Many Iraq, Afghan vets choosing ‘2nd service’

“As to the fatal, but necessary operations of war, when we assumed the soldier, we did not lay aside the citizen; and we shall most sincerely rejoice with you in that happy hour, when the establishment of American liberty on the most firm and solid foundations, shall enable us to return to our private stations, in the bosom of a free, peaceful, and happy country.” George Washington

The fact is, once they were citizens just like everyone else, but then they became veterans after war and that makes them not like everyone else.

Many Iraq, Afghan vets choosing ‘2nd service’
By Allen G. Breed
The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Sep 30, 2012

RALEIGH, N.C. — The link between U.S. military service and running for office is as old as the republic itself. It started with George Washington, who famously wrote that, “When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen.”

During the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, hundreds of thousands of veterans have come home and laid aside their uniforms. But not all have opted to simply blend back into civilian life.

Many have chosen to run for public office.

Several dozen veterans — some of them from earlier wars — are vying for U.S. House and Senate seats this year. And many others are seeking state and local offices across the country. Men and women, Republicans and Democrats, they range from well-known hopefuls such as congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth in Illinois, who became a double amputee when her National Guard helicopter was shot down in Iraq, to Arizona state House contender Mark Cardenas, a 25-year-old Iraq vet who remains a National Guardsman.

They are people like former Marine tank commander Nick Popaditch, who lost his right eye during the April 2004 Battle of Fallujah in Iraq and who is now the Republican nominee in California’s 53rd Congressional District.

“I was looking at my government and I wasn’t happy with it,” says the ex-gunnery sergeant, who cuts a striking figure on the campaign trail with his shaved head and black eye patch. “So rather than complain, I decided to run myself. I thought I could do a better job, and I still feel that way.”

After back-to-back wars, there are more recent combat veterans in the United States today than at any time since Vietnam.
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