SPARTA (11/2/06) – Assemblywoman Allison McHose, a service wife, took her shot at Massachusetts Senator John Kerry today for the intemperate remarks he is accused of making about the intelligence of US servicemen in Iraq. She writes:


Dear Senator Kerry,

I’m writing to you as the wife of an enlisted soldier serving our country in the war on terror. My husband, Sergeant First Class Morgan McHose, a full-time New Jersey Army National Guardsman, is currently on deployment overseas.

Like me, Morgan is a graduate of the University of Maryland. He earned a B.S. degree in Sociology with a concentration in Criminology. He served on active duty in the Marine Corps Reserves for four years and four years on inactive duty. He was activated during Desert Storm.

Morgan joined the New Jersey Army National Guard nine years ago and has been activated several times since 9/11including bridge and tunnel detail and in airport security detail at Newark. He was deployed to Guantanamo as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

We have two sons, Grant and Logan and a daughter, Molly, who was born last summer. Molly made history because she was the first child born to a woman serving in the New Jersey Legislature.

Since being elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 2003, I have had to fend off some pretty insensitive political attacks from both sides of the aisle. Early on, a primary opponent suggested I should not run because I was a mother with young children.

Last year, a Democrat colleague attempted to score political points by condemning the military’s administration of the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention camp where my husband served.

Senator, you have a long and distinguished career of service to our country. That is why it especially pained me when you appeared on CBS Face the Nation last December and said that our troops in Iraq were "terrorizing kids and children (and) women."

And now we have this latest statement from you – this joke gone wrong, you say – in which it sounds as if you are mocking soldiers like my husband. Now I thank you for your apology and hope that it will be taken with the sincerity with which it was given, but I must ask you to go one step further and work with your colleagues to ensure that our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines are not used as a political punching bag – as a metaphor for a particular administration or party. They and their families are already asked to bear a great burden. Let’s not add scorn to that load.

When it comes to war and the support of our troops, we should strive to recognize our common nature as Americans. Our enemies do not sort out the Democrats from the Republicans, but see us clearly for what we are –Americans, pure and simple. It is a pity that we cannot see ourselves so clearly.

My husband and his compatriots wear the uniform of our nation. They defend the same Republic and Constitution that you and I take an oath to defend. They are at the sharp end of that defense. We must never let them down. Thank you.