so scaed they kidnapped AMerican citizens for @ 18 mos. I remember turning on the news everynight and the 1st thing they would say is it has been xxx days in captivity...ask your folks about that and how America felt. Carter messed up the economy so bad that int. rates were 18%, gold was over 800 an oz, gas was rationed and higher than it is now (with inflation added in) and the military was leaving in droves b/c they couldn't stomach the guy. Sure he has done great things with Habitat for Humanity, but that will be his after Presidency legacy...his Presidential legacy is he made America worse domestically and internationally.
Pres. Obama promised no earmarks when Sen McCain debated him...even stated he would go line by line. WHere is that promise now.
Obama did indeed make those pledges during the campaign. Sen. John McCain, the Republican candidate, pledged to eliminate earmarks and "veto every earmark pork-barrel bill," and Obama, though stopping short of that, did pledge to get tough on them.
For example, here's Obama in the first presidential debate: "Absolutely, we need earmark reform. And when I'm president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely."
On March 10, 2008, Obama said in a statement: "We can no longer accept a process that doles out earmarks based on a member of Congress' seniority, rather than the merit of the project. We can no longer accept an earmarks process that has become so complicated to navigate that a municipality or non-profit group has to hire high-priced D.C. lobbyists to do it. And we can no longer accept an earmarks process in which many of the projects being funded fail to address the real needs of our country."
And here he is on Feb. 21, 2008: "I have been consistently in favor of more disclosure around earmarks. Now, keep in mind a lot of these are worthy projects in our states, and I have actively pursued projects that I think are important. But I want to make sure that they're not done in the dark of night, that they're not done in committee, that everybody stands up and says this is the kind of spending that I think is important."
President Obama on military stated
"Barack Obama supports plans to increase the size of the Army by 65,000 soldiers and the Marines by 27,000 troops," says the plan. "Increasing our end strength will help units retrain and re-equip properly between deployments and decrease the strain on military families
Please explain how you can increase troops while decreasing the budget by 10% and not do harm to our military. Reducing the 22 or the 35 will result in job losses...hurts the economy. Little Known fact the military has plans to sell these jets to our allies...kill the 22...kill the chance of selling it...kill jobs, and that includes those small companies that supplies the rubber gaskets and paint. Don't kill the military contracts, but still have to reduce the budget, translates into taking it from bennies...i.e. medical and pay. All he needs to do is have the MOCs vote that instead of 1/2% pay raise above COLA, it will be 1/2% below (i.e. 90's). That 1% means alot to the military family and takes a big chunk of the deficit away. If you think we cannibalize jets now, just wait because you have seen nothing yet! Let me know how you feel about training missions for you to get operational are cancelled because maintenance can't deliver a jet! It happens more often than you think...Squadrons typically will schedule 10 turn 8...and it turns out to be 8 turn 4. Drive on base and you will see they currently can't meet monthly stds due to this problem, by reducing the budget by 10% it will become even more obvious.
Finally
Barney Frank...OMG please...please find somebody else to use as an example. He is the biggest MORON. This is the man that stated Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were just fine
ON SEPT 10 2008...AGAIN I STATE
SEPT 10 2008...he is in charge of them. John McCain called him out about this starting in 2003...and now you propose that the guy who ran the mtg industry into the ground and thus, the housing industry is making intelligent reasons for cutting the military. Here is a link to read about Barney!
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/sam-dealey/2008/9/10/barney-franks-fannie-and-freddie-muddle.html
I know it seems like I am attacking you, but please take it as a parent who is strongly telling you to think about what you are saying...if you walk in to the lion's den with red meat, you need to expect the lion to get aggressive. By slamming a military hero...you also attacked everybody who serves in the military...by stating that graduating from an SA doesn't make you a good leader is offensive when you are on a
SERVICE ACADEMY FORUM... of course the irony is you should be applying to the AFA to become that great leader---so should we jump to the fact the the SA's aren't turning out great leaders? I agree that it doesn't make you a better leader than somebody who graduates from ROTC or OCS, but I have all of more faith that the military sees leadership in each of them...only time will tell which ones are GREAT