This excerpt was graciously given to me.  It is an exchange between
then  Senators John Glenn and Howard Metzenbaum, and is worth reading. 
Not only is it an impressive impromptu speech, but it's also a good example
of why men and women in the Armed Forces do what they do for a living.  
This also reminds us that fewer and fewer of our elected officials have ever
served, and fail to understand what "service" is really all about.
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Senator Metzenbaum to Senator Glenn:
        "How can you run for Senate when you've never held a real "job"?

Senator Glenn:
        "I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps.  I served
through two wars.  I flew 149 missions.  My plane was hit by anti-aircraft
fire on 12 different occasions.  I was in the space program.  It wasn't
my checkbook; it was my Life on the line.  It was not a 9 to 5 job where I
took time off to take the daily cash receipts to the bank.  I ask you to go
with me...as I went the other day... to a Veterans Hospital and look those 
men with their mangled bodies in the eye and tell them  they didn't hold a
job.

You go with me to the space program and go as I have gone to the widows
and orphans of Ed White and Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee and you 
look those kids in the eye and tell them that their dad didn't hold a job.  
You go with me on Memorial Day coming up, and you stand  in Arlington 
National Cemetery, where I have more friends than I'd like to  remember - 
and you watch those waving flags, and you stand there, and you  think 
about this nation, and you tell me that those people didn't have a  job.  

I'll tell you, Howard Metzenbaum, you should be on your knees every day 
of your life thanking God that there were some men ... SOME MEN ... who 
held  a job.  And they required a dedication to purpose and a love of country 
and  a dedication to duty that was more important than life itself.  
And their self-sacrifice is what made this country possible...

I HAVE HELD A JOB, HOWARD!  What about you?"