Stoneage Ramblings

By John R. Stone

All this fuss about military service for our two vice-presidential candidates is getting a little absurd. Both men served their country.

J. D. Vance served as a combat correspondent for the U.S. Marines that included a six-month tour in Afghanistan.  He served a four-year enlistment upon high school graduation and chose not to re-enlist.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz served 24 years in the National Guard, he started after graduating from high school in Nebraska and then transferred to the Minnesota National Guard when he moved here.

Walz has been criticized for leaving the guard after 24 years allegedly because his unit was going to be going to Iraq. There is no real evidence to support that reason although some question the timing. Walz was notified in 2002 that he could retire. He enlisted for another term and later decided to change careers and run for Congress in 2005 so he resigned from his enlistment. His former unit went to Iraq in 2006.

A second criticism is the stolen valor issue. When talking about gun violence at an event in 2018 he said he had “carried the weapons of war” and thought they had no useful purpose on the streets for non-military personnel. He did not claim he had been in a war zone, he would have carried the weapons of war in the National Guard and trained on them regularly. His campaign clarified that when it became an issue.

His third is the rank issue. Walz filled a Command Sergeant Major (CSM) position and was taking coursework to have that become his permanent rank. When he resigned his enlistment he was reverted to the master sergeant rank because he had not completed all the CSM coursework.

There is kind of a respect order within the various military branches. At the top of that order in my mind are men and women who serve in combat. Those are the most dangerous of various MOSs (Military Occupational Specialties).

Often those who end up as combat soldiers are those who are drafted, this was especially true in the late 1960s and early 1970’s in Vietnam. In a lot of ways this is the most “military” of the MOSs, these are the people on the ground or air who confront the enemy face to face to resolve a conflict. There are also medics, fighter pilots, helicopter pilots, gunners, artillery personnel and more in forward positions who risk their lives daily.

For every combat soldier there are six or seven other people who support them. You have cooks, hospital personnel, supply people, communications people, transportation, whether it is truck drivers or pilots of aircraft. There are maintenance people for all the military hardware. And there are people who keep personnel records, pay records and the volumes of military paperwork.

Support people also serve in war zones but the difference is that many don’t have to go out and look for trouble, although it may come to them and often does in war zones.

I respect Walz for his 24 years of service and Vance for his four years. Over 95 percent of citizens never serve in the military. We should respect those who serve honorably and not try to politicize their service. Both men served honorably. You can disagree with their politics, but should respect their military service.

We should be judging political candidates by what they stand for and what they support. Our evaluation of political candidates should be based on their ability to do what they say they want to accomplish. Much of that will be based on their backgrounds.

The military is very structured. Everyone has a responsibility to perform and the success of the whole organization depends upon everyone performing his or her responsibility well. It is good experience for many fields, maybe even especially for governments where structure and following rules is important.

Government is a team effort too. Effective government is when people with varying views work together to accomplish good for the people as a whole. We need to elect people willing to do that and that should be the primary basis for our voting decisions.