THE PRIVATE LIFE OF GOVERNOR RICK PERRY
To read the complete article go to: Red State be sure to read the comments. It takes a lot of time to research the candidates (I know I spend hours doing it). The author of this piece has spent a lot of time and it's worth the read.
Posted by onemovoter (Diary)
Monday, November 21st at 6:22PM EST
Much of Governor Rick Perry’s political positions are becoming well known to those of us who are politically active. I have been researching into many of the GOP candidates that are running for the nomination. It is one thing to determine what a candidate stands for on the issues, it’s another to see what they have done in the privacy of their personal lives.
Very few of us completely agree on every issue that might come up in life. We have grown up with different life experiences and each of us react differently to those situations. To me, what a person does in relation to others without any prompting or political gain, says so much more about a persons character and beliefs than what they claim to believe in public. To whit, the reason for this article.
The personal history of Rick Perry is more diverse than what people might believe. The following is just a few brief glimpses into Perry’s long road he has toed to date. Nothing is more true than when Perry said “If you want to see God laugh, just tell him your plans.”
Rick Perry grew up in a very rural area of Texas, living and working with his parents, as most farming families do up till this day. Some of the early influences were the Boy Scouts and earning the Eagle Scout award, the 4H program, and learning to play the piano. All of this requires a person to have initiative and a work hard attitude.
Perry while at Texas A&M, joined the Corps of Cadets and was well liked and elected yell leader. He also sold books door to door to help pay for college. Vietnam was in the back of everyone’s mind at this point in time, as it was for Perry. He accepted a commission in the United States Air Force after graduating, completed pilot training, and flew tactical airlifts in Europe and the Middle East through most of the 1970s. He retired in 1977 as a captain and returned to Texas to work on the family’s cotton farm.
Colleagues of Perry during his tour have fond memories of him.

“People are assessing you from the moment you walk in the front door,” said Forman, an Abilene resident who served as an aircraft commander with the 772nd squadron. “You were dealing with massive personalities. All of us were extremely confident young men, and he thrived in that environment.”
“I remember he was slim, trim and in good athletic condition,” said William Alexander of Colleyville, another pilot who served at Dyess with Perry. “I thought he was a pretty sharp guy and dependable. Some (airmen) you had to worry about, but he was on top of things.”

Those times back then were easy compared to being governor of Texas. Texas National Guard and Reserve has been used to supplement military forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan for the last 10 years. Perry has had to comfort spouses and family that have lost loved ones who were killed in action.
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