Christine Flowers: Dodging the truth

Regardless of how you feel about the alleged “Swift Boating” of Tim Walz, I think it’s important to make a distinction between what he did, and what people are accusing others of having done in terms of Vietnam-era “draft dodging.”

I remember back in 1975, soon after the end of that very divisive war, that I participated in a speech competition at Archmere Academy in Delaware. My division was original oratory, which meant that I had to write a speech and deliver it. My father wanted to help me, and so he suggested that I compose a sort of “ inner soliloquy” of a conscientious objector. Skeptical, because I was very pro-military even then, I rebelled. But Teddy Flowers had serious powers of persuasion, so we sat down together and brainstormed a speech that would wow the judges.

I now only remember the first line, and the last two.  It started out rather melodramatically, since I was pretending to be speaking from jail: “I trace the crack in a cinderblock wall and I wonder, why?” I’m not sure what went on after that, but I think it was an explanation of why my alter ego had chosen to refuse the draft, for personal reasons. And the last part was stolen from Thoreau, with an added bit of  Christine flourish at the end: “If a man cannot keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him march to the music that he hears, for he can march to no other.”

I delivered that speech to a panel of three judges, including a man in full military uniform.  You can imagine my surprise, then, at winning third place.  I expected to be heckled from the stage.  My father, as was usually the case, understood that people of good will can find common ground in even the most contentious matters.

Because of this lesson, taught to me by a man who enlisted in the army at the age of seventeen and who spent years in a cold and desolate NORAD outpost in Thule, Greenland during the Cold War, I have never maligned true conscientious objectors. I do not consider them “draft dodgers.” They did not, in fact, “dodge anything.” They went to jail, in many cases, like Cassius Clay a/k/a Muhammad Ali.

I mention Ali, because a lot of people on social media are talking smack about people who did not serve. On one side we have the leftists who are attacking Donald Trump because of his bone spurs, and on the other side conservatives who are attacking Joe Biden because of his asthma. They both got deferments, which is what a lot of people tried to do. I’m not saying it’s honorable, and in fact I find it a bit repellent since Trump had the gall to attack the honor of a real war hero, John McCain while Joe Biden looked at his watch while standing before the coffins of returning Afghanistan casualties.

To me, they are both part of the same steaming heap.  However, people like Ali are in a different category altogether. On June 20, 1967, the heavyweight champion was convicted of evading the draft and sentenced to five years in a federal prison. He was also stripped of his titles. Even though the sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1971, Ali’s act is one of courage. These are his own words about his actions:

“Some people thought I was a hero. Some people said that what I did was wrong. But everything I did was according to my conscience. I wasn’t trying to be a leader. I just wanted to be free. And I made a stand all people, not just black people, should have thought about making, because it wasn’t just black people being drafted. The government had a system where the rich man’s son went to college, and the poor man’s son went to war. Then, after the rich man’s son got out of college, he did other things to keep him out of the Army until he was too old to be drafted.”

I find great honor in those who served, and risked their lives for a war that, in retrospect, should not have been fought. I have a great deal of respect for them.  I also have respect for people like Ali, who sacrificed something as important as their lives, their freedom, for personal convictions. I have no respect for those who fled to other countries, or who exaggerated medical conditions so that they could avoid going to Vietnam.

Which brings me back to Tim Walz. There is a lot more ambiguity to his case than in the cases of Ali, Trump, Biden, McCain and my hypothetical draft dodger. Like McCain, Walz served, mostly in peacetime and without the threat of war. There is honor in that.

But like Trump and Biden, he avoided the most difficult part, the actual threat of death in battle, by strategically withdrawing from the corps at a time when he knew, and we know that he knew, that he would inevitably be deployed to a theater of war. For that, he is much less than McCain, and less than Muhammad Ali, who is as much a hero as the men who marched into battle. He paid a heavy price for his conscience.

Christine Flowers is an attorney and lifelong Philadelphian. @flowerlady61

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6 thoughts on “Christine Flowers: Dodging the truth”

  1. Christine,
    I enjoy reading your articles… this specific matter is about standards, semantics, and will only reinforce one’s cognitive bias.
    Many people don’t understand standards, and many people do not care about them. Hence our society is failing.
    “An officer may not wear the insignia for the frocked grade unless the Senate has confirmed the appointment of the officer to that grade,” [per 2022 Department of Defense memo on the procedure] reads. “The time that an officer wears the insignia of the next higher grade does not count as: (a) Seniority in that grade. (b) Time of service in that grade.” (Actual reason so many were angry about Republican Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s actions recently.)
    The Harris-Walz website previously claimed Walz was a “retired command sergeant major,” according to Politico – a position he was allegedly never granted by the National Guard.
    So, J.D. Vance, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, was correct AND purposely ambiguous when he said, “stolen valor garbage.” Walz retired before completing coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy along with other requirements.
    Walz’s frocked status and unfinished service invalidates his claim to the status of command sergeant major. He lied. No Democrat cares.

  2. He further lied that he used assault guns in battle, which he never took part in; the same guns that he wants to ban Americans from owning.
    I see that fact being more of a Stolen Valor issue than his rank.

    1. You’re full of 💩. It’s all lies. Walz submitted his request to the US National Guard months prior to notification of his unit’s deployment. It takes months to get separated from service.As far as his rank goes, the Minnesota National Guard says you’re full 💩. They say it’s entirely accurate to describe him as a Command Sergeant Major. You should be on FOX FAKE NEWS with your lies, supposition, & false innuendo.

      1. Yeah Keith – don’t let facts get in the way. Just use your portrait as an emoji and readers will believe you.
        His unit knew they were going well before they got called up. He said he filed his papers for ‘benefits’ reasons prior to attaining CSM rank. I would expect retiring as a CSM would have increased his benefits. Weird.
        I’m posting a link to an article by The NY Times, probably the farthest left newspaper in the world, and has a history of having to retract earlier stories after they have been debunked as false by fact checkers, and they can’t even defend Walz’s statements or behavior regarding him embellishing his military record. If the NYT says you’re a fraud as a democrat, then you are a fraud. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/21/us/politics/tim-walz-military-service.html
        He even wore a US Army cap with a Special Forces insignia and a regiment that he didn’t belong to, to even further embellish his service record while making appearances. Your ranty response is entirely inaccurate and false.

  3. Wait! It gets better! Falsz’s claim of ‘unretiring’ after the 9/11 attack has been debunked and found to be a lie.
    What next? He was the inspiration for the Sergeant York movie?

  4. JD Vance served 4 years in the Marine Corps, never exceeding the rank of Corporal and was a Combat Reporter in a non-combat role. Which means he was a low level admin, at best. Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard where in addition to training regular Army artillery crews, he saved lives. The National Guard is often called out during natural disasters to help American’s, not kill them.

    Since Miss. Flowers has brought up her fathers service, I have a question for her.
    “Army Captain Luis Avila, who was severely wounded after serving in five combat tours, to sing “God Bless America” at the 2019 Armed Forces Welcome Ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall because, to him and several other Army generals, Avila represented the dignity, strength and sacrifice of wounded soldiers. Avila had lost a leg in an IED attack while serving in Afghanistan in 2011 and suffered two strokes, two heart attacks and brain damage as a result of his injuries.”
    “After Trump went over to congratulate the captain for his performance, the then-president asked Milley, who as JCS chairman served as Trump’s principal military adviser, within earshot of others, “Why do you bring people like that here? No one wants to see that, the wounded.” He also told Milley to never let Avila make a public appearance again”.

    How is this respecting a member of the military who suffered because of his injuries

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