Deserves respect for service

I have followed this year’s 10th District races with great interest. I have been dismayed, however, to see the way the military backgrounds of the candidates for State Representative Position 2, Kelly Barlean and John McCoy, have been represented. In many cases, their respective records are cited as comparable and I believe this is shows a careless disregard for the service and dedication of career military people.

Mr. McCoy is a career man who enlisted in the Air Force in 1961 and served for 20 years. He was stationed in a number of areas critical to our national security including West Germany, Turkey and the Philippines. He was also decorated, receiving the Meritorious Service Award with Oak Leaf Cluster. McCoy should be commended for his outstanding and lengthy service to his country that spanned the Cold and Vietnam wars.

When he attended the veterans’ health care screening and benefits fair held at the American Legion in Oak Harbor this past summer, he spoke with other veterans about the shameful lack of services and compensation for those in the military, as well as the need for better health care. John McCoy speaks from experience and I am convinced that he will bring a uniquely informed viewpoint to military and veterans’ issues as our representative in Olympia.

I would ask that care be taken in the future to give career military men like John McCoy the respect they so deserve.

USAF-retired

OAK HARBOR