Chicago Mayor's Son Enlists in Army at 29

CHICAGO -- Mayor Richard Daley's 29-year-old son has enlisted in the Army and will soon report for duty in the airborne infantry.

"It's been in the back of my mind for some time," Patrick Daley told the Chicago Sun-Times in Tuesday's editions. "I left West Point during my freshman year when I was 18 years old and always remembered their motto, 'Duty, Honor and Country.' But I was so young and not really old enough to understand what it really meant. But I know now."

Daley finished college at the University of Illinois and got a master's degree in business from the University of Chicago in June. He could have pursued lucrative job offers, but said the Sept. 11 attacks played a role in his decision to enlist.

"Dad is very supportive and mom is doing just what mothers are supposed to do, worrying about her son," he said.

He's starting out as an ordinary enlisted man.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-daley-enlists,0,4644403.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

It does not surprise me a bit. Say what you will about politicians, but the Daleys are as down to earth as possible for people in power.
The old man was an s.o.b., but they know how to run Chicago, Center of the Universe.

Edit: By the "old man", I'm referring to Richard J. Daley, former mayor and the current mayors' father.

F'ing chickenhawks.

What if he is seen as a potential political rival some day? He might wind up with hazardous duty on a pretty constant basis.

I think we should give serious consideration to having a big city mayor in the presidential primary field in 2008.

that dems put their money where their mouth is, while rethugs just talk like the chicken hawks they are. i'm sure henry hyde has some military age offspring...i'd love to hear from that side of IL politicians on this.

Unlike that asshole in chief, Patrick Daley isn't letting daddy get him a cushy spot in the military.

The military needs more officers like that.

Thats Navy for well done. Serving the nation is nothing to be ashamed of, I did it for 17 plus years (and unfortunately got a service connected disability for my labor) and no regrets.

This is the grandson of a mayor whose cops split heads outside the Dem convention in 68. Today, US armies rampage across the globe...and the kid signs up. Chip off the old block?

and gets a commission. I commend him for his enlistment and his service. I also like that he's enlisting before persuing a commission. Enlisted personnel have more respect for officers who bootstrap.

The Army requires a lengthened service commitment for OCS.

I think this ideology sucks, I hope he never sees combat. I guess he'll be dropping the napalm.

But this guy said it better:

"Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen
8 October 1917 - March, 1918

He was a Bush supporter, and now he's putting his ass where his mouth is. I don't see any of the junior executive young Republicans in this town doing the same. Makes me want to call the 43rd Ward Republican Headquarters and say, "The Army has a manpower shortage. Who's going to enlist?" If I ever do, I'll record the silence on the line and post it as an MP3.