John Kerry and Heroism
by Reed FitzSimons

I grew up believing my father was a hero. I asked him once what he wanted to be when he was young, and he vehemently replied "a soldier." However, he was only13 when Pearl Harbor was attacked, and turned 17 in September 1945. He enlisted in the National Guard but by then the war was over, of course. He went on to college and became a Civil Engineer, and in the early 1950's was back in uniform, this time as a young (and dashing, I might add) officer. The Korean War was the hot war at the time, but he was sent to Germany to help fight the other war, the cold one. He went where the Army sent him and did what he was asked to do, but never saw combat. He died unexpectedly in 2001 after a productive and exceptionally decent life, but I think he always felt a void in his soul for never having served in combat, especially since his older brother became a pilot and was shot down in April 1945, perhaps the last American fighter pilot lost in the European theater. Regardless, he was very much a hero to me.

The other day I caught John Podesta, now serving as a spokesman for John Kerry, on the ABC Sunday talk show. He was, of course, saying what he could to demean George Bush, and made a sneering reference to Bush's service in the Alabama National Guard. It made me wonder if Podesta, Kerry, and all of his representatives realize that, despite their moments of sarcastic satisfaction, they are mocking millions of Americans who served proudly and honorably in the military though never experienced combat.

It is true that much if not most military service is mundane, peacetime duty, but there is one thing that sets the military apart: every soldier, sailor, airman, marine, and coastguardsman, whether active or reserve or guard, has agreed to be sent into harm's way if ordered to do so. The potential for this varies with time and the world situation, but all those who served deserve better than the sardonic words of this person Kerry who so desperately wants to be Commander-in-Chief. This is very much true of George Bush. Most of the jobs in the military aren't excessively dangerous in and of themselves, but there is one job category that always takes courage whether you are being shot at or not, that of military aviator. Bush can be proud of the courage it took to be a fighter/ interceptor pilot, and he and all military aviators should be accorded respect for the inherently dangerous job they volunteered to perform.

I don't doubt that Kerry was brave, regardless of the complete truth of his service. It does seem that he was acting according to a script of sorts, and apparently he thought to bring a movie camera with him to Vietnam to insure his stardom, but what the heck. Through his own actions and words however, I recently find myself questioning not his bravery but his heroism. One caveat of being a hero is that you don't refer to it incessantly, but he doesn't shut up. It seems in Kerry's mind he wasn't a hero, but THE HERO, with his "band of brothers" perhaps lesser heroes (when not war criminals), but only if they support him. His contemporaries that question his degree of heroism, many of whom undoubtedly served longer in Vietnam than he, are reduced to nothing more than minions of some perceived Republican attack apparatus. It seems John Kerry has redefined heroism to mean one thing: himself, and he appears both stupefied and indignant that his definition isn't universally and unquestionably accepted.

I have to admit that I have gone from disagreeing with John Kerry on the issues, wherever he stands at a given moment, to actually disliking him. As he and his representatives opportunistically and mockingly diminish Bush's service as a F-102 pilot in the National Guard, he diminishes all those who served in the military, including my father, which makes it personal. John Kerry had his four and a half months in Vietnam, and no one can nor should take that away from him, but he surprisingly has little else.

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