I was proud to wear my country's uniform

I don't pretend that my own military experience matches in any way what others here have been through. I didn't do the most, or run the gravest danger. But I was proud to wear my country's uniform. And my own experiences gave me strong beliefs about America's obligation to keep our national defenses strong.

"Gore Tells Fellow Veterans He Is Dedicated to Military"

Vietnam certainly matured me in a hurry. It gave me a tolerance for complexity. I didn’t change my conclusions about the war being a terrible mistake, but it struck me that opponents to the war, including myself, really did not take into account the fact that there were an awful lot of South Vietnamese who desperately wanted to hang onto what they called freedom. Coming face to face with those sentiments [in the local people] was something I was naively unprepared for.

Al Gore on Homeland Security