>> it wasn't a offical war until after LBJ entered office.

... an "official" war (that is to say, we never formally declared "war"). However, American military personnel who served in Vietnam prior to the Tonkin Gulf "incident" received combat pay, won medals with combat designations and received the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (which was authorized for service in Vietnam between July 1, 1958, and July 3, 1965). The Tonkin Gulf incident, in which the destroyers Turner Joy and Maddox were supposedly attacked, occurred in August 1964 (and was LBJ's excuse for increasing American involvement in Vietnam, but that's a whole different story). The first American to win the Medal of Honor in Vietnam was Army Capt. Roger Donlan, who won it in July 1964. Nearly 500 Americans were killed in action in Vietnam prior to the LBJ build up. Tell their families that it wasn't an "official" war.

>> I was on active duty from Jun 1954 until 1964. I was ineligible
>> for VA Hospital benfits because I was not on active duty during war time ...

I am not familiar with the individual eligibility requirements, so have no way to respond to that particular point.

>> I came eligible under GWB watch in 2003. Thank the Republican
>> not the Democrats for that GI Vet benefit

George Bush is no hero to vets with respect to benefits. Last year, the Bush administration opposed the Senate's $1.3 billion vets health care bill; in August 2003, the Bush administation announced plans to close seven VA hospitals (including the one in Gulfport MS); this year the Bush administration proposed increasing prescription drug costs for vets by imposing a $250 enrollment fee and more than doubling co-pays from $7 to $15 (the House of Representatives accepted a democratic sponsored amendment which killed this administration proposal); in January 2003, the Bush administation cut access to health care for 160,000 middle income veterans; in large part because of the Bush administration funding cuts, veterans are waiting from 6 months to two years for appointments to see doctors at VA hospitals.

>> What has the Democrats done for the Military

Well, let's see, just starting post WWII. The most far-reaching veterans benefits legislation EVER was the GI bill signed into law on June 22, 1944, by democratic president Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Some analysts think this bill has had a greater overall impact on the American way of life than ANY other legislation since the Homestead Act in the mid-1800's.

In 1951 democrat Harry Truman signed into law the first free life insurance system for military personnel. In 1962, JFK made vocational rehabilitation for veterans permanent. In 1967, LBJ extended veterans benefits to all participants in the Vietnam war. In 1994, Bill Clinton extended benefits to vets suffering from "gulf war syndrome". In 1999, Clinton signed the most far-reaching increase in vets benefits since the 1944 GI bill (the Millennium Health Care Act, which expanded extended care services for veterans, including geriatric evaluation, nursing home care, domiciliary services, adult day health care, non-institutional alternatives to nursing home, care, home or residence assistance, and respite care. The bill also granted high priority access to VA medical services for military retirees, regardless of their placement in the priority system that governs the access of all veterans to VA medical care.

>> Also if Oliver North was so guilty why wasn't he retried?

The short answer to that is that the same legal technicalities which resulted in reversal of his convictions prohibited the use against him in any retrial of much of the evidence against him (not because it wasn't true, but because it was "tainted" by legal improprieties).

>> Martha Stewart with all her money couldn't get a new trial which I feel she should have

Don't even get me started on Martha Stewart. She got off easy. ----- jim o\-S