I'm going to assume you're talking about a Presidential race. If there were two candidates who were running against each other with the exact same platform, and the only difference was that one had military experience and the other didn't, I guess I'd vote for the one with military experience. Having military experience is a very small factor in winning my vote, but since foreign policy is part of the president's responsibilities, I'd want to vote for someone decisive and not afraid to make unpopular choices. I think prior military experience can serve as sort of a vague of an indicator for these qualities. There are exceptions, however. John Kerry was in the Navy, and if he made another run for President, I wouldn't vote for him if he was running against Satan. Overall, I'd say prior military experience is far from the most important criteria to consider when trying to determine the merit of a prospective president.
That's how the Army officer evaluation system works; up or out. And it's very risk adverse. It's better to have a zero defect evaluation and do nothing than take a chance on possible failure.
You know I've always found it interesting that while you often hear about how many Presidents were in the military, almost all were officers Not that that's unexpected, but it's just surprising to me that we've had so few enlisted men become President.
You are probably correct at least for the next decade or more. After that, some of the ME vets of the last 24 years may be factors especially in 20 years or so. Of course, it may just be wishful thinking on my part. There are many Vets who are not warmongers as they have seen the effects of and uselessness of war, and that's good. For example, I was not in favor of Dubya putting large numbers of ground troops into Iraq. We have accomplished little that we could not have accomplished by sealing our borders and kicking out a bunch of illegal, dangerous people.
The President of the United States IS the Commander-in-Chief of the U. S. Armed Forces. Of COURSE it is better (much better) if this person has had military experience!
