sorry if this is a re-post.
SOLDIER'S LETTER TO JOHN KERRY
Dear Senator Kerry:
Since it has become clear that you will
probably be the Democratic nominee for President, I have
spent a great deal of time researching your war record and
your record as a professional politician. The reason is
simple; you aspire to be the Commander-in-Chief who would
lead my sons and their fellow soldiers in time of war. I
simply wanted to know if you possess the necessary
qualifications to be trusted in that respect.
You see, I belong to a family of proud
U.S. veterans. I was a Captain in the Army Reserve, my
father was a decorated Lieutenant in World War II, and I
have four sons who have either served, or are currently
serving in the military. The oldest is an Army Lieutenant
still on active duty in Afghanistan after already being
honored for his service in Iraq. The youngest is an E-4
with the military police. His National Guard unit just
finished their second tour of active duty, including six
months in Guantanamo Bay. My two other sons have served in
the National Guard and the Navy.
In looking at your record I found myself
comparing it not only to that of my father and my sons, but
to the people they served with. My father served with the
87th Chemical Mortar Battalion in Europe. They landed on
Utah Beach and fought for 317 straight days including the
Cherbourg Peninsula, Aachen, the Heurtgen Forest, and the
Battle of the Bulge. You received a Silver Star in Vietnam
for chasing down and finishing off a wounded and retreating
enemy soldier. My father earned a Bronze Star for single
handedly charging and knocking out a German machine gun nest
that had his men pinned down. You received three purple
hearts for what appear to be three minor scratches. In
fact, you only missed a combined total of two days of duty
for these wounds. The men of my father's unit, the 87th,
had to be admonished by their commanding officer because:
"It has been brought to our attention that some men are
covering up wounds and refusing medical attention for fear
of being evacuated and permanently separated from this
organization...." It was also a common problem for
seriously wounded soldiers to go AWOL from hospitals in
order to rejoin their units. You used your three purple
hearts to leave Vietnam early.
My oldest boy came home from Iraq with
numerous commendations and then proceeded to volunteer to go
to Afghanistan and from there back to Iraq again. My sons
and father have never had anything but the highest regard
and respect for their fellow soldiers. Yet, you came home
to publicly charge our fighting men with being war criminals
and to urge their defeat by the enemy. You even wrote a
book that had a cover which mocked the heroism of the United
States Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima. Our current
crop of soldiers has a philosophy that no one gets left
behind, and they have practiced that from Somalia to the
battlefields of the Middle East. Yet as chairman of a
Senate committee looking into allegations that many of your
fellow servicemen had been left behind as prisoners in
Vietnam, you chose to defend the brutal Vietnamese regime.
You even went so far as to refer to the families of the POWs
and MIAs as professional malcontents, conspiracy mongers,
con artists, and dime store Rambos.
As a Senator you voted against the 1991
Gulf War, and have repeatedly voted against funds to supply
our troops with the best equipment, and against money to
improve our intelligence capability. I find this
particularly ironic since as a Presidential candidate you
are highly critical of our pre-war intelligence in Iraq.
However, you did vote to authorize the President to go to
war, but have since proceeded to do everything you can to
undermine the efforts of our government and our troops to
win. Is this what our fighting men and women
can expect of you if you are their Commander-in-Chief? Will
you gladly send them to war, only to then aid the enemy by
undermining the morale of our troops and cutting off the
weapons they need to win?
Our country is at war, Senator, and as
has been the case in every war since the American
Revolution, a member of my family is serving their country
during the war. Now you want me to trust you to lead my
sons in this fight.
Sorry Senator, but when I compare your
record to those who have fought and died for this nation,
and are currently fighting and dying, the answer is not just
no, but Hell No!
Sincerely,
Michael Connelly
Dallas, Texas
February 14, 2004
