* Mormon service in U.S. military dates to Mexican-American
War
* Church counts war heroes, top generals among its members
* Obama, Clinton also did not serve in armed forces
By David Alexander and Jennifer Dobner
WASHINGTON/SALT LAKE CITY, Nov 3 (Reuters) – While neither
of the candidates in next week’s U.S. presidential election was
in the military, Mitt Romney’s age – he was eligible to serve in
Vietnam – has raised questions during the campaign about why he
didn’t serve and whether his Mormon faith had anything to do
with it.
Guy Hicks, a Mormon and former officer in the Army Reserve
Special Forces, said there is a public misperception that
members of the Mormon Church do not serve in the military.
“There is a sense in our culture and in our religious belief
that we have an obligation to serve our country, and that’s
found in military service; it’s also found in public service,”
said Hicks, a senior vice president at aerospace and defense
firm EADS North America.
The participation of Mormons in the armed forces is roughly
equivalent to their proportion of the population; senior figures
in the Church served during World War II; and at least 10
Mormons have won the Medal of Honor.
According to Pentagon records, nearly 18,200 military
service members identified themselves as belonging to the Mormon
Church as of March, about 1.3 percent of the nearly 1.4 million
active-duty personnel. Around 2 percent of the U.S. population
identify as Mormons.
Romney was a 19-year-old student at Stanford University in
the spring of 1966 when opponents of the military draft occupied
a campus building. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (the formal name of the Mormon Church) was a strong
supporter of the Vietnam War, and the clean-cut young Romney
protested against the protesters. Photographs show him carrying
a placard saying: “Speak Out, Don’t Sit In.”
Rather than joining the armed forces, however, Romney later
that summer chose another path. He obtained a deferment allowing
him to avoid military service and traveled to France to work as
a missionary for his Church, a traditional form of service for
young Mormons. Romney’s five sons all followed in his footsteps,
serving as missionaries but not soldiers.
Military service used to be a crucial element of a
presidential resume, adding gravitas to the person applying for
the job of commander-in-chief. But in recent years it has become
less of a requirement, and neither Obama nor Bill Clinton
served.
In the last election , Barack Obama, who is 51, faced an
opponent who was a Vietnam War hero, Senator John McCain, and
his predecessor as president, George W. Bush, served in the
Texas Air National Guard.
Mormon Church members say the decision to enter the
military, government or some other form of service is a personal
one. Those who do serve as missionaries are considered officials
of the Church, which qualified them for a draft exemption.
“During the Korean conflict and Vietnam War, the Church
voluntarily placed restrictions on the number of missionaries
sent out from each ward. A bishop could recommend one young man
every six months for missionary service,” said Mormon Church
spokesman Eric Hawkins. “Young men who had received induction
notices or whose draft number was likely to be called were not
recommended for missionary service.”
Romney was prepared to serve in the military after his
student deferments expired in the early 1970s, but he wasn’t
called, his campaign said. “His career choices did not take him
into the military, but he has deep respect for all who have
served,” a spokesperson said.
BOYS TO MEN
Although Romney, 65, is not a veteran and is running against
an incumbent whose administration tracked down and killed Osama
bin Laden, he heads into Election Day on Nov. 6 with strong
support among the military and veterans.
Polling by Reuters/Ipsos during October found that
active-duty military personnel and their families support Romney
over President Obama by 49 percent to 43 percent. When military
veterans and their families are included, Romney led the
president 53 percent to 38 percent.
Romney’s wife, Ann, told television interviewers recently
that the decision by her husband and sons not to serve in the
military was unrelated to their religious beliefs. Both Church
missionary work and military service help young people to grow
and mature, she said.
“My boys did all serve missions, and they went away for two
years,” she said on the television program ‘The View.’ “I sent
them away boys and they came back men … and I think this is
where military service is so extraordinary, too, where … you
are working and helping others. And that changes you.”
She noted, however, that those who serve in the military
deserve particular respect for putting their lives on the line.
MILITARY HISTORY
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints boasts
plenty of former servicemen.
Church President Thomas Monson joined the U.S. Navy as a
teenager in the closing months of the Second World War. Boyd
Packer, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a Church
governing body, was a bomber pilot in the Pacific.
Other senior Mormon leaders also have served in the
military, including retired four-star General Bruce Carlson, who
was head of the Air Force Materiel Command before retiring in
2008. He now is a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy,
another Church body.
The Mormon tradition of U.S. military service dates back to
the Church’s early history following its founding by Joseph
Smith and other leaders in 1830.
When war broke out between the United States and Mexico in
1846, President James Polk asked Church leaders to raise a
Mormon battalion of some 500 troops, agreeing in exchange to
support the Mormons’ move to the Salt Lake area. The Mormon
battalion marched from Iowa to Southern California, where it
performed occupation and border duties until it was disbanded in
mid-1947. It never engaged Mexican forces in battle.
Relations between the Church and the U.S. government were
tense in succeeding years. A Church-backed militia known as the
Nauvoo Legion nearly came to blows with a U.S. military force
sent to Utah Territory because of reports of a Mormon rebellion.
The Church abandoned controversial religious practices such
as polygamy under pressure from the government in the latter
part of the century, and Utah became a state in 1896. Since
then, Mormons have consistently served in the military and
fought in America’s wars.
In modern times, Church leaders have touted the United
States as “God’s country” and believe that its existence
fulfills a prophetic destiny, said Patrick Mason, an associate
professor who holds a chair in Mormon studies at Claremont
Graduate University in California.
“Serving America is only half a step removed from serving
God,” he said. Mormon solders in Vietnam were basically told
“you’re doing God’s work here strapping on your M-16 – just like
Mitt Romney is doing God’s work strapping on his Book of Mormon
every day,” Mason added.
