After reading 11 pages of comments, I am amazed that Retired Military Patriot or Gary Owen has not cited the DD-214, the discharge paper given to every member of the U.S. Armed Forces upon leaving the military.

In a single, small-type page, the DD-214 notes every aspect of the military members' service, including ranks, education, tours of duty and commendations/medals earned, and specifically notes:

Date of Entering Service

Date Began Foreign Tour of Duty

Location of Foreign Tour of Duty

Date Ended Foreign Tour of Duty

Total number of months spent at each foreign duty post

The DD-214 could not specify those duty dates at discharge unless the military were keeping specific, daily track of each and every service member's time on duty at each separate location.

As a previous poster noted, this kind of duty/tour/time data has been kept on American service members since before there was a standing army, a Department of Defense (War) or even a United States.

Not to mention the DoD is infamous for detailed record-keeping that is the wet dream of any obsessive-compulsive.

Quillian wrote:

Anyone who thinks "A Few Good Men" represented the military accurately has never served. The Jack Nicholson character would have never made captain, much less colonel. Promotion boards are good at weeding out those types.

The writer of that wretched movie got his ideas from John Wayne movies and Sgt. Rock comic books, and it shows.

Ah, no. Not even wrong.

From imdb:

The idea for the plot of "A Few Good Men" came from a conversation with [the writer's] older sister Deborah. Deborah was a Navy Judge Advocate General lawyer sent to Guantanamo Bay on a case involving Marines accused of killing a fellow Marine. Deborah told Aaron of the case and he spent the next year and a half writing a Broadway play, which later led to the movie.

Ah, neocon dreams about the perfection of the military man are so quaint! And so breathtakingly ironic considering the topic under discussion.

In short, A Few Good Men was based on the REAL military and how it handled a REAL case. I am sorry that is different from the military in your head, Quillian, but there it is.

There's the real world - and then there's wingnut fantasy.

Defense Sec. Robert Gates came out earlier today saying he would encourage Bush to veto Senator Webb's bill. Says it would be like a backdoor drawdown of troops, and also that it would be difficult to manage.

Following is the bio of Gates, from the Defense Department's website. Does anyone see any military service?

Add him to your list "never-serveds" Glenn.

Dr. Robert M. Gates was sworn in on December 18, 2006, as the 22nd Secretary of Defense. Before entering his present post, Secretary Gates was the President of Texas A&M University, the nation’s seventh largest university. Prior to assuming the presidency of Texas A&M on August 1, 2002, he served as Interim Dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M from 1999 to 2001.

Secretary Gates served as Director of Central Intelligence from 1991 until 1993. Secretary Gates is the only career officer in CIA’s history to rise from entry-level employee to Director. He served as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence from 1986 until 1989 and as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser at the White House from January 20, 1989, until November 6, 1991, for President George H.W. Bush.

Secretary Gates joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1966 and spent nearly 27 years as an intelligence professional, serving six presidents. During that period, he spent nearly nine years at the National Security Council, The White House, serving four presidents of both political parties.

Secretary Gates has been awarded the National Security Medal, the Presidential Citizens Medal, has twice received the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, and has three times received CIA’s highest award, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal.

He is the author of the memoir, From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insiders Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War, published in 1996.

Until becoming Secretary of Defense, Dr. Gates served as Chairman of the Independent Trustees of The Fidelity Funds, the nation's largest mutual fund company, and on the board of directors of NACCO Industries, Inc., Brinker International, Inc. and Parker Drilling Company, Inc.

Dr. Gates has also served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the American Council on Education, the Board of Directors of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, and the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America. He has also been President of the National Eagle Scout Association.

A native of Kansas, Secretary Gates received his bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary, his master’s degree in history from Indiana University, and his doctorate in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University. Dr. Gates is 63, and he and his wife Becky have two adult children.

Senator Webb introduced that legislation on July 9 (with over 30 co-sponsors, by the way). Why are the neocons mounting an attack against it now, two months later? What's behind their sudden interest? Does anyone know?

Thanks yet again Glenn. The Webb bill will show, once and for all, who supports the troops and who doesn't. Regardless of where you stand on the war, if you are not an egocentric idiot, it's the right thing to do. And through your work, and the committment of others like Senator Webb, the chickenhawks won't be ruling the roost much longer - the military is switching parties. If we can only keep them out of Iran...the country might come out of this abyss...

"Catch 22" by Joseph Heller may interest the Kagan family. Moving the goal post is an old military trick.

We went to Iraq to:

1. Stop Saddam from supplying weapons of mass destruction to terrorists.

Mission accomplished.

2. Liberate the Iraqi people from a brutal and repressive dictatorship and to allow them to form their own government through free elections.

Mission Accomplished twice.

3. Secure military bases which would allow us to control the flow of oil from Iraq in case al Qaeda were to overthrow the house of Saud.

Well, two out of three ain't bad.

I say to our valiant and worn-out military men and women, great work, now come on home! Remember, our CinC is a Texan and the Texans took several years to inform their slaves that they were free. Don't worry about saving the Iraqi's from themselves. They've been at it for about 2500 years now, they'll work things out on their own. Hope to see you soon.