Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Long Island Newsday
January 13, 2008
Pg. 30
U.S. military serving overseas are closely following campaigns, saying next president will have major impact on their future
By Martin C. Evans
STUTTGART, Germany -- At Biddy Early's, a downtown Irish pub where American soldiers from the U.S. European Command gather for extramural pints of beer, two military men spoke about the approaching election season.
"I like Obama because he doesn't have the vested interest that some of the others have," said Air Force Capt. Tim Hollo. "I like Obama, I like Giuliani. He has a proven track record of cleaning up New York."
Jareth White, a former Army sergeant who intends to re-enlist now that an injury has healed, said no candidate has won his support yet.
"With the euro beating the hell out of the dollar, what are they going to do to bring us back into the game?" he asked.
Far from the caucus rooms of windswept Iowa or the polling booths in snowy New Hampshire, soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines stationed abroad are paying close attention as the selection process for presidential candidates gets under way.
Many say concerns surrounding the war in Iraq and ongoing stresses on a military stretched thin has stoked an early interest in the process that will determine who will be their next commander in chief.
Personnel among the 70,000 U.S. troops stationed in Germany say their interaction with local residents and foreign news broadcasts have exposed them to issues and perspectives that often go less noticed by Americans back home, including the falling dollar, outsized U.S. consumption of the world's oil supply and the declining popularity abroad of American foreign policy.
"You can't continue the same old fight over abortion," Staff Sgt. Marshall Crawford, a Mississippian who works at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the sprawling trauma hospital near Frankfurt that treats soldiers rushed from Iraq and Afghanistan. "Let's talk about what we can change, let's talk about China's deflated currency, global warming, oil prospects in the Arctic, tax reform. We want something fresh."
Soldiers interviewed abroad say they are following the campaigns with particular interest because they believe their fate will be determined largely by who wins the next election. Democratic candidates generally have stressed a quicker drawdown of U.S. troops. Republicans have stressed the need to stay the course.
"I've been in the Army 28 years. The decisions of every commander in chief since Jimmy Carter have had a big influence on my life," said Army Col. Chip Lewis, a Mississippi resident stationed in Belgium who plans to vote by absentee ballot.
Polling of soldiers shows high levels of discontent with President George W. Bush and his handling of the Iraq war, even though more soldiers now say success is possible. An annual survey released Dec. 31 by the Army Times showed only 46 percent of its subscribers approved of Bush's decision to go to war, compared with nearly two thirds in 2003.
"So they are more optimistic about success, but you won't get a majority to say going to Iraq was a good idea," said senior managing editor Robert Hodierne. "And fewer will say Bush has handled his presidency well."
Lewis, who said he is likely to vote Republican, said several candidates have impressed him. He considers Arizona Sen. John McCain and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to be straight shooters and said New York Sen. Hillary Clinton appears to have a good grasp of the needs of the U.S. military.
Political scientists say military personnel stationed abroad could play a role in the general election. Military units designate a "voting officer," who reminds uniformed personnel that they retain their right to vote and provides them with information on obtaining absentee ballots. Texas and Florida, which between them have 64 of the 270 electoral votes a candidate needs to win the general election, are the home states of a disproportionately high number of personnel stationed abroad.
But the military's impact on the selection of party nominees will probably be limited: The early Iowa and Nevada caucuses do not allow absentee participation. And a November report by The Century Foundation, a public policy research group, said the push toward earlier primaries this year will make it harder for soldiers overseas to return absentee ballots in time, further retarding voter participation among them.
Still, the interest is there.
Hollo, who is stationed at the Patch Barracks just outside Stuttgart, said he is looking for a candidate who will re-prioritize the mission of the U.S. military.
"I'm waiting for them to push foreign policy first and define where the military is going," he said.
White, who spent two years at Camp Victory in Iraq, agreed.
"None of the candidates have stepped up and said this is my vision, this is what I can do for my country," he said. "I'm still waiting for someone to speak to me."
January 13, 2008
Pg. 30
U.S. military serving overseas are closely following campaigns, saying next president will have major impact on their future
By Martin C. Evans
STUTTGART, Germany -- At Biddy Early's, a downtown Irish pub where American soldiers from the U.S. European Command gather for extramural pints of beer, two military men spoke about the approaching election season.
"I like Obama because he doesn't have the vested interest that some of the others have," said Air Force Capt. Tim Hollo. "I like Obama, I like Giuliani. He has a proven track record of cleaning up New York."
Jareth White, a former Army sergeant who intends to re-enlist now that an injury has healed, said no candidate has won his support yet.
"With the euro beating the hell out of the dollar, what are they going to do to bring us back into the game?" he asked.
Far from the caucus rooms of windswept Iowa or the polling booths in snowy New Hampshire, soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines stationed abroad are paying close attention as the selection process for presidential candidates gets under way.
Many say concerns surrounding the war in Iraq and ongoing stresses on a military stretched thin has stoked an early interest in the process that will determine who will be their next commander in chief.
Personnel among the 70,000 U.S. troops stationed in Germany say their interaction with local residents and foreign news broadcasts have exposed them to issues and perspectives that often go less noticed by Americans back home, including the falling dollar, outsized U.S. consumption of the world's oil supply and the declining popularity abroad of American foreign policy.
"You can't continue the same old fight over abortion," Staff Sgt. Marshall Crawford, a Mississippian who works at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the sprawling trauma hospital near Frankfurt that treats soldiers rushed from Iraq and Afghanistan. "Let's talk about what we can change, let's talk about China's deflated currency, global warming, oil prospects in the Arctic, tax reform. We want something fresh."
Soldiers interviewed abroad say they are following the campaigns with particular interest because they believe their fate will be determined largely by who wins the next election. Democratic candidates generally have stressed a quicker drawdown of U.S. troops. Republicans have stressed the need to stay the course.
"I've been in the Army 28 years. The decisions of every commander in chief since Jimmy Carter have had a big influence on my life," said Army Col. Chip Lewis, a Mississippi resident stationed in Belgium who plans to vote by absentee ballot.
Polling of soldiers shows high levels of discontent with President George W. Bush and his handling of the Iraq war, even though more soldiers now say success is possible. An annual survey released Dec. 31 by the Army Times showed only 46 percent of its subscribers approved of Bush's decision to go to war, compared with nearly two thirds in 2003.
"So they are more optimistic about success, but you won't get a majority to say going to Iraq was a good idea," said senior managing editor Robert Hodierne. "And fewer will say Bush has handled his presidency well."
Lewis, who said he is likely to vote Republican, said several candidates have impressed him. He considers Arizona Sen. John McCain and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to be straight shooters and said New York Sen. Hillary Clinton appears to have a good grasp of the needs of the U.S. military.
Political scientists say military personnel stationed abroad could play a role in the general election. Military units designate a "voting officer," who reminds uniformed personnel that they retain their right to vote and provides them with information on obtaining absentee ballots. Texas and Florida, which between them have 64 of the 270 electoral votes a candidate needs to win the general election, are the home states of a disproportionately high number of personnel stationed abroad.
But the military's impact on the selection of party nominees will probably be limited: The early Iowa and Nevada caucuses do not allow absentee participation. And a November report by The Century Foundation, a public policy research group, said the push toward earlier primaries this year will make it harder for soldiers overseas to return absentee ballots in time, further retarding voter participation among them.
Still, the interest is there.
Hollo, who is stationed at the Patch Barracks just outside Stuttgart, said he is looking for a candidate who will re-prioritize the mission of the U.S. military.
"I'm waiting for them to push foreign policy first and define where the military is going," he said.
White, who spent two years at Camp Victory in Iraq, agreed.
"None of the candidates have stepped up and said this is my vision, this is what I can do for my country," he said. "I'm still waiting for someone to speak to me."