This Election's 'Vet Factor'

By Michael Slenske, SMITH Magazine. Posted November 2, 2006.

Of the 1008 candidates running this election, six have a credential the others can't match: they've served the U.S. armed forces in the war on terror. Among these, you'll find an ex-Recon Marine whose unit rescued 31 wounded men during a firefight with Fedayeen militiamen, a Black Hawk helicopter pilot who lost both her legs to a rocket-propelled grenade, and a former vice admiral of the Navy. And if the "Iraq Factor" is as big a factor as the pundits and political strategists would have us believe, the incumbents facing these vets, none of whom have served in the military, should be hard-pressed to retain their seats in the midterm elections. But will serving on the front lines in the war on terror really offer anyone a political advantage this fall?

"Definitely," says pioneering Netroots political strategist Joe Trippi. "The Democrats have been positioned as soft on terror and weak on defense since 9/11. It takes the Republicans' core argument and pulls the rug out from under it. I think they've got a huge advantage." And with Iraq mired in civil war it would appear that Democrats own the "Vet Factor." Why? According to Trippi, Republican vets -- much like the president -- simply can't extract any more mileage from "stay the course" rhetoric. "There's a combination of failed policy and things going badly in Iraq, so it doesn't benefit a Republican to defend the president's policies just because they've served in Iraq."

Author and Iraq vet Nathaniel Fick isn't so sure. "I'm not of the school that says you have to have served in uniform in order to be a good commander in chief," says Fick, who wrote One Bullet Away, about the Marine Recon platoon he led in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003. "Look at Lincoln and FDR -- both exceptional wartime presidents who didn't serve in the military but made a point of surrounding themselves by people who had." As a member of the board of advisers for the PAC VoteVets.org, Fick works to get vets elected from both parties, though he stresses that these candidates need to connect with voters on more than just the war if they want to win. "I think their constituents care more about jobs and healthcare than they do about Iraq. But combat service should mean something. Senior leaders are grown over decades -- if we want to have people with credibility to stand up and make or question strategic decisions in 20 or 30 years, then we need to start grooming them now."

We wanted to find out how a politician's personal war experience fuels his political philosophy, and desire to serve his country once again. We extended interview requests to every Iraq vet in the midterm elections. Maryland's Andrew Duck, and Texas candidates Van Taylor and David Harris answered the call.

ANDREW DUCK (Maryland-6) After serving over 20 years in the Army -- including three tours in Bosnia and one in Iraq, where he acted as an intelligence liaison to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force -- Democrat Andrew Duck, 43, returned to his hometown of Frederick to work as an adviser to the Pentagon on Army Intelligence issues for Northrop Grumman. He's running against Republican incumbent Roscoe Bartlett.

How has your personal experience in Iraq shaped your political agenda as a Congressional candidate? The fact that I served on the ground in Iraq gives me credibility and a great deal of latitude. You can't tell me I don't support the troops. I am the troops. I was the guy in the 120-degree heat. In the last year 14 years I've spent time in Bosnia, in Iraq, whereas the guy in office now spent the last 14 years behind a desk not getting things done. That presents a very stark choice.

What was the most surprising thing you saw at war? The most surprising moment for me was when we first got word that we were not going to bring back the Iraqi regular army. I was in a tent in with a group of field grade Marines and we just looked at each other incredulous. We were told the Pentagon didn't have a contractor to train them. That just doesn't make sense to me. We have the greatest military instructors in the world, they're called the Army Special Forces. In 2003, I also had a meeting with a guy from the Army Supply Board about getting up armored vehicles and he said the production line was full. I told him to build another production line, we'd use every one that came off the line and he just looked at me like I was crazy. That's the level of corruption I personally witnessed.

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Michael Slenske writes the "Back Home" column for SMITH Magazine.

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