MilBlogs
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Well, I’m back in Germany, and Pam is in Colorado Springs with Mollie and Max. We had a great Christmas vacation although like all others, it went by far too quickly.
We had what we thought was a pretty good deal on tickets back to Denver from Air Canada. The $300 savings made the 3 hour layover in Toronto seem like it would be well worth it….wrong! The itinerary should have read:
“Depart Frankfurt 12:30 P.M.; Arrive Purgatory 3:00 P.M.; Depart 7th Circle of Hell 5:00 P.M. (if you’re extremely fortunate, fluent in French, English, and German, and can sprint the 1500 meter in under 4 minutes), Arrive Denver 7 P.M. (if you are truly blessed)”
If you are making an international connection to the US in Toronto, keep in mind that the plane first lands at the international terminal. When you disembark here you will stand in line to get through Canadian Immigration. When they are convinced that you are not bringing any fruit flies or Mad Cow laden beef into their country you will have the urge to sprint down the long empty corridor in front of you to find your gate. Resist that urge, you will just be burning energy that you will need later. The corridor doesn’t lead anywhere but the bus which will wait for you. In fact, it will wait for so many people that it will be packed beyond the capacity of a Times Square subway on New Years Eve before it begins it’s laborious trek to an undisclosed mystery location at the most distant geographical point that still remains on Toronto airport property across active taxiways (and I think via Ottowa, Montreal, and Vancouver). Once the bus releases you, again resist the temptation to run or even move quickly, it will only lead to another line, this one for cuntoms. Once you're cleared through here, which they are glad to do for Americans once you tell them you’re not staying, you get to go to a luggage carousel and collect your bags which may arrive shortly before you are eligible for social security.
This is a little “3-Stooges-Finger-in-the-Eye” trick. You put all your bags on a cart and push them to another customs point, this one US, where there will conveniently be no one to point you in the proper direction. Irritate enough people here until someone tells you that there is no need to stand in line and you can just place you bags on another luggage belt. This is retribution for irritating people. Normally when you put bags on a belt that disappears into the wall, they are heading for your plane. Not in Toronto. They are headed to the terminal you are departing from. Again resist the urge to sprint down the empty hallway, you are just running to another bus that will wait for you and everyone else in Canada before it departs for your terminal. When you reach your terminal, you follow blue flashing lights to the “7th Circle of Hell” carousel where you wait for you bags that are only coming from the terminal you just left. This is where you sit anxiously waiting for your bags to come down the chute as you watch moods of all the people around you plummet as one-by-one they miss their connecting flights. This is also where they will tell you that if you were in a hurry, you should have just carried your bags onto the overstuffed mini-bus rather than put them on the belt where you were directed by the irritated person in the other terminal.
Now, just for fun, because I’m sure they are watching all of this on security cameras and placing bets, your bags will arrive one-by-one, mere minutes before your boarding time. Pay the $2 for the luggage cart (there won’t be any free ones laying around unless you brought that with you as well from the last terminal on the mini-bus) you’ll need it. You can sprint now if you still feel like it, it will be a good warm up, but you are only going to US customs and security. Customs will be easy enough to get through on the second try because you won’t be told that you need to fill out a form until you are at the front of the line and the forms are at the back of the line. Security looks like a real security point with the exception that the metal detectors aren’t real, they are just little archways that beep whenever someone walks through to let the security guard know there is someone else to be wand searched after their shoes are removed.
When you’re finally clear of this point, feel free to sprint, the odds against you making your flight have been steadily going up with the security camera people, but since you saved you energy, you can just make it with a 3 hour layover.
As it turns out, this was only a warm-up for the return trip
We had what we thought was a pretty good deal on tickets back to Denver from Air Canada. The $300 savings made the 3 hour layover in Toronto seem like it would be well worth it….wrong! The itinerary should have read:
“Depart Frankfurt 12:30 P.M.; Arrive Purgatory 3:00 P.M.; Depart 7th Circle of Hell 5:00 P.M. (if you’re extremely fortunate, fluent in French, English, and German, and can sprint the 1500 meter in under 4 minutes), Arrive Denver 7 P.M. (if you are truly blessed)”
If you are making an international connection to the US in Toronto, keep in mind that the plane first lands at the international terminal. When you disembark here you will stand in line to get through Canadian Immigration. When they are convinced that you are not bringing any fruit flies or Mad Cow laden beef into their country you will have the urge to sprint down the long empty corridor in front of you to find your gate. Resist that urge, you will just be burning energy that you will need later. The corridor doesn’t lead anywhere but the bus which will wait for you. In fact, it will wait for so many people that it will be packed beyond the capacity of a Times Square subway on New Years Eve before it begins it’s laborious trek to an undisclosed mystery location at the most distant geographical point that still remains on Toronto airport property across active taxiways (and I think via Ottowa, Montreal, and Vancouver). Once the bus releases you, again resist the temptation to run or even move quickly, it will only lead to another line, this one for cuntoms. Once you're cleared through here, which they are glad to do for Americans once you tell them you’re not staying, you get to go to a luggage carousel and collect your bags which may arrive shortly before you are eligible for social security.
This is a little “3-Stooges-Finger-in-the-Eye” trick. You put all your bags on a cart and push them to another customs point, this one US, where there will conveniently be no one to point you in the proper direction. Irritate enough people here until someone tells you that there is no need to stand in line and you can just place you bags on another luggage belt. This is retribution for irritating people. Normally when you put bags on a belt that disappears into the wall, they are heading for your plane. Not in Toronto. They are headed to the terminal you are departing from. Again resist the urge to sprint down the empty hallway, you are just running to another bus that will wait for you and everyone else in Canada before it departs for your terminal. When you reach your terminal, you follow blue flashing lights to the “7th Circle of Hell” carousel where you wait for you bags that are only coming from the terminal you just left. This is where you sit anxiously waiting for your bags to come down the chute as you watch moods of all the people around you plummet as one-by-one they miss their connecting flights. This is also where they will tell you that if you were in a hurry, you should have just carried your bags onto the overstuffed mini-bus rather than put them on the belt where you were directed by the irritated person in the other terminal.
Now, just for fun, because I’m sure they are watching all of this on security cameras and placing bets, your bags will arrive one-by-one, mere minutes before your boarding time. Pay the $2 for the luggage cart (there won’t be any free ones laying around unless you brought that with you as well from the last terminal on the mini-bus) you’ll need it. You can sprint now if you still feel like it, it will be a good warm up, but you are only going to US customs and security. Customs will be easy enough to get through on the second try because you won’t be told that you need to fill out a form until you are at the front of the line and the forms are at the back of the line. Security looks like a real security point with the exception that the metal detectors aren’t real, they are just little archways that beep whenever someone walks through to let the security guard know there is someone else to be wand searched after their shoes are removed.
When you’re finally clear of this point, feel free to sprint, the odds against you making your flight have been steadily going up with the security camera people, but since you saved you energy, you can just make it with a 3 hour layover.
As it turns out, this was only a warm-up for the return trip
Friday, November 26, 2004
This Thanksgiving, we celebrated a true multi cultural event with my Friend Jim and his Japanese wife, Yukiko; our German landlords, Doris and Gerd Shultz; our Irish friend Katie, her mother Maeve, brother Stephen and American boyfriend Carey.
My Thanksgiving toast.
We do this every year, it's the price you pay for having Thanksgiving in the Delaplane house. We go around the table and everyone has to say what they are thankful for over the past year. Some years this means more than others, and this is one of those years when it means a great deal. This has been a year during which it's been easier to focus on the things we wish for rather than the things we are thankful for. So, I would like to tell you some of things I am thankful for.
First, I am thankful for this full house. Fourteen months ago when we arrived in Germany, we knew no one, not a soul, and over the last year, each of you has opened not only your homes but your hearts to us. I am thankful to call each of you a friend.
I am thankful for the courage that I have seen my wife demonstrate, not only over this past year, but through some very difficult times over the past several years. I am thankful for the strength that she has shared with me in the face of the difficult times that lay ahead of us. I couldn't do it without her.
Lastly, I am thankful for the hope and faith the I see here at our table. We have four different countries represented here today. Sixty years ago, these four countries were evenly divided in a bitter conflict. The idea of each of us giving thanks and sharing a meal together would have been unthinkable. Sixty years ago our own country was so bitterly divided in it's own prejudice and bigotry that I would never have sat at the same table and shared a meal with Jim, this person that I am thankful today to call one of my very dear friends.
I am thankful for the faith that all of you give me in mankind; faith that good and decent people truly yearn for peace and friendship, regardless of our birthplace, the language we speak, or the color of our skin.
I am thankful for the hope that this gives me that each of our children and grand-children may not have to face the same challenges that we do now.
So, I would like to raise my glass and say to each of you: Prost, Kum Pai, Slainte, and Cheers.
My Thanksgiving toast.
We do this every year, it's the price you pay for having Thanksgiving in the Delaplane house. We go around the table and everyone has to say what they are thankful for over the past year. Some years this means more than others, and this is one of those years when it means a great deal. This has been a year during which it's been easier to focus on the things we wish for rather than the things we are thankful for. So, I would like to tell you some of things I am thankful for.
First, I am thankful for this full house. Fourteen months ago when we arrived in Germany, we knew no one, not a soul, and over the last year, each of you has opened not only your homes but your hearts to us. I am thankful to call each of you a friend.
I am thankful for the courage that I have seen my wife demonstrate, not only over this past year, but through some very difficult times over the past several years. I am thankful for the strength that she has shared with me in the face of the difficult times that lay ahead of us. I couldn't do it without her.
Lastly, I am thankful for the hope and faith the I see here at our table. We have four different countries represented here today. Sixty years ago, these four countries were evenly divided in a bitter conflict. The idea of each of us giving thanks and sharing a meal together would have been unthinkable. Sixty years ago our own country was so bitterly divided in it's own prejudice and bigotry that I would never have sat at the same table and shared a meal with Jim, this person that I am thankful today to call one of my very dear friends.
I am thankful for the faith that all of you give me in mankind; faith that good and decent people truly yearn for peace and friendship, regardless of our birthplace, the language we speak, or the color of our skin.
I am thankful for the hope that this gives me that each of our children and grand-children may not have to face the same challenges that we do now.
So, I would like to raise my glass and say to each of you: Prost, Kum Pai, Slainte, and Cheers.
Sunday, November 21, 2004
The Changing Remains the Same
I guess the only thing we can count on to reamin the same is that everything will keep changing. Looks like the dates are changing for pushing out of here, later rather than sooner, which I guess is better, but it throws a kink in things here. Not sure whether Pam will come back here with me after Christmas, or if she will just stay with Mollie and Max.
On one hand, we don't won't to make a 12 month separation any longer than it has to be, but we also don't want to be spending a lot of money on tickets for a short period of time during which I will probably be working a great deal. So...more to follow.
Got tagged as an Article 32 investigating officer for a an incident that happened in one of our unit's barracks a week ago. Interesting assignment, but it's taking me away from a lot of other things that need to be getting done.
I guess the only thing we can count on to reamin the same is that everything will keep changing. Looks like the dates are changing for pushing out of here, later rather than sooner, which I guess is better, but it throws a kink in things here. Not sure whether Pam will come back here with me after Christmas, or if she will just stay with Mollie and Max.
On one hand, we don't won't to make a 12 month separation any longer than it has to be, but we also don't want to be spending a lot of money on tickets for a short period of time during which I will probably be working a great deal. So...more to follow.
Got tagged as an Article 32 investigating officer for a an incident that happened in one of our unit's barracks a week ago. Interesting assignment, but it's taking me away from a lot of other things that need to be getting done.
Friday, November 12, 2004
Back to the Real World
Well, not that the election is over, I guess we can get back to discussing reality as it exists for us at the lower level of the food chain.
I spent the last week in training exercises at Grafenwoeher, a lovely Bavarian resort area about 50k from the Czech Republic border. Of course that's only if your idea of a resort is an open bay barracks with 30 or 40 snoring soldiers and a common bathroom 150 yards from the front door, heat and eat meals made for a thousand with the consistency of rubber and Elmer's glue. Other than that, very much like any other resort.
I remember growing up in the army and listening to the stories of all the guys that had come from our heavy units in Germany and their training exercises in Graf. I always had this mental image of some cold, desolate, God-forsaken place where it always rained and snowed. Turns out I had that one spot-on.
We did get to spend 12 hours a day in secured buildings working through a command post exercise which gave us a pretty good look at hour our staff works and interacts with the staffs of our sister and higher units.
On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to go through a live fire convoy exercise. This is something that has been mandated recently for all of our troops going downrange. It riding in a convoy down a designated course and firing all of the unit's weapons systems, 50 cal, M249s, M16s, and M9s, at pop upu targets from both the halt and while moving. 16 years in the Army, I've never done something like this, so I know none of the other troops in the unit had either. Aside from the 20 degree weather and constant snow throughout the day, I guess it's as close as we're going to get to the downrange experience without acatually being there.
In any case, i was supposed to be going to Afghanistan today for about a week for an assesment, but that trip was cancelled, so we may go later, or we may just end up going in blind when we deploy.
Well, not that the election is over, I guess we can get back to discussing reality as it exists for us at the lower level of the food chain.
I spent the last week in training exercises at Grafenwoeher, a lovely Bavarian resort area about 50k from the Czech Republic border. Of course that's only if your idea of a resort is an open bay barracks with 30 or 40 snoring soldiers and a common bathroom 150 yards from the front door, heat and eat meals made for a thousand with the consistency of rubber and Elmer's glue. Other than that, very much like any other resort.
I remember growing up in the army and listening to the stories of all the guys that had come from our heavy units in Germany and their training exercises in Graf. I always had this mental image of some cold, desolate, God-forsaken place where it always rained and snowed. Turns out I had that one spot-on.
We did get to spend 12 hours a day in secured buildings working through a command post exercise which gave us a pretty good look at hour our staff works and interacts with the staffs of our sister and higher units.
On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to go through a live fire convoy exercise. This is something that has been mandated recently for all of our troops going downrange. It riding in a convoy down a designated course and firing all of the unit's weapons systems, 50 cal, M249s, M16s, and M9s, at pop upu targets from both the halt and while moving. 16 years in the Army, I've never done something like this, so I know none of the other troops in the unit had either. Aside from the 20 degree weather and constant snow throughout the day, I guess it's as close as we're going to get to the downrange experience without acatually being there.
In any case, i was supposed to be going to Afghanistan today for about a week for an assesment, but that trip was cancelled, so we may go later, or we may just end up going in blind when we deploy.
Saturday, October 09, 2004
Presidential Debates
I haven't written anything about the presidential debates. I don't believe that there is going to be any true meaasure of who one or lost the debates other than at the polls on November 2nd so trying to analyze performance in a 90 minute question and answer period is academic at best. I honestly don't believe that there are enough "undecided" people in the voting population, to make a difference on that day.
That said, I was sadly disappointed in the President's performance during the first debate. The substance of the material being debated clearly favored the President, but the style and presentation weighed heavily in favor of Senator Kerry. I see this as a microcosm of the entire campaign. Senator Kerry is certainly the more polished politician. He presents what he thinks the audience of the moment wants to hear in the most pleasing manner in which he can present it. Conversely, the president, presents his position, reinforces it, makes no apologies for it, and does not try to pander to the audience by trying to spin it.
After being immersed in Kerry style politics for as many years as we can remember, we are unprepared for and consequently blindsided by the honesty of the President. Are we so innundated by politicians patronizing us that that we are unprepared for a leader who unhesitatingly makes clear, moral decisions and stands by them? I suppose those who are unprepared for this will interpret this as disegenuous, I take this as exactly the opposite. Honesty is not always good news, but it's what we need to hear and what a leader has the responsibility to tell us.
The second debate is starting now, I'm sure there will be more to follow.
I haven't written anything about the presidential debates. I don't believe that there is going to be any true meaasure of who one or lost the debates other than at the polls on November 2nd so trying to analyze performance in a 90 minute question and answer period is academic at best. I honestly don't believe that there are enough "undecided" people in the voting population, to make a difference on that day.
That said, I was sadly disappointed in the President's performance during the first debate. The substance of the material being debated clearly favored the President, but the style and presentation weighed heavily in favor of Senator Kerry. I see this as a microcosm of the entire campaign. Senator Kerry is certainly the more polished politician. He presents what he thinks the audience of the moment wants to hear in the most pleasing manner in which he can present it. Conversely, the president, presents his position, reinforces it, makes no apologies for it, and does not try to pander to the audience by trying to spin it.
After being immersed in Kerry style politics for as many years as we can remember, we are unprepared for and consequently blindsided by the honesty of the President. Are we so innundated by politicians patronizing us that that we are unprepared for a leader who unhesitatingly makes clear, moral decisions and stands by them? I suppose those who are unprepared for this will interpret this as disegenuous, I take this as exactly the opposite. Honesty is not always good news, but it's what we need to hear and what a leader has the responsibility to tell us.
The second debate is starting now, I'm sure there will be more to follow.
Friday, October 08, 2004
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Please excuse the hiatus.
I have been attending the Army's Command and General Staff College for the past several weeks and my spare time has been extremly limited at best. I will be reporting to my new unit tomorrow and assuming the Battalion XO duties as we prepare for the 6th rotation of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
After having my nose buried in Field Manuals and Student Texts for the past 2 weeks, I finally got the chance to go back and catch up on the news only to find that I hadn't missed anything. The president is still solidly ahead in the polls, Kerry still hasn't found a message and Florida is still getting pounded by a hurricane.
One thing I did notice though is how stonily silent the Democratic party has remained after the arrest of the Iraqi National Guard General suspected of collaborating with the insurgents. After the President and Secretary Rumsfield were soundly criticized for not using former Iraqi Army and Baath party officials in the Iraqi National Guard, it turns out there is a reason all these guys can't be trusted....Hmmm, turns out that oxygen makes it easier to breathe too.
I have been attending the Army's Command and General Staff College for the past several weeks and my spare time has been extremly limited at best. I will be reporting to my new unit tomorrow and assuming the Battalion XO duties as we prepare for the 6th rotation of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
After having my nose buried in Field Manuals and Student Texts for the past 2 weeks, I finally got the chance to go back and catch up on the news only to find that I hadn't missed anything. The president is still solidly ahead in the polls, Kerry still hasn't found a message and Florida is still getting pounded by a hurricane.
One thing I did notice though is how stonily silent the Democratic party has remained after the arrest of the Iraqi National Guard General suspected of collaborating with the insurgents. After the President and Secretary Rumsfield were soundly criticized for not using former Iraqi Army and Baath party officials in the Iraqi National Guard, it turns out there is a reason all these guys can't be trusted....Hmmm, turns out that oxygen makes it easier to breathe too.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Why Bush Will Win
When I tell people that I support President Bush for re-election I receive a wide range of reactions but invariably I am always asked why. How do you answer this in only a few sentences? Here is how I get a handle on that question. I imagaine that this election has come to a situation where mine is the deciding vote, and the world knows it. After all the milions, after all the attacks ads and accusations, after all the 527s and surrogate media, it comes to me sitting in front of an interviewer explaining why George W. Bush will continue to lead this nation for the next 4 years.
1. Leadership Vs. Followership - There is a scene in the movie Braveheart in which William Wallace tells Robert the Bruce "There is courage in you , I can see it and others see it and they would follow you if you would only lead them." It is true that the basis of a representative form of government is to elect people who's ideals and opinions most closely resemble yours and therefore represent you, but in the end we are casting our ballots for leaders. We desire a person who will take bold and decisive action when required, who sets moral and noble objectives and relentlessly pursues them, a person who may be fallible but never for a lack of effort or desire. This is leadership and this is what is embodied by President Bush. The person who always concerns himself with the political connotations of his actions, who always worries about how he is perceived, the person who tailors not just the style, but the content of his message to the audience he is addressing, waiting to see which way the people will go so he can lead them, this is a follwer and this is what is embodied by Senator Kerry. I choose leadership.
2. We are known by the company we keep - If I had the time right now, I would go back and re-read the Ayn Rand novel Atlas Shrugged. The protaganist of this novel seeks to surround herself with those who achieve greatness through their own actions but finds that those who truly exceled have either gone into hiding or have been destroyed by a society led by those who don't reward achivement but rather live as parasites off the achievement getting wealthy destroying it in the process. Michael Moore epitomizes this parasitic nature by taking divisive and controversial issues and wraps them slantedly, biased, out of context, or simply fabricated in the shell of a documentary then reaps millions through the spread of this disinformation with reckless disregard for any journalistic integrity whatsoever. There are those who achieve greatness and there are those like Moore who siphon greatness while trying to destroy it for a personal agenda. He is given a seat of honor at the Democratic National Convention. Bill Mahre incites violence and rioting at the Republican National Convention and wraps it in the guise of comedy. If the only thing I had seen through the entire campaign had been the demonstrations in Manhattan, my feet would have ben firmly planted with the Republican agenda if only to distance myself from the borderline psychotic behavior witnessed in the streets that week.
At the end of the day, it's a simple choice. We have a leader in the Whitehouse who surrounds himself with those who are intent on great achievements for this nation and an opposition who offers nothing but a change to the revisionist history he has written and personal gain for himself and band of parasites.
When I tell people that I support President Bush for re-election I receive a wide range of reactions but invariably I am always asked why. How do you answer this in only a few sentences? Here is how I get a handle on that question. I imagaine that this election has come to a situation where mine is the deciding vote, and the world knows it. After all the milions, after all the attacks ads and accusations, after all the 527s and surrogate media, it comes to me sitting in front of an interviewer explaining why George W. Bush will continue to lead this nation for the next 4 years.
1. Leadership Vs. Followership - There is a scene in the movie Braveheart in which William Wallace tells Robert the Bruce "There is courage in you , I can see it and others see it and they would follow you if you would only lead them." It is true that the basis of a representative form of government is to elect people who's ideals and opinions most closely resemble yours and therefore represent you, but in the end we are casting our ballots for leaders. We desire a person who will take bold and decisive action when required, who sets moral and noble objectives and relentlessly pursues them, a person who may be fallible but never for a lack of effort or desire. This is leadership and this is what is embodied by President Bush. The person who always concerns himself with the political connotations of his actions, who always worries about how he is perceived, the person who tailors not just the style, but the content of his message to the audience he is addressing, waiting to see which way the people will go so he can lead them, this is a follwer and this is what is embodied by Senator Kerry. I choose leadership.
2. We are known by the company we keep - If I had the time right now, I would go back and re-read the Ayn Rand novel Atlas Shrugged. The protaganist of this novel seeks to surround herself with those who achieve greatness through their own actions but finds that those who truly exceled have either gone into hiding or have been destroyed by a society led by those who don't reward achivement but rather live as parasites off the achievement getting wealthy destroying it in the process. Michael Moore epitomizes this parasitic nature by taking divisive and controversial issues and wraps them slantedly, biased, out of context, or simply fabricated in the shell of a documentary then reaps millions through the spread of this disinformation with reckless disregard for any journalistic integrity whatsoever. There are those who achieve greatness and there are those like Moore who siphon greatness while trying to destroy it for a personal agenda. He is given a seat of honor at the Democratic National Convention. Bill Mahre incites violence and rioting at the Republican National Convention and wraps it in the guise of comedy. If the only thing I had seen through the entire campaign had been the demonstrations in Manhattan, my feet would have ben firmly planted with the Republican agenda if only to distance myself from the borderline psychotic behavior witnessed in the streets that week.
At the end of the day, it's a simple choice. We have a leader in the Whitehouse who surrounds himself with those who are intent on great achievements for this nation and an opposition who offers nothing but a change to the revisionist history he has written and personal gain for himself and band of parasites.
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Here we go again.
Sen. Kerry unleashed a vicous counter attack on the Vice-President saying:
"The Vice-President called me unfit for office last night," Mr Kerry told the rally in Springfield, Ohio, with his running mate, John Edwards, beside him. "I'm going to leave it up to the voters to decide whether five deferments [obtained by Mr Cheney over Vietnam] make someone more qualified than two tours of duty."
There are a couple of problems however:
1. Kerry tried to get a deferment himself so he could study in Paris after graduating from Yale and was turned down by the draft board. It begs the question of how many deferments he would have taken if he could have gotten them.
2. Kerry's DD214 (discharge certificate) posted on his own website shows total military service of 3 years, 18 days. 1 tour, not 2.
Sen. Kerry unleashed a vicous counter attack on the Vice-President saying:
"The Vice-President called me unfit for office last night," Mr Kerry told the rally in Springfield, Ohio, with his running mate, John Edwards, beside him. "I'm going to leave it up to the voters to decide whether five deferments [obtained by Mr Cheney over Vietnam] make someone more qualified than two tours of duty."
There are a couple of problems however:
1. Kerry tried to get a deferment himself so he could study in Paris after graduating from Yale and was turned down by the draft board. It begs the question of how many deferments he would have taken if he could have gotten them.
2. Kerry's DD214 (discharge certificate) posted on his own website shows total military service of 3 years, 18 days. 1 tour, not 2.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
