No time for fellow vets to attack

I AM a retired Navy captain and, like Senator John Kerry's Republican rival, Jeff Beatty, was wounded in the service. Coincidentally, I served in Vietnam with Kerry ("Candidate to Kerry: Stop using vets as props," City & Region, Aug. 22). I presume that Beatty served with the same courage and competence that I witnessed in then Lieutenant (junior grade) Kerry. I was saddened and amused by Beatty's criticism of Kerry's highlighting of his support for war veterans: saddened because I have had enough of veterans attacking each other when now, above all times, they should make every effort to stand together; amused because Beatty attacks Kerry while George Bush, in addition to prancing about in a naval aviator's flight suit he did not earn, more than any other president has used military personnel as photo props to bolster his image. Even Dwight D. Eisenhower never did so while president. I urge Beatty to use his ideas and personal record of service to distinguish himself from Senator Kerry. Or perhaps he would like to compare his record of support for our veterans and military with Kerry's. Some people talk the talk, others walk the walk. Kerry has always walked the walk.

WADE R. SANDERS
San Diego