I am very concerned about a little discussed issue. I believe that my family and others of similar background have long been relegated to a segment of Hillary Clinton’s basket of irredeemable deplorables.

My husband retired from the United States Air Force just before the beginning of the Clinton Administration, but for eight years we heard about, from various military sources, and occasionally glimpsed on our own TV, Bill Clinton’s seeming inability to return a decent salute. This encouraged, in military circles, speculation that he had either too much contempt or too little respect for those under his command.

Much, based on witness interviews or personal involvement, has been written about the Clintons’ treatment of Whitehouse staff. Noteworthy is information regarding uniformed personnel. The Clintons apparently did not like dealing with those in uniforms and would have preferred that neither military aides nor the uniformed division of the Secret Service wore them. Hillary freely used foul language including the F word in reprimanding her uniformed helpers and protectors. Bill’s behavior was, reportedly, less objectionable, especially when Hillary was not present, but he was known to say that he thought that the military were just people who couldn’t get other jobs.

It is possible that the Clintons’ attitude toward uniformed personnel was partly a reaction to those Vietnam veterans who considered Bill’s draft dodging treasonous, and his seeking to be president/commander in chief a galling insult; but there is more to it than that. This attitude predictably perseveres in the Clinton ideology. Though not true of conservative Democrats who are barely allowed to exist these days, the left, especially the far left, has never been reliably supportive of the military.

They have preferred to dwell upon what has been, in the direst of times, a great war machine, rather than to recognize what has been, most of the time, due to the collective training, dedication and strength of its members, the greatest peace-keeping force on earth. The left does not grasp the concept of peace through strength.

Call it elitism. Call it globalism. Call it what you will. During much of the last decade, our military has been weakened, depleted of manpower and denied newer, safer, more advanced equipment. The general officers corps has been decimated. Good people have been pushed out to prevent disagreement with the Obama/Clinton foreign policy.

The newer, politically promoted are more willing, as one officer put it, “to carry water.” A poorly thought out withdrawal from Iraq and a resultant vacuum in which ISIS has grown, and only begun to spread its tentacles throughout the world, are only two of the negative results of imprudent policy.

Not only has Secretary Clinton’s foreign policy failed wretchedly, but her mishandling of classified information on her personal email server put at risk military and other operatives across the globe. Mike Pence hit the mark dead center when he told Tim Kaine that if either of their sons, both Marines, had committed these acts, they would have been courtmartialed.

Service members have been sentenced for mishandling only one piece of classified information. There are probably even more reasons why a Seal PAC, led by a former commander of Seal Team Six, is campaigning against Hillary Clinton.

Further, Hillary has railed that she will never privatize the VA. Why do our veterans not deserve the same less politicized, more efficient, state-of the art care afforded to millions of others every day, in privately run hospitals, all over in this country?

Voting for Hillary is, first, subjecting the morale of hard-working, self-sacrificing women and men to a commander in chief who has little respect for their contribution and has already been held to a lower standard than they have. Second, It is subjugating them, at the very least, to a deplorably undiscerning, profiteering career politician who has never led anyone anywhere, except for leading the State Department deep into a web of government corruption and the world into the arms of ISIS.

JANICE GREEN

Pepperell