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Valley's vets sound off on war-bound sons of V.P. nominees

If the son of the vice president of the United States was in Junior Rapley's unit, he'd be treated like an average recruit.

"If he screws up, I would chew his ass out just like anyone else," said Rapley, a 30-year veteran of the Marine Corps, where he was a staff sergeant major.

The consensus among the North Hollywood man and other San Fernando Valley veterans is that the sons of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and Democratic nominee Joseph Biden will get the same treatment as any other member of the military - by both their fellow troops and commanding officers - in Iraq, where they will soon be deployed.

"You can't treat anyone differently, for the integrity of the unit," said Fred Flores, 47, of Mission Hills, who was a staff sergeant in the Marines. "You have to lead by example and not show any favoritism because you don't want to demoralize your troops or the chain of command   Read Full Article...