GOP Convention Scared This Veteran More Than Afghanistan

Watching the Republican Party's slow implosion unfold over the past months recently culminating with the Republican National Convention strikes me with fear I cannot ever recall having. This after two combat tours in rural eastern Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne Division, the premier division in the U.S. Army, synchronizing truly herculean combat power and destroying the enemy. Nothing has ever yielded fear as close to my heart as the Republicans' weeklong event. Blind partisanship, misplaced bomb-the-hell-out-of-them militarism and just plain hatred are not qualities that whoever is occupying our nation's highest office should ever embody.

The thought of a commander in chief wielding all the power of the Oval Office with the nuance of a child honestly scares me. Republican nominee Donald Trump has been crassly offensive to the cultures with which I was charged with partnering, and I do not see how this gives us a strategic advantage. He has said that he will bomb "the hell" out of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), ignoring the high numbers of coalition aircraft coming home laden with bombs for want of military targets to destroy. All this while regional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia have recently ceased formal diplomatic relations. Several Saudi satellites have also followed suit in breaking their relations with Tehran.

Southwest Asia is a complex area of the world that needs the level leadership and the correct, subtle and steady application of American power. I do not think Trump will be able to accomplish this with his freight-train persona.

Let me be clear: Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is not without her flaws. Her email scandal is, to this veteran, head-smackingly thoughtless and a violation of the great trust that the United States placed in her. That being said, she is an accomplished and dedicated public servant whom I hope will continue her efforts.

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http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/290603-gop-convention-scared-this-veteran-more-than