(Arlington, Va.) A Vietnam War veteran was less than impressed when Second Gentleman Doug Ehmoff told him he thought about joining the military too, but he didn’t because he decided to let someone else go in his place.
“I hate to be ungrateful or complain, but it sounded an awful lot like nothin’ but political pandering to me, kinda like what his wife does, the vice president,” Harold Ackman, 75, said. “We didn’t have any choice about joining—we were ‘volunteered’ by Uncle Sam!” he joked.
“So we didn’t even have the option of letting someone else go in our place. That would have been nice, mind you, but in the end, doing our duty meant more to us than being like him and finding any excuse he could to keep from serving,” Ackman continued.
Contacted about the veteran’s remarks, the Second Gentleman’s office explained that Emhoff really meant that he wanted to join the military but he understood that there was very likely someone else who wanted to join badly enough that they actually did enlist and serve.
