Military prefer McCain, 3 to 1

Have you heard about the Military Times poll on the 2008 presidential election?

The study showed John McCain defeating Barack Obama by 68 percent to 23, if the members of the United States military were electing the next president.

That's nearly a 3-to-1 gap.

With a conflict in Afghanistan and the drawing down of Iraq, the military vote is the most indicative of leadership and trust, because the next president will become the commander in chief of the armed forces.

A voting booth at Camp Fallujah, Iraq. Marines, soldiers and sailors are pulling out of Camp Fallujah as the security situation improves.

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By all accounts, the national race is very close, so what accounts for this enormous difference for the very small portion of Americans who serve?

There's the obvious point that John McCain, as a former Navy pilot, benefits from a better knowledge of the military and that members of the military would feel a fraternity, but the pro-McCain bias is more than time served.

The military is very much a practical application workplace, a place where skill and experience mean a lot more than hope and change.

In the military, rank achieved – especially as you go higher up – is earned through a proven track record and normally tested by appearances in front of numerous boards. You don't achieve higher military ranks by mistake; it takes distinguished skills, demonstrable knowledge and admittedly some politicking.

The obstacle for a new Sen. Obama is convincing servicemen and women that a newbie deserves to be promoted over and above the superiors, the men and women who make decisions of life and death.

One of those decisions was for the troop augmentation of 2007, a "surge" that Barack Obama did not support and has arguably not recognized as successful. Sen. McCain bet his political career on the surge, saying he would "rather lose an election than lose a war."

The surge is a concrete example of how the judgment of two different "chiefs" would have affected the military in two very different ways. Without the surge, American troops would have expended an enormous amount of energy only to meet defeat.

Because of the surge, troops have recently pulled out of Fallujah and areas of Baghdad, as Iraq has become far more stable and violence has precipitously plummeted.

But the mistrust of Obama runs deeper than the ability to memorize all the different ranks in the chain of command – for the military culture, patriotism has a deep value.

While few question McCain's devotion to the United States, Obama suffers from a patriotism deficit.

Beyond the absence of a flag lapel or not placing the hand on heart for the National Anthem, Sen. Obama believes the country is principally flawed, an assertion that bothers those who have volunteered to serve their nation not because it's perfect, but to make the nation better.

For the troops, patriotism is not a passing fad or a political ploy – it's a way of life. Sen. Obama often gives the impression that the country has not served him well enough and can only be redeemed by electing him the first black president.

The military is a very small portion of the total population, less than 1 percent, but for many reasons, servicemen in uniform have an entirely different view of the political race.

With all the talk about whom to elect to the White House, it would serve the rest of the country well to reflect on the military's point of view, a position that is so rarely represented, but has so much at stake.