Phoenix area Vietnam vets say why they voted for Trump or Harris

David Lucier (left) and Patrick McCobb (right) are both local veterans around the same age, and with similar backgrounds. But their politics couldn’t be more different. [Monica D. Spencer]

Throughout the election cycle, depending on who you talked to, you may have heard that either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris is the better policy pick for U.S. military veterans, without ever hearing why. 

Military members serving overseas and voting absentee are more likely to vote for Harris, while veterans living stateside are more likely to vote for Trump, polling has shown. 

Two influential local Vietnam veterans told American Veterans Magazine their reasons for voting for Trump or Harris — and why they believe their candidate is the right choice for the military community. 

I’m an Arizona veteran and I voted for Harris  

David F. Lucier, president and CEO of the Arizona Veterans and Military Leadership Alliance and a committeeman for the Maricopa County Democratic Party, is the son of two World War II veterans and is himself an Army veteran who fought in three wars. 

He served in uniform in Vietnam from 1967 to 1970 before a civilian stint for the Department of Defense as a security contractor in Iraq from 2003 to 2005. 

He worked for the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan in 2008, one year before he was inducted into the Arizona Veteran Hall of Fame. 

In post-service life, Lucier founded the AVMLA, served on the Special Operations Association and Special Forces Association scholarship selection committee and was elected to the SOA Board of Directors for the Special Forces Association Chapter XXII.  

Lucier voted early for Harris for president.  

“She’s smart, experienced, humble, knowledgeable, strong, courageous, a truth teller and all of those things that Donald Trump is not,” Lucier said.  

Lucier explained how his experience in service and his degree in political science taught him the difference between authoritarian, fascist, Marxist and democratic governments. 

“Donald Trump does not represent nor does he perform any ideas or principles of our democracy or our constitution,” Lucier said. “Kamala Harris has a lifetime of experience in defending the equal justice under law and equal protection under law. So, those are hugely, hugely important principles to me.” 

Lucier emphasized how important voting is to him as when he was deployed, he was too young to vote and when he finally turned 21, then the legal age to vote, he was on the Ho Chi Min trail and couldn’t.  

“Voting is huge. Donald Trump wants to suppress votes,” Lucier said. “When I was in Iraq, I took Iraqi citizens to their first free and fair election under arms, and we took a lot of bullets, RPGs and small arms fire and all that kind of business. But we got them to the voting polls and back safely … So, these are things that we’ve all stood up for and risked our lives for.” 

Lucier said there is no excuse in today’s political environment not to vote.  

“I shed a lot of blood in order for people to exercise their right to vote,” Lucier said. “You have a responsibility to vote. … So, I would encourage everybody to vote and vote intelligently.”  

I’m an Arizona veteran and I voted for Trump 

Patrick McCobb is a Pinal County resident who served in the Navy from 1970 to 1976, during which time he was deployed to Vietnam among other places.  

McCobb is part of the steering committee for the Maricopa Veterans Memorial Foundation and the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts in Maricopa. 

Recently, McCobb has been trying to help homeless veterans get back on the right path with an organization called U.S. Vets.  

McCobb also voted early, however he voted for Trump for president.  

When asked what made Trump more qualified than his opponent, McCobb said: “He’s a businessman.” 

“It is time that we look and consider the fact that one of the largest corporations in the world is the American economy,” he continued. “Somebody needs to be in charge that knows how to do it; Donald Trump is that guy. We need a businessman, not a politician.”  

McCobb said he believes Trump is the best option for veterans, pointing to his first term in the White House. 

“When the VA was having difficulties years ago and Donald Trump became president, he stood up and took the bull by the horns,” McCobb said. “He came up with the Community Care Program … because of that program I’m able to go to the VA and they will send me out into the community here in Maricopa or Chandler, to civilian doctors for my healthcare.” 

He added there were several keys that drove home his decision to vote for Trump.  

“His border security,” McCobb said. “I’ve been to the border, I’ve seen it, I know what it is… His economic policy for this country is substantially better than Ms. Harris’. His foreign relationships, moving the embassy in Israel was a huge plus. His plan to withdraw from Afghanistan was sound and would have made sense instead of what happened with in Afghanistan with Biden.”  

McCobb said the biggest thing that turned him away from Harris was what he perceived as her lack of agency. He said she isn’t qualified for the job “by any stretch of the imagination.”  

McCobb said that over the past decade, the Republican Party has diversified and that Trump was the one who led the way.  

“I really think that what he’s doing and the path he’s paving for the future with J.D. Vance is really great,” McCobb said, saying Trump has “a sound economic background,” “conservative values” and “wants to balance the budget.” 

“I’m a Vietnam veteran; I’ve got an expiration date,” McCobb said. “My kids and my grandkids, I want them to inherit a better world that what we have today, and Trump is the guy to get us there.”