by JAMES TARANTO
Wednesday, December 13, 2006 1:00 P.M. EST

Responding to Rangel--VI
We're on vacation this week, so we're taking the opportunity to fill the space with comments from readers about Rep. Charles Rangel's disparaging comments about U.S. servicemen. Today's installment begins with Mark Roberts, who regrets not having served:

I turn 40 in a matter of a few weeks. I was born to an upper-middle-class family and had a carefree adolescence. My parents paid for college and gave me a healthy allowance, and I had a very easy college existence. I did well enough academically to make it to law school. I earned a full-tuition scholarship, made law journal, wrote a student article in that journal and ended up in the top 15% of my law-school class. I made a nice living and have a comfortable life.

As a kid, I was always in awe of the military. In high school, I had notions of applying to all of the military academies. In the end, I decided against it, in large part because it seemed too demanding. At the end of college, I applied to the FBI and the CIA. My poor eyesight disqualified me for the FBI, but the CIA offered me a position. I turned it down to pursue law school. In law school, I considered applying for the JAG program but decided against it to pursue a more lucrative private law practice.

At three separate junctures in my life, I had the opportunity to pursue a military or intelligence-related career. It is my only regret in life that at each of these points, I thought and acted just as Rangel and Kerry believe is the "smart" thing to do. I count myself stupid for having done so.

I remember occasions shortly after the United States first went into Afghanistan when I'd be in the airport and soldiers would be walking past. People would stop and clap as they went by. When that would happen, I always had two emotions: 1) intense respect for these people, and 2) a deep feeling of thanks that each one of them was smart enough not to take the easy way out like I did.

In my early adulthood, I was stupid enough to think like Rangel and Kerry. But I will never be dumb enough to have anything other than awe for the military for making it possible for me to enjoy an easy lifestyle.

John Stotz describes his military career in the aftermath of Vietnam:

I received a full ride Naval ROTC scholarship and attended a "Berkeley wannabe" state university in the '70s. While it was fun, the students, faculty and administration, who no doubt considered themselves on the tolerant, compassionate side of the spectrum, made no bones about their displeasure for the chosen career paths of the ROTC students. Despite that negative reinforcement, I graduated with a history degree, attended Navy flight school, and got designated as a Navy helicopter pilot. Over the course of the next 22 years I served as aircraft commander for helicopter crews which rescued dozens, assisted in the rescue of hundreds more, and delivered humanitarian supplies on many occasions.

My point in relating this story is while I am not the smartest guy around, and I never got shot at, I also never quite lived up to the "baby killer" image of fevered liberal imaginations. In fact, in a twist of irony that probably launched my own political awareness, I found myself in 1979 as a fresh-caught helicopter pilot helping to fish Vietnamese boat people out of the South China Sea, people who had taken their children's hands and jumped into the ocean to get away from the "progressive peasants" our elites told us were on the right side of history.

I have since retired from active duty, and in keeping with my limited mental abilities, I work as a contractor and teach part-time as an adjunct university instructor. But I wanted you to know that Messrs. Kerry's and Rangel's allegations about the character and intelligence of me, my shipmates, and members of my family (who served in Democrat-led World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam) are now seared--seared--into my memory.

Frank Keough has a family of servicemen:

I attended college but never completed. Total lack of discipline on my part. I was in the U.S. Air Force from 1966 through 1970. I retired from 25-year police service four years ago.

My daughter (eldest child) has 5 1/2 years Army service as a Korean language specialist, three years of that in Korea, in the field. She studied Russian, French and Latin in high school and graduated 13th in her class. Her husband (whom she met in the Army) was also a Korean language specialist. She graduated first in her class from University of Central Florida with a degree in molecular biology She has a master's degree in accounting from George Washington University. She's working on her doctorate and her CPA, both at the same time. She also has a small child at home to care for. Her husband has several degrees and is working on a doctorate in public administration.

My No. 1 son (No. 2 kid) has four years of Army service: infantry, Ranger, paratrooper and Army linguist school (Portuguese). He served in Gulf War I. He holds a number of degrees in the education and therapy field and is currently working on his doctorate in occupational therapy. He teaches at a college in Tennessee.

My No. 2 son (No. 3 kid) has four years of Army service in infantry and air assault. He just missed Gulf War I. He's the "underachiever": only speaks high school Spanish. He has degrees in business and criminal justice administration and works as a manager for the Red Lobster restaurant chain--go figure. :-)

My No. 3 son (No. 4 kid) has 5  1/2 years of Army service as a Chinese language (Mandarin) specialist. He took a demotion to join the Navy, since he likes their mission better than what the Army does. Stationed in Japan, he was promoted meritoriously to E-6 ahead of schedule and has numerous awards and commendations. He has served as a crewman on an EP-3 surveillance plane; I can't discuss this further. He has degrees in history and Asian studies and is working on his master's degree in political science. He wants to go to work for a government agency (Defense Intelligence Agency or National Security Agency or something) or maybe strike for Naval officer; he's not sure yet.

I know, you're asking what this is all about. I believe the torch carried by the previous "Greatest Generation" was allowed to languish by my generation. This next generational wave has not only picked it up, but has polished it and is holding it higher than ever. There were some lugs still in the service back when I was in, but I know a lot of service members now, and their quality is simply astounding. Even individuals in so-called menial tasks like food services are impressive. And they are not serving merely for "benefits." They are also serving out of a sense of duty to country and public good. These are wonderful people, and guess what, they're going to remember how the Democrats threw their votes away, or invalidated their absentee ballots, or tricks like that. They'll remember Rangel and his Democratic cronies making rude and demeaning remarks about them.

Whom do you think they'll be voting for? Yeah. Not Democrats.

Thank you for allowing me to brag about my kids.

Tim Gernand says he's met many bright people in the military:

I do not possess the qualifications of any of these distinguished Americans who have served in the armed forces and have written in to express their frustration at Rangel's comments. However, in making my decision to enlist in the Marines to become an Arabic linguist, I faced a lot of doubt and many questions over why I would choose such a path when I had spent two years at Texas A&M University making good grades and had already taken the LSAT, scoring well enough to get myself into a decent law school.

One of the recruiters at my recruiting station took one look at my transcript and said, "Unusual." When I asked what he was talking about he said, "Usually you don't see so many A's." The recruiter who processed me called me a "rocket scientist" because I scored in the 99th percentile on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. Needless to say, I was embarrassed by all the attention, and I questioned myself more than once about my decision, about whether or not I would fit in.

Now that I've been in the Marines for over two years, I can say that my situation is far from unique. At the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., where I learned Arabic, I knew one Marine who graduated from Dartmouth with a degree in classics. He was highly motivated, a Marine the entire detachment looked up to. An Army couple in my class both held master's degrees in political science. They consistently stood at the top of the class rankings. None of these individuals were exceptions in this environment; rather, they were simply a bit uncommon.

Many educated, intelligent individuals choose military service not because they can't find a decent job, but because they actually want to serve. Mr. Rangel seems to have forgotten--and it is not surprising given his chosen profession, where bribery and corruption reign--that money isn't everything, that sometimes people crave the intangible gifts that only years of hardship in the military can yield.

John Henry probably would not have gone to college but for the military:

I served in the Navy from 1967 to 1974. The last four years I served at Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Puerto Rico. Inter-American University, a local school, had an on base campus offering associate's through master's degrees. On a base with a military population of about 3,000 to 4,000, the campus had more than 400 enrollees working on various degrees. I never had any intention of going to college; I hated school. However, the director of the campus got me to take scuba diving ("It's fun, and the Navy will pay for it!"), then had me take oceanography ("Just so you will know what you are doing"). Long story short, I now have a double M.B.A.

I got out of the Navy but stayed in the area. In 1982 I was offered a position as adjunct lecturer in an MBA program run by Southern New Hampshire's graduate school of business. I did that one night a week until the base closed in 2004. My students were a mix of enlisted (as low as E-2) and officers (as high as O-6) as well as civilians and dependent spouses. In the classroom there was no rank. In a class discussion, a junior enlisted member would have no hesitancy about mixing it up with a senior officer. They were all there to learn.

Every single one of them could have made more money as a civilian. I had one student who was the son of the owner of a major trucking firm. He was in the Navy partly because he felt he needed the experience to be able to take over the firm.

I was also amazed by the number of enlisteds working on graduate degrees, as well as others working on second graduate degrees.

It was a privilege to teach these people. It makes my blood boil when people call our troops stupid. They are far from it.

More to come tomorrow; meanwhile, here are links to the first, second, third, fourth and fifth installments.

Today on OpinionJournal:

• Review & Outlook: Believe it or not, Congress leaves on a high note.
• Peter Kann: The media are in need of some mending.
• John Miller: Conan the Barbarian was first a literary figure.