![\"2LT](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/2LT-Joshua-300x248.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nA few weeks ago we wrote<\/a> about LT Joshua Nelson, a Guardsman in the West Virginia Air National Guard when he took on a knife-wielding thug in Walmart. Today in the Stars & Stripes<\/a> we read how he is a state legislator in West Virginia and he’s trying to win a second term as a politician, despite the fact that he’s hardly around for those duties because of deployments;<\/p>\n Nelson is a fresh graduate from flight school at Laughlin Air Force Base. While in Texas, the Republican missed this year’s entire 60-day legislative session, including 494 votes. Last year, he wasn’t around for 367 of 460 votes due to Guard service.<\/p>\n It’s not a deal-breaker for some in Nelson’s district, which includes most of Boone County, a tight-knit mining community struggling in Appalachian coal’s downturn.<\/p>\n Nelson, a coal miner himself, has served in the Marines. He has been training on C-130s for the Guard’s 130th Airlift Wing.<\/p>\n “Anyone who’s willing to go out and take a bullet for his country deserves to be in office,” said Nancy Smith, of Madison.<\/p>\n Allen Dotson, a coal miner and Democrat from Danville, said he is irked by Nelson’s absence, even though he appreciates his service.<\/p>\n “He chose to be a pilot,” Dotson said. “I don’t think he even has the right to be on the ballot.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Well, of course he has a “right” to be on the ballot, Al, but that doesn’t mean that you have to vote for him.<\/p>\n Nelson has collected $15,000 in legislative pay, plus $625 each month outside of session besides December, all of which he said he has donated to charitable causes. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n His opponent, Democrat coal miner Barry Brown, has used Nelson’s absence against him in the campaign, which I suppose is legitimate, but the voters will get the final say. There are certainly a lot of Democrats (as well as Republicans) who miss a bunch of votes at the national level and no one seems to mind. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"