Service records

What with John Kerry's service in Vietnam being such a "hot" issue in the presidential elections right now (W. and Cheney's having completely avoided deployment to Asia notwithstanding), I found this quote in someone's else's blog which I feel compelled to pass along. I have not cite-checked the quotation:

"I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well-placed... managed to wangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units... Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to their country."

-- Colin Powell, My American Journey, p. 148. My American Journey is Gen. Powell's autobiography.