President Gerald Ford

During his short, accidental presidency, Ford did several good things - the retrieval of the Mayaquez from the Cambodians and by the end of his term there were no Americans fighting anywhere overseas.

What people forget, though, is that it was Nixon who took all of our forces out of Viet Nam except for those at the U.S. Embassy. In September 1969, Nixon started by pulling out the entire 3rd Marine Division.

While President Ford was undoubtedly a good man, there are three things that will always define his presidency to me - especially since I was still in the military during his term.

The first was the sight of helicopters trying to airlift people from the roof of the Embassy at Saigon.

The second, which truly pissed off just about everyone who wore a uniform, was his amnesty to the draft evaders. It was Jimmah Carter who issued the blanket pardon to them.

The third thing was when he opened up the three Military Academies to women. The average troop was basically ambivalent about his destruction of tradition, but the officer corps of every branch were up in arms.

So yes, he was a good man who settled the country after the Watergate scandal and tried to do many good things - even though he had to work with a Democratic Congress, but it's the bad things he did (in my opinion) that will always define his Presidency to me.

As an afterthought - can anyone tell if those are M-1's or M-14's the funeral guards have been carrying? They look like my favorite old M-14, but with my eyes I can't quite make it out.