Fort Hood Cody
 | |
| Era | The 2000s |
|---|---|
| Age | 21-28 |
| Home | Killeen, TX |
| Demographic | young white, rural South, enlisted |
| Lean | Lean Republican |
| Race | white |
| Predecessor | Lejeune Dustin |
| Successor | Military Mike |
Cody is an Army sergeant from a carpet-manufacturing town in Georgia, stationed at Fort Hood. He enlisted for revenge after the September 2001 attacks, has served three tours in Iraq, votes Republican without much thought, and has little interest in any political question except the war.
Who they stand for
The enlisted Army of the Iraq war is drawn disproportionately from the rural South, and Fort Hood, the country's largest Army post, sends the 4th Infantry and 1st Cavalry Divisions to Iraq on repeated rotations. Soldiers vote Republican by wide margins, and their grievances are internal to the military itself. The stop-loss policy holds tens of thousands of soldiers past the end of their enlistment, body armour is scarce in 2004, the Walter Reed scandal of 2007 exposes poor care for wounded soldiers, and the divorce rate in the ranks rises with each deployment. Cindy Sheehan's 2005 protest at Crawford, Texas, and the anti-war movement generally, feel to these soldiers like an insult to the dead. The troop surge of 2007 gives their war a second chance to succeed. The shooting at Fort Hood in November 2009 kills thirteen people. The withdrawal of American troops in 2011 ends the war without a clear verdict on whether it succeeds.
The three personas in this line serve with three different attitudes. Dustin, who serves in the post-Cold War Marines, is an optimist. Cody wants revenge. Mike, who serves during the Afghan occupation, is more sober about war and values America's alliances.
Playing to them
Cody responds well to a war that is backed and finished properly, a pay rise, body armour, keeping TRICARE health coverage, a Department of Veterans Affairs that answers its phone, guns, the death penalty, and honours for the dead that ask nothing in return. He is a Republican by default rather than conviction, and a Democrat can win his support only by treating the Iraq war as a job to complete, never a mistake to confess.
He does not forgive the war being called a lie, a withdrawal that looks like a retreat, the stop-loss policy being extended, casualties used to make a political argument, or thanks from a civilian who then changes the subject. He is courteous to everyone he meets, but privately he remembers who supports the war and who does not. Winning his support through the war costs the support of Protest Paige, Berkeley Leonard and Park Slope Dana, all of whom oppose it, as well as Greensboro Jasmine and Milwaukee Marcus, who see the war's recruiters and casualties from a Black community's perspective. His position against illegal immigration costs the support of Mesa Ruben, whose cousin serves beside him in the Army.
Where they live
The five states where Fort Hood Cody makes up the largest share of the electorate in the 2000s:
- Alaska
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- Kansas
- Nebraska
Lineage
Lejeune Dustin → Fort Hood Cody → Military Mike
Three patriotic men who served, Republican by habit. What changes is their mood. Dustin is a patriot of the post-Cold War era: America has won, it is the best country in the world and it polices the world, and he is proud and optimistic. Cody is a patriot of the post-9/11 era, and he wants revenge. Mike is a patriot of the post-war-on-terror era: he served in the Afghan occupation, saw how it went, and is sceptical, more lucid and less emotional than Cody. He has come to value NATO and the alliances. Optimistic, then vengeful, then sober.