I resisted writing this column, but the current presidential election has the elephant in my weekly column. Readers have asked, "Who will you vote for, Sarah?" and I didn't want to answer, even though over the years, I share my opinions on basically everything else from mothers-in-law at Homecoming to the war in Iraq to inflatable sleds (won me no fans in the toy industry) to Rush Limbaugh. So why am I afraid to tell you who I'm voting for and why?

The answer lies somewhere in my predicament straddling two notoriously stereotyped groups: journalists and the military. "Sarah, you're in the media, so I bet you're a liberal, right? No wait, you're a military family, so you must be for McCain." 

I once got myself kicked off an online forum of professional writers because I said that it is "hard to be a conservative in an industry that I suspect is largely liberal." Yes, a forum for writers -- people who usually support freedom of speech and expression -- banned me from their group for making this "controversial" statement. When I told my friend Larry, a retired Marine Colonel, about it, his only comment was, "Suspicions confirmed, Sarah." 

Which is not to say I'm met with completely open arms in military circles, despite sharing the majority of their political views. I am, after all, still a journalist. When a reporter from the New York Times was doing a feature on me and wanted to observe me speak to a group of young military wives, you would have thought I was bringing Satan himself on the base.

If I've been suspicious of the media's motives, the military, you may say, has been just as suspicious of mine.

However, outside of labels I'm first and foremost a free and thinking citizen, and it is in that role that I studied both candidate's positions and made my choice (via absentee ballot) for Sen. John McCain.

I write this knowing that it may ostracize me from many of my liberal friends in the writing world. I write this knowing that it may (wrongly) be perceived as "robotic" and expected because I'm a military dependent. But ultimately, I write this because I want to give people, no matter their political persuasions, insight into why an overwhelming majority of military families (nearly 3:1 according to a recent online polls) support McCain. (No, the right-leaning stance isn't issued with our spouse's seabag anymore than a left-leaning view is handed to a journalist with their pen and paper.) After all, one of the freedoms my husband protects through his service is my right to have -- and express -- an opinion.

There is an old saying in the military that goes like this, "We (the military) are protecting democracy, not practicing it." It is funny, but also true in many ways.

The military dictates where my husband will live, where he will fight (it doesn't matter if he agrees with the mission or not), how he will behave (on duty or off), and even how he will wear his hair. The military is the last institution that can discriminate based on weight, eye sight, disabilities, moral character, and basically anything else that it deems not conducive to the mission.

But for all it's control, the military as a whole does not select its leader, even though the new president directly affects the military's mission and becomes every servicemember's new boss. 

The People elect a leader and that leader commands the military. Most military members have not experienced the severe loss of freedoms that Sen. McCain did when he was a POW, but it can be argued that they realize on a daily basis what it's like to be so intwined with the government that you're dependent upon it. They know what it's like to need the government for your paycheck, your health care, and even your housing. 

If we are to trust what the servicemembers are telling us they want something different for you...their America. They have chosen and volunteered to live and work in an environment that is often not democratic so that you can live within the protection of the government without being dependent on it for your livelihood and success.

In my neighborhood there are signs that read "Support the Troops: End the War." As we get set to elect a new president and thereby choosing the military's new commander, I look at the poll results and wonder, may be more appropriate to say, "Support the Troops: Vote McCain"?