Who should New Jersey's veterans support in presidential election

Opinion

By Tom Hester Sr

All right New Jersey military veterans fall out and form up.

That's all 279,664 of you.

Now listen up. I'm veteran Coast Guard petty officer Hester. I've got some hard-to-find stats and the order-of-the-day for all of you.

There are some 3,000 New Jersey World War II veterans, and another 102,400 Vietnam era vets. There are about 106,200 vets from the two Gulf War periods, 17,300 Korean War era vets, and 53,764 from the Cold War and rare eras of peace since 1973. At least 29% of New Jersey vets are considered disabled and 6.3% live in poverty.

There are some 8,327 New Jersey men and women in the active military. That's 4,965 in the Air Force, 1,866 in the Coast Guard, 661 in the Army, 466, in the Navy, and 389 in the Marines. And 6,175 active personnel from across America are stationed in New Jersey.

One more round of stats: 20,939 New Jersey men and women died in six of America's wars going back to 1861. Two New Jerseyans, one from Newark, the other from Camden, died with Custer at the Little Big Horn. The body count for the Spanish-American War, the War of 1812 and the Revolution is elusive, but New Jersey volunteers fought for independence in the Revolution in what would become their own state in 1787.

As veterans, we have at least two things in common. We respect each other's service and every so often this thought will cross our minds, "Hey I did something worthwhile."

Now for the order-of-the-day.

None of us. absolutely none of us, should be voting for draft-dodger Donnald J. Trump, an open admirer of dictators. Neither should New Jersey men and women on active duty around the world nor should relatives concerned about their safety.

Despite his flag waving, Trump detests the military, especially its leaders, laughs up his sleeve at veterans and wants to cut Veterans Administration services as well as Social Security benefits by 33%. And we are all certainly aware that he has called soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen lost in combat or made prisoners-of-war "suckers and losers." He made the insult in Arlington National Cemetery over the grave of the son of his then chief of staff retired 4-star general John Kelly who was standing next to him. Trump later told the general that he did not want to be seen with military amputees because "it didn't look good for him."

On a visit to France in 2018, Trump cancelled a visit to an American World War I cemetery concerned the rain and wind would dishevel his hair. "Why should I go to that cemetery," Trump told aides. "It's filled with losers." Later he described 1,800 marines slain at Belleau Woods as "suckers for getting killed." When returning from the countryside, Trump asked his aides, "Who were the good guys in World War I?" When he tried to do a political photo-op in a photo-restricted area of Arlington Cemetery on Aug. 26, a staff member shoved a female cemetery official who showed up to stop it.

Incredulous? Do the research. You can't make this stuff up.

Here is some Trump draft-dodging trivia. It took two podiatrists sending at least four letters to the draft board to gain Trump five health deferments for ankle bone spurs in 1968. They did it as a favor to his father, Fred Trump, their landlord. Vets who were drafted, imagine trying to convince the draft board physician you should be exempted for ankle bone spurs.

My late father-in-law earned the Air Medal four times as a WWII bomber gunner making 20 runs over enemy territory. When his plane was shot down, he ended up doing two years in a Nazi prison camp and returned home with PTSD. Was he a loser? I have a grandson, a sergeant serving as one of the 2,500 soldiers left in Iraq, Is he a sucker for enlisting?

A total of 741 bipartisan former national security leaders, including 230 retired generals and flag officers, 15 4-star generals among them, have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential bid.

In an open letter they wrote, "We do not agree on everything, but we do adhere to two fundamental principles. First, we believe America's national security requires a serious and capable Commander-in-Chief. Second, we believe America's democracy is invaluable. Each generation has the responsibility to defend it. That is why we, the undersigned, proudly endorse Kamala Harris to be the next president of the United States."

The letter's signers described Trump as "impulsive and uninformed," and cited his questionable relationship with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un, and Chinese dictator Xi Jinping.

Trump has maintained a private relationship with Putin since leaving office and sent him Covid tests. Trump said he is "surprised" Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky let the war with Russia start. The Russian invasion has cost the lives of an estimated one million Ukrainian soldiers and citizens. Roughly 20,000 children have been kidnapped to Russia for "reindoctrinating." Trump has stated that he and Kim Jung Un have exchanged "love letters." Jung Un has sent troops to bolster Russia's forces in Ukraine. He executes any person he suspects of questioning his authority.

On Oct. 22 in Charlotte, Trump offered praise for Xi Jinping. "I got to know him very well. He is a fierce independent. The press, the fake news, hates when I say he is a brilliant man. He runs 1.4 million people with an iron fist."

Trump is campaigning that he will bring jobs back to America. Here is some more Trump trivia. Those "God Bless the U.S.A." bibles he is selling for $59.99 each, all 115,000 of them were printed in Xi Jinping's China.

While president, Trump told Kelley that Hitler "Did some good things." Kelly said that at one point, Trump daydreamed "I wish I had the kind of loyal generals Hitler had."

Retired Army Gen. Mark Milley, Trump's chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has described him as a "danger to the nation." and "the most dangerous person in the country." Kelly has said Trump "meets the definition of a dictator."

Trump has declared that he wants to be a "dictator on day 1" and is threatening to dramatically expand the use of the military to go after America's "enemies within," his political opponents. He wants to use the Army or National Guard to round up illegal immigrants. Veterans, we learned early in boot camp that the military is not to be used within the United States except for defense or in a time of insurrection, We witnessed an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 that Trump encouraged and did nothing to stop. When an aide warned him rioters were hunting Vice President Mike Pense, Trump replied, "So what?”

There is over 40,000 African American and over 25,000 Hispanic and Latino veterans in New Jersey. Trump has questioned Harris' African American ethnicity and said people of Spanish descent don't have the genes to be good citizens. Trump is a racist.

Polls indicate many male voters think Trump is macho. He is a convicted criminal facing a possible prison sentence. He has been found guilty of assaulting a woman in the dressing room of a busy Manhattan department store. He has cheated on his three wives. And unlike 31 presidents before him, Trump dodged military service.

Remember, what Trump thinks our military dead and, in turn, we as veterans, are "suckers and losers" for our service.

Tom Hester is a journalist who spent 44 years with four daily newspapers in Newark, New Brunswick, Jersey City, and Atlantic City.