Younger Military Families Closing Ranks Around Obama

[RamboLiberal]

QUANTICO, Va. -- One of the largest U.S. marine bases in the world is located in Quantico, a tidy town with scant election fanfare. Everyone who lives here just assumes Republicans have a lock on the military vote. And so when Obama signs began to appear, tongues began to wag.

"At first I was worried about how my neighbors would view it," said former marine corporal Dawn Jennings, 31, who bravely put an Obama sign in the center of her front yard. Jennings told OffTheBus that Quantico is the "kind of place where they'll ask you to remove an Obama bumper sticker from your car."

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"Everyone I talk to wants change but on base you can't say certain things. At a bar or a party, everyone tells me they're voting for Obama," said Thomas Singleton, 27, a former military telecommunications specialist who was speaking to OffTheBus outside the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Perched on a hill in Quantico, the museum's stunning roof line can be seen for miles. Its design -- a 200-foot tilted mast atop a huge glass atrium -- was inspired by the famous Iwo Jima flag raising of World War II.

"My military friends are tired of being lied to," said Singleton. "They're told to deploy for six months, but it ends up being a year. And when they come home, they can't find a job. One of my friends is staying in the Army only because he can't find a civilian job."

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People in all branches of the service are getting tired of repeated deployments. "I think more of them will vote for Obama than McCain," said Jennings. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, deployed troops are putting their money where their mouth is: they've given four times as much money to Obama as McCain.

"Any assumption that the military vote is overwhelmingly in favor of the Republican Party -- based on demographics alone -- is suspect, at the very least," said Donald S. Inbody, a retired Navy Captain who is on the political science faculty at Texas State University. Inbody also is a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas in Austin, where he is researching the political attitudes and behavior of the American military enlisted person.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-tucker/younger-military-families_b_133183.html

[progressivebydesign]

1. the enduring beauty of the private ballot. n/t

[daninthemoon]

2. Sadly, at least in recent elections, our military has not turned out

to vote as much as you would expect. Between residency problems, and uncounted absentee votes, many servicemen/women and their families don't have the voting opportunity that they are sacrificing themselves to guarantee us. Few soldiers I talk to here at Fort Sill supported w, but did not vote to remove him. Hopefully this year will be different. Another problem: many soldiers don't re-register when they chenge duty stations, even though normal rotation will usually bring them and their families back to the same place later. I try to let them know that if they vote for change here now, they can see the improvements when they return.

[Raster]

3. Sadly, in recent elections, the military vote was subverted and "lost."

Until the 2004 election, it was a given that the military would vote for the rethuglican candidate. Prior to the 2004 presidential election, what military polling that was allowed to take place, began to show an alarming trend--at least to the rethuglicans. And that was a large portion of those military persons polled WERE NOT VOTING RETHUGLICAN. Once that information started to leak out, the Pentagon clamped down and polling and reporting came to a stop. Also, the rethuglican-controlled military command controls most voting protocol in the military AND THE REPORTING OF SAID VOTING. There is more to this story than just saying the military did not turn out to vote. I disagree. I think they did. I think their votes were deliberately undercounted, changed and even tossed away if they voted for someone other than the rethuglican candidate. Can I prove it? Nope. The military won't give me--or anyone else--access to the raw data. Go figure.

[jberryhill]

5. "the Pentagon clamped down and polling"

Polling active duty military is not legal, btw, and hasn't been for a long time.

[Raster]

6. Let me reseate. By polling I mean organizations like The Military Times

polling members of the military, which they are clearly allowed to do.

http://www.militarycity.com/polls/

Other than this question of semantics, my point(s) remain the same. Once polls taken by several entities shows a dramatic slip in support for bush*, the polling was curtailed. There were numerous questions about the security and sanctity of the American military ballot. This was also the year the Pentaton introduced the new reporting system which also reported how overseas, non-military American citizens reported their votes.

http://www.stargeek.com/item/263453.html

Just as the cheney*/bush* mis-administration has used and abused the men and women of the American military, they also have used and abused their votes.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. K&R

[medicswife]

7. Yes we are!!!!

Yesterday I went to buy myself and my neighbor a rare treat, a nice bottle of red wine to take some of the sting out of that empty chair at the kitchen table that Barack does such a good job reminding America of. When I pulled into the parking spot, my 8 year old noticed that the man next to us had an Obama sticker as well. He opened his window and yelled, "GOBAMA!!!" The man looked a little surprised at first and then walked over to high five my little one. Next thing you know, two more soldiers had walked up to our van and it quickly turned into a short Obama rally with all of laughing loudly and talking about how wonderful it will be to finally have a President who actually cares deeply about the military. My 6 year old had all four of them laughing when she sighed, "And Obama is so handsome too!!!!" The one soldier who didn't have a bumper sticker yet asked where to get one, and we pointed him to Obama's website. Pretty cool experience!

:patriot:

[SaveAmerica]

8. Your story teared me up...I hope your empty chair is filled soon!!