You know, some people still don't understand why
military personnel do what they do for a living. This exchange between
Senators John Glenn and Sen. Howard Metzenbaum is worth reading. Not only is
it a pretty impressive impromptu speech, but it's also a good example of one
man's explanation of why men and women in the Armed Services do what they do
for a living. This a typical, though sad, example of what those who have never
served think of the Military.
Senator Metzenbaum to Senator
Glenn:
"How can you run for Senate when you've never held a "real
job?"
Senator Glenn:
"I served 23 years in the United States
Marine Corps. I served through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My
plane was hit by antiaircraft fire on 12 different occasions. I was in the
space program. It wasn't my checkbook; it was my Life on the
line.
It was not a nine to five job where I took time off to take the
daily cash receipts to the bank. I ask you to go with me ... as I went the
other day to a Veterans Hospital and look at those men with their mangled
bodies in the eye and tell them they didn't hold a job.
You go with me
to the space program and go as I have gone to the widows and orphans of Ed
White and Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee and you look those kids in the eye
and tell them that their
dad didn't hold a job.
You go with me on
Memorial Day coming up and you stand in Arlington National Cemetery, where
I have more friends than I'd like to remember and you watch those waving
flags. You stand there, and you think about this nation, and you tell me
that those people didn't have a job.
I'll tell you, Howard Metzenbaum,
you should be on your knees every day of your life thanking God that
there were some men - SOME MEN- who held a
job. And they required a dedication to purpose and a love of country and
a dedication to duty that was more important than life itself. And their
self-sacrifice is what made this country possible.I HAVE HELD A JOB, HOWARD!
---"What about you?"
