Skip N & Eben
You both can thank a veteran (combat veteran) for being able to sit at your computor in a free society and say what you both want without fear of repercusion.
I had a close friend who was a 1st Lt. on a swift boat from East Bridgewater. I distinctly remember every moment I spent with him. He was very solemn quiet guy. I am sure he went through hell just as every person serving in Vietnam did. Many of the fellows I work with served over there. One guy we call agent orange (jokingly)ecause it refers to his uncontrolable temper tantrums he suffers from relating still to his PTSD all these years later. He was a point man in his marine unit for twelve months.
My point here is no one who really saw any action and had to shoot anyone and knows that the person they shot died would
everreally talk about. Its just something that no true combat veteran would do, whether his service was in Vietnam or anywhere else in a time when our soldiers fought. Nobody certainly,unless an ulterior motive was afoot and a plan hatched would ever have someone follow them around with an 8 mm camera taking black and white home movies of them walking around with a m16 in there hands. Kerry used his cohorts then and he is using them now. The only thing my buddie brought home was a one and two quart a day Cheves Regal problem. No 8 mm films and I'll bet my friend got into more dung than Kerry did.
W has his problems too. He did what every other kid in the guard did, screw off. But at least hedidn't run to Canada like so many cowardsdid then and would now if their number was drawn in a draft lottery. W never held up his servicerecord to everyones scrutinylike Kerry stupidly did. I mean you can't serve in Vietnam, use that service to get elected to public office, and then turn around and say my buddies were murderers.If his buddies were murderers so wasn't Kerry.
I think the government should bring back the draft. That would separate the men from the cowards. Men are respected and cowards are not. It is easy to draw a line in the sand between those two kinds of people. Everyone wants to hang out with men and no one would be caught near a coward.
Their is much to much gray area now. To many people and groups justify the failure of so many people doing things that in the near past we consider socially unacceptable. Things both minor and major in nature. To many people turn their backs and walk away from abhorent behavior if it doesn't directly impact them. Let the other guy do something about it. Let him stand up for me and if he doesn't oh well. If I stick my head in the sand a little further I wont see whats going on. Kerry has been doing just that since he was elected to his first public office. He hasn't done anything in Washington. He hasn't done anything to get himself in trouble. That was and is his sole purpose the last twelve years, don't get into trouble and find every running TV camera nearby.
Thats the ONLY point of view most of them know. 
Hybrid Mode
