This is way out of the realm of anything to do with Spain - but I thought some of you might find it interesting.

Check out this interesting pattern

on who leads us to war and who questions it.

DEMOCRATS:

Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.

David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.

Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.

Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army
journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.

Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.

Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-'47; Medal of Honor, WWII.

Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.

Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star,
Vietnam.

Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-1953.

Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.

Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.

Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII, receiving the Bronze Star and
seven
campaign ribbons.

Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars,
and
Soldier's Medal.

Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and
Legion
of Merit.

Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.

Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze
Star
with Combat V.

Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.

Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57

Chuck Robb: Vietnam

Howell Heflin: Silver Star

George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.

Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.

Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953

John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal with 18 Clusters.

REPUBLICANS

Dennis Hastert: did not serve.

Tom Delay: did not serve.

Roy Blunt: did not serve.

Bill Frist: did not serve.

Mitch McConnell: did not serve.

Rick Santorum: did not serve.

Trent Lott: did not serve.

Dick Cheney: did not serve.

John Ashcroft: did not serve.

Jeb Bush: did not serve.

Karl Rove: did not serve.

Saxby Chambliss: did not serve.

Vin Weber: did not serve.

Richard Perle: did not serve.

Douglas Feith: did not serve.

Eliot Abrams: did not serve.

Richard Shelby: did not serve.

Jon Kyl: did not serve.

Tim Hutchison: did not serve.

Christopher Cox: did not serve.

Newt Gingrich: did not serve.

Phil Gramm: did not serve.

Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.

John M. McHugh: did not serve.

J C Watts: did not serve.

Jack Kemp: did not serve.

Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.

George Pataki: did not serve.

Spencer Abraham: did not serve.

John Engler: did not serve.

Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.

Antonin Scalia: did not serve.

Clarence Thomas: did not serve.

PUNDITS & PREACHERS

Sean Hannity: did not serve.

Rush Limbaugh: did not serve

Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.

Michael Savage: did not serve.

George Will: did not serve.
.
Paul Gigot: did not serve.

Bill Bennett: did not serve.

Pat Buchanan: did not serve.

John Wayne: did not serve.

Bill Kristol: did not serve.

Kenneth Starr: did not serve.

Ralph Reed: did not serve.

Michael Medved: did not serve.

Charlie Daniels: did not serve.

Ted Nugent: did not serve.

"The journey is the destination..."

W

Wow, Dave Bonoir only made E-5?

During the Viet Nam war, joining the National Guard was known as a means of getting out of hazardous duty. Many "chicken-hawks" used it to hypocritically claim they "served" while keeping their (almost always) white behinds safe from any real danger. Most people in the anti-war movement, while open to any form of resistance, felt it was a country club for the well connected. I wonder who ended up getting bumped from the roster in the Texas Air National Guard when Bush's father called in favors to get his little boy bumped up to the top of the entry list, and what happened to him -- did he go to 'Nam and get killed, or mutilated or captured, or. . .? Congressmen were infamous for protecting their families while sending other people's children (more often than not, people of color) to the killing fields.

I'll proudly add one Republican (and a rip-roaring conservative he was too) to the list of those who served, albiet in WWII. My father, Lt. Fred Shellabarger, Intel Officer aboard the famous destroyer Newcomb. Group Comendation for valor and a personal Bronze star for same. Fought in the thick of the Pacific theater kamakazi attacks, being taken out (but defiantly afloat) by two sucide plane hits, while fighting off 5 others! Now THOSE men were true heroes. By the way, he only spoke about his experiences once, when I asked him. Otherwise he never mentioned it, or his medals.

Puna:
Some of the more notable names that you left off of the list from the Republican side are John McCain USN Pow Viet Nam, Bob Dole US Army 1st Lt wounded in action, Richard Nixon US Navy WWII enough said, Gerald Ford US Navy WWII, Ronald W. Regan Captain US Army WWII, GHW Bush LT US Navy WWII, former Senator J. Denton US Navy POW Viet Nam. Then there was a WWII General by the name of Eisenhour. Going back even further there was a young man born in northern Kentucky who went on to become an Army Captian before going to the White House, by the name of Lincoln.

From the Democrat side of the isle you left off William Jefferson Clinton, known to have gone to great lengths to avoid military service, and has never tried to hide it. Then let us not forget Hillary R. Clinton, who probably would have made a good JAG officer had she been so inclined to do so.

Then back to the Repubican side don't forget me Desert Dweller, Staff Sgt, USAF 1970-79. Here I do sit, in the desert of Arizona with my red neck, white socks, and Blue Ribbon beer.

Keep posting Puna, I like to hear from you.

Matin de Madrid - It soundfs as if your faher had more dignity (as well as courage) than most - conservative or not ...

Puna,

As impressive as the list of Democrats who served is, why doesn't it list the Republicans who served? Like was stated by another poster - who named a few.

When lists like this are published, the value of what it says can only be judged by the inclusion of all positive and negative factors included, and in this case, the objective was to "point out" that Dems served, and totally ignore the military contributions of any Republican by inuendo.

I'm afraid the fact that a lot of well known Dems is now a mute point because of the angle at which this was presented. It's a shame too, because there were a lot of distinguished military men on both sides of the aisle, and none of them should be slighted.

Wolf

Martin,

I salute your Dad. A man who saw his duty and did it.

Desert,

I salute you. I served too, and wear white socks, but my neck isn't quite red, and prefer Jack Daniels or a nice Napoleon brandy or Cognac over the beer...

Wolf, Desert,

Add me to your list, as one who enjoys Jack Daniels and..oh...uh...served as an E-5 1976-1981.

I remember several of my fellow crewmen were members of the Air National Guard while severing in the USAF. Not everyone was white. We all went through the same training, and I never trained at a country club! Oh. We were all Americans too. I did not remember any democrats or republicans.

gsobotta USAF Staff Sgt 1966-1970

Not everyone was white? What does that mean? Of course everyone serving was not white. Do you mean that Americans don't distinguish between races when training troops?

Quite a few people in the military had thier own opinions about politics. Some were Democrats and others were Republicans.