Q: How many of the presidential candidates (from both parties), including those who have dropped out, have served in the U.S. military?
—Eldridge Holland, Atlanta
A: Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, a Republican, is the only remaining presidential candidate who has military experience.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb also have military experience but are no longer in the race.
Graham and Perry are Republicans. Webb is a Democrat, but it’s been reported that he’s considering re-entering the race as an independent.
Every presidential election from 1948 through 2008 included at least one major-party candidate who had served in the military.
Gilmore, who was the governor of Virginia from 1998 to 2002 and lost a race for U.S. Senate in 2008, joined the U.S. Army after he graduated from the University of Virginia.
He was an intelligence officer for three years in the early 1970s.
Graham retired last summer as a colonel after spending 33 years in the Air Force. He was a reservist for about 20 years.
He made short deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan while also a senator and was awarded a Bronze Star for his work on a detention task force, the Washington Post reported.
Perry graduated from Texas A&M and was a pilot in the Air Force from 1972 to 1977.
Webb, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, was a platoon and company commander in the Marines in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart for shrapnel wounds.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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