Opinion: Donald Trump has repeatedly denigrated U.S. military service members
I spent nearly 25 years in the uniform of our nation’s military having sworn to defend our Constitution and our way of life. I flew combat and combat support missions in a number of operations during my flying career. I buried dear friends who also served and did not come home. I can name at least a dozen fellow veterans living in the Asheville/Western North Carolina area and know there are hundreds more I do not know. Some share my combat experience, some supported those of us who participated in combat operations, and others led organizations that directly enabled the operations in which I participated.
The common denominator in all of this is that we served. We were not drafted. We did not stand in front of a judge and receive a choice of jail or the military. We volunteered to serve because we believed in the nobility of putting nation before self. We did not come by this commitment accidentally. Nearly every one of the people I have in mind in the local area who share my veteran status grew up in the 1960s and 70s with parents, grandparents, mentors and family friends who served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and possibly all three. We were ingrained with a sense of national service, a call to a higher purpose.
One of the most important bonds in any military unit is that between the commander and his/her troops. Will the commander sacrifice the unit’s warriors in an operation in which he/she would refuse to participate? Does the commander understand and value the sacrifices his/her warriors and their families make every day to fulfill their commitments and sworn duties? When that bond is broken, trust comes into question. Does the boss have my back or is he only looking out for his own interests?
There is no higher commander in the U.S. military than the president of the United States, the Commander-in-Chief. His decisions can literally determine the life or death of the more than 2 million service members at bases around the world. Among those is Maj. Michael Haley of the South Carolina National Guard, currently deployed in support of operations in Africa. Major Haley is also the husband of Republican presidential candidate, Nikki Haley. When Donald Trump ridiculed Maj. Haley’s service at a recent rally by mockingly asking where Nikki’s husband is, despite his own spouse being completely missing in action during his own campaign, he effectively disqualified himself from being the Commander-in-Chief of the military services of this great country.
Trump is a man who wrangled a doctor’s slip to escape military service during Vietnam. He has repeatedly denigrated those who served, including calling Vietnam prisoner of war John McCain a coward for being captured. He appeared baffled at the motivation behind the sacrifices of World War II veterans buried in French cemeteries. He has an utter absence of respect for and appreciation of the ethos of voluntary military service in a democratic society. I can think of no worse person to sit at the pinnacle of the military chain of command than a person who holds every service member beneath him in total disdain.
Conservatives have long prided themselves for their strong support of our military service members. Why they continue to blindly follow a man who would be as likely to offer ridicule as empathy or sympathy for their loss should a family member make the ultimate sacrifice is baffling. Gov. Haley supports the vast majority of mainstream conservative policy preferences. She understands from the most personal experience the impact of military service on families and those who serve. Her inability to curb the cult following of Donald Trump says more about the Republican voter than the merits of either candidate. The party of small government, free markets, rule of law and national security has been handed over to a man who would create a one-man power base, impose crippling tariffs on imports, defies any court order that doesn’t align with his preferences, and is readily touting his dream of pulling the United States out of its long-standing international alliances in the misguided belief that an American solo act would yield anything except economic and political disaster.
There are many reasons to question Donald Trump’s suitability for a return to the Oval Office. None are as clear and unequivocal as his disrespect for the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who have sworn to defend the Constitution he considers an inconvenient impediment to his warped agenda.
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Brad Gutierrez, Ph.D. is a retired U.S. Air Force combat pilot, professor of Political Science, military diplomat, and senior public policy civil servant. He is currently a woodworker and non-fiction writer based in Marshall.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Trump will never understand putting nation before self
