thedrifter
01-18-07, 08:41 AM
Military sons and daughters of members of Congress give them pause
By Deirdre Shesgreen
POST-DISPATCH WASHINGTON BUREAU
01/18/2007
WASHINGTON — On the eve of the president's Iraq speech last week, U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., ran through his concerns about whether the new plan would work.
Then, he added quietly, there's "the factor that my son is in the mid-Atlantic right now, on his way to the Middle East."
The congressman's oldest son, 1st Lt. Perry Akin, is a Marine combat engineer who has already served one tour in Iraq, mostly in Fallujah. And he may be headed for his second tour now.
As Congress grapples with the president's call for an additional 21,500 troops to go to Iraq, lawmakers are examining the policy and the politics. And for some, there's also the personal impact.
At least 10 members have children in the armed forces who have been to Iraq or could be headed there, adding another layer of anxiety and unease to an already wrenching decision.
Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond's son Sam is a Marine scheduled to return to Iraq for his second tour in the next month or so.
And the new chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., has two sons in the military.
All three lawmakers knew when they first voted for the war that their sons could serve in a war zone. With the Iraq war now nearly four years old, increasingly violent and seemingly intractable, they face some of the same qualms as other American families, bracing as their children prepare to serve a second or third tour.
Bond, R-Mo., the senior Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sam Bond will be commanding a scout sniper platoon, which goes out ahead of other units to do reconnaissance and look for "high-value targets."
When Sam Bond was in Iraq for his first tour, Sen. Bond said he relished the e-mails he got from his son, often full of humorous stories along with descriptions of the dangerous work he was doing. Sam Bond got to call his father only once in 13 months — on the Fourth of July — for about five minutes.
"Every day he was out there last year, obviously I was concerned and I prayed for him every night," Bond said. "But this is something he wanted to do (and) committed to do. It's a very important battle for the safety of our country. And more than anything else, I'm very proud of him."
Bond said he did not let his son's role in the military color his decisions in the Senate. He is supporting Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq based on the president's presentation and other intelligence information, he said.
Bond said decisions about war are incredibly difficult, whether your own child is at risk or not. When he first had to cast a war vote — in support of the Persian Gulf War — Bond recalled: "I went home and I was so mentally exhausted that I almost couldn't get out of a chair. It's a heavy responsibility."
Skelton has declined to talk about his children, saying he wants to protect their privacy and security.
Skelton, Bond, and Akin are not the only area lawmakers who have children or other relatives in the military.
— Rep. Jo Ann Emerson's stepdaughter Jessica Gladney was stationed in Iraq in 2004, and Emerson has another family member who also could be sent overseas at some point. Like Skelton, she declined to go into details because of safety concerns.
"It scares the hell out of me. It scares me to death," Emerson said of the prospect that any relative would be sent there.
— Rep. Roy Blunt's son, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, is in the Naval Reserve.
— When Congress was debating whether to give Bush the authority to strike Iraq, Rep. Kenny Hulshof's brother-in-law Ryan Howell was stationed in Kuwait as the U.S. military buildup began. Howell, the brother of Hulshof's wife, Renee, has been sent on two tours to Iraq since then.
'The costs are high'
During Perry Akin's first stint, the congressman's son narrowly escaped injury, or worse, when insurgents fired mortar rounds at him and other Marines as they tried to build a guard outpost. One landed close to Perry Akin, but it did not go off.
This time, Rep. Akin said he isn't sure where his son will end up. Perry Akin, 26, is serving with a Marine Expeditionary Unit with no specific assignment yet.
"They float around waiting for something to go wrong," said Akin, who has two other sons studying at the Naval Academy.
Akin has been one of the Bush administration's strongest backers on the war, although he has expressed some reservations about latest "surge" strategy.
Asked how his son's possible deployment affects his views on the conflict, Akin said, "It just merely underlines something that was already in bold print: that we need to pay attention to what we're doing in Iraq."
He added that his generation, which faced the prospect of going to Vietnam, is "very sensitive to the importance of good political leadership because the costs are so high for the people who are actually fighting and for the families who are involved as well. In Vietnam, we felt that our political leadership fell on their face."
So far, he does not feel that way about George W. Bush. "I have a lot of confidence in the president," Akin said. "I have confidence that he's asked a lot of tough questions" before making this most recent decision.
dshesgreen@post-dispatch.com | 202-298-6880
Ellie
By Deirdre Shesgreen
POST-DISPATCH WASHINGTON BUREAU
01/18/2007
WASHINGTON — On the eve of the president's Iraq speech last week, U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., ran through his concerns about whether the new plan would work.
Then, he added quietly, there's "the factor that my son is in the mid-Atlantic right now, on his way to the Middle East."
The congressman's oldest son, 1st Lt. Perry Akin, is a Marine combat engineer who has already served one tour in Iraq, mostly in Fallujah. And he may be headed for his second tour now.
As Congress grapples with the president's call for an additional 21,500 troops to go to Iraq, lawmakers are examining the policy and the politics. And for some, there's also the personal impact.
At least 10 members have children in the armed forces who have been to Iraq or could be headed there, adding another layer of anxiety and unease to an already wrenching decision.
Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond's son Sam is a Marine scheduled to return to Iraq for his second tour in the next month or so.
And the new chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., has two sons in the military.
All three lawmakers knew when they first voted for the war that their sons could serve in a war zone. With the Iraq war now nearly four years old, increasingly violent and seemingly intractable, they face some of the same qualms as other American families, bracing as their children prepare to serve a second or third tour.
Bond, R-Mo., the senior Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sam Bond will be commanding a scout sniper platoon, which goes out ahead of other units to do reconnaissance and look for "high-value targets."
When Sam Bond was in Iraq for his first tour, Sen. Bond said he relished the e-mails he got from his son, often full of humorous stories along with descriptions of the dangerous work he was doing. Sam Bond got to call his father only once in 13 months — on the Fourth of July — for about five minutes.
"Every day he was out there last year, obviously I was concerned and I prayed for him every night," Bond said. "But this is something he wanted to do (and) committed to do. It's a very important battle for the safety of our country. And more than anything else, I'm very proud of him."
Bond said he did not let his son's role in the military color his decisions in the Senate. He is supporting Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq based on the president's presentation and other intelligence information, he said.
Bond said decisions about war are incredibly difficult, whether your own child is at risk or not. When he first had to cast a war vote — in support of the Persian Gulf War — Bond recalled: "I went home and I was so mentally exhausted that I almost couldn't get out of a chair. It's a heavy responsibility."
Skelton has declined to talk about his children, saying he wants to protect their privacy and security.
Skelton, Bond, and Akin are not the only area lawmakers who have children or other relatives in the military.
— Rep. Jo Ann Emerson's stepdaughter Jessica Gladney was stationed in Iraq in 2004, and Emerson has another family member who also could be sent overseas at some point. Like Skelton, she declined to go into details because of safety concerns.
"It scares the hell out of me. It scares me to death," Emerson said of the prospect that any relative would be sent there.
— Rep. Roy Blunt's son, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, is in the Naval Reserve.
— When Congress was debating whether to give Bush the authority to strike Iraq, Rep. Kenny Hulshof's brother-in-law Ryan Howell was stationed in Kuwait as the U.S. military buildup began. Howell, the brother of Hulshof's wife, Renee, has been sent on two tours to Iraq since then.
'The costs are high'
During Perry Akin's first stint, the congressman's son narrowly escaped injury, or worse, when insurgents fired mortar rounds at him and other Marines as they tried to build a guard outpost. One landed close to Perry Akin, but it did not go off.
This time, Rep. Akin said he isn't sure where his son will end up. Perry Akin, 26, is serving with a Marine Expeditionary Unit with no specific assignment yet.
"They float around waiting for something to go wrong," said Akin, who has two other sons studying at the Naval Academy.
Akin has been one of the Bush administration's strongest backers on the war, although he has expressed some reservations about latest "surge" strategy.
Asked how his son's possible deployment affects his views on the conflict, Akin said, "It just merely underlines something that was already in bold print: that we need to pay attention to what we're doing in Iraq."
He added that his generation, which faced the prospect of going to Vietnam, is "very sensitive to the importance of good political leadership because the costs are so high for the people who are actually fighting and for the families who are involved as well. In Vietnam, we felt that our political leadership fell on their face."
So far, he does not feel that way about George W. Bush. "I have a lot of confidence in the president," Akin said. "I have confidence that he's asked a lot of tough questions" before making this most recent decision.
dshesgreen@post-dispatch.com | 202-298-6880
Ellie