political royalty steps up

[5axis]

A interesting story that seems to have been missed by the national media.






Mayor's son begins military career
As his proud family watches, Patrick Daley takes an oath and joins the Army

By Gayle Worland
Tribune staff reporter
Published December 30, 2004

Older, taller and more famous than the other recruits around him, the son of the most powerful man in Chicago swore an oath of allegiance to the military Wednesday morning before heading off to Ft. Benning, Ga., for nine weeks of basic training.

Dressed in jeans, as were the seven young men and one woman standing alongside him, Patrick Daley, 29, raised his right hand as his parents, sisters and other family members witnessed a swearing-in ceremony that lasted only minutes.

A short while later, U.S. Army Spec. Daley, a black duffel bag slung over his shoulder, darted onto a chartered bus headed for O'Hare International Airport to begin a wartime career choice that has made headlines across the U.S. and in Europe.

"His name will be like any other name in the military," said his father, Mayor Richard M. Daley.

But the gaggle of TV cameras outside the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Station in Des Plaines proved that the younger Daley was not an everyday recruit.

"It was a big inspiration for me seeing him here, seeing people from all walks of life joining," said Army recruit Jonas Hirschman, 19, of Streator, as he waited outside the processing station for the swearing-in ceremony.

"He's just a soldier, just like us. He's nothing like his father," said recruit Thomas Ondrey, 18, also of Streator, who had chatted with Patrick Daley during a morning devoted to medical exams and paperwork.

"He's laid-back, down-to-earth," Ondrey said. "He just wants to go. He's waiting, like all of us."

The son and grandson of the two most recognizable figures in modern Chicago political history, a self-proclaimed military history buff and the recipient of a graduate business degree from the University of Chicago, Patrick Daley compounded the surprise of his career move by signing up to be an enlisted infantryman rather than an officer.

His motivation is to experience "what the bottom people are going to experience," Daley was quoted as saying in a news release given to reporters Wednesday by the U.S. Army Chicago Recruiting Battalion.

"If you look at some of the greatest military leaders, business leaders, religious leaders--they usually started at the very bottom," he said, according to the release. The promise of military camaraderie and stories of friends who'd served in the armed forces also motivated him to sign up, he said.

"They said, `You gotta go in now, because 10 years from now, you'll hate yourself if you don't,'" he said in the release.

Daley was shielded from the media at his own request, and even arrived 30 minutes before his 5 a.m. appointment at the processing station to avoid reporters, said a spokesman for the military. The only glimpse of him came as he boarded the bus with about two dozen others shipping out Wednesday afternoon.

When reporters asked how he was, Daley simply replied, "Great."

Daley, a one-time West Point cadet who left after his first year, signed enlistment papers several months ago and planned to ship out in October, but was dissuaded from reporting immediately, according to a family friend, who asked not to be named.

Mayor Daley met with journalists after the ceremony to express pride in his son's independent decision to enter the infantry, even though the family recognizes the potential dangers of military service.

"All of us parents reflect upon [our] sons and daughters," the mayor said. "Of course it's difficult, but again, that's public service.

"Any father would be very proud of their son or daughter going into the military," he said. "It's the ultimate public service."

Patrick Daley's enlistment might have been hardest on his mother, Maggie, who is battling cancer. She and the mayor lost their son Kevin in 1981 to complications of spina bifida before his third birthday.

In a video of the brief swearing-in ceremony, the Daleys and a handful of other parents stood along a back wall of the blue-carpeted, wood-paneled room--the mayor at attention with his arms behind his back, and Maggie Daley with her hands clasped and her head cocked to the right. After her son's recitation of the military oath, she wiped tears from her eyes.

Patrick Daley's sisters, Elizabeth Daley and Nora Conroy, brother-in-law Sean Conroy, toddler niece Margaret (known as "Little Maggie") and two male cousins also attended, said Jacquelyn Heard, a spokeswoman for the mayor. The family spent time together before Patrick Daley left for the airport. Daley, who will spend an additional 11 weeks at Ft. Benning in airborne infantry training and job specialty training after basic, addressed his mother's concerns through the news release.

"The best I can do is tell [her], `I'm going to do my best,'" he said. "`I'll keep out of harm's way. Nobody needs to be a hero.'"