Posted on 07/11/2004 5:24:07 PM PDT by bogeybob
Oh yeah, that 4 months on a swift boat SURELY taught him ALL he needed to know about the conduct of soldiers in the war. What tripe! If you want to talk about risk, George W. Bush risked his life more often than Jean al Query did. Every time he strapped into his jet, he took his life in his hands. There were many pilots who died in training accidents because of the nature of their work; don't think you can say that about the swift boats.
I DO question Jean a; Query's service to this country. He recommended himself for his first Purple Heart, within his first week 'in country', without the approval of his superior officer, then proceeded to get two more in quick succession, not spending more than two days off duty for any of them. I have no idea how he got the Silver Star. If he acted heroically, good for him, but the overall service picture is not a pretty one. It is one of doing all he could to be able to say he was there, but getting home as soon as possible to protest the war. Seems like it was a set-up to have the credibility to be able to protest the war and get himself in line to be a political player.
Contrast that with the life of George W. Bush, who completed his service, with an Honorable Discharge, then went into business, not lusting after political power.
George W. Bush disappeared for the next few years after graduating from Yale? That would be news to the pilots he served with in his two years in the reserves, AND the faculty at Harvard Business School, from which he earned an MBA. I don't know how he could have done all that as a phantom.
Nah, even their teachers seem more 'true-to-life' than this guy!
Unfortunately for the Jews of Europe, there weren't many countries that were allowing them to emigrate. They went wherever they could to get away from the Nazis.
Sorry, but you put the cart before the horse in your article.
Kerry came back and ran for office as a war hero. After losing that race he stuck his finger into the air to guage which way the winds were blowing and ran as an anti-war candidate.
He has been sticking his finger into the air ever since.
Adjunct faculty, maybe?
What's that saying?
"Those that can, do..."
Bates is well known as being a once good school that is now a losers school. And their endowment is gone too.
from Aerospaceweb.org
the Air National Guard was not a guaranteed way to avoid VietNam. And Bush's father was a little-known politician in 1968.
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/q0185.shtml
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 periods of three to six months for frontline duty. Fred Bradley, a friend of Bush's who was also serving in the Texas ANG, reported that he and Bush inquired about participating in the Palace Alert program. However, the two 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. Furthermore, ANG veteran COL William Campenni, who was a fellow pilot in the 111th FIS at the time, told the Washington Times that Palace Alert was winding down and not accepting new applicants.
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