Politics
Election 2012: Military (war) veterans slanting towards Obama
It’s The Economy, Sir
Despite widespread disillusionment over recent wars, most veterans support some form of military action to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. That doesn’t mean they want another ground war: Veterans lean toward a military spending policy that emphasizes special forces and unmanned systems.
Terry Seawright, a Navy reservist who drives a Fedex truck, voted for Obama in 2008 and plans to do so again in 2012. “I like the coolness and calmness of him,” said Seawright, 46. “I like the way he handled Egypt and Libya. He said, ‘No troops on the ground.'”
Unless a conflict with Iran or Syria pushes foreign policy out front, economic issues seem more likely to sway the veterans’ vote than military concerns, as is true for the country generally. Like other Americans, former soldiers are worried about jobs, the federal deficit, and the cost of living.
Michael Langston, a Baptist minister who served as commander of 110 military chaplains in Afghanistan, didn’t carry a weapon but often visited the front lines. “I would go to trauma centers where they worked on soldiers who were burned and disfigured,” he said. “We’d roll into villages where every man, woman and child had been massacred, and the Taliban had cut off heads and feet.”
Back in the U.S., Langston, 57, suffered nightmares and sweats. Always a mild-mannered man, he began yelling at his kids. When a vehicle backfired in a supermarket parking lot, “I hit the ground and rolled under a car.” He was diagnosed with PTSD.
Looking back, Langston, a graduate of the Naval War College, sees “a failed policy. When we leave, these places go back to the way they’ve done everything for thousands of years.”
