War Service Quotes
Washington and his staff had throughout the Revolution wanted to enlist Negroes but were thwarted by the Southern and conservative blocs of the Continental Congress when they tried it in the South. However, they finally succeeded in Rhode Island. Other states followed when it was clear that the Rhode Island experiment had been successful. See {614120} for the policy statement of the legislature and {614119} for the motto and a picture of the Negro regiment. This was however not the first Black military unit in North America. The Loyalist Governor of Virginia had formed a regiment comprised of slaves who he emancipated. See {636965}.
During the Iraq War, some Republicans claimed that Democrats who opposed the war were unpatriotic. This was very effective politically, with a number of Democrats opposing the war or military appropriations losing their seats, It turned out that almost all the Republicans who made those claims had never served in the military and like the leading war proponent Vice President Cheney had avoided the draft in the Vietnam war by getting deferments or like the President Bush of participating in the National Guard. Most of the opponents who the claimed were unpatriotic did serve in the military and fought in combat for their country. Several were wounded and Max Cleland lost three of his limbs in Vietnam. Most of them, like Kerry, were decorated war heroes. The Republicans who had fought in the military did not make such accusations even though they supported the war. Kerry finally became frustrated and revealed the non military history of the attackers.
