Extended Service Contract

Our president, the commander-in-chief, has asked us all to reconsider Memorial Day and what it means to us. Specifically, he asked us to keep in mind what this day is all about: "It is about doing all we can to repay the debt we owe to those men and women who have answered our nation's call by fighting under its flag. It is about recognizing that we, as a people, did not get here by accident or good fortune alone."
It got me to thinking about the number of U.S. presidents who reached that office by way of military service. George Washington set a precedent for presidents, after all. He was commander in chief before he was Commander-In-Chief. Then there was Ulysses S. Grant, who probably did a better job running the Civil War than he did with the country as a whole. Dwight Eisenhower helped save the world from the Nazis before he took over the office in the fifties. Was D-Day more challenging than laying down a network of interstate highways?
There were a lot of guys who served in World War Two: Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Bush the First. The greatest generation gave its all on the battlefield as well as the Oval Office. The two fellows before him had their own reasons for skipping that portion of the program, but Barack Obama shows up as the first president of the post-draft age. Military service is voluntary, and that choice is something that he would like us all to acknowledge and respect. "We have a responsibility to serve all of them as well as they serve all of us," he said.
For today then, let us consider the wisdom of Dick "Dick" Cheney, who received five deferments for the draft during the Vietnam War which left him uniquely qualified to be named Secretary of Defense by Bush the First. Let us also keep in mind the ongoing legacy of Rush "To Judgement" Limbaugh and the pilonidal cyst that kept him on the bench during the war in Vietnam. On second thought, it's Memorial Day. Let's extend our thoughts and prayers to those who have earned it.