John Kerry and Our Wrong Side of the Tracks Military

John over at Argghh! has posted an open track party with some goodies in it. Among other things, he points to a post by former Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry. The very long post alledgedly written by Kerry is predictably filled with bitter, very dry, almost endless points as to why he'd have been a better president than George W. Bush. The comment section, however, is very interesting. His following of 1200 or so commenters cry, flail, pander, bow down, worship, adolate and wallow in the shadow of his post. Here's the link to Daily KOS. There are some really funny comments. This is the comment I want to address here though.

I am as liberal as you can get and I support the military. Not the military-industrial complex but the military. The military of Wes Clark and John Kerry and John Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower. The military that is composed of a bunch of our best and birghtest who had the bad luck to be born on the wrong side of the tracks and believed the bullshit ad campaigns that told them the Army was their way out of the ghetto. The military composed of Reservists and National Guard who no way in hell signed up to be shipped off for extended or any tours of Iraq. The all volunteer military that lets liberals like you and all the Young Repuglicans leave the toilet cleaning duty to the less privileged classes.

I've heard this tired, old and decidedly not true argument many times. First. This poster says he supports the military composed of a bunch of kids with the bad luck to be born on the wrong side of the tracks. He mentions, Wes Clark, John Kerry, John Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower. I don't want to embarrass you so I'll type this quietly. Wes Clark, John Kerry, John Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower were not poor little boys born on the wrong side of the tracks who got lured into the military to get out of the ghetto. Just so you know (insert weak smile with near disbelief). Second. What exactly do you think Reservists and National Guard are signing up for? To get a check every month? Well, okay, some do, but that's not the point. The Reserves and National Guard are military personnel who are available when needed. It's a great gig in peace time, in war time they have to do a little more to earn their pay. If they don't know that, then they didn't read their contracts. Just trying to keep you informed, trying to help (weak smile again). Third. Yes, it is an all volunteer Army. That's the point. It's a citizens army. All volunteer. Our sons and daughters, yours and mine, the full spectrum of society are represented in our Armed Forces. And they all clean the toilets, at least during their trainging. I do agree with one point you made later in this post. You said we should have mandatory service. I agree with that. If everyone in this country were required to spend a couple of years in the Armed Forces we'd have a much stronger country. Just one of the advantages to mandatory service is that these kinds of arguments would fall by the wayside because people would get a clue about what kind of people serve in our military. ~~~ Please note some corrections in comments .... thanks :)~~~