To my surprise (and not-quite-secret delight) the whole Bush military service issue seems to be taking off. Two posts on other blogs have set me off: This one argues that Kerry is insulting those who served in the National Guard and this one argues that you can't logically oppose the war and support the troops. Since I was inflamed enough by both arguments enough to post comments, I suppose I should comment on my own blog. So here goes:

Two groups of young American males made terribly difficult choices during the Vietnam War: those who volunteered for combat and those who actively opposed and resisted the war. The first group risked death and dismemberment; the second risked prison and diminished job prospects. Some, like Kerry, were in both groups. The rest of us found some easier route. We stayed in school, or we cashed in our daddy's reputation, or we volunteered for relatively safe duty, or we joined the National Guard or reserves. None of those choices was entirely risk free. National Guard units could, and did, get sent to the front lines; radio operators like me would have been wiped out in the first few minutes of a Soviet invasion of West Germany. Mostly, though, Guardsmen pulled relatively light duty, and I worked on my German and acquired an inextinguishable thirst for German beer. What we did wasn't disgraceful, but it sure wasn't heroic. When I was in basic training, a common joke was that the initials for National Guard stood for "Not Going."

I don't really much care whether Bush served all the time he owed the National Guard. I do care if he is lying about his service all these years later. And I especially care if the president who has ordered troops into two wars still hasn't decided where he stands on the one war he could have fought in himself.

Those things matter because we are still in the middle of a war that strikes me as far less justifiable than Vietnam ever was. I opposed the war and am appalled by it. But if supporting the troops means that I favor spending every penny it takes to bring the war to safe conclusion, then I support the troops. And I would willingly support them with real dollars, not vague deficit dollars to be repaid somewhere down the road. My fear about this war is not that I will be proved wrong but that I will be proved right. I would rather have hawks ridicule me to my grave than to have one more soldier die unnecessarily. If it isn't possible in this country to oppose the war and still support the troops, then the war already has been lost.