Lalor, 32, and I spent many years together as rifleman in the same infantry company based in upstate New York. We served in Iraq (although in different platoons), and experienced the military’s transition into wartime footing after 9/11.
I spoke with Lalor about our shared military experiences, fallen comrades, his entry into politics, John McCain, and how he’s hoping to make 2008 the year of Republican war veterans elected to office. Excerpts:
SOLDIER’S HOME: When we were over there in Iraq I barely thought about the politics of it all. I had some sense of what was going, but didn’t pay to much attention to it. Was it the same for you? When did you start really thinking hard about the political aspect of the war?
LALOR: Officially my campaign began on November 25, 2007, but it really began on 9/11. One of my sisters worked in the north tower of the World Trade Center. On September 11th I was living in here in Westchester, about 40 miles from Ground Zero. I was watching TV with a year of reserve duty under my belt, so I was watching this as a U.S. Marine; watching our country get attacked, wondering if my sister was dead or alive. I just felt helpless. I didn’t ever want to feel that way again, and it just woke me up. I realized our generation had a big challenge.
I went through the 90’s and everything was hunky dory: a prosperous economy, and at least the appearance of peace. I thought we were going to have a free ride. Our parents’ generation had the Cold War, our grandparents had WWII and the depression. September 11th hit and I thought, “OK, our generation has some work to do.”
In Iraq I don’t think I really thought about the politics except that I just remember thinking of some of these pictures I had taken: the kids and the American flag, the kids running up to us, or hanging out by the gate [of our HQ]. If these scenes could have been brought home five years ago the impression of the war could’ve been different here. We got a lot of negative, and not a lot of positive.
It wasn’t Iraq so much as the wider War on Terror that got me to run. My passion became how do you secure a country of 300 million people, and protect civil liberties.
Did anything specific happen while we were in Iraq that’s influenced your platform, or ideas about politics?
One thing that informs my foreign policy view, and why I continue to support the war in Iraq, is how we were running patrols 24/7 out in the streets of Nasiriyah. We were being proactive. Well, the Italian [coalition forces] relieved us, and their doctrine was react to problems in the streets. And, they got hit [by a suicide bomber], and a good number of them died. I think that the Italian strategy of reacting, and staying home in the compound until something happened in the streets, was basically American foreign policy up until September 11th. On a small scale our [rifle company’s] doctrine of being proactive, and being omnipresent in the streets is what I believe is the best post-9/11 foreign policy.
I asked Lalor about Lcpl Glover, a very good friend of his who was killed in Iraq in 2006. Glover didn’t serve with us in Iraq, but he joined the unit later and volunteered for a subsequent deployment. He was killed along with another Marine from our unit during a sniper attack in Fallujah. I wrote about his funeral for a post on Veterans Day last year.
Mike Glover was one of my best friends, and in some ways I feel responsible for getting him into the Marine Corps. I really feel like we owe it to all those guys, especially Glover because I knew him so well. I don’t want him to have died in vain. That happened three years after we got back, and his death really made me more resolved. I talked to Glover’s family a little bit about that aspect, and they don’t want his death to have been in vain. I’ve also gotten calls from Gold Star Mothers and Fathers saying thanks for carrying on my son’s legacy. It takes my breath away, and I take it seriously.
I never talk about him in a political context. I’m comfortable talking about him to you because I know you. I told a story about him in a speech on Veterans Day, but I asked permission from his family to mention him. But, he kind of symbolizes all of the other guys [four marines from our unit killed in Iraq from 2004-2006]. What’s ironic is that they all volunteered, and didn’t have to go. It’s kind of eerie, but it says a lot.
Why did you form the group Iraq Vets for Congress?
To help individual campaigns. If there are veterans who vote because a guy is a fellow veteran, that individual person does that on his own. [I formed the group] because politics has become a millionaire’s game. A high, high percentage of people in congress are millionaires. So, by joining forces with other veterans we’ve been able to get more national attention. We’re starting to break through nationally and what that does it raise our individual profiles. And, the biggest thing is fund raising. I have to raise more than a million dollars for this campaign. I have about a hundred thousand so far, and my opponent already has a million dollars.
Does the fact that McCain, another Republican veteran, is also running have any affect on your individual campaigns?
McCain always brings out a lot of veterans who vote. He’ll bring out a few thousand people that are veterans that don’t normally vote; that seems to be a trend. Also, because of Iraq Vets for Congress I’ve been contacted by the McCain campaign. What we offer him is 14 guys in districts where there’s no republican Congressman. There’s two guys in Ohio and two guys in Pennsylvania which are big states that you have to win. We can help him, and he can help us. Also, we try to hammer home that we want to make 2008 the year of the republican veteran. With McCain on the popular ticket, the 14 of us, some other Vietnam vets, and Gulf War vets running, that’s a theme we’re trying to build.
A lot of people paint Republicans as chicken hawks: people who cheer lead for war, but don’t want to put their lives on the line. Our campaigns dispel that myth.
Is there a danger of placing too much of your campaign’s emphasis on the fact you’re a veteran?
I don’t think that’s enough to get somebody elected, but it definitely gets peoples’ attention. There has to be a balance. You have to be more than just a guy who served in Iraq.
What about the fact that you were a reservist? We were called up twice on relatively short notice, leaving behind or jobs, school, and families. What impact has that had on you?
That kind of balancing act: living in a couple of different worlds and being well-rounded, is very helpful running for Congress. I’m not completely of the military mindset, which I think is good. Being half in the military world, and half in the civilian world gives you double the amount of perspective. I can see the other side: what it does to employers, and what it’s like trying to get back into the work force for example. Sometimes I’d go into interviews and I’d feel like I was sitting in that chair because this guy wanted someone to debate the Iraq war with–even though I had no chance of getting that job.
How have people reacted on the campaign trail towards the fact that you’re a veteran?
People have been pretty good. There’s been positive feedback. I don’t think it’s enough to get elected. The Iraq war is a difficult issue for republicans, and every republican is going to have to deal with it. And somebody who’s served in Iraq can deal with it better than anybody. When I get questions about it I say, listen: I risked my life there, I lost friends there. If I thought it wasn’t making our country safer I’d be the loudest voice saying that.
