Since the inception of this nation, those who have answered the call to arms have been awarded pensions and compensations for their service. The characterization by David Chirayath (July 26) of Sen. John McCain’s pension/compensation as an entitlement trivializes the sacrifice made by McCain and others who donned a uniform, risking life and limb, to serve this country.

Currently, liberal support of our military, so eloquently described by English poet Siegfried Sasson, consists of “cheers when soldier lads walk by,” followed by their desperate hope they “will never know the Hell where youth and laughter go.”

Vicious attacks on McCain and military veterans serve to galvanize support for McCain. The attitude of today’s liberals seems to parallel the attitude of English citizens of the late 1800s toward their soldiers. In his poem, “Tommy” (English soldier), Rudyard Kipling defines their feelings in verse: “For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ Chuck him out, the brute! But it’s ‘Saviour of ‘is country’ when the guns begin to shoot; An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please; An’ Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool you bet that Tommy sees!”

Perhaps in November, Tommy’s sight will cause him to muster for one last battle, resulting in the humbling of the cocky liberal left.

Robert Macdonald, Lewiston

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