Don't Tell

Michael Langston, louis vuitton sunglasses a Baptist minister who served as commander of 110 military chaplains in Afghanistan, didn't carry a weapon but often visited the front lines. "I would go to trauma centers where they worked on soldiers who were burned and disfigured," he said. "We'd roll into villages where every man, woman and child had been massacred, and the Taliban had cut off heads and feet." Back in the U.S., Langston, 57, suffered nightmares and sweats. Always a mild-mannered man, he began yelling at his kids. When a vehicle backfired in a supermarket parking lot, "I hit the ground and rolled under a car." He was diagnosed with PTSD. Looking back, Langston, a graduate of the Naval War louis vuitton sunglasses 2012 College, sees "a failed policy. When we leave, these places go back to the way they've done everything for thousands of years." For all his frustration over military interventions, Langston said the election issues for him are “healthcare, jobs and economic stability.” A lifelong Republican, he voted for Gingrich in the primary but now supports Romney. "The economy is still faltering, the job rate has not gotten any better regardless of the hype, and the gas prices are killing us," he said. Overall, like the rest of the nation, former soldiers are deeply www.louisvuitonbagsshop.com concerned about the future. Only 24 percent in the Reuters poll said the country is headed in the right direction, with 60 percent saying it is off on the wrong track. Langston said social issues will not influence his vote. As for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the now repealed policy that forced homosexuals out of the military, he came around to supporting repeal after initially opposing it. "An individual has a right to be who they are," he said. According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll, a majority of veterans now agree with him. With the unpredictability of foreign involvements and the fragility burberry kids outwear of the domestic economy, it is too early to say who will eventually win the veteran vote. Karen Grafton, who voted for Obama in 2008 based on his promise to end the Iraq war, now says, "I want someone to get us out of this economic turmoil. That's No. 1. I'm not sure he is the person to do that. But I don't blame him. He inherited a mess." Asked about Obama's handling of his job, 27 percent of veterans approved, and 37 percent disapproved, with the rest undecided. In his study, below a movie poster of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," McDowell, the Ron Paul supporter, flipped through pages of an 82nd Airborne Division yearbook, lingering on photographs of dead comrades. He recalled their ages, how many children they had, and www.designerburberrystore.com how they died.