Yet there is no evidence that Mr. Gore sought special treatment, or that the extra notice he got anyway provided any real protection. On the contrary, as an Army journalist, Mr. Gore probably assumed more risk than he had to, choppering around South Vietnam interviewing soldiers who had just seen action.
"Anybody who knew Al Gore in Vietnam knows he could have sat on his butt and he didn't," said Michael Roche, Mr. Gore's editor on The Castle Courier, the newspaper of the Army's Engineering Command in Long Binh, near Saigon. Among 30 or 40 part-time correspondents and 3 or 4 reporters, Mr. Roche said, "I didn't have one who traveled as much as he did."
When he first ran for president, in 1988, Mr. Gore's campaign was criticized for using photos of him in his uniform, carrying a standard-issue M-16. Was he trying to create the impression that he saw combat?
"It's an accurate picture," he said, irritated. "That's what I looked like when I was doing my job. The fact is, I carried a pencil and a loaded M-16 A1 outside the base camp and I worked in areas where I had to be armed."
"I've never claimed to have been in combat," he continued. " 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.
Alan Leo/The New York Times
As an Army journalist, Al Gore traveled extensively to get stories. He is seen here interviewing soldiers near the Cambodian border.
Avoiding an Alternative to Service
Al Gore's military record is in no particular need of improvement. He was one of only about a dozen of the 1,115 Harvard graduates in the Class of '69 who went to Vietnam. And even before enlisting, he passed up a chance to serve in the National Guard -- the military option chosen by his presidential opponent, George W. Bush.
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