Take Me To Post Comment Form Much has been made by the Obama campaign - and by the candiate himself - about the President's qualifications and competence as Commander-in-Chief. Today, more than 500 of the U.S. military's retired senior leadership are running an advertisement in a Washington, D.C. newspaper essentially saying: "Not so fast - we disagree."

Quoting from The Washington Times:

"Five hundred retired generals and admirals are running an ad in Monday's editions of The Washington Times calling on the country to elect Republican Mitt Romney on Tuesday.

In plain terms the officers, who paid for the ad themselves, said they support Mr. Romney: "We, the undersigned, proudly support Governor Mitt Romney as our nation's next president and commander-in-chief."

The ad then goes on to list all of the officers, in alphabetical order, in four columns of print.

The retired admirals and generals said they decided to take this public stand to try to head off "having to live through four more years of what has been experienced since January 20th, 2009."

For the list, see: http://media.washtimes.com/media/misc/2012/11/05/ad.pdf

For the article, see: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/nov/4/retired-top-military-brass-push-romney/

Obviously, the stunning portion of the article is that these senior leaders "decided to take this public stand to try to head off "having to live through four more years of what has been experienced since January 20th, 2009."

In these blogs I have previously offered my opinions as to why I believe our armed forces have historically overwhelmingly preferred Republican presidents. This advertisement only further illustrates the point.

The message to Mr. Obama and to the American voters is clear: Simply ordering the "kill or capture" of bin Laden doesn't make you a leader that soldiers want to follow. Oh, sure - they'll follow and obey because it is their sworn duty, but when given a choice, they - as would ANYONE - would much rather follow somebody who they believe is looking out for them; for their best interests; for their health, welfare, and morale. Time and time again, Democratic party presidents have shown that they are basically insensitive to all of these.

Our armed forces are a tool - an instrument of our national policies who execute their duties as determined by and at the direction of our elected civilian leadership. They understand this. But they also expect to be treated with dignity and respect, as to their needs, their working environment, and as to the policies that their Commander-in-Chief puts in place to guide and regulate their activities and behavior. The 500+ retired senior military leaders who have decided to "go public" today in support of Mitt Romney for President of the United States understand this better than anyone. And they also understand that to re-elect somebody who has as his party's philosophy a position that guts your manpower, equipment, programs, retirement and healthcare systems, and most of all - your morale - is a MISTAKE. In other words - you don't reward somebody with four more years as president who pays lip-service to your needs and then treats you like a used prophylactic.

That's the statement our retired military brass has made today, and this old soldier hears it lima charlie.