If Cleland had stayed home with the draft dodgers, he would never have been in a position to blow himself up with a grenade.
Lots of our soldiers were killed because they “screwed up” and didn’t follow the safest procedures, but they are respected because they put themselves in an arena where mistakes are paid with life and limb in order to serve our country.
How many Americans watched the war from the safety of their living rooms while men like Cleland or their neighbor down the street risked their lives on their behalf? Even most of those who served in Vietnam never had to engage in a firefight. How many of us might also have made a mistake under fire that cost us our lives?
Have a little respect for our soldiers. Their service is why you get to freely express your views dishonoring their service.
I
Oh I have respect, that is where you made your first mistake, thinking I did not. Your second mistake was suggesting that I am ‘dishonoring’ the service of any veteran which is a bald faced lie. You need to stop lying, liars go to Hell.
And I point out (as have others) that Cleland is in fact a hero for his actions of 4 April 1968 for which he was awarded the Silver and Bronze Stars.
Now here is where you get to practice what you’re preaching:
Show some respect for Cleland *yourself* and accept what he has said many times, that his actions regarding that live grenade were anythimg BUT ‘heroic’.
And as heroic as his actions before 8 April ‘69 were, ask yourself why someone of Cleland’s stature would sully his own honor by defending the likes of Wade Sanders, a child porn purveyor and pervert?