Motivational speaker Susan Stamper Brown has motivated me to respond to her commentary, “America’s sacrifice gives Iraq people a chance for peace”. As a marine veteran I appreciate her desire to honor the troops. However, any pretense of our making Iraq a better place by making war on it for nine years is sad, to say the least.

I would like to thank Mr. Lowell Popham for his response to my letter concerning Mr. Romney’s lack of military service and thank him for his service. I do not think military service is necessary to be president but I do think a person who supports both the war and the draft should be willing to put on the uniform. Mitt Romney is trying to rewrite his own history from having no intention of signing up to “I longed to be fighting in Viet Nam.” I have more respect for Bill Clinton because he opposed the war and was consistent in his belief. President Obama is of a different generation with an all volunteer military and has nothing to do with my views on Romney’s character.

March 19 this past week marked the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq originally named Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL) later changed to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Just to note some of the “Shock and Awe” for our $3 trillion to $5 trillion dollar investment: 4,489 dead U.S. soldiers, 32,220 U.S. wounded. This does not include dead or wounded U.S. civilians or private contractors nor the 300,000 plus brain injury and PTSD cases.

A few things to consider for those who plan to vote for Mitt Romney concerning his service to his country: