Senator Soldier: A Day After Winning, Joni Ernst Is Back In Fatigues

[Valin]

National Review:

Iowa’s new senator-elect has other duties before she heads to Washington.

Benny Johnson

November 7, 2014

 

Des Moines — A day after winning one of the most contested Senate seats in the country, Joni Ernst reported for duty at her National Guard base. Ernst, a lieutenant colonel, started two days of training with the 185th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion on Thursday.

 

“Not many folks know she is in uniform on Thursday and Friday,” Ernst’s husband Gail tells National Review Online, “She does it without fanfare.”

 

A spokesman for the Iowa National Guard, Greg Hapgood, says soldiers don’t “punch the clock.” “We serve regardless of our situations and Colonel Ernst doesn’t want to be treated any differently.”

 

Ernst, a ferocious campaigner, had just finished a 24-hour straight campaign sweep of Iowa two days before reporting for duty. Her victory in the race also sealed the Senate for the GOP majority.

 

(Snip)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Valin]

Re: Senator Soldier
Fred Schwarz
November 7, 2014 6:03 PM

 

Benny, it’s inspiring to read how Joni Ernst, fresh off her grueling Senate campaign, reported for National Guard training this week. It remains to be seen how she will balance her Senate duties with her military obligations, but Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) is an Air Force reservist who has managed to work the occasional overseas tour of duty in between Senate sessions.

 

Earlier wars have also seen elected national officials take time off to serve. In 1940 Representative Lyndon B. Johnson was commissioned an officer in the Naval Reserve, and shortly after Pearl Harbor, he was activated and sent to assess production facilities stateside and investigate conditions in the Pacific theater. He spent several months on active duty before returning to the House.

 

But the highest-ranking government official to serve during wartime was Hannibal Hamlin, Lincoln’s first-term vice president. In the summer of 1864, his Coast Guard unit in Maine was called up, so he reported for duty at Fort McClary, at Kittery Point. The vice president of the United States spent two months in active military service, first as a guard and then as a cook. He seems to have enjoyed his service; as VP he had little to do in Washington even during wartime, and he had already been passed over for a second term in favor of Andrew Johnson.

 

(Snip)