RUSH: All right, to the phones we go, Charles in Fort Hood, Texas. Thank you so much for waiting, sir. Welcome to the EIB Network.
CALLER: Hey, Rush. It’s an honor to speak to you, sir.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: I’m a little nervous. First-time caller, longtime listener, and I’m kind of switching gears. I know it’s not Open Line Friday, but I’m going to be deploying to Afghanistan on Friday, so I will not be able to call you because I will be busy packing and all kinds of good stuff.
RUSH: What service?
CALLER: Army, sir. I’m an Army chaplain.
RUSH: You’re an Army chaplain.
CALLER: Yes, sir.
RUSH: God bless you.
CALLER: Oh, thank you, sir.
RUSH: How long do you expect to be there?
CALLER: Right now, the 15 months deadline.
RUSH: Can you tell us where in Afghanistan you’re going?
CALLER: No, sir, I can’t. I’m sorry. I can’t.
RUSH: Well, I didn’t think so. I know it’s a matter of security.
CALLER: That’s right.
RUSH: This just blows me away, how he started the call. He’s embarrassed he won’t be able to listen Friday because he’s deploying to Afghanistan!
CALLER: (laughs)
RUSH: People like you amaze me.
CALLER: Oh, thank you, sir. (chuckles) I’m kind of speechless myself, Rush. I would love to have called you like on the weekend before the Fourth of July, but I couldn’t get through. And, you know, I just figure there would be a most prime opportunity for me to do this. I appreciate everything that you do for the service, everybody in uniform.
RUSH: It pales compared to what they do for us, but I thank you.
CALLER: Thank you, sir. Again, I’m kind of at a loss for words. I wanted to call you in the past on a number of things, but I just want to keep this dignified and just, you know, again just send my thanks and my gratitude. I watched your TV show when it was on, and I’ve followed you for a long time, and our girls know when — we have three daughters, and they know when — it’s Rush Limbaugh time. (laughing) They’re probably listening to me right now.
RUSH: Well, what a thrill for them. How do they know it’s Rush Limbaugh time? Do they get fed? (laughing)
CALLER: Actually, you know, my wife kind of starts lunch and everything.
RUSH: See, I knew it.
CALLER: Oh, and we’re the proud owner of two SUVs.
RUSH: All right! All right! After the stupid story in TIME Magazine, I told the staff, ‘I’m going to go out and I’m going to get gift certificates for 25 iPhones,’ these new iPhones that come out Friday, because you have to go into the store and sign up. You can’t buy ’em online anymore. You can buy two to a customer, but you have to be there. It’s a whole new process.
CALLER: So, you know… (interruption)
RUSH: No, that’s not why I’m taking Friday off. No, I’ve got snarky comments from the staff now, from the broadcast engineer, asking is that why I’m taking off. No! I’ve got major dental surgery on Friday, if you must know. I am not going to go stand in line to get an iPhone. I have a special dispensation from that. Somebody else is going to go get mine. It’s been taken care of. I’ll have it when I get home from the dentist, but I probably won’t feel like using it. Anyway, sorry about that, Charles. Here you were trying to be all dignified and the broadcast engineer had to interrupt what you were telling us. I just want you to know when you’re in Afghanistan and when you deploy on Friday, you’ve got the prayers of every member of this audience with you.
CALLER: Roger, sir. You know, again, I love listening to you. I’m practically everything the left hates, and I’m proud of that.
RUSH: Sure.
CALLER: I’m proud of my country. I’m proud to serve twice. I’m dual service. I was fire service in the Navy, and then I had a long break, and now it will be a year that I’ve been in the Army as a chaplain.
RUSH: People like you are really special.
CALLER: Thank you, sir.
RUSH: You’re going back. Were you a chaplain also when you did your naval service?
CALLER: No, sir, I was actually a chaplain’s assistant;and so I got out, went to college, got a master’s degree and came back into the Army.
RUSH: You’ve got two SUVs?
CALLER: Yes, sir.
RUSH: Right on.
CALLER: Yes, sir.
RUSH: Right on. Radio right on. What about gas prices? Have they impaired your driving?
CALLER: Negative. (chuckling)
RUSH: Right on. Right on!
CALLER: Negative.
RUSH: You’re driving those two hogs. I just love people like you.
CALLER: Oh, thank you, sir.
RUSH: I just do.
CALLER: We love you, too, Rush, and we thank God for everything that you do, and I’ve learned so much through your program. I’ve learned more about economics. I’ve learned more about history. I’ve learned more about government than I would have learned in any institution in this country, and again I just thank you for everything that you do for us in the military.
RUSH: Charles, thank you. Believe me, it’s very nice what you say, but what you guys do… You know, most Americans have a deep and profound understanding and appreciation.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: It’s just that you don’t hear much from them in the media. Look, I think it’s sort of a shame. Here we are on the verge of amazing success in the surge in Iraq —
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: — and you won’t hear anybody on the left say, ‘Job well done’ —
CALLER: Negative.
RUSH: — to those members of the military. They’re gnashing they’re teeth over it. They’re busy trying to somehow harm their presidential candidate ’cause he’s changed his mind, they think, on troop withdrawal over there.
CALLER: Right. Right.
RUSH: Well, look, God bless you and be safe over there.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush.
RUSH: I’ve been, as you know, and it’s a different world.
CALLER: It is. They’re partying like it’s 1398 over there so living conditions aren’t too favorable, but I’ll be in a place where I’ll have access to different things and I’ll have the Internet.
RUSH: I mean, parts of this place, you’re going to be going back to the Eighth Century.
CALLER: Right. (laughs)
RUSH: In parts of this country. Anyway, Charles, thank you so much. And again, God bless. You’ll have the prayers of everybody in this audience with you the whole time you’re gone.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush.
RUSH: You bet.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I just got a note from Dawn about Charles in Fort Hood, Texas. She says, ‘I love that guy. He’s in the Navy, gets out, goes to get his master’s degree, goes back, the Army in wartime, and the Democrats say that they only go for education, not because they love their country.’ She’s right. They’ve done story after story after story in the Drive-By impugning the intentions of men and women who wear the uniform simply because they want to run down the military, ‘They’re hopeless. They have no choice, America, a declining nation, no economic opportunity, no future, they come to these little, small towns, these guns and clingers, no choice but to join the military.’ They couldn’t be more wrong.