Letters to the Editor: Trump has a record of denigrating military service. It is what it is

To the editor: President Trump has always had difficulty staying on message, as your article about his reported denigration of military veterans says, and he should realize that when he finds himself in a hole he should stop digging.

He has a record of degrading the military. He has said he knows more about Islamic State than our generals. He jealously attacked Sen. John McCain as not being a hero because he was captured while serving in the Vietnam War.

Now, everything he has said in the past is coming back to haunt him. He denies disparaging anyone in the military as “losers” and “suckers,” and says only an animal would say something like that.

Well, it is what it is.

Richard C. Armendariz, Huntington Beach

To the editor: I am a Vietnam War veteran and am disgusted by the comments reportedly made by our “commander in chief.”

The vile efforts to degrade us are beyond imagination. As I read the article in the Atlantic and watched various news stations covering this story, I got sick to my stomach and ultimately had tears in my eyes.

It took me back to when I returned from Vietnam 53 years ago, broken but proud. Society rejected us, mocked us and treated us like animals, so much that many of us went into hiding.

Trump is not qualified to be commander in chief, let alone shine the boots of any service member, past or present. Many of us are called heroes, but I disagree. We are patriots who would serve again if called.

Trump allegedly worried about the rain ruining his hair before a scheduled visit to a military cemetery in France. In my case, the rain was a welcome respite from the heat, mud and filth we had to endure in Vietnam.

Dennis Frankeberger, Chino Hills

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To the editor: In 1970 my family sold our first house, in Harbor City, to Noble Craig, a young combat veteran with a wife and a toddler son.

Noble had been a paratrooper when he was sent to war in Vietnam, where he stepped on a buried artillery shell and lost both his legs, his right arm, an ear and an eye. Noble and his wife told us that what was left of his body had a much altered metabolism, which was also affecting his mind and behavior.

We wished them well and moved to Orange County, never expecting to hear of them again.

Noble went on to act in several films. He played frightening creatures, including Freddy Krueger in the fifth “A Nightmare on Elm Street” movie. He died in 2018.

Would Trump consider Noble to be a loser?

George Sotter, Mission Viejo