Somehow, Bush avoiding Vietnam to stay out of danger and then climbing into the cockpit of the 102 never made sense to me.
Being a fighter pilot -- for that matter, simply taking off in a single-engine jet fighter of the Century series, such as an F-102, or any of the military's other marvelous bricks with fins on them -- presented a man, on a perfectly sunny day, with more ways to get himself killed than his wife and children could imagine in their wildest fears. -- Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff.
Neither man has the credentials to call himself a heroe. One felt that being involved in an election was more important than combat in Vietnam and the other forfeited his status when he returned and abandoned his support for the troops and POW's left behind.