DO YOU HAVE A JOB!!!!

You know, some people still don't understand why military personnel do

what they do for a living. This exchange between Senators John Glenn and

Howard Metzenbaum is worth reading. Not only is it a pretty impressive

impromptu speech, but it's also a good example of one man's explanation

of why men and women in the Uniformed Services do what they do for a living.

Senator Metzenbaum to Senator Glenn: "How can you run for Senate when

you've never held a real "job"?"

Senator Glenn replied, "I served 23 years in the United States Marine

Corps. I served through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My plane was hit

by anti-aircraft fire on 12 different occasions. I was in the space

program. it wasn't my checkbook; it was my Life on the line. It was not a 9

to 5 job where I took time off to take the daily cash receipts to the bank.

"I ask you to go with me...as I went the other day to a Veterans

Hospital...and look at those men with their mangled bodies in the eye and

tell them they didn't hold a job. You go with me to the space program and

go as I have gone to the widows and orphans of Ed White and Gus Grissom

and Roger Chaffee and you look those kids in the eye and tell them that

their dad didn't hold a job.

"You go with me on Memorial Day coming up, and you stand in Arlington

National Cemetery, where I have more friends than I'd like to remember -

and you watch those waving flags, and you stand there, and you think

about this nation, and you tell me that those people didn't have a job.

I'll tell you, Howard Metzenbaum, you should be on your knees every day

of your life thanking God that there were some men - SOME MEN - who held

a job. And they required a dedication to purpose and a love of country

and a dedication to duty that was more important than life itself. And

their self-sacrifice is what made this country possible ...

"I HAVE HELD A JOB, HOWARD! What about you?"