Hagel best fit for defense secretary

I strongly support President Obama’s Secretary of Defense pick, former Nebraska Sen., Chuck Hagel.

A decorated Vietnam Veteran with two tours as an Army infantry squad leader, Hagel is, without a doubt the best fit for the job.

The selection of a Veteran, an enlisted man none-the-less is something that has been missing from the cabinet position, whose sole purpose, is to lead and coordinate the Department of Defense.

In an interview with the Veteran’s History Project in 2002, Hagel offered his insight that resonates with me: “People just don’t understand it unless they’ve been through it. There’s no glory, only suffering in war.”

The Veteran stereotype of “You don’t know man, you weren’t there!,”  would apply in this case, but it’s not a logical fallacy.  Someone who has been “there” is willing to put a lot more thought and consideration into exercising restraint,  rather than rushing head-on into a war with shoddy intelligence.

Hagel has recently been the victum of attacks that attempt to portray him as Walter Sobchak, the screw loose Vietnam vet played by John Goodman in “The Big Lebowski,” but I think that this could not be further from the truth.

Hagel’s experiences trudging through the jungles of Vietnam have given him a more  human perspective of war.

Rather than some West Point General who treats his troops like poker chips on a mapboard, Hagel’s approach is with sincere concern for the people who actually fight our wars.

Without first hand combat experience, whatever qualities a civilian leader posseses in the Defense Department are going to forever be lacking, and prior combat experience is not a handicap.

That should be the first and foremost consideration for a man who advises the president on the merits of sending young men and women off to die in a foreign country.