Colin Powell on Vietnam Reservists

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Registered: 11-11-1999
Colin Powell on Vietnam Reservists
7
Fri, 09-10-2004 - 12:25am
Colin Powell on Vietnam Reservists September 08, 2004, 04:45 PM

From his 1995 autobiography ‘My American Journey’:

“I am angry that so many sons of the powerful and well placed and many professional athletes (who were probably healthier than any of us) managed to wangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units. Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to our country.”

Gee, which candidate would this apply to?

dablacksox


Cynic: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.---Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Fri, 09-10-2004 - 4:17am

<<“I am angry that so many sons of the powerful and well placed and many professional athletes (who were probably healthier than any of us) managed to wangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units.>>


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Both.

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 09-10-2004 - 5:00am
Oh Miffy I just hate it when you put fact in the way of ones who have already made up their minds! You knów they don't like it! Am I now to question your cl-ship? LOL!!

Djie

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2003
Fri, 09-10-2004 - 5:41am
Which candidate avoided serving in Vietnam as a result of enlisting in the National Guard with the help of priviliged contacts?

This, IMO, is more to the point of what Colin Powell was writing in the paragraph quoted.

I seriously doubt his issue was with reservists and guardsmen who indeed served in Vietnam.



"I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment. Nor was I willing to go to Canada. So I chose to better myself by learning how to fly airplanes." George Walker Bush

Edited 9/10/2004 5:43 am ET ET by blueishxx

Edited 9/10/2004 5:54 am ET ET by blueishxx


Edited 9/10/2004 5:54 am ET ET by blueishxx

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 09-10-2004 - 6:09am

I was there and I'm here now to tell you that positions in the National Guard, in all branches of the service, during the Vietnam war were sought after


Elaine

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Fri, 09-10-2004 - 7:23am

I was simply answering the question posed, and the paragraph said nothing of participation in the war.

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Fri, 09-10-2004 - 7:31am

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HA!

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-04-2003
Fri, 09-10-2004 - 9:52am
I agree with Colin Powell's statement. It IS unfair (and goes against the whole "all men are created equal" principal) that people of influence can jump in front of others less fortunate. This goes in all aspects of life and occurs everywhere (not just in regards to military service and not just in democracies, the USA etc). However....

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Please stop all this talking and speculating and wasting time about what happened 30 years ago with BOTH candidates *whimper*.

I just have one thing to say....If I were a parent at that time and had ANY kind of influence I would have made it my LIFE'S WORK to do everything within my power to prevent my child from going into the Vietnam bloodbath.....fair or not. I even know that if it were possible and I could switch places with my child, I would personally go to a war zone in the blink of an eye in their place, just like I would throw myself in front of a speeding truck in order to save their lives.

This is the reality of those times. It was and is unfair but such is life. These two men are not alone...Let's move on please????