Vietnam vets admire McCain, may not vote for him

By Ed Stoddard and Tim Gaynor

DALLAS/PHOENIX (Reuters) - Bob Schultz is a self-described conservative Republican who saw combat when he served as a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, but that doesn't mean he will vote for former Vietnam prisoner-of-war John McCain in November's U.S. presidential election.

"I'm still undecided. I'll be looking at other factors like the economy," Schultz, a trim 60-year-old marathon runner who lives in a Dallas suburb, told Reuters.

"As you get older you get more interested in things like medical aid and Social Security and other things that the Democrats embrace," he said.

The Vietnam War was a bitter conflict which sharply polarized America in the 1960s and 1970s.

Americans who fought in it and other foreign wars have a strong "brothers in arms" sense of loyalty to one another and several interviewed by Reuters expressed admiration for McCain though their vote for him was by no means set in stone.

Analysts say most veterans and military personal tend to vote Republican though the only previous Vietnam veteran to run for president as the nominee of a major party was Democrat John Kerry, who lost to George W. Bush in 2004.

At their monthly meeting, a group of veterans in Republican candidate McCain's home town of Phoenix discussed his candidacy as they smoked cigarettes and drank beers on the terrace of their clubhouse.

Most are firmly behind the Arizona senator. All felt regret at losing the Vietnam War and looked to McCain to find victory in the unpopular war in Iraq.