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pnwmom

(108,977 posts)
Wed May 16, 2018, 03:49 PM May 2018

The Untold Story of Robert Mueller's time in Vietnam

Bottom line:

Mueller is incredibly self-disciplined, the polar opposite of DT.

Mueller is undaunted and tireless when in pursuit of a goal.

DT has good reason to be shaking in his golf shoes.

https://www.wired.com/story/robert-mueller-vietnam/

Today, the face-off between Special Counsel Robert Mueller and President Donald Trump stands out, amid the black comedy of Trump’s Washington, as an epic tale of diverging American elites: a story of two men—born just two years apart, raised in similar wealthy backgrounds in Northeastern cities, both deeply influenced by their fathers, both star prep school athletes, both Ivy League educated—who now find themselves playing very different roles in a riveting national drama about political corruption and Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. The two men have lived their lives in pursuit of almost diametrically opposed goals—Mueller a life of patrician public service, Trump a life of private profit.

SNIP

Mueller, for his part, not only volunteered for the Marines, he spent a year waiting for an injured knee to heal so he could serve. And he has said little about his time in Vietnam over the years. When he was leading the FBI through the catastrophe of 9/11 and its aftermath, he would brush off the crushing stress, saying, “I’m getting a lot more sleep now than I ever did in Vietnam.” One of the only other times his staff at the FBI ever heard him mention his Marine service was on a flight home from an official international trip. They were watching We Were Soldiers, a 2002 film starring Mel Gibson about some of the early battles in Vietnam. Mueller glanced at the screen and observed, “Pretty accurate.”

SNIP

The Marines and Vietnam instilled in Mueller a sense of discipline and a relentlessness that have driven him ever since. He once told me that one of the things the Marines taught him was to make his bed every day. I’d written a book about his time at the FBI and was by then familiar with his severe, straitlaced demeanor, so I laughed at the time and said, “That’s the least surprising thing I’ve ever learned about you.” But Mueller persisted: It was an important small daily gesture exemplifying follow-through and execution. “Once you think about it—do it,” he told me. “I’ve always made my bed and I’ve always shaved, even in Vietnam in the jungle. You’ve put money in the bank in terms of discipline.”

SNIP

This first in-depth account of his year at war is based on multiple interviews with Mueller about his time in combat—conducted before he became special counsel—as well as hundreds of pages of once-classified Marine combat records, official accounts of Marine engagements, and the first-ever interviews with eight Marines who served alongside Mueller in 1968 and 1969. They provide the best new window we have into the mind of the man leading the Russia investigation.




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BSdetect

(8,998 posts)
1. Mentions 'drumph" having been a 'star' athlete
Wed May 16, 2018, 04:01 PM
May 2018

Then why did bone spurs suddenly happen in time to avoid service?

 

Hoyt

(54,770 posts)
2. I'm hopeful Mueller is really bent on nailing trump. But not sure action in Vietnam is particularly
Wed May 16, 2018, 04:06 PM
May 2018

relevant.

Being disciplined and a good soldier (pretty much doing what you are told) in a questionable war, really doesn't make me feel any better about this investigation. He might just be so "disciplined" as to white wash or stall this thing for "the good of the country." Hope I'm wrong, but he is a Republican after all.

pnwmom

(108,977 posts)
3. I bet he is as personally repulsed by DT's behavior as some other Republicans
Wed May 16, 2018, 04:14 PM
May 2018

or former Republicans I respect: Steve Schmidt, Nicole Wallace, Ana Navarro, Rick Wilson, etc.

He won't whitewash or stall the investigation because he views his job as protecting Democracy -- and Putin has been trying to destroy our democracy.

 

Hoyt

(54,770 posts)
7. I'm not so sure. Hope you are right, but see no evidence of that (although no evidence to contrary
Wed May 16, 2018, 06:59 PM
May 2018

either). I thought Fitzgerald was going to nail bush/cheney too. But he didn't.

pnwmom

(108,977 posts)
9. I am going with my gut. Ever since I watched this video
Wed May 16, 2018, 07:14 PM
May 2018

of his speech at his granddaughter's graduation -- talking about lessons he's learned about service, patience, integrity, and humility -- I have believed that he is the real thing.

This isn't going to be a whitewash.

(And Bush/Cheney, as bad as it was, was nothing compared to DT's corrupt, traitorous organization.)

&t=116s

FirstLight

(13,360 posts)
5. Fascinating read!
Wed May 16, 2018, 05:07 PM
May 2018

While I can imagine Mueller is probably disgusted by Trump and his cronies' behaviors, etc. This article reminds us that this is a disciplined man who has a lifetime of service to his country under is belt.
Now it makes it even more eggregious when Trump slanders him and says this investigation is partisan. What bullshit!

I seriously cannot wait to see him nail them ALL to the wall!

Achilleaze

(15,543 posts)
6. The republican casino hustler dodged the draft five freaking times
Wed May 16, 2018, 05:18 PM
May 2018

and now he's again trying to dodge justice. He insults our US veterans and POWs, and puts down Marine Mueller. That is not only deplorable, but also dishonorable.

May Mueller, a lifelong republican, bring the casino-hustling, draft-dodging, business-cheating, America-betraying republican wanker down.

grantcart

(53,061 posts)
8. On moral discipline some people put "money in the bank" and some have been on overdraft for 50 years
Wed May 16, 2018, 07:07 PM
May 2018

A moral audit is about to take place.

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