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TEWSPilot
Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 1235
Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)
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 Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 7:19 am Post subject: Actor Val Kilmer hints at guv run -- again |
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| Quote: | Actor Val Kilmer hints at guv run — again
<snip>
I still think that if people want to learn a little more about Kilmer– besides that he was Doc Holliday in “Tombstone,” Iceman in “Top Gun” or Batman in “Batman Forever” — the Chuck Klosterman profile for Esquire is a good place to start.
This exchange is particularly … well, just read it.
[Klosterman]: You mean you think you literally had the same experience as Doc Holliday?
Kilmer: Oh, sure. It’s not like I believed that I shot somebody, but I absolutely know what it feels like to pull the trigger and take someone’s life.
[Klosterman:] You understand how it feels to shoot someone as much as a person who has actually committed a murder?
[Kilmer] I understand it more. It’s an actor’s job. A guy who’s lived through the horror of Vietnam has not spent his life preparing his mind for it. He’s some punk. Most guys were borderline criminal or poor, and that’s why they got sent to Vietnam. It was all the poor, wretched kids who got beat up by their dads, guys who didn’t get on the football team, couldn’t finagle a scholarship. They didn’t have the emotional equipment to handle that experience. But this is what an actor trains to do. I can more effectively represent that kid in Vietnam than a guy who was there. |
....so I posted this information to help educate the arrogant moron:
Quite an indictment against 3.5 million members of the U.S. military who served with honor in combat during the Vietnam war from a man who makes his living speaking lines written by someone else and who lives in a world of fantasy. My undergraduate degree is in Physics, I have an MBA, I have an Airline Transport Pilot's License and a Flight Engineer's Certificate, and I have worked in the field of Aerospace engineering for almost 40 years. Neither John Kerry nor GW Bush nor I, for that matter, had any say in whether we would be assigned duty in Vietnam unless we volunteered. Some of us did volunteer. Of course one could petition for four educational deferments and a fifth to spend a year in Paris studying French, as John Forbes Kerry did, being rich and a prodigy of John F. Kennedy. If one received 3 Purple Hearts, he could ask to come home, even after just 3 or 4 months, and even if the wounds didn't cost him any downtime, as John Kerry did. The only ways to guarantee we would not be assigned to Vietnam would be to desert or dodge the draft, like Bill Clinton and many of the "Vietnam Veterans Against the War", or petition for status change to "Conscientious Objector" prior to receiving orders, or obtain an educational or family deferment, as millions of Americans did.
During my 12 month tour (actually 366 days), more than half the pilots with whom I flew my 100+ missions in Vietnam were Reservists, like me, and Air Guardsmen. John Kerry equated Guardsmen with draft dodgers. Now, Mr. Kilmer equates us all with "punks" and "borderline criminal or poor, and that's why they got sent to Vietnam. It was all the poor, wretched kids who got beat up by their dads, guys who didn't get on the football team, couldn't finagle a scholarship." I pitched four no-hitters my Senior year in High School, and our American Legion baseball team won the state championship two consecutive years. My scholarship offers included MIT, Cal Tech, and a number of other equally prestigious colleges and universities. What was your GPA, Mr. Kilmer? The majority of members of the Guard and Reserves are former Active Duty military. Chances are the next time you get on a commercial airliner, the flight crew will be former military and may even be current members of the Reserves or Guard. Do you know the military background of the pilot who recently made a miracle dead stick landing in the Hudson River?
I often wondered how many names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall are of National Guardsmen and Reservists. One hundred and forty Medal of Honor recipients were in the National Guard. Six thousand seventy-seven members of the National Guard or Reserves died in Vietnam.
No, Mr. Kilmer, you don't have a clue who we are, and you will never be one of us. My conduct and the conduct of my peers was and continues to this day to be slandered by envious Hollywood loser wannabes like yourself and politicians and the media. Sadly, they have again been joined by both the ignorant and the unpatriotic and encouraged by enemies and traitors to undermine the efforts of those new military heroes now proudly serving our country. Military veterans are a brotherhood of unique individuals, melded together in the crucible of wars past and present and bonded by duty, honor, sacrifice, blood, and love of country. More so than through any other fraternity, the associations and friendships formed through the military and law enforcement and firefighters and other emergency service providing units are lifelong, and we mourn the loss of our comrades until we rejoin them again someday in formation in Heaven. Sadly, envious Hollywood loser wannabes, politicians, and historians do not understand, let alone share, our code of conduct and ethics. Perhaps someday they will learn if they have the courage and integrity to recognize our accomplishments and the will to seek the truth and report it honestly and accurately.
No, Mr. Kilmer, you don't have a clue who we are, and you will never be one of us. Visit my website and learn something.
http://www.opaobie.com/promisekept.php
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GoophyDog
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Joined: 10 Jun 2004
Posts: 480
Location: Washington - The Evergreen State
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| Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 12:08 am Post subject: |
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Bravo Zulu Tews!
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TEWSPilot
Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 1235
Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)
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| Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 2:24 am Post subject: |
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Thank you, GoophyDog, I have had a number of requests from bloggers to post my comment. Fine with me. I'm just average compared to the bulk of guys who have served. I'm just happy they let me tag along.
I alerted "Sgt Josh" in Afghanistan and told him to pass the word, especially among his New Mexico buddies. I told him Kilmer wants to run for Governor of New Mexico and to ask them if they want HIM as their Governor -- and as their Commander in Chief of the New Mexico National Guard.
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baldeagle
PO2
Joined: 27 Oct 2004
Posts: 362
Location: Grand Saline, Texas
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| Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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Heck, he played a Navy fighter pilot in "Top Gun", he should know all there is to know about the military and how to lead it, now. 
PS: Excellent essay, TEWS.
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TEWSPilot
Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 1235
Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)
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| Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:34 pm Post subject: |
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baldeagle, thank you.
I'd be willing to let him try a few actual night carrier landings in a storm low on fuel if he wants to prove he can fly better than REAL Navy pilots. I'd even let him try to replicate some of the landings I made into A camps onto postage stamp pads with enemy all around licking their chops at a chance to....oh, never mind.
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dusty
Admiral
Joined: 27 Aug 2004
Posts: 1264
Location: East Texas
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| Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:18 am Post subject: |
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Excellent post TEWSPilot and excellent comeback to Mr. Kilmer.
I've always liked his acting but the guy behind the mask seems to be pretty shallow judging by his comments.
Arrogant fits pretty good.
Enjoyed reading your comments.
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TEWSPilot
Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 1235
Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)
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| Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:51 am Post subject: |
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dusty, thank you....I doubt that Kilmer would like my comments. He's off my "go see" list. I've alerted as many of my friends in New Mexico as I can think of. Feel free to join the fun.  |
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four-niner delta
Lt.Jg.
Joined: 20 Aug 2004
Posts: 134
Location: Burbank, CA
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| Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 8:26 am Post subject: |
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Thank you TEWSPilot for your comeback to Kilmer.
Lets see now. I was a straight-leg ground pounder in the U.S. Army in 1966-67, in the Mekong Delta with the 9th INF DIV Mobile Riverine Force. My Dad owned a manufacturing business in Los Angeles. We weren't poor. I had a college degree. My FDC partner was an executive with Ford Motor Company in Detroit. We all humped the paddies together-no class distinction. We served proudly. Where is this moron coming from? I just read the article on FOXNews that Obama has put the brakes on the surge in Afghanistan. He has told Sec. Gates to stop the deployment of anymore troops. Talk about telegraphing the enemy your plans! This is the crowd we have in there now. Kilmer should fit right in with this bunch!
bin Laden must be laughing his a** off. This new president is more dangerous than Kerry ever thought of being. It won't take long for our military to degrade to the post Jimma Carter era before Reagan brought us back. End of rant!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2009/02/08/obama-putting-brakes-surge-afghanistan/100days/
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Gary Armitstead
Burbank, CA
U.S. Army Vietnam 1966-67 Mekong Delta
Mobile Riverine Force
A Co. 3/60 9th INF DIV |
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Me#1You#10
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Joined: 06 May 2004
Posts: 6503
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| Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:43 pm Post subject: |
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Kilmer is, apparently, certifiable.
I've always been somewhat perplexed by the notion that Americans (and, I suppose, homo sapien in general) place such stead in utterings from those in a profession whose stock and trade is fantasy. |
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LewWaters
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Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 4042
Location: Washington State
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 5:10 am Post subject: |
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Kilmer is now claiming he never said this,
Val Kilmer Responds
The poster his assistant sent the response to is currently trying to get ahold of the Esquire article author.
We'll what pans out.
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TEWSPilot
Admiral
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LewWaters
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Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 4042
Location: Washington State
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 6:42 am Post subject: |
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Welllllll, he is considering a career in politics, 
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TEWSPilot
Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 1235
Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)
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| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 6:56 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, with Bill Richardson as his mentor....he'll fit right in with the new freshman class that includes Al Franken....phony-balony actors and impersonators and clowns to join the DC Circus....bring on the ELEPHANTS!!!!
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LewWaters
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Me#1You#10
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Joined: 06 May 2004
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| Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 2:38 pm Post subject: |
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Hmmmm. An obvious narcissist, a loather of the military, allegedly not unfamiliar with the use of mind-altering substances, an apparent consummate liar...all pretty good credentials for a democratic nomination these days. |
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