"Military see presidential race through own lens"

I've seen this topic in the news recently. I have yet to observe this political trend among my USAF and Army peers (still seems pretty darned conservative to me)... I've never fully understood the "military service" issue in conservative politics. After all, the darling of the Republican party (Reagan) never served overseas during WW II and George W. Bush was in the National Guard during Vietnam and he never served overseas. Isn't that essentially the same as having someone with no military experience?

It seems to me like it's in military voter's best interest to NOT have a long war to fight, so wouldn't that mean that the military voter would be likely to vote for anti-war candidates? Unless you like to deploy a lot... which I know is not true for most military members.

In what may be one sign of the trend, individuals who identified themselves as members of the uniformed services have donated 38 percent of their dollars to Democratic candidates, party committees and leadership PACs so far this election cycle, compared with 22 percent during the 2000 campaign overall, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based group that tracks political campaign money