Back to AWOLBush.com home page

Prominent Democrats

• Rick Noriega, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Texas -- joined the U.S. Army in 1979; currently Lt. Colonel in Texas Army National Guard, served in Afghanistan. (1)
• Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) -- rifle platoon and company commander with the Fifth Marine Regiment in the An Hoa Basin west of Danang; was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star Medal, two Bronze Star Medals, and two Purple Hearts. (1)
• Representative Tim Walz, D-MN - Twenty-four years of service in the Army National Guard, retiring in 2005.
• Representative Joe Sestak, D-PA - 31 years of service in the Navy, rising to the rank of Vice Admiral.
• Representative Chris Carney, D-PA - Lieutenant Commander in the United States Naval Reserve, Carney served multiple tours overseas and was activated for Operation Enduring Freedom, Noble Eagle, and Southern Watch.
• Representative Patrick Murphy, D-PA - extensive career in the U.S. Army from 1993-2004; earned Bronze Star and Presidential Unit Citation.
• Representative Phil Hare, D-IL - Served in the United States Army Reserve for six years.
  
  
• Representative Jack Murtha (D-PA) - distinguished 37-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps, Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts, retired from the Marine Corps Reserve as a colonel in 1990. (1)
• Former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt - Missouri Air National Guard, 1965-71. (1, 2)
• Representative David Bonior - Staff Sgt., United States Air Force 1968-72 (1, 2)
• Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle - 1st Lt., U.S. Air Force SAC 1969-72 (1, 2)
• Former Vice President Al Gore - enlisted August 1969; sent to Vietnam January 1971 as an army journalist, assigned to the 20th Engineer Brigade headquartered at Bien Hoa, an airbase twenty miles northeast of Saigon. More facts about Gore's Service

• Former Senator Bob Kerrey... Democrat... Lt. j.g., U.S. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam (1, 2)
• Senator Daniel Inouye, US Army 1943-'47; Medal of Honor, World War Two (1, 2)
• Senator John Kerry, Lt., U.S. Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, and three awards of the Purple Heart for his service in combat (1)
• Representative Charles Rangel, Staff Sgt., U.S. Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea (1, 2)
• Former Senator Max Cleland, Captain, U.S. Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam (1, 2)

• Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) - U.S. Army Reserve, 1968-1975.
• Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) - U.S. Army, 1951-1953. (1)
• Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) - Lt., U.S. Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74. (1, 2)
• Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) - U.S. Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91 (1)
• Former Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) - served as a U.S. Army officer in World War II, receiving the Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons. (1)
  
  
• Representative Leonard Boswell (D-IA) - Lt. Col., U.S. Army 1956-76; two tours in Vietnam, two Distinguished Flying Crosses as a helicopter pilot, two Bronze Stars, and the Soldier's Medal. (1, 2)
• Former Representative "Pete" Peterson, Air Force Captain, POW, Ambassador to Viet Nam, and recipient of the Purple Heart, the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit. (1, 2)
• Rep. Mike Thompson, D-CA: Staff sergeant/platoon leader with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, U.S. Army; was wounded and received a Purple Heart. (1, 2)
• Bill McBride, Democratic Candidate for Florida Governor - volunteered and served as a U.S. Marine in Vietnam; awarded Bronze Star with a combat "V." (1)
• Gray Davis, former California Governor, Army Captain in Vietnam; received Bronze Star. (1)
• Pete Stark, D-CA, served in the Air Force 1955-57
• Wesley Clark, Democratic Presidential Candidate - 38-year career of public service in the Army, culminating as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.

Prominent Republicans

• Representative Patrick McHenry, R-NC - did not serve. Saw fit to endanger American troops' lives after a visit to Iraq by violating operational security and helping militias target their mortar attacks on the Green Zone.
• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY - did not serve (1)
• Senate Assistant Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-MI - avoided the draft, did not serve.
• Senate Republican Conference Chairman Jon Kyl, R-AZ - did not serve.
• Senate Republican Conference Vice Chair John Cornyn, R-TX - did not serve.
• National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair John Ensign, R-NV - did not serve.
  
  
• House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-OH - did not serve.
• House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-MO - did not serve.
• House Republican Conerence Chair Adam Putnam, R-FL - did not serve.
• House Republican Policy Committee Thaddeus McCotter, R-MI - did not serve.
• National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Tom Cole, R-OK - did not serve.
  
  
• Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani - did not serve.
• Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney - did not serve in the military but did serve the Mormon Church on a 30-month mission to France.
• Former Senator Fred Thompson - did not serve.
• Senator John McCain - McCain's naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross. Why did the Bush campaign smear him so in 2000? At least Senators Cleland (D-GA), Kerry (D-MA), Kerrey (D-NE), Robb (D-VA) and Hagel (R-NE) defended him.
  
  

  Click on the logo above to join America's oldest and most respected environmental organization, and stop Bush's all-out assault on our environment.

• Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert - avoided the draft, did not serve.
• Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey - avoided the draft, did not serve.
• Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay - avoided the draft, did not serve (1). "So many minority youths had volunteered ... that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself."
• Former House Majority Whip Roy Blunt - did not serve
• Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist - did not serve. (An impressive medical resume, but not such a friend to cats in Boston.)
• Rick Santorum, R-PA, formerly third ranking Republican in the Senate - did not serve. (1)
• George Felix Allen, former Republican Senator from Virginia - a supporter of Nixon and the Vietnam war, did not serve. (1)



• Former Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld - served in the U.S. Navy (1954-57) as an aviator and flight instructor. (1) Served as President Reagan's Special Envoy to the Middle East and met with Saddam Hussein twice in 1983 and 1984.

• GW Bush - decided that a six-year Nat'l Guard commitment really means four years. Still says that he's "been to war." Huh?
• VP Cheney - several deferments (1, 2), the last by marriage (in his own words, "had other priorities than military service") (1)
• Former Att'y Gen. John Ashcroft - did not serve (1, 2); received seven deferment to teach business ed at SW Missouri State

• Jeb Bush, Florida Governor - did not serve. (1)

  

• Karl Rove - avoided the draft, did not serve (1), too busy being a Republican.

• Former Speaker Newt Gingrich - avoided the draft, did not serve (1, 2)
• Former President Ronald Reagan - due to poor eyesight, served in a noncombat role making movies for the Army in southern California during WWII. He later seems to have confused his role as an actor playing a tail gunner with the real thing.
• "B-1" Bob Dornan - avoided Korean War combat duty by enrolling in college acting classes (Orange County Weekly article). Enlisted only after the fighting was over in Korea.
• Phil Gramm - avoided the draft, did not serve, four (?) student deferments

• Congressman Ron Paul - active duty flight surgeon from 1963-65; Air National Guard from 1965-68. (link)
• Former Senator Bob Dole - an honorable man. http://www.bobdole.org/bio/wwII.php
• Chuck Hagel - two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, Vietnam. http://www.senate.gov/~hagel/Information/bio.htm
• Duke Cunningham - nominated for the Medal of Honor, received the Navy Cross, two Silver Stars, fifteen Air Medals, the Purple Heart, and several other decorations Recently entered plea bargain on felony charges of bribery, etc. etc.
• Senator Jeff Sessions U.S. Army Reserves, 1973-1986
• Colin Powell. What are we to make of Powell? On the one hand, a long career as a military manager. On the other hand, accused of covering up the My Lai massacre. Back on that first hand, one of the seemingly sane voices in this administration when it comes to Iraq (or at least he used to be). On the other hand, a clear hypocrite ("I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well-placed... managed to wangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units...")
• Representative Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), served in USMC in Vietnam; wounded in action.

Here are a few more...

Democrats

• Chuck Robb, US Senator from Virginia, served in Vietnam
• Howell Heflin... Democrat... Silver Star
• George McGovern, famous liberal, awarded Silver Star & DFC, dozens of missions during WWII.
• Former President Bill Clinton - avoided the draft through student deferments; in the autumn of 1969, Clinton entered the draft but received a high number (311) and was never called to serve. (CNN article.) "...it was his doubts about the morality of the war and the Selective Service system that led him to abandon the ROTC idea and to subject himself to a draft lottery. Only the luck of the draw - a high lottery number - kept him out. " (Jeff Greenfield, ABC News, quoting Gov. Clinton.)
• Former President Jimmy Carter, most recent recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, seven years in the Navy. "Except for his fellow service-academy graduate Dwight Eisenhower, no President of the twentieth century spent more years in uniform than Carter." (New Yorker Magazine)
• Former Presidential Nominee Mike Dukakis - United States Army, 1955-'57 (1)
• Former Senator/Vice Presidential nominee Lloyd Bentsen - B-24 pilot in WWII 1942-'45, Squadron Commander; earned Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters. (1)
• Former Vice President Walter Mondale, U.S. Army 1951-1953
• Former Senator John Glenn, D-OH (1974-1999) - Served in WWII and Korea; extensive military commendations include the Distinguished Flying Cross on six occasions, and the Air Medal with 18 Clusters.
• Congressman Tom Lantos, D-CA - Did not serve in the US military; did serve in the Hungarian anti-Nazi underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg, is the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress.
• Representative Bud Cramer (D-AL) - joined the Army as a tank officer in 1972; served at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and continued military service as a member of the Army Reserve from 1976 to 1978. (link)

Republicans/Conservatives

• Senator Richard Shelby, did not serve (1)
• Senator Jon Kyl, R-AZ - did not serve (1, 2)
• Senator John Cornyn, R-TX - did not serve. (1)
• Senator Tim Hutchison, R-AR - did not serve (1, 2)
• Rep. Christopher Cox, R-CA, (formerly) fifth-ranking Republican in the House - did not serve. (1)
• Rep. John T. Doolittle, R-CA, sixth-ranking Republican in the House - did not serve.
• Rep. Mark Kirk, R-IL -- his website claimed he served in Operation Iraqi Freedom; in reality, he had to correct the record.
• Representative Saxby Chambliss, Georgia - did not serve (1, 2), had a "bad knee" (yet somehow feels he has a right to attack Max Cleland's patriotism)
• Rep. Randy Kuhl, R-NY - Did not serve. (1)
• Former Representative JC Watts - did not serve (1, 2)
• Jack Kemp, did not serve (1, 2) (was unfit because of a knee injury, though he heroically continued as a National Football League quarterback for another eight years - source)
• Former Vice President Dan Quayle, avoided Vietnam service, got a slot in the journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard when the unit was at 150% capacity (at least he showed up for his duty, unlike GW) (1, 2)
• Eliot Abrams, did not serve (1, 2) (however, played a key role in subverting democracy in South America)
• Paul Wolfowitz, did not serve (1, 2)
• Former Representative Vin Weber, did not serve (1, 2)
• Richard Perle, did not serve (1, 2) (is the current bloodshed in the Middle East a direct result of his treasonous meddling in Clinton Administrstion foreign policy?)
• Douglas Feith, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy - did not serve. (1)
• Michael Bloomberg, did not serve (1, 2)
• George Pataki, did not serve (1, 2)
• Spencer Abraham, did not serve
• John Engler, did not serve (1, 2)
• Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) - website used to claim service as a "Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm veteran." A current biographical website makes no such claim. In reality, was a National Guard lawyer who never left South Carolina during the Gulf War.
• Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-CA, did not serve (1)
• Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA/49th, there were some problems with his service.
• Rep. John M. McHugh, R-NY - avoided the draft, did not serve (1)
• Rep. Todd Platts, R-PA - did not serve (1)
• Arnold Schwarzenegger, CA Republican Governor - went AWOL from his Austrian army base to enter a bodybuilding competition
• Senator Joe Lieberman - did not serve.

• George Herbert Walker Bush, pilot in WWII. Awarded Distinguished Flying Cross. Shot down by the Japanese; was lone survivor out of airplane (link).
• Representative Sam R. Johnson, combat missions in both Korea and Vietnam, POW in Hanoi from April 1966 to February 1973 (1)
  (don't ever run for president Sam, they'll spread rumors that you're crazy)
• Senator Ted Stevens, R-AK, WW II pilot, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Air Medals, and the Yuan Hai medal awarded by the Republic of China.
• Sen. John Warner, R-VA - Served in the Navy 1945-1946 as a RM3; reenlisted in the USMC 1950, 10 years service in Marine Corps Reserve, retired as Captain.
• Congresswoman Heather Wilson, R-NM, served in the Air Force 1978-1989
• Former President Gerald Ford, served in the Navy, WWII
• Former Senator Strom Thurmond - apparently believes, along with Trent Lott, that America should have been a segregated society. Still, he served.

Fighting Democrats

Back from the front lines, the veterans listed below ran for Congress in 2006. Why were almost all the veterans coming home from Iraq running as Democrats?

• Lt. Col. Charles Brown - California 4th District - 26-year career in USAF; jet and helicopter pilot; awarded Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery in the Mayaguez incident.
  Website: http://www.charliebrownforcongress.org
• Eric Massa - New Yorks 29th District - 24 years service in the Navy; also served as aide to NATO Supreme Allied Commander, General Wesley Clark.
  Website: www.massaforcongress.com
• Paul Hackett - U.S. Senate - Ohio
  Website: www.hackettforohio.com
• David Harris - Texas 6th Congressional District
  Website: http://followmetodc.com/
• David Ashe - Virginia's 2nd Congressional District
  Website: http://www.davidasheforcongress.com/
• Andrew Duck - Maryland 6th Congressional District
  Website at http://duckforcongress.org
• Tim Dunn - North Carolina's 8th Congressional District
  Website: www.dunnforcongress.com
• Andrew Horne -- Kentucky's 3rd Congressional District.
  Website: http://horneforcongress.com/

• George Will, did not serve
• Chris Matthews, Mediawhore, did not serve. (However, apparently served in the Peace Corps.)
• Bill O'Reilly, did not serve
• Paul Gigot, did not serve.
• Bill Bennett, Did not serve
• Pat Buchanan, did not serve
• Rush Limbaugh, did not serve (4-F with a 'pilonidal cyst' [see "The Rush Limbaugh Story" by Paul D. Colford, St. Martin's Press, 1993, Chapter 2: Beating the Draft.])
• Michael Savage (aka Michael Alan Weiner) - did not serve, too busy chasing herbs and botany degrees in Hawaii and Fiji
• John Wayne, did not serve
• Pat Robertson - claimed during 1986 campaign to be a "combat veteran." In reality, was a "Liquor Officer."
• Bill Kristol, did not serve
• Sean Hannity, did not serve.
• Kenneth Starr, did not serve
• Antonin Scalia, did not serve
• Clarence Thomas, did not serve
• Ralph Reed, did not serve
• Michael Medved, did not serve
• Charlie Daniels, did not serve
• Ted Nugent, did not serve
• Country Singer Toby Keith, did not serve. (1)
• Radio Host Phil Hendrie, did not serve.

• Ollie North - Convicted in the Iran-Contra scandal, at least he served.
• Charlton Heston - served in WWII, but went AWOL when Michael Moore asked him some tough questions.
• Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association - did not serve (apparently pulled lottery #97 in 1969 as a campus radical at SUNY-Albany, but weaseled out by getting a family doctor to claim he had a nervous disorder).

• James Carville, a.k.a. "Corporal Cueball" - Served in the United States Marine Corps, 1966-'68. (1)
• Markos Moulitsas, a.k.a. "Kos" (leading liberal blogger) - Served in the United States Army, 1989-'92. (1)
• Randi Rhodes - enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1977 and worked stateside as a mechanic in Texas, achieving the rank of Airman First Class. (link)

Independents

• Gov. Jesse Ventura, U.S. Navy SEAL training, did UDT work
• Senator Jim Jeffords, U.S. Navy 1956-1959

And let's not forget the Coast Guard...

The brave men and women of the United States Coast Guard risk their lives every day to protect our nation and save thousands of lives every year. The Coast Guard is in fact a branch of the United States Armed Forces.

• Congressman Gene Taylor (D-MI) served in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve from 1971-1984. http://www.house.gov/genetaylor/biography.htm
• Congressman Howard Coble (R-NC) served in the U.S. Coast Guard (Active Duty)for 5.5 years. Served in the CG Reserve for 18 years. http://coble.house.gov/biography/
• William Delahunt (D-MA) served in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve from 1963-1971 http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/faqs/William_Delahunt.html

The New Hampshire Gazette's Chickenhawk database

Complete list - members of the 106th Congress with Military Service. Why is the Republican leadership so top-heavy with Chickenhawks??

In response to NewsMax's "Deck of Weasels"...check out the Deck of Republican Chickenhawks!

Got other names to submit? Please let us know about heroes or chickenhawks, on either side of the aisle. (Hey, do your homework and include a link with any name you send us, OK?)

Re military personnel and public perception of Democrats v. Republicans in general.

How often must Democrats defend their party against the typical freeper blather of draft-dodging, service-evading, unpatriotic cowards among us? More often than we have to.

Gore was right all along. About some things. The "truth" IS on our side.

Or, as www.rackjite.com puts it:

THE CHICKENHAWKS "Conservatives make great fun of President Clinton for questioning the Vietnam War, standing up to his beliefs and questioning his own participation in that war as well, i.e., being honest and walking the walk of his own belief system [and then giving up his student deferment to subject himself to the draft!]. On the other hand there were literally millions of dishonest hypocritical, cowardly right-wing loonies who supported the war while refusing to personally participate."

In response to Newsmax's "Deck of Weasels"... check out the "Deck of Chickenhawks!"

This site proudly hosted by