From One Vet to Another, Trump Does Not Care About Us

Hello, my name is John. I’m in Yuma, Arizona. I’m a retired Naval officer, nearly eight years of enlisted service, over 14 years of commission service. I’m over 70 years old. I was a Republican for the vast majority of my adult life going back to 1967. We took the oath to support and defend the constitution. Pretty much the same oath that the president takes. But the current president shows over and over that he will violate that oath whenever he likes to, or whenever he perceives that it’s in his best interest.

00:50 - How many times have you heard someone say, thank you for your service to a veteran or an active duty member? Well, I’m so old, I remember a time that nobody ever said that. Regardless, I’ve been very uncomfortable when people say that to me. To me, the oath is personal and my service is also very personal. Please hear me out. That is one of the real concrete ways to thank me for my service. And if you were on active duty or a family member of an active duty service member or a veteran or a family member of a veteran, please vote against the current president.

01:37 - And so you’ll know where I’m coming from, I hope you will look and listen to this video I made, and I hope you will send a link to your friends and family. So a little bit about my service. I’ve been shot at or under air attack by the North Koreans, the Chinese, the North Vietnamese, the Cambodians, and even spent half a day in a Somali army jail. While I was in active duty, I lived in three foreign countries, three U.S. States and on three Navy ships. I had permanent transfer orders 13 times. And about 10 of those moves took place at Christmas time. Just like vets and their families, I know about service about above self.

02:31 - And one of the ways military people get through all that disruption, it’s because they know the military takes care of its own. And after I retired from active duty, I continued to volunteer with the Navy for 25 years. And for the past five years, I’ve been volunteering to help veterans and widows of veterans with various veterans service organizations. Well, our current president has stepped looking out for us. And there’s three specific things he has done and not done that moved me to tell you this, those three things are one, his disrespectful treatment of veterans, including those killed and injured in action, two, his subservience to the Russian president, even in the face of bounties on servicemen and women and three, his reckless actions illustrated by the words of General James Mattis.

03:40 - When President Trump canceled a visit to the American cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for his last minute decision saying the helicopter couldn’t fly and the Secret Service would not drive him there. Neither claim was true. Allies had all made it to the cemetery. In conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to more than 1800 Marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as suckers for getting killed. Trump referred to former President George HW Bush as a loser for being shot down by the enemy in World War II. It’s been over two months since the news reports started coming in about the us intelligence agencies reporting that Russia has been paying bounties to Taliban to kill us servicemen and women in Afghanistan.

04:56 - Our current president refuses to answer questions about the Russian bounties or to even acknowledge that they exist. More importantly, he refuses to sanction or chastize Russia. Just another slap in the face to veterans and their families by this draft dodging president. General Mattis said, “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people. Does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us.” We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort.

05:43 - We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. Also, the Military Times polling has noted that a clear majority of our active duty brothers and sisters plan to vote against Trump. And I am asking you, our active duty brothers and sisters and our veterans and families of veterans, to stand with our active duty brothers and sisters and vote against this current president. Thanks very much for listening to me. .