This article raises the issue of the lack of military experience in our recent Presidents--both Republicans and Democrats. It further talks about the benefits of military experience when servicing as our Commander in Chief and in carrying out the duties of the presidency.
I have written before about the decline of importance of military service in the members of Congress--again both parties. The voters need to pay more attention to the military service experience of candidates for Congress. The percentage is very low of those in both houses of Congress who have served in the military and/or who have combat zone experience. It is very sad development in our country and is not good for the governing process.
The needed reorganizing and oversight of the US Department of Veteran Affairs might be a bigger priority in Congress if more of the members had served in the military. We might see a different type/tone of debate on military issues and foreign affairs. The constant political chatter about putting "US forces in international hot spots around the globe--boots on the ground--might be different if we had more members of Congress with military experience.
In 1975 nearly 70% of Congress were veterans. Today it is only about 20%!
There are 1.4 Americans serving in the armed forces--that is 0.4% of the population. If we had more Americans sharing the privilege and burden of serving in the armed forces we might have a different citizen perspective on US troops being sent around the globe to defend "freedom" in other countries and we would have more Americans acting on the outrageous treatment of veterans in US Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Franklin Project is an organization calling for national service by ALL Americans in either the military, Peace Corp, AmeriCorp, etc., etc.. It is very diverse group of Americans. Take a look at the program by going to www.franklinproject.org.