how to serve the country - is there something better than combat?

Question

I have a family member who is about to graduate from college with excellent grades, proven athletic ability, and an aptitude for music. His neighborhood is very close to Dulles Airport, where on 9/11 highjackers commandeered a plane and tried to hit the Pentagon. He was deeply affected.
I’ve been asked if joining the military and serving in combat would the best thing he could do for the country. His great uncle served as an Engineer deactivating Rommel’s mines on Omaha Beach shortly before the full invasion began. We’re all proud of our uncle.
However, I heard Vice President Cheney say that the reason he did not serve in combat in Vietnam was the he had ‘more important things to do.’ However Mr. Cheney hasn’t said what those things are.
I’m hoping somebody can tell me what Cheney did that was more important than combat service. I would like to be able to give my family member a solid answer. And if what Cheney did was better than servicing, I could suggest the same course.

Answer 1

As a combat veteran I'd say anything is better.

From the perspective of age I can say that in the current situation, the way the military has been abused, there is currently more of a threat to our country than there would have been if the poop-heads had not stolen control.

Cheney managed to get exemptions from service five different ways. His more important things had nothing to do with anything that served the country. While on the subject, Limbaugh was exempted because he had a pimple on his butt. Bush drank and drugged his way through part of a safe guard slot. None of the chickenhawks were ever in danger of serving in combat.

My family has given men to every, EVERY war this country has fought. That includes the French and Indian War, the Revolution and every one since. Tell your family member to serve his country by fighting on the home front for things like constitutional government, good health and education. The things the true enemy is assaulting.

Answer 2

There is always the peace corps.. of course if anyone takes a shot of you .. you can't defend yourself.

As far as Cheney was concerned he was a married in 1964 and had 2 children. During the early 60s men that were drafted were usually older(in their 20s) and single were drafted first, then married with no children. I think he had a couple of DWI's on his record too and those with clean records were taken before those with records.
So since he was young married student and had 2 children during those years he had a family to take care of, I would say that was more important.
Most men married with children didn't serve unless they volunteered. Deferments were not that hard to get in the 60s that is why draft dodgers looked so stupid, they could have been deferred for many reasons, if they had any brains.

Answer 3

I don't know what Cheney did, but there are many ways to serve that don't involve losing your soul on the battlefield.

Become a firefighter, do volunteer work at a hospital or homeless shelter, become a doctor, run for public office, volunteer to help victims of hurricanes or tornadoes, the list goes on and on. With the present war of little or no value to the country, while doing a great deal of damage to the country, joining a peace group is of important service.

Answer 4

There are a multitude of worthy causes by which this young man can serve the country. I'll toss out a few for consideration:

1. Get a teaching certificate and take a job teaching kids in the inner city. I believe that teachers are amongst the most noble public servants in this nation. The potential for contributing to and impacting the betterment of our nation is potent and every bit as honorable as serving in military service.

2. Join an international volunteer organization. Go help uplift people in impoverished lands who are so marginalized that they are virtually powerless. Aside from the humanitarian effort, he would be making a profound statement about America.

3. Join the Coast Guard. Protecting our seaways is a more structured and military-like service, and is critical to efforts to combat drug smuggling and national safety.

Those are three specific suggestions which are differentiated as much from one another as they are from military service.

A comment on joining the military. Suggest to your relative that he stop and contrast the "war" which he will be volunteering to fight with prior such conflicts-- ones in which many of our friends, relatives and ancestors fought. Ask him to consider whether or not he truly sees the Iraq conflict as the front line in combating terrorism, or might he concede, like many, that combating "terrorism" is more akin to combating a multinational criminal organization than was the case in sole-state-sponsored conflicts World Wars I and II, the Korean War, Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm. If he agrees, then perhaps he might consider joining some branch of law enforcement or intelligence-gathering to satisfy his desire to fight back against the events of 9/11. I'd profer that by learning to speak Arabic and signing on with the CIA, DoD or FBI he would fill a glaring gap in America's critical intelligence-gathering capabilities.

Answer 5

Most vets that I talk to call Vice President Cheney a "Chicken hawk" someone who crows loudly for war but won't serve in the front lines. I think that Five successive student deferments speak for themselves Dick Cheney's and George Bush's fathers pulled strings to get their sons out of the draft and the war. The only thing that Cheney has going for him is that he went into public service in the Congress and the Executive Branch.

Personally I think he was a better Congressman and Defense Secretary then Vice President. As for the answer to your question I think would tell my children that public service is service to this country.

Answer 6

If a person has the aptitude to gain power in the government and uses their intelligence say in a military manner as a strategist coming up with plans that would put less soldiers at risk, or as a decision maker so that needless wars are prevented. Unfortunately Dick Cheney did none of these things.

Answer 7

Cheney probably had a buisness to keep running.

Joining the military isn't the only way to serve the country. You can serve the country economically or intellectually through improving our economy or science and research by contributing physically.

Your family member seems intelligent, which his intelligence who be far more useful in the manner I listed above.

Answer 8

Shortly after 9/11 the administration came right out and said (paraphrasing here): keep working, keep spending, keep paying taxes.

America can barely afford to fund the military it has on top of the many other demands on it's government's coffers (in fact, it can't afford everything it's paying for now, that's why the national debt is rising). Making that military much bigger isn't a viable option. Aparently, cutting hundreds of billions a year in wasteful social programs isn't an option, etiher.

So, for now, most of us are more valuable to our country as generators of tax revenue than anything else. Sad, huh?

Answer 9

There are several ways to serve the country. Defending it is certainly one of them, but both of my grandfathers were civilian engineers during WWII, and they helped to build a lot of Projects around America that still exist today. I'm no less proud of their service to the nation, than I am of my father who served in both the Korean War and Vietnam.

Answer 10

Tell your family member to become vice president...he'll be next in line as commander in chief. Some consider the vice presidential position important.