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Posted on Feb 17, 2014
Which President has made the most impact of the military during your time in service?
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For those of us who have served during multiple presidents, I ask which one has impacted the service the most during your time.<div><br></div><div>Rule 1: try not to bash.</div><div><br></div><div>Rule 2: remember tact.</div><div><br></div><div>Mine is George W. Bush. His impact on me has forever changed my life with his response to 9/11, and the invasion in Iraq which I have taken part in multiple times.</div>
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Military Career
Military Career
Posted 12 y ago
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<p>George W. </p><p> </p><p>He actually takes the time to talk to Service Members. I had a friend stationed at Walter Reed in 2003, and she met him at some White House dinner that she was chosen to attend. She said that as he walked by her table (which was nothing but E-4 and below) he stopped, grabbed an empty chair, sat down with them, and proceeded to have a 30 minute visit with them. I've had a few friends actually meet him and they've all said the same thing, that he's very down to Earth and has nothing but respect and gratitude towards everyone in uniform. You haven't heard a lot of that with our current administration.</p>
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I served under Carter and Reagan. Can you find more polar opposites?
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SGT Jason Doyle
I served under Clinton, Bush, and Obama. Bush was by far the best Commander in Chief of the three.
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Toss up for me having served under 5 POTUS's...Reagan, Bush-41, Clinton, Bush-43 and Obama....Reagan for the build-up of equipment and pay and "Dubya" for the manner in which he always respected the military, and his commitment to stopping terrorism (yes I know people fault him for Iraq, but I believe we should have finished that under his dad any how).
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MSG Jose Colon
I agree. In the 90's it was a massacre. When my old Bn Commander tried to motivate us by having to say that he would recognize that we were over extended/over worked when he found himself pulling motor pool guard, that to me is a lot. George W's respect for the troops can be seeing in his eyes. Reagan has my complete respect when he challenged the Russians to tear the wall down. I haven't seeing that level of commitment and or respect ever since. I am not saying that W was perfect because he was definitely not, we are not talking policy here.
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Suspended Profile
There were five presidents during the Vietnam War: Dwight Eisenhower, JFK, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Gerald Ford.
Three Presidents (Eisenhower, JFK, and LBJ) dug us deeper and deeper into the Vietnam war with increasingly heavier commitments of American Servicemen.
President Johnson, in particular, after promising us that "I'm not going to send American boys to do what Vietnamese boys ought to be doing!" sent 2,000,000 plus American boys to do what Vietnamese boys should have been doing.
Arguably, President Nixon, for all his other failings, successfully pursued Vietnamization of the war, and essentially pulled out all of our combat troops out by the end of 1973.
President Ford oversaw the disaster. What many fail to remember is the ARVN fought off an NVA offensive in 1974 that was substantially bigger than Tet in 1968. ARVN fought a mobile battle where air superiority not only stopped the attack cold, they took over a substantial amount of territory that had been held by the North prior to this massive NVA offensive.
Then the US Congress kicked the sticks out from under ARVN by terminating military aid in 1975. The NVA final offensive, supported by a massive influx of Russian and Chinese military aid, ended with ARVN fighting to the last bullet, throwing off their uniforms, and running.
The moral of the story is the only force that could defeat the US military was the US Congress.
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I have to second George W. Bush. I have served under two presidents (yay, Army baby!) and while I do appreciate the impact the Clinton years had on the Army that went to war in 2001; I didn't sign up until 2006. The only reason I could sign up so easily was because demand for recruits was high and the surge was on.<br>Our entire GWOT allowed me to serve in exciting positions, gather experience, get promoted, and continue onto what I hope is a lifelong career.<br><br>Second? Theodore Roosevelt. We would not be where we are today without his early American Imperialism that ended up involving us in every major 20th century conflict and growing America into the sole remaining superpower.
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SGT John Phillips
I got to see first hand that transition from Bush Senior to Clinton, and I'm not real sure of your meaning of "appreciate the Clinton years." I'm not bashing him, I am genuinely curious of how he had a positive impact on the military. I remember those years as being the RIF, Budget Shortages, Training Accidents, and more broken equipment than we knew what to do with. I understand it was all centered around the RIF and downsizing, but it was not a pleasant time. It's happening again now, and I feel for all you still serving, who are going to have to go through it, because it is not any fun.<br> <br>
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I served under Presidents Reagan, Bush (1), Clinton, and Bush (2). I feel that of these four, the services were most positively impacted by Reagan who rebuild the Armed Forces from a nearly hollow force to a formidable one (although, admittedly, at a very high cost; but it needed to be done).
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I'm not bashing him, but if Reagan had not of made certain budget cuts, I would have never enjoyed my 28 years in the Army.
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GW Bush! He was a firm believer and supporter of the military, and new how to use it when appropriate.
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Richard Nixon, finally let our units into the NVA depots in Cambodia, used his air power to great affect.
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