Beretta686
New member
I think I first heard it on NPR but it came as a bit of a shock to me that THE Jeremiah Wright is actually a Marine Corps & Navy veteran. Here's the wikipedia write-up on him:
Though I may disagree with the man on most everything, I find a new respect for him and view him much differently, than being just another Jessie Jackson/Al Sharpton. Especially given that he voluntered to give up his deferment to join the Marines and serve when he didn't have to (when Dick Cheney got 5 deferments and "had other priorities" than the military).
I know I'm VERY guilty of jumping to conclusions about the man and I think many of us are in the same boat as me. I'm much more interested in understanding what he has to say and what made him say what he did.
From 1959 to 1961, Wright attended Virginia Union University,[1] in Richmond. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy's 1961 challenge to "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," Wright gave up his student deferment, left college and joined the United States Marine Corps and became part of the 2nd Marine Division with the rank of private first class. In 1963, after two years of service, Wright then transferred to the United States Navy and entered the Corpsman School at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, where he graduated as valedictorian.[9] Having excelled in corpsman school, Wright was then trained as a cardiopulmonary technician at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland where he graduated as salutatorian.[9] Wright was assigned as part of the medical team charged with care of President Lyndon B. Johnson (see photo of Wright caring for Johnson after his 1966 surgery). Before leaving the position in 1967, the White House awarded Wright three letters of commendation.
Though I may disagree with the man on most everything, I find a new respect for him and view him much differently, than being just another Jessie Jackson/Al Sharpton. Especially given that he voluntered to give up his deferment to join the Marines and serve when he didn't have to (when Dick Cheney got 5 deferments and "had other priorities" than the military).
I know I'm VERY guilty of jumping to conclusions about the man and I think many of us are in the same boat as me. I'm much more interested in understanding what he has to say and what made him say what he did.