Scott Brown To Do National Guard Duty In Afghanistan
Senator Scott Brown will be going overseas to fulfill his National Guard duties this year:
Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) said Monday he is going to fulfill his annual National Guard training in Afghanistan.
“Following in the tradition of other lawmakers who have completed their military service requirements overseas, this year I have requested to conduct my annual training in Afghanistan,” Brown said in a statement. “Doing so will help me to better understand our ongoing mission in that country, and provide me first-hand experience for my duties on the Senate Armed Services, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs committees.”
Brown, a member of the Massachusetts National Guard, told the Boston Globe in an interview published Monday morning that he planned to travel to Agfhanistan.
“I’m going to be going over at some point to do some missions,” he said. Brown later clarified what he meant in a release.
My cynical side would want you to note that Brown is up for re-election next year.
It’s damned if he do and damned if he doesn’t. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say “good on you.”
good for scott brown.
if he jumps in the race obama could be in for a struggle. this nat’l guard training in afghanistan can only help.
Agreed with DC Loser.
But then, I kind of like the guy anyway.
I don’t see any of the Democrats in the House nor the Senate volunteering for combat duty in Afghanistan or Iraq anytime soon. They will just sit in their ivory towers and whine about the military taking money that should be spent elsewhere, specifically union bribes and kickbacks
Stan:
Do you have any evidence to support that?
As I recall, Vice President Biden’s son served in Iraq. Something that must have been hard for a man who had already tragically lost one son.
But no doubt he felt secure in his ivory tower.
As for Brown, maybe this will help his re-election, but maybe he ends up gut-shot in some hellhole. His service will be real. His motivation is irrelevant to me.
I am starting to like this guy.
He’s doing in annual tour (AT) in Afghanistan? That is highly unusual – most AT takes place in the US and I’ve never heard of anyone going to a combat zone before. It takes 2-3 days just to get there. You have to go through several days of mandatory pre-deployment training. All that expense for two weeks of duty? By the time he finds his way around post, he’ll be on the plane home.
I’m in the guard and my unit doesn’t have the money to send people anywhere for AT, much less to fricking Afghanistan.
While it might not be standard for the Guard, I have a friend who is in the reserves and going through something similiar for a relatively short tour of duty — overseas, in the region, but not in a combat zone — so it’s not totally uncommon.
Is this good politics? Sure. But as others have said, he’s still willing to do it, and on some level that says something about him.
And, as we’ve learned in a few tragic cases, fame never guarantees protection or survival during an active military situation.
Sen. Brown is an attorney in the JAG corps. It is unlikely that his AT will involve “combat duty”.
@Rick Almeida – I still remember a few years back when 3 senior members of the Army JAG Corp were killed in Iraq on TDY when their helicopter was shot down. Stuff happens when you least expect it.
Hence “unlikely”.
He is up to reelection in Massachusetts. I don´t know if that helps to win elections there.