by James Glaser
July 26, 2002

I was down to the Saint Cloud Veterans Administration Medical Center today and learned that many of our veterans are quite upset with our President. To put it in a nutshell, America is at war, we have over 250,000 troops stationed overseas, 7,000 in Afghanistan, thousands in harms way in other locations, and the Commander in Chief, George W. Bush is starting one of the longest vacations any President of the United States has ever taken..

Just a few weeks ago, George took a long birthday weekend at Kennebunkport, Me. With his dad and now this, a month long stay at his 1,600 acre ranch in central Texas.

There are literally thousands of men and women that have set aside their careers and family when their National Guard Unit was activated for George W. Bush's War On Terrorism. They are overseas, their families are facing many hardships and the President is going on Vacation.

So far 50 Americans have been killed and 180 wounded in Afghanistan. Several Special Forces personal were killed in the Philippines in a accident while fighting terrorists. . This is the President's War and being Commander in Chief has responsibilities that go along with all the high poll numbers and one of those is staying on the job, just as long as the troops do. When the troops come home, then the Commander can take some time off, even a month.

Those young men and women that we have working for us in just about every corner of this globe, most likely look to the President as that one person that is really looking out for them. I did when I was in. The Commandant of the Marine Corp did look out for his Marines, but he also had a mission to accomplish and that did cost the lives of many of us. We, the troops out in front, all dirty and scared, (yes even Marines get scared after filling some body bags), looked to Richard Nixon to bring us home, like he said he would.

Every service man and woman, knows that it is the President that decides when a war is over, not the Generals or Admirals, but the President. They also know if the President is on vacation, he really doesn't have their best interest right up front and he should.

The Commander in Chief's number one responsibility is for the men and women who serve under him. The buck stops with the President. All the parents, children, spouses, and siblings of those in our armed forces, look to the Commander in Chief to bring their loved ones home. That is a very heavy responsibility and one that the President should put front and center. He might just be tired and exhausted, but so are those troops. Nothing will be more exhausting than to be in a combat zone, where your friends are getting killed and maimed.

For the sake of the country and all of our young men and women in our armed forces, the President must put aside vacations and fun, as long as he has those people fighting HIS WAR!