I guess I'm among those disparaged by Kerry and Rangel. I joined the U.S. Air Force in 1967 for two primary reasons: to avoid the draft, and (to a lesser extent) because my parents, Dad an active duty USAF noncommissioned officer and Mom a schoolteacher, couldn't afford to send me to college. Not that I wanted to go to college. At the time I was a mediocre student at best, and at worst--well, let's not go there.

I quickly learned discipline as well as discovering my own self-worth. I was put in charge of millions of dollars of equipment by the time I was 20 and found my opinions mattered--no small thing to a young man who, two years earlier, had no goals, ambitions or skills.

Twenty-eight years later I retired as a chief master sergeant, the highest enlisted rank and one of only two grades with a congressionally mandated cap. Only 1% of the USAF enlisted force can be an E-9. I also retired with a bachelor's of science cum laude and a marketable skill that keeps me employed full-time.

Along the way I think my contributions to the security of our nation were not insignificant. During Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm I developed and implemented security, force protection and antiterrorism programs at two locations in Saudi Arabia, including protection of F-117A "Stealth" Fighters.

On three occasions, serving as USAF force-protection manager in Somalia during Operation Restore Hope, I identified and neutralized assassination plots directed at Somali workers. People are alive because of what we did.

That's no small achievement and was possible only because I worked with some of the most professional people in America, those members of the U.S. Armed Forces. I saw 19- to 20-year-old Marine corporal patrol leaders making U.S. foreign policy on the dusty streets of Mogadishu every day. Those same corporals wouldn't be allowed to operate the copying machine in "corporate America," but the military had given them the faith and training to make tough calls. Before the U.N. "hijacked" the mission in Somalia, the U.S. armed forces were making a difference.

I am proud of my service to our country and suspect I am not alone when I say that after I retired I kept my uniforms in the attic, hoping against hope that my country might still want me to return to active duty, even if only to free up a place for a younger man or woman to be available for the more important tasks that face our military today. I would answer that call to colors today if I could.

I guess the key to understanding Kerry and Rangel is the realization they hold not only their own service to our country in disdain but mine as well as that of every other former, current and future GI.

Jerry Landers had to leave the military before finding himself in a combat zone:

My story is similar to others I've read here. I graduated from high school in 1967 and was taking college courses just to keep my student deferment from the draft. Middle-class but no direction. In 1969 I enlisted in the Air Force because I wasn't serious about college and didn't want the Army (too much work for a lazy kid).

I did some growing up, and after two years I volunteered to be a tail gunner on the old D-Model B-52. I wanted to do my part in Vietnam War. I wasn't selected because I was only an E-3 and they wanted E-4s or above. At the time I was safe in Great Falls, Mont., working on the warhead for the Minuteman ICBM. The closest I got to combat then was Osan Air Base, South Korea.

I continued to mature and requested to retrain into air traffic control and was accepted. No job for an illiterate loser. My first assignment was Ramstein Air Base radar approach control: 3,800 square miles of airspace with several military and one civilian airport under our control.

I did well and was lucky and had many great role models working alongside me. After 31 years and 13 days, I retired at the highest enlisted rank of chief master sergeant. I also picked up a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, a wife and a daughter.

After two wars in which I was never directly in harm's way, I took a job as a contractor and spent a year (2003-04) at Bagram Control Tower in Afghanistan. (I was on duty when Hillary Clinton visited Bagram over Thanksgiving in 2003.) I finally made it into a combat zone. Even though I was a civilian I felt like I was still part of the war on terror--very rewarding. I'm now going for a second master's so I can become a schoolteacher. I thank God I enlisted when I did.

It's ironic that as my last assignment at Headquarters Air Combat Command, part of my job was investigating and drafting responses for congressmen when their constituents would complain about aircraft noise, etc.

John Gonzalez was no slouch academically:

I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin back in 1985, received a commission via Officer Candidate School that fall, and served five years as a naval officer, two years aboard a destroyer and two years aboard a nuclear-powered attack submarine. I left the service in 1990, and went and picked up my M.B.A. at the University of Chicago. I've worked in the medical device field ever since.

The good Lord blessed me with a good mind--my SAT was higher than Kerry's (who barely cleared 1200, I remember); I had passed all parts of the CPA exam while still an undergrad; and, by virtue of my GMAT score achieved back in '87, am a member of Mensa. I had an offer to work in public accounting coming out of UT, but chose, like my father and my brother, to do my duty, instead. Parenthetically, my mother was from Mexico and worked as a migrant farm worker as a child, so I'm a Mexican Mensan ex-military M.B.A. Looking back, 1985-90 were the best years of my life: great fellow sailors, worthy work, sense of duty over self.

Rangel and Kerry ought to know better, the dummies.

Brad Spahr is impressed by the young adults seeking to join the service:

Earlier this month I was part of a committee that interviewed candidates for service academy appointments from California's 25th Congressional District. Our crop of candidates has never been better in quality or quantity. Of the 22 candidates interviewed, 11 carried a 4.0 grade point average or higher. (Higher than 4.0 is achieved by taking advanced-placement courses.) We also had an all-time high number of candidates interested in becoming Marines, SEALs, Rangers and Special Forces.

The intelligence and motivation of these young men and women was inspiring. And if skeptics point out that academy cadets and midshipmen aren't typical of the enlisted troops, it should be noted that all service academies have a significant number of entrants from the enlisted ranks, some of whom are now showing up with Silver Stars and Purple Hearts from service in that place where you end up if you're not smart enough to do well in college.

Dale Switzer is a proud father:

Over the past month I talked my 17-year-old son into joining the Army. I have no idea if this is a decision that he would have made without my influence. I am, after all, 43, with the developed strong will of an educated man and I have a studied knowledge of his thoughts and desires and he is, after all, only 17. In June he will return from boot camp. He will be a man, and I sincerely doubt that I will be able to influence him in such a way again. This, therefore, is the last decision that I will, in a sense, make for him.

Some day I may receive a visit from three officers in dress uniform, and they may inform me of the death of my son in the service of his country. I want to write down, now, why I am offering my son on the altar of our country.

But first, let me get one thing out of the way. We did not choose the military because of a lack of opportunity. I was a National Merit Scholar and attended a private university free. I know how to find scholarship money. I am also aware of how to get my boy into trades and apprenticeships. All of these could provide him a satisfactory living. He has not been "forced" into the Army.

My boy joined the Army because he is an American. This family has lived in the United States of America for 150 years. We came into the port of New Orleans as poor dirt farmers from Germany. This country welcomed us in, and we are no longer dirt farmers. We have been local political leaders, teachers, businessmen, fishermen and bankers. We have enjoyed the freedom of speech and religion that is uniquely available only to Americans. This country welcomed this immigrant family into our new home and we have returned our service to it. From the Civil War till now we have fought. I am proud that my son is part of this continuing service.

My boy joined the Army because he can help the Army. This country is in need of bright, analytical, strong and young military men. In middle age my six-pack abs have gained a few quarts. My country doesn't need my body, but it does need my son's. The U.S. must maintain and raise the ability and intelligence of its military lest it follow the trail to mediocrity that other nations have blazed.

My boy joined the Army because the Army can help him. The United States has decided that the young people who join are worthy of honor respect and material rewards. These rewards are well worth seeking. If our plans are not interrupted, my son will graduate college at 21 as a commissioned officer of the United States Army. He will be debt-free and have money in the bank. He will be educated, strong, honored and a man. Is this a bad thing to be? Is it somehow disgraceful to aspire to this condition?

The next time John Kerry faces the voters, it is possible that--if my son and others work hard and study hard--Kerry will be stuck with voters like him.

Jeffrey McGuire pays tribute to a family member who isn't an intellectual but is determined to serve:

While I greatly respect all the men and women that have written about their service, I am guessing only the intelligent ones have written in. I am also guessing that you do not have many "dumb" folks that read your column, so that might be a part of the problem.

I felt it was my duty to write in about my brother-in-law, a great guy but less than stellar academically. He dropped out of high school for a music career. When I first met him, he was doing menial jobs and had no direction in life. He was about 21 when he married my wife's sister. He got his GED, but still moved from job to job with no real future. He decided to get into plumbing. He was working and making an OK living when 9/11 happened.

Shortly after 9/11, he showed what many would deem a lack of intellect: He joined the Army. Obviously, his recruiter failed to tell him that being a combat medic would put him in the middle of the action. By this point he was 26 and much too old to be doing the things that the younger men and women were doing. He hurt his knee while in his advanced training as a combat medic, which would not allow him to complete the final physical qualifying to graduate. Then he decided to again show questionable intellect by joining the Georgia National Guard as a reservist. He was active for a bit and then went inactive. In the meantime his wife got pregnant with their first child.

Then came the call that they wanted to activate him and get him ready for Iraq. He had to either accept and go as a combat medic, or decline and possibly get out of going. Again, that intellect came into play and he chose to go. His daughter was born, and yet he still went.

In Iraq, he was jumping out of a helicopter and again hurt his leg. Instead of using that to get moved to an easier assignment, he stayed as a combat medic. Then on the day he was to come home for a 10-day leave, his Humvee encountered an IED. Luckily he was not injured. But instead of wising up and heading to Canada with his wife and daughter, he stayed his 10 days and went back. Then a couple of months later, his Humvee encountered yet another IED. This time luck was not with him. He sustained a severe head wound that required him to be evacuated to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. After he was stabilized, they sent him to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington. After many surgeries and lots of rehab he is doing much better.

He is back to being a plumber, but I am not sure that he would not go back again if allowed. While he is not the academic that many of the others are, I must say I do respect him more than he will ever know.

And Martin Mix makes a nice point:

It occurred to me while I was reading the last installment of letters to Mr. Rangel and Mr. Kerry that we so often hear about our presence in Iraq creating new terrorists. You've debunked this to great effect, but what had not really occurred to me until now was how the opposite is true or that it really contradicts what you see on the news. That is to say, terrorists create more great servicemen and -women for our country. I just hadn't thought of it that simply. Here are people who, for the most part, would not have gone into the service if it were not for 9/11 or the war in Iraq.

Make no mistake, I have no love for the people fighting against us in this war, but darned if they didn't bring some incredibly fine and admirable people into our military. I am honored and comforted to know that these are the people who will heed the call if, God forbid, my three children find their world under a new attack. I am also comforted by your column showing that regardless of the venom and bile spewing from the mouths of some of those who represent us in government, these people will not think twice when the call is made.