Former Mass. senator and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry is an accurate precursor for today's 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls.  Unbearably self-absorbed and phony, Kerry's military career was rife with controversy, surrounded by justifiable doubt regarding the legitimacy of his having been awarded three Purple Heart medals.  Kerry should have sloughed off the very idea of accepting those Purple Hearts for injuries no worse than a shaving cut, but he didn't.  Kerry simply used his military service as a box to be checked off, to fulfill a requirement for his future political ambitions.

Like Kerry, today's Democratic Party does not care about the good of the country as a whole, nor does any current Democratic presidential contender care about the military or understand much about its role.  The Democrats are simply interested in winning elections and attaining power, not in furthering the best interest of the country.  They look at the country as a big collection of special interest groups, to be singled out as victims whose salvation shall be delivered for "free" by a Democratic-sponsored government program.

It's quite a contrast to the way the Greatest Generation served their country.  Very few, if any, soldiers serving in combat in WWII publicly identified themselves as Democrats or Republicans, as liberals or conservatives.  They were simply Americans, united by a common goal, loyal to the country and to each other.

So it was with my dad.  He served in the 338th Field Artillery Battalion in Italy.  My dad was an F.O. (forward observer).  The F.O.s would go to the front lines and find a suitable hiding place.  There, they'd use their binoculars to observe how and where their cannon fire was landing, and they'd radio corrective instructions back to the battery.

338th Field Artillery Battalion insignia.

Obviously, the Germans hated the F.O.s, since they were the ones responsible for directing lethal fire down on them.  One day, the Germans spotted my dad's small group, holed up in a small abandoned house on a hill.  No one knows for sure what gave their position away — perhaps it was a glint of sunlight reflecting off a binocular lens.  But whatever it was, the Germans spotted them and brought their own 88mm guns to bear on the house.  The Germans leveled it, with many American casualties.  My dad was struck in the head by a falling beam.  The survivors managed to get back to base, and my dad was sent to the rear for emergency surgery, which included the placement of a steel plate in his head.

Want to know what my dad's most urgent request was following surgery?  He wanted to know how soon he could rejoin his buddies at "B Battery."  That was not an uncommon request.  U.S. soldiers had an extremely strong sense of commitment and devotion to each other and to their mission.  Soldiers would routinely lie about their condition, telling the medical staff they were better than they really were, in an effort to get back to the "boys."

After the war, my dad returned home; got a degree in civil engineering under the G.I. Bill; earned a modest, respectable blue-collar salary in the construction industry; and raised his family.  He never spoke of the war.  He never boasted about his bravery under fire, nor did he ever try to leverage his near-death Purple Heart experience for any kind of personal gain.  Like millions of other WWII vets, he was simply a quiet, classy guy who did his job and expected no special treatment.

Modern Democratic politicians are all about themselves, all about looking for electoral advantage regardless of the truth, all about Party before Country.  Whether it's favorable international trade deals, treaties/agreements between adversaries, border security, or anything else, President Trump uses just one benchmark to determine whether the U.S. will continue or withdraw from an existing agreement or enter into a new agreement: will it benefit America?

Today's Democrats employ Kerry-like reasoning in every move they make, in every vote they take, with every press conference or interview they give: "How will this benefit my personal power ambitions?"  If the truth and the country have to suffer in subservience to personal and party ambition, so be it.

My dad was better than that.  Much better.