Barry: Let me start by, quite sincerely, commending you on your service.
Now to respond to your post, ignoring the sneering opening sentence. I have strong feelings about some subjects, so my advice to you is that if you don't like what I write,
don't read it. I'll make a bargain with you; every time I see your name on a post I'll skip it - why don't you do the same?
Twice now you've written: "you don't even vaguely understand what you are talking about and you are certainly not qualified to discuss the matter." OK, that's a pretty contentious statement. Other than running your mouth off, what do you use to back it up? What facts have I misstated?
Like when you "correct" my spelling of Vietnam? BTW, both spellings are used - Viet Nam and Vietnam - although the single word is more commonly written. The New York Times Library Desk Reference, for example, uses the single word. So does the US News & World Report Style Book for Authors. And
Facts in a Flash, a Research Guide for Writers. Webster cites
three spellings: Vietnam, Viet-nam, and Vietnam.
Anyhow, back to your favorite accusation. Statements like "Oh you don't know what you're talking about" is something a person usually resorts to in a debate when he has no facts, data or reasoned counter-argument. I am a published writer (yes, it is a natural ability
) and for this I do research; I talk to veterans; I search out facts, something that the hate-Bush camp don't bother to do (or if they do, they ignore, distort or evade the facts they unearth). I have a personal reference library of over 3,600 books, a large proportion concerning every war the US has been involved in, and many of them first-person accounts.
So before you gleefully try to pick holes in my research - for example, about the F102 and Vietnam - try to get your own facts straight. The following is from a letter by Col. William Campenni (Ret.), who flew with Bush, published in the Washington Times.
"There was one big exception to the abusive use of the Guard to avoid the draft, and that was for those who wanted to fly, as pilots or crew members. Because the draft was just two years, you sure weren't getting out of duty being an Air Guard pilot (training alone would take five years). The Bush critics do not comprehend the dangers of fighter aviation at any time or place, in Vietnam or at home, when they say other such pilots were risking their lives or even dying while Lt. Bush was in Texas. Our Texas ANG unit lost several planes right there in Houston during Lt. Bush's tenure, with fatalities. Just strapping on one of those F-102s was risking one's life."
The information below comes from the "New York Times", "Washington Times", "Chicago Sun-Times" and "Washington Post," and was summarized in aerospaceweb.org. [My italics].
"
We have established that the F-102 was serving in combat in Vietnam at the time Bush enlisted to become an F-102 pilot. In fact, pilots from the 147th FIG of the Texas ANG were routinely rotated to Vietnam for combat duty under a program called "Palace Alert" from 1968 to 1970. Palace Alert was an Air Force program that sent qualified F-102 pilots from the ANG to bases in Europe or southeast Asia for frontline duty. Fred Bradley, a friend of Bush's who was also serving in the Texas ANG, reported that he and Bush applied to participate in the Palace Alert program. However, they were told by a superior, MAJ Maurice Udell, that they were not yet qualified since they were still in training and did not have the 500 hours of flight experience required.
"
As he was completing training and being certified as a qualified F-102 pilot, Bush's squadron was a likely candidate to be rotated to Vietnam. However, the plane was withdrawn from southeast Asia beginning in
December 1969 [not 1968] and instead returned to its primary role of providing air defense for the United States. Furthermore, the war in Vietnam was nearing its end and the US was withdrawing its forces from the theater. Air Force personnel returning to the US created a glut of active-duty pilots, and there were not enough aircraft available to accommodate all of the qualified USAF and ANG pilots. Since USAF personnel had priority for the billets available, there was not enough time to retrain F-102 pilots to operate new aircraft before their enlistments were up anyway. Bush was one of those forced out by the transition, and he was honorably discharged as a first lieutenant in October 1973, eight months before his six-year enlistment was complete. Bush had approximately 600 flight hours by the time he completed his military service.
"While Bush did not see combat in Vietnam, it is also obvious he was not seeking a way to avoid the risk of being sent to Vietnam.
At the time he was training to be an F102 pilot, ANG units and that aircraft type were based in Vietnam. "
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In any case, what matters is not whether the F102 was withdrawn in 1968 or the end of 1969, but that at the time Bush was training it was in service in Vietnam, that he volunteered to go to Vietnam, and that units of the Texas ANG were rotated to Vietnam.
But there I go again, not even remotely underatanding what I am talking about or being qualified to discuss the matter. You do what you want; as far as I'm concerned, the matter is closed.
