Lt. Col. Roger (Black Bart) Bartholomew, left, and Col. Nelson Mahone, 220th ARA, Vietnam, 1966. LTC Bartholomew was killed 11/27/68 on his second tour while attacking an enemy postion north of DaNang. He was a native of Sandy, OR, and the son of Jay and Lela Bartholomew of Portland. He had three children, one of whom served as a Marine Corps helicopter pilot in the first Gulf War.

The Vietnamization of the 2004 presidential campaign has unfortunately begun, thanks to the likely democratic nominee.

But John Kerry's service, while admirable, doesn't exist in a vacuum. His lengthy Senate record is at long odds with his short naval career, just as his vote to send troops to liberate Iraq is at odds with his later vote not to fund the mission. His supporters ask us to note his heroism in combat. Ok. We will. He even seems like a pretty nice guy. But the documented hypocrisy of those who USE his service to gain power to further their anti-military agenda is worthy of a closer look.

I'm the daughter of LTCol. Roger J. (Black Bart) Bartholomew, a First Cav aerial rocket artillary helicopter pilot who was killed in Vietnam on Thanksgiving day, 1968. (I was 8 years old). I'm a former journalist with a military newspaper, a U.S. Marine widow, and the ardent admirer of an active duty Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sgt. who has been deployed for over a year. I follow and write often on military and veteran's issues, and support our Commander-in-Chief and his policies in the war against terrorism.

For months, we've heard liberal critics of American foreign policy, including democratic candidates, claim they "support the troops" -- but they're obviously hoping we have short memories. Many of us will never forget the hundreds of attorneys they dispatched to Florida in 2000 to make sure military absentee ballots did not get counted. That was after they initiated rules making it more difficult to vote on overseas military bases.

Kerry and his party traditionally oppose Pentagon funding, new equipment, etc. and generally make life miserable for our services on Capitol Hill. I still get hot over the fact that the same liberals who sneered at the concept of duct tape keeping us safe last year...are the same congressmen who find it acceptable when our brave and resourceful Marines must use it to hold together 40-year-old helicopters in combat (no lie, my brother Jay, a CH-46 pilot, used it during the first Gulf War, and our guys are still flying those same helicopters a decade later).

These folks, Kerry supporters, are the ones who would support my high school social studies teacher, a draft-dodger who in 1976 banished me to the library for the duration of our Vietnam unit because I questioned his one-sided presentation of our troops as baby killers. Dare I say, these are the same people who spit on our guys back in the '60's, disdained them in the '70's...

These were the people who mocked 1992 vice-presidential candidate Admiral James Stockdale, a true hero and former POW, after his hearing aid (legacy of Viet Cong torture masters) gave him trouble during televised debates. They downplayed Bob Dole's military service in 1996. And these are the same people who just last year yelled anti-military slurs at dependents driving vehicles with DoD stickers -- even picked on military kids about what their daddies did for a living. These are the Americans who holler "No War for Oil" and "Bush Lies". Oh, they love to enjoy the liberties of our land, at the same time disdaining the great Americans who actually risk their lives to ensure them. Until, of course, their candidate can claim that service on his resume.

Kerry has tried to distance himself from some anti-war activists, but his actions and his senate votes speak louder than his words.

As the kid of a real war hero who did NOT come back, I'd like to comment not on his service, but on those post-service activities. Vietnam Vets Against the War, Kerry's organization of choice when he returned from his shortened tour of duty in Vietnam (and his springboard to fame), was known to me even as a child. The organization, while providing a place for angst-ridden vets to land after coming home, had an AWFUL effect on those of us who lost our fathers.

It was bad enough to hear our dads criticized by those who hated the military, but to hear vets allege rampant war crimes and call their fellow soldiers evil before all the world really twisted the knife. And Kerry led the way, proud in the company of Jane Fonda and others we believed had caused the deaths of good men. This group's testimony tarnished honorable actions. After taking the oath to preserve and protect, they grandstanded, throwing service awards in a show of defiance that diminished each sacrifice. Their stories dominated while the stories of thousands of honorable vets went untold.

After so many years, I don't hold it against them, but I'm dead sure I don't want their darling Kerry, the man who voted against funding our guys in Operation Iraqi Freedom, to be our next commander in chief.

In 2004, nothing is more important than continuing to protect America and fight terrorism. President Bush has led, not perfectly, but ernestly, in my opinion. He has put much on the line to do what he believes is right. And he needs our continued support in the months to come.

Sincerely,

Laura Bartholomew Armstrong
Laura Armstrong
Marietta, Georgia
Feb. 10, 2004

Laura B. Armstrong is a free-lance writer and mother of two living in the Atlanta, Georgia area. She's a 1983 graduate of the University of Georgia's Grady School of Journalism.