I've never claimed to have been in combat. No way I would compare what I did with people who came through the fire and did brave things. But Vietnam is a subject people hear about in funny ways. If they see a picture of you with a gun, they'll see that as an exaggeration. Well, excuse me, but that's reality.
People have such charged feelings.
Mr. Gore's decision to enlist in the Army came after months of deliberation and talks with family members, friends and college associates. He, like his father, was opposed to the Vietnam War and while at Harvard had participated in anti-war protests. He helped his father write the senator's landmark speech against the war, delivered at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.