Kerry 'Doesn't Know' About Bush's National Guard Service

Anyone have McAuliff's resume, or know his military background?

WARNING: ENEMY TERRITORY...

No military service listed.

you wish... McA. is scum, but I think it's only about 2 points when he speaks up, thanks to the lamestream media filter.

It went up from 49% to 56% over the weekend. May not be cause and effect but the correspondance is there.

Now, all we need is for McAuliffe, the steaming pile of waste, to speak once a month for the next nine months and we'll be in business!

True!

Well now, that should make thousands of present, and past National Guard men, and women, real happy!

So? How many people that love their country enough to put their lives on the line would have voted for a commie like horse-face anyway?

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

Please read and help alert all to this important information:

Armor shell games & body bags

Our newly deployed troops have problems getting armor which is vital!

bump and bookmarked

Dispelling a Myth
Part One
September 2002

Popular perception has long been that the Guard sat out Vietnam. While their numbers were small, Guardsmen did
fight -- and die -- in Southeast Asia

By Retired Chief Warrant Officer 2 John W. Listman, Jr.

When Republican presidential candidate George H. W. Bush selected Indiana Sen.
Dan Quayle as his running mate in 1988, there was a media firestorm over
Quayle's Indiana Army National Guard service during the Vietnam War.

The popular perception was that service in the Guard was solely a "dodge" to
being drafted and going to fight. Few reporters bothered to check the record.

At the time Quayle enlisted in 1969, however, there were, in fact, already Indiana
Guardsmen heavily engaged in combat operations in Southeast Asia. And there
was no indication at the time that more Guard units would not be mobilized.

Similar questions arose when then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush ran for president
in 2000. He joined the Texas Air Guard in 1968 (the year of all the Guard
mobilizations during Vietnam), serving as a jet fighter pilot for five years. Some,
again, questioned the legitimacy of National Guard service during the Vietnam
War.

The bottom line is that both served their states and nation with honor, as did
thousands of others, during one of the most divisive periods in American history.
They were also subject to mobilization.

But what is the story of the Guard's role in the Vietnam War? As with every other
conflict in U.S. history, it's the story of dedicated young men (women did not join
the Guard in large numbers until after the war) doing what it takes to get the job
done and so they could quickly return home to their civilian lives.

This is their story, told in two parts: first the Army Guard, then, in a later issue, the
Air Guard.

As 1968 began, the United States was deeply involved in the Vietnam conflict,
with nearly a half-million men serving in theater and hundreds of casualties each
week. Despite these losses, military leaders assured President Lyndon B. Johnson
and the American people that "the light was at the end of the tunnel" and the war
would soon be won. All this optimism was changed by two events which
occurred just days apart.

On Jan. 23, the North Korean Navy seized the USS Pueblo in international waters,
killing one crewman and detaining the rest for a year. Americans wondered
whether this meant a new round of fighting was about to break out in Korea. The
peace on the Korean peninsula of 1953 was, and remains, only an "armistice," not
a treaty ending the war.

While Washington was still debating how the United States should respond, a
second and much more devastating event occurred, one leading to thousands of
Guardsmen serving overseas.

The last week of January marks the start of the Vietnamese New Year known as
"Tet." This holiday is traditionally celebrated as a time of peace, which during war
was usually honored by a truce of several days. This tradition had held true for
each year of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict to date. But 1968 would
prove much different.

On Jan. 31, the North Vietnamese and Vet Cong launched the Tet Offensive, a
massive effort to defeat U.S. and South Vietnamese forces. The strength, intensity
and duration of the offensive surprised American commanders. Also shocked
was the American public, which received graphic images of fighting on the nightly
news.

Though U.S. forces turned back the offensive, pictures of Marines under siege in
Khe Sahn and fighting house-to-house in the ancient Vietnamese capital of Hue
belied notions that the war would soon be won. Even more disturbing were
images of American troops fighting their way back into the U.S. Embassy in Saigon
after its capture by communist forces.

Johnson had refused to call up reserve-component units for fear of sparking a
public backlash against the war. Drafting a few men out of a community often
went unheralded. Mobilizing a Guard or Reserve unit, often with a hundred men or
more leaving at once, would not. But under the growing threats in Korea and
Vietnam, Johnson was finally convinced to issue a limited mobilization. He was
given the authority for this by Congress, which enacted Public Law 89-687
allowing him to call up selected reserve-component units for up to 24 months.

The first units called were 11 Air Guard squadrons Jan. 28. Three additional Air
Guard squadrons and all the Army Guard units mobilized were activated May 13.
While each unit has its own story to tell, due to space limitations only the eight
Army Guard units that served in Vietnam can be highlighted.

However, it should be noted that hundreds of men from those units mobilized but
not deployed, were levied and sent to Vietnam as replacements. Some were killed
in the fighting.

Imagine you are on a combat mission and develop a toothache. Where do you go?
If you were in the Saigon/Long Binh area or Fire Support Base, or FSB, Bearcat in
mid-1968 or early 1969, you might have been treated by a dentist from Alabama's
650th Medical Detachment (Dental Service).

This 33-man detachment was the first Army Guard unit to arrive in Vietnam, just
three months after its mobilization. It consisted of 11 dentists, one medical corps
officer and 21 enlisted technicians. They spent their entire tour at the massive
Army compound at Long Binh, offering dental care to U.S. personnel.

On their "off" time, some members volunteered their services to treat Vietnamese
civilians through the Medical Civic Action Program. Under this program thousands
of locals, mostly children, received the first medical and dental care of their lives.
The 650th suffered no losses from combat and returned home in July 1969.

The only Army Guard unit to see combat duty during both the Korean and Vietnam
wars was the 116th Engineer Battalion (Combat) from Idaho. It was the second
Army Guard unit to arrive in Vietnam -- and with 811 personnel, was by far the
largest.

At first, the entire battalion was based at Phan Rang south of Cam Ranh Bay.
While there, the 173rd Airborne Brigade trained 105 of the Guard engineers in the
use of infantry weapons such as M-60 machine guns and 81mm mortars by. This
training proved important during later operations as the engineers found
themselves under enemy attack.

Soon the 116th was broken up by companies and dispatched to locations
between Cam Ranh Bay and Saigon. Headquarters Company along with A, C and
D companies moved to different sites in Lam Dong Province in the highlands while
B Company ended up in Phan Thiet along the coast.

Company personnel spent part of their time improving base camp facilities and
fortifications. This often meant setting up running water and strengthening
perimeter defenses. However, most of their efforts focused on road
improvement.

For instance, B Company replaced an old metal bridge destroyed during the Tet
offensive with a solidly constructed wooden structure strong enough to support
M-48 tanks. When the last Americans left in 1975, it was still standing and being
used by the local people.

During these projects the men of the 116th often came under enemy fire and the
unit suffered losses. Spc. 4 Gary Smith was the first of six Guard and one regular
Army soldier killed while serving with the battalion. Smith was killed during a mortar
attack while unloading supplies on the evening of his first day in the combat area,
Oct. 10. At least 71 others were wounded in action.

The unit was also involved in humanitarian missions in Vietnam. These included
supplying Vietnamese civilians with nearly 6 million gallons of potable water,
thereby cutting the sickness rate by 75 percent in Montagnard villages. They also
provided medical aid to hundreds of Vietnamese.

After 11 months in Vietnam the unit returned home in September 1969. The 116th
Engineer Battalion remains part of the Idaho Army Guard.

Normally gasoline and vegetables do not mix. But to the 23rd "Americal" Infantry
Division, these were among the necessities delivered by the next Army Guard unit
to arrive in Vietnam, Illinois' 126th Supply and Service Company. Its 230 men were
assigned to the 80th General Support Group in Da Nang, where they furnished
supplies to 25,000 troops along a 90-mile front.

Often while driving their 5,000-gallon gas tankers to Chu Lai (home base of the
23rd) they came under enemy fire. Fortunately, no unit member was killed. The
126th returned to Illinois in August 1969. Its lineage is not perpetuated.

The "Green Mountain Movers" of Vermont's 131st Engineer Company (Light
Equipment) arrived in Vietnam Sept. 21. Its 179 officers and men were attached to
the 577th Engineer Battalion, 35th Engineer Group.

The company performed numerous construction support missions such as
assisting in the building of a refugee camp outside of Ban Me Thuot (near Cam
Ranh Bay) for Vietnamese civilians forced from their homes on Chu Kuh Mountain.

They used their bulldozers to clear elephant grass and trees allowing for the
construction of temporary housing. They also widened dirt roads and
strengthened bridges, allowing heavy trucks to bring in supplies. In appreciation
for the help, the local South Vietnamese Army commander invited a group from the
131st to join his unit in celebrating the 1969 Tet.

The Guardsmen returned home without loss in September 1969. The 131st is still a
part of the Vermont Guard today.

Another New England unit, New Hampshire's 3rd Battalion, 197th Artillery also
arrived in September. Armed with 18 155mm towed howitzers in three firing
batteries, the battalion numbered 506 Guardsmen and 108 regular Army soldiers.

Assigned to the 23rd Artillery Group, the battalion was at first based at Phu Loi, 30
miles northwest of Saigon. On Oct. 11, Battery B fired the 3-197thÕs first rounds.
The next day Battery B moved by convoy to FSB Thunder II and started firing
missions Oct. 13. And Battery C was airlifted 50-miles northeast to FSB
Copperhead. There, it fired in support of the 82nd Airborne Division and various
South Vietnamese units. Over the next 11 months, the batteries were moved as
required to give heavy artillery support where most needed.

One of the more unique aspects of the battalion's service occurred when three
guns and crews from A Battery were combined with three 105mm howitzers of
the regular Army's A Battery, 2nd Battalion, 13th Artillery to form a unit designated
as "Battery D, 2-13th." This unit was first placed at FSB Betty, which was nothing
more than a napalm-made clearing in the Central Highlands. There, it supported the
3rd Mobile Strike Force (Special Forces) in disrupting enemy troop concentrations.
The battery was later moved to FSB Dottie where it assisted the 1st Air Cavalry
Division in similar fashion. While at Dottie, the 3-197th suffered its first man killed in
action. Capt. Roland Labonte, former commander of Battery B and now serving as
a liaison between Battery D and the Headquarters Battery was caught in a mortar
attack. He was the first of six unit members, all Guardsmen, to die in combat. The
other five, all from Manchester, were killed when their truck hit a landmine just
before returning home.

The unit returned to New Hampshire on Sept. 12, 1969. In a 1992-reorganization,
the 3-197th Field Artillery was deactivated. Its Vietnam War heritage is carried
today by Vermont's 2nd Battalion, 197th Field Artillery.

A second Guard artillery unit, this one from Kentucky, arrived in Vietnam Oct. 10.
This unit, the 2nd Battalion, 138th Artillery was armed with 18 M-109
self-propelled, 155mm howitzers. Its 545 men were organized into three firing
batteries plus a headquarters and service battery.

First stationed at Phu Bai north of Da Nang, the battalion soon moved to Camp
Eagle on the northwestern portion of South Vietnam. There, it established a good
relationship with the 101st Airborne Division. Firing highly accurate missions, the
"Blue Grass Gunners" were praised by Army authorities as one of the most
proficient units in the Provisional Corps Vietnam Artillery.

The 2-138th was also involved in the Army Guard's darkest day in South Vietnam.
It occurred June 19, 1969, when Viet Cong sappers launched a massive attack on
an U.S. fire base. Battery C helped repel the attack but suffered heavy losses.
Bardstown, Ky., was shocked to learn that 13 of its native sons had been killed or
wounded in the attack.

The unit, now armed with M-109A2 Paladin 155mm howitzers, remains in the
Kentucky Army Guard today.

Accurate and rapid communication is key to any effective military operation. To
help fulfill this requirement the last New England-based Army Guard unit to arrive
in country was Rhode IslandÕs 107th Signal Company (Support). Establishing
itself at Long Binh, many of its 260 men were retrained on new communications
equipment not available stateside. Soon the company personnel were parceled out
to locations all over southern South Vietnam.

Once on station, they set up and maintained complex communications links. On the
eve of returning home in early October 1969, all the men were pulled back to Long
Binh so the unit could return to Providence intact. It suffered no combat losses.
Unfortunately the lineage of the 107th was lost when the unit was inactivated in
July 1990.

The last Army Guard unit to fight in Vietnam was also the only reserve component
ground maneuver unit to serve in Vietnam. Arriving in December, Indiana's
Company D, 151st Infantry (Long-Range Patrol) was assigned to a base near
Long Binh unit members dubbed "Camp Atterbury East" after Camp Atterbury, the
Indiana Army National Guard military reservation.

The unit consisted of 204 men, 172 Guardsmen and 32 regulars, most of whom
were airborne-trained with 97 percent jungle-warfare qualified. A large number
also attended an advanced radio school that proved useful for their primary
mission of reporting gathered intelligence on enemy movements and strength to the
II Field Force.

Unit operations usually involved teams of five-to-eight men airlifted by helicopter to
a remote location. There, they would set up listening and observation posts,
remaining in the field for up to seven days. They often sent out patrols to scout
around the area while radio communications were constantly held open. Though
their primary task was to gather information, they would often end their missions
by setting up an ambush.

Participating in numerous firefights, the unit was credited with 111 enemy soldiers
killed and three captured. But it too suffered casualties: two men were killed in
action, two more died of non-combat causes and more than 100 were wounded.

In February 1969, the unit was redesignated "Ranger," the first time Rangers had
been in the Guard since World War II. After almost a year in country, Company D
returned home in November 1969, the last Army Guard unit to leave Vietnam.

Nineteen members of the "Indiana Rangers" earned Silver Star Medals, another
174 earned Bronze Stars. Today the unit is designated as the Long-Range
Surveillance Detachment, 151st Infantry. It still has the primary mission of gathering
battlefield intelligence.

On Dec. 12, 1969, the last mobilized Guardsman returned home. For the most part,
they did not suffer the difficulties many active-duty personnel experienced in
assimilating back to civilian life. This is because most came back as part of units
with jobs waiting.

Guardsmen were also warmly welcomed home by their communities. For example,
more than 5,000 people greeted the 116th Engineer Battalion upon its return to
Idaho Falls, Idaho, Aug. 29, 1969. This contrasts sharply with active-duty
personnel who often returned to the United States alone with only jeering
protestors awaiting their initial arrival.

For the record, more than 9,000 Army Guardsmen served in Vietnam, either in
units or as individual volunteers or replacements. Of that figure, at least 22
citizen-soldiers lost their lives in combat in a war that, according to some
accounts, no Guardsmen even served.

Part II: Forgotten Acclaim

Chief Warrant Officer 2 John W. Listman Jr. served in Vietnam as a regular
Army medic. He was later the command historian of the Virginia Army National
Guard.

DNC CHAIRMAN TERRY MCAULIFFE DOES NOT THINK NATIONAL GUARD IS PART OF U.S. MILITARY: "George Bush never served in our military and our country." (ABC's "This Week," 2/1/04)

RNC He Said It Website

McAuliffe infuriated Republicans Sunday when he accused Bush of being "AWOL" during his stint in the National Guard.

Why would only Republicans be ticked off when our Commander in Chief is publicly accused of being AWOL, especially while we're a nation at war?

Dispelling a Myth:
Forgotten Acclaim
Part Two
October 2002

Air Guardsmen won unprecedented praise for their service in Vietnam. It’s a fact
that belies popular perception of the Guard and the conflict.

By Retired Chief Warrant Officer 2 John W. Listman, Jr.

As outlined in last month’s National Guard magazine, the limited mobilization of
Guard units for the Vietnam War came in response to the North Korean seizure of
the USS Pueblo Jan. 23, 1968, quickly followed by the communist’s Tet Offensive
in Vietnam.

In fact, President Lyndon Johnson authorized the call up of selected Air Guard
units even before the first wave of the Tet attacks Jan. 29, 1968. This first
mobilization brought eight tactical fighter squadrons, or TFS, and three tactical
reconnaissance squadrons, TRS, to active duty Jan. 27, 1968.

Each of these squadrons was the main element of a larger tactical
fighter/reconnaissance group, which included support units consisting of base
operations, maintenance, weather, medical and other units. The total number of Air
Guardsmen mobilized in this first increment included 1,076 officers (including 447
pilots and 11 female nurses) and 8,102 enlisted personnel.

An example of how this system worked was New Mexico’s 188th TFS, part of the
150th Tactical Fighter Group. Though the 188th served in Vietnam, other group
elements were assigned to different duty stations, such as the 150th Combat
Support Squadron that went to South Korea.

The policy held true for each of the six fighter squadrons that went overseas;
none served under its own group headquarters. And many of the personnel of
these other group units served either in Guard units assigned overseas or as
individual replacements in Vietnam, Korea or elsewhere. Due to space limitations,
little can be said of these people except that they played a role in supporting Air
Force operations worldwide during the Vietnam War.

But even before the 1968 mobilization, a few select Air Guard units and personnel
were helping with the war effort in Southeast Asia. As early as 1966, Guard air
transportation squadrons, or ATS, including Georgia’s 128th and Mississippi’s
183rd ATS, flying the C-124 Globemaster II, began airlifting supplies to Vietnam.
More than 1,000 such missions were flown over the course of the war.

In addition, beginning in 1966, Air Guard aeromedical teams, including flight nurses
from California and New Jersey, flew casualty evacuation missions returning sick
and wounded men from Vietnam to stateside hospitals. Air Force and Navy planes
brought the men to hospitals in Japan, Hawaii or other locations away from
Vietnam, where the Air Guard would then take over the duty of getting them to
medical facilities in the states. As important as these missions were, all the
personnel taking part in them were individual volunteers in a temporary-duty
status.

Each of the 11 Air Guard flying squadrons mobilized in 1968 “trained up” at home
station and other stateside airbases for several months preparing to deploy for
war. However, at the time, no one was sure if or where they might be assigned
overseas.

As world events unfolded in the spring of 1968, the Air Force determined that the
communist threat was subsiding in South Korea, but growing in then South
Vietnam. The Air Force needed replacements (pilots and ground support staff) for
existing units in Vietnam as well as fresh squadrons to relieve worn-out
equipment.

Four complete Air Guard tactical fighter squadrons were identified for assignment
to Vietnam: the 120th (Colorado), 136th (New York), 174th (Iowa) and 188th (New
Mexico). In addition two similar squadrons were sent to South Korea, the 127th
(Kansas) and 166th (Ohio).

Many of the personnel of the two remaining Air Guard tactical fighter squadrons,
the 119th (New Jersey) and 121st (District of Columbia) saw combat in Vietnam,
but not with an Air Guard unit. More of their record will be highlighted later. So will
the limited overseas service of the three Guard tactical reconnaissance
squadrons mobilized in January 1968: the 154th (Arkansas), 165th (Kentucky) and
192nd (Nevada).

Before detailing the individual history of each Air Guard unit serving in Vietnam and
Korea, some background on the aircraft they flew is useful. All six fighter
squadrons were equipped with the North American F-100C Super Sabre jet
aircraft. These single-seat aircraft were designed primarily as a fighter-bomber
intended for close air support of ground forces, though they could engage in
limited air-to-air combat.

Each F-100C could be armed with either two 750-pound “daisy-cutter” bombs
(made to explode about a foot off the ground) or two 500-pound high-drag
“Snakeye” (anti-personnel) bombs plus two napalm canisters and 800 20mm
high-explosive cannon rounds. Weighing 38,000 pounds fully loaded, they needed
16,500 pounds of thrust to get airborne.

Some generalizations can also be made about the units. Each deployed with about
22 assigned aircraft and about 300 personnel. Most of the non-flying officers had
administrative duties and each unit took at least one flight surgeon and chaplain;
however, medical support came from base hospitals. The majority of the unit’s
enlisted personnel were ground support technicians, all of whom were subject to
serving in base security forces as needed. All personnel received overseas and
hazardous-duty, or “combat” pay.

The first Air Guard unit to deploy to South Vietnam was Colorado’s 120th TFS,
which arrived at Phan Rang Air Base, about 25 miles south of Cam Ranh Bay May
3, 1968. The unit, assigned to the 35th Tactical Fighter Wing, flew its first combat
mission just two days later. By the end of its 11-month tour, the 120th had set an
Air Guard wartime record of 5,905 sorties.

While racking up the record, one of its milestones, the 1,000th sortie, was flown
by then Maj. John L. France, who would later become the Colorado adjutant
general and NGAUS president.

Unfortunately the pilot who flew the 5,000th sortie, Maj. Clyde Seiler, was killed
when his F-100 exploded during a mission shortly before the unit returned home.
Also killed in action was Capt. Perry H. Jefferson, the 120th’s intelligence officer,
who died when his O-1 Birddog aircraft crashed during a mission. The 120th
returned to its home base, Buckley Air Force Base, Colo., and was released April
30, 1969.

The next Air Guard squadron to arrive in country was Iowa’s 174th TFS. It was
joined by the Iowa Air National Guard’s 185th Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance
Squadron. Both units, totaling 376 men, were operational May 17, 1968. They
were assigned to Phu Cat Air Base, 225 miles northeast of Saigon. The unit won
high praise from their regular Air Force counterparts for the hard work the
Guardsmen put in on keeping their aircraft in excellent condition. Phu Cat was an
isolated post, with a large number of refugees seeking shelter from enemy attack.

Some of the 174th’s men “adopted” local children, teaching them sports while
trying to educate them as best as possible. The men wrote letters home about the
horrible living conditions and lack of even basic necessities these refugees had
available. Friends and family members responded with hundreds of “care”
packages containing everything from school supplies and medicines to toys for
their airmen to distribute.

This unit, like two of the three other Air Guard squadrons in Vietnam, suffered a
combat loss.

First Lt. Warren K. Brown was killed in action when his plane was hit by ground
fire. The 174th returned home to a heroes’ welcome and was released from active
duty May 28, 1969.

The 188th TFS from Albuquerque, N.M., arrived at Tuy Hoa Air Base, 80 miles
north of Cam Ranh Bay June 7, 1968. Affectionately known as the “Enchilada Air
Force” (see side bar), it was assigned to the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing.

The 188th saw a great deal of hostile action--above and on the ground. Retired
Maj. Gen. David Quinlan, a Guard pilot with the 188th in Vietnam, can still recall a
night when 14 Viet Cong “sappers” attacked the base, destroyed a C-130
Hercules and damaged several F-100s before being killed by security police.
Another close call by a squadron member occurred when Capt. Jerry N. Williams
had to bail out of his plane crippled by ground fire. Though it only took 55 minutes
for a rescue helicopter to picked him up, he said it felt more like “23 years.”

Other squadron members, however, were not so fortunate. The 188th lost three
pilots in combat, the highest number of losses suffered by any Air Guard unit. Maj.
Bobby G. Neeld and Capt. Mitchell S. Lane were both declared missing in action
when their aircraft disappeared from radar. No sign of the two pilots or wreckage
from their aircraft was ever found, even after repeated air searches. The two
pilots are among the approximately 2,500 Americans who remain accounted for
from the fighting in Vietnam.

The third New Mexico Guardsmen lost was Capt. Michael T. Adams, who was
killed May 4, 1969, after his plane was hit by “suspected enemy ground fire.” Five
weeks later, the 188th returned to its home station at Kirkland Air Force Base,
N.M., for its release from nearly 18 months of active duty.

New York’s 136th TFS, the last Air Guard fighter squadron in Vietnam, arrived at
Tuy Hoa Air Base and began flying its first combat missions by June 15, 1968.
Also assigned to the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing, the 244 officers and men spent
the next 11 months flying almost daily missions primarily in support of U.S. and
South Vietnamese forces.

One such mission, flown near the Cambodian border west of Saigon consisted of
bombing and strafing enemy trenches and bunker complexes. A bomb damage
assessment team credited the unit with “100 percent ordnance on target with 90
percent effectiveness.” Although one pilot was killed in a training accident, the
136th suffered no combat deaths. The 136th returned to its home base at Niagara
Falls and was released from active duty June 11, 1969.

All told, the four Air Guard F-100 squadrons flew 24,124 combat sorties and
accumulated 38,614 combat flying hours in Vietnam.

In addition, there was one more unit, sometimes referred to as “the fifth Air Guard
squadron” also in action. It was the 355th TFS based at Phu Cat Air Base. The unit,
which was organized in South Carolina as a regular Air Force squadron, had more
than 80 percent of its personnel drawn from two mobilized Guard units: the 119th
and 121st TFS. The 355th flew F-100s and performed the same types of missions
as those performed by the other Air National Guard fighter squadrons. Fortunately,
no Air Guardsmen were killed in combat with the 355th. Unfortunately, the Guard
contributions to the unit are not credited with either descendant Air Guard unit
today.

The performance of all five Air Guard F-100 squadrons, however, was not lost on
senior Air Force officials in Vietnam. In 1969, Gen. George S. Brown, then Air
Force commander in Vietnam, gave the squadrons unprecedented praise during
testimony before the U.S. Senate.

“I had ... five F-100 Air National Guard squadrons ... Those were the five best
F-100 squadrons in the field,” he said. “The aircrews were a little older, but they
were more experienced, and the maintenance people were also more experienced
than the regular units. They had done the same work on the weapon system for
years, and they had stability that a regular unit doesn’t have.”

The testimony is thought to be the first time senior Air force leadership had publicly
recognized Guard fighters as being on par or better than their active-duty
counterparts.

The two Air Guard tactical fighter squadrons that deployed to South Korea in
1968, however, had spotty records. The 127th and 166th had difficulties from the
start of their overseas assignment. Both had their support organizations stripped
from them in the United States before they were assigned to the 354th Tactical
Fighter Wing in South Korea. Consequently, they arrived with no logistical
structure in place to support their F-100s.

The wing’s readiness rate fell below Air Force standards in December 1968. It
then lost four aircraft and had one pilot killed in early 1969. In the meantime, the Air
Force belatedly rediscovered that the F-100C was poorly suited to the 354thÕs air
defense mission. The wing’s mission was then shifted to supporting the ground
forces in Korea. Once the Pueblo’s crew was returned, the Air Guardsmen
prepared to return home from Korea. The wing passed an operational readiness
inspection, and both of its fighter squadrons were rated combat-ready. They
returned to the United States and left federal service in June 1969.

The three Air Guard tactical reconnaissance squadrons mobilized in 1968 were
assigned to the Kentucky Air Guard’s 123rd Tactical Reconnaissance Group. All
three flew McDonnell F-101G Voodoo photo-reconnaissance aircraft. After
training at home station for several months the three squadrons assembled at
Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base, Mo., for more training.

The reconnaissance units were then sent to one of three locations: Alaska, Japan
or Panama. At the end of about 60 days the personnel and their aircraft were
rotated to another duty station served by the 123rd. The 154th was released from
active duty Dec. 20, 1968, but the other two squadrons remained on active duty
until June 1969.

On April 11, 1968, even before the first units arrived in Vietnam or Korea, a
second mobilization order was issued with an effective date of May 13. Under this
call up, three more Air Guard units, the 104th (Maryland) and 138th (New York)
TFS and Pennsylvania’s 147th Aeromedical Airlift Squadron were activated. This
brought an additional 1,333 Air Guard personnel to active duty.

None of these units were deployed overseas, although a large number of their
personnel were sent to Vietnam as individual replacements. One of these
replacement pilots was killed in action while flying with a non-Guard squadron. All
three units were returned to state status by the end of 1968.

As with the mobilized Army Guardsmen who served during the Vietnam War, the
members of the Air Guard who served on active duty, many of whom spent nearly
a year in tours overseas, have received very little lasting recognition for their
service. At least seven died in combat while performing their duty.

Their missions were often difficult and dangerous but always carried out with the
professional determination for which the Air Guard is known. Above all, it was a
job well done, and largely forgotten.

Part I: Dispelling a Myth
Sidebar: Unit Brought Mexican Flavor to Southeast Asia
Sidebar: Last Guardsmen in Vietnam Spoke to the Enemy

Retired Chief Warrant Officer 2 John W. Listman Jr. served in Vietnam as a
regular Army medic. He was later the command historian of the Virginia Army
National Guard.

"What do all the men and women who served in the National Guard during this time period think about this? He may have screwed himself by equating NG service with draft dodging..." Exactly, and my father who was in the NG before going to France in WWI would take exception to his slur...BTW, WELCOME HOME, VETERAN! Semper Fi, Kelly

They're not saying NG service isn't noble. They're saying Bush didn't show up for about a year of his service in Alabama. At least that's what his commander in Alabama said. The democrats didn't bring this up when he ran against Gore, because Gore was just a reporter in Viet Nam. They'll bring it up this time because Kerry won medals in combat in Viet Nam. The military is totally different now becuase they use the guard in combat areas now. Especially the air guard. They use them now because they can't just go draft more soldiers from civilians.

My husband is furious. He served 35 years in the same Alabama Air Guard unit that Bush drilled with. He got in the Guard during Vietnam. He had no pull at all. His dad worked for the railroad.

I would like a response from the RNC to the RATS to be something like this.

"Rather than focusing on unsubstantiated and irresponsible rumors regarding President Bush's service in the National Guard 30 years ago, The Democrats should be more concerned with John Kerry's more recent AWOL record in the Senate."

As far as the Guard during the Vietnam era and them not serving, don't forget.

As I recall, back when they were giving VP Dan Quayle grief over his NG service during Vietnam; it was pointed out that one or some Indiana NG units were indeed activated to go. One of the few, if not only state to have NG units activated for Vietnam.

Memory's a little fuzzy on it though.

As for current events, Indiana just sent over 800 NG tropos over to Iraq, the largest deployment since WWII, I think, I read in the paper.

With so many Gaurd units doing active tours; it may not be wise for the Den-O-Rats to insinuate that Gaurd duty is less than "military" duty. It's going to pi$$ off a lot of family members who have loved ones in harms way. [God Bless Them!]

Found the original transcript, some of it is hilarious:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Ed Gillespie went on and on in that speech. He took votes starting in 1972 all the way up to today, against intelligence spending, against defense spending, against FBI spending, against the first Gulf War in 1991. The Republicans clearly think that John Kerry is vulnerable on national security.
MCAULIFFE: Well, this should not shock anybody. This is how the Republicans run their campaigns, negativity. They're going to run a negative campaign. They're going to distort whoever our nominee's record is. This is how they always do it, George.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black, LOL!

STEPHANOPOULOS: So how do you answer, then, people who would say, Wait a second, Democrats all defended Bill Clinton back in 1992, despite the questions about his draft record. Isn't this hypocrisy here?
MCAULIFFE: How is it hypocrisy? When our -- this election's going to be fought about what all Americans will tell you it's going to be fought about, on domestic issues. It's going to be fought on jobs, jobs, jobs, education, and health care.

Sa-a-ay wha-a-a-t? Nice dodge Terry, LOL!

-The Real Military Record of George W. Bush: Not Heroic, but Not AWOL, Either-The Original Story--

-John Kerry- some selected, informative links...--

FYI...

The Real Military Record of George W. Bush: Not Heroic, but Not AWOL, Either

I wonder if Kerry can fly this...

Kerry also joined the Navy when the ARMY infantry did most of the fighting.

He was trying to dodge the worst of the action too.