Some Served, Some Hid From Service

Who served in the military?

Prominent Democrats

Representative Richard Gephardt, former House Minority Leader: Missouri Air National Guard, 1965-71.
Representative David Bonior: Staff Sgt., United States Air Force 1968-72
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., U.S. Air Force SAC 1969-72
Former Vice President Al Gore: enlisted August 1969; sent to Vietnam January 1971 as an army journalist, assigned to the 20th Engineer Brigade headquartered at Bien Hoa, an airbase twenty miles northeast of Saigon.
Former Senator Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g., U.S. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam
Senator Daniel Inouye: US Army 1943-'47; Medal of Honor, World War Two
Senator John Kerry: Lt., U.S. Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, and three awards of the Purple Heart for his service in combat
Representative Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., U.S. Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea
Former Senator Max Cleland: Captain, U.S. Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam
Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA): U.S. Army, 1951-1953.
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA): Lt., U.S. Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
Senator Jack Reed (D-RI): U.S. Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91
Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC): served as a U.S. Army officer in World War II, receiving the Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.
Representative Leonard Boswell (D-IA): Lt. Col., U.S. Army 1956-76; two tours in Vietnam, two Distinguished Flying Crosses as a helicopter pilot, two Bronze Stars, and the Soldier's Medal.
Former Representative "Pete" Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW, Ambassador to Viet Nam, and recipient of the Purple Heart, the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit.
Rep. Mike Thompson, D-CA: Staff sergeant/platoon leader with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, U.S. Army; was wounded and received a Purple Heart.
Bill McBride, Democratic Candidate for Florida Governor: volunteered and served as a U.S. Marine in Vietnam; awarded Bronze Star with a combat "V."
Gray Davis, California Governor: Army Captain in Vietnam; received Bronze Star.
Pete Stark, D-CA: served in the Air Force 1955-57
Chuck Robb, US Senator from Virginia: served in Vietnam
Howell Heflin: Silver Star
George McGovern: awarded Silver Star & DFC, bomber pilot, flew dozens of missions during WWII.
Pete Stark, D-CA: served in the Air Force
Former President Bill Clinton: avoided the draft through student deferments; in the autumn of 1969, Clinton entered the draft but received a high number (311) and was never called to serve.
Former President Jimmy Carter: most recent recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, seven years in the Navy, nuclear submarine commander; Except for his fellow service-academy graduate Dwight Eisenhower, no President of the twentieth century spent more years in uniform than Carter.
Former Vice President Walter Mondale: U.S. Army 1951-1953
Former Senator John Glenn, D-OH (1974-1999): Served in WWII and Korea; extensive military commendations include the Distinguished Flying Cross on six occasions, and the Air Medal with 18 Clusters.
Congressman Tom Lantos, D-CA: Did not serve in the US military; did serve in the Hungarian anti-Nazi underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg, is the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress.

Prominent Republicans

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert: avoided the draft, did not serve.
Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey: avoided the draft, did not serve.
House Majority Leader Tom Delay: avoided the draft, did not serve
House Majority Whip Roy Blunt: did not serve
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist: did not serve.
Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, R-KY: did not serve
Rick Santorum, R-PA, third ranking Republican in the Senate: did not serve.
Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott: avoided the draft, did not serve.
Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld: served in the U.S. Navy (1954-57) as an aviator and flight instructor.; Served as President Reagan's Special Envoy to the Middle East and met with Saddam Hussein twice in 1983 and 1984.
President George W. Bush: decided that a six-year Nat'l Guard commitment really means four years.
Vice-President Dick Cheney: several deferments, the last by marriage (in his own words, "had other priorities than military service")
Att'y Gen. John Ashcroft: did not serve ; received seven deferments to teach business ed at SW Missouri State
Jeb Bush, Florida Governor: did not serve.
Karl Rove: avoided the draft, did not serve, too busy being a Republican.
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich: avoided the draft, did not serve
"B-1" Bob Dornan: Enlisted only after the fighting was over in Korea.
Phil Gramm: avoided the draft, did not serve, four (?) student deferments

Republicans/Conservatives

Political

Senator Don Nickles, R-OK: Oklahoma - Biography does not list military service; However, CNN lists Army National Guard service 1970-1976.
Senator Richard Shelby: did not serve
Senator Jon Kyl, R-AZ: did not serve
Senator Tim Hutchison, R-AR: did not serve
Rep. Christopher Cox, R-CA: fifth-ranking Republican in Congress; did not serve.
Representative Saxby Chambliss, Georgia: did not serve; had a "bad knee" (yet somehow feels he has a right to attack Max Cleland's patriotism)
Former Representative JC Watts: did not serve
Jack Kemp: did not serve (was unfit because of a knee injury, though he heroically continued as a National Football League quarterback for another eight years)
Former Vice President Dan Quayle: avoided Vietnam service; got a slot in the journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard when the unit was at 150% capacity (at least he showed up for his duty, unlike GW)
Eliot Abrams: did not serve
Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve
Former Representative Vin Weber: did not serve
Richard Perle: did not serve
Rudy Giuliani: did not serve
Michael Bloomberg: did not serve
George Pataki: did not serve
Spencer Abraham: did not serve
John Engler: did not serve (1
Lindsey Graham (R-SC): website used to claim service as a "Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm veteran."; A current biographical website makes no such claim.; In reality, was a National Guard lawyer who never left South Carolina uring the Gulf War.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-CA: did not serve
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA/49th: there were some problems with his service.
Rep. John M. McHugh, R-NY: avoided the draft, did not serve
Arnold Schwarzenegger, CA: went AWOL from his Austrian army base to enter a bodybuilding competition
George Herbert Walker Bush: pilot in WWII.; Shot down by the Japanese; was lone survivor out of airplane
Tom Ridge: Bronze Star for Valor in Vietnam
Representative Sam R. Johnson: combat missions in both Korea and Vietnam; POW in Hanoi from April 1966 to February 1973
Senator Ted Stevens, R-AK: WW II pilot; two Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Air Medals, and the Yuan Hai medal awarded by the Republic of China.
Congresswoman Heather Wilson, R-NM: served in the Air Force 1978-1989
Former President Gerald Ford: served in the Navy, WWII
Senator John McCain: McCain's naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross; Why did the Bush campaign smear him so? At least Senators Cleland (D-GA), Kerry (D-MA), Kerrey (D-NE), Robb (D-VA) and Hagel (R-NE) defended him.
Former Senator Bob Dole: Infantry lieutenant in WW II; severely wounded, expected to die, has no use of his right arm
Chuck Hagel: two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, Vietnam.
Senator Jeff Sessions: U.S. Army Reserves, 1973-1986
Representative Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD): served in USMC in Vietnam; wounded in action

Pundits, Preachers, and Other Talking Heads

George Will: did not serve
Bill O'Reilly: did not serve
Paul Gigot: did not serve.
Bill Bennett: Did not serve
Pat Buchanan: did not serve
Rush Limbaugh: did not serve, exempt because of a cyst on his butt
Michael Savage (aka Michael Alan Weiner): did not serve
John Wayne: did not serve
Pat Robertson: claimed during 1986 campaign to be a "combat veteran." In reality, was a "Liquor Officer."
Bill Kristol: did not serve
Kenneth Starr: did not serve
Antonin Scalia: did not serve
Clarence Thomas: did not serve
Ralph Reed: did not serve
Michael Medved: did not serve
Charlie Daniels: did not serve
Ted Nugent: did not serve
Ollie North: Convicted in the Iran-Contra scandal, at least he served.

Now, on to the first page of Chickenhawks.