> JOHN GLENN (on the Senate floor - January 26, 2004)
> Some people still don't understand why military
> personnel do what they do for a living. This exchange between Senators
> John Glenn and Senator Howard Metzenbaum is worth reading. Not only is
> it a pretty impressive impromptu speech, but it's also a good example of
> one man's explanation of why men and women in the armed services do what
> they do for a living.
>
>
>
> Senator Howard Metzenbaum
>
> This IS a typical, though sad, example of what
>
> some who have never served think of the military
>
> Senator Metzenbaum (speaking to Senator Glenn): 'How
> can you run for Senate when you've never held a real job?'
> Senator Glenn (D-Ohio):
>
> 'I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps.
> I served through two wars I flew 149 missions. My plane was hit by
> anti-aircraft fire on 12 different occasions. I was in the space
> program. It wasn't my checkbook, Howard; it was my life on the line. It
> was not a nine-to-five job, where I took time off to take the daily cash
> receipts to the bank.'
> 'I ask you to go with me .. . as I went the other
> day.. to a veteran's hospital and look those men ...
>
> with their mangled bodies, in the eye, and tell THEM
> they didn't hold a job!
>
>
>
> You go with me to the Space Program at NASA
>
> and go, as I have gone, to the widows and Orphans of
> Ed White, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee... and you look those kids in
> the eye and tell them that their DAD'S didn't hold a job.
>
>
>
> You go with me on Memorial Day and you stand in
> Arlington National Cemetery , where I have more friends buried than I'd
> like to remember, and you watch those waving flags. You stand there, and
> you think about this nation, and you have the gall to tell ME that those
> people didn't have a job?
>
> What about Metzenbaum?'
> For those who don't remember
> During W.W.II, Howard Metzenbaum was an attorney
> representing the Communist Party in the USA . Now he's
> a Senator!
>
> If you can read this, thank a teacher.
>
> If you are reading it in English thank a Veteran.