Bush and I in the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron from 1970 to 1971. (my title)

COL. WILLIAM CAMPENNI (retired) open public letter to Washington Times | 8/24/2004 | A Navy Vet

[A Navy Vet]

Letters to the Editor

'Bush and I were lieutenants'
George Bush and I were lieutenants and pilots in the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS), Texas Air National Guard (ANG) from 1970 to 1971. We had the same flight and squadron commanders (Maj. William Harris and Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, both now deceased). While we were not part of the same social circle outside the base, we were in the same fraternity of fighter pilots, and proudly wore the same squadron patch.

It is quite frustrating to hear the daily cacophony from the left and Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, et al., about Lt. Bush escaping his military responsibilities by hiding in the Texas ANG. In the Air Guard during the Vietnam War, you were always subject to call-up, as many Air National Guardsmen are finding out today. If the 111th FIS and Lt. Bush did not go to Vietnam, blame President Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, not lowly Lt. Bush. They deliberately avoided use of the Guard and Reserves for domestic political calculations, knowing that a draftee only stirred up the concerns of one family, while a call-up got a whole community's attention.

The mission of the 147th Fighter Group and its subordinate 111th FIS, Texas ANG, and the airplane it possessed, the F-102, was air defense. It was focused on defending the continental United States from Soviet nuclear bombers. The F-102 could not drop bombs and would have been useless in Vietnam. A pilot program using ANG volunteer pilots in F-102s (called Palace Alert) was scrapped quickly after the airplane proved to be unsuitable to the war effort. Ironically, Lt. Bush did inquire about this program but was advised by an ANG supervisor (Maj. Maurice Udell, retired) that he did not have the desired experience (500 hours) at the time and that the program was winding down and not accepting more volunteers.

If you check the 111th FIS records of 1970-72 and any other ANG squadron, you will find other pilots excused for career obligations and conflicts. The Bush excusal in 1972 was further facilitated by a change in the unit's mission, from an operational fighter squadron to a training squadron with a new airplane, the F-101, which required that more pilots be available for full-time instructor duty rather than part-time traditional reservists with outside employment.

The winding down of the Vietnam War in 1971 provided a flood of exiting active-duty pilots for these instructor jobs, making part-timers like Lt. Bush and me somewhat superfluous. There was a huge glut of pilots in the Air Force in 1972, and with no cockpits available to put them in, many were shoved into nonflying desk jobs. Any pilot could have left the Air Force or the Air Guard with ease after 1972 before his commitment was up because there just wasn't room for all of them anymore.

Sadly, few of today's partisan pundits know anything about the environment of service in the Reserves in the 1970s. The image of a reservist at that time is of one who joined, went off for six months' basic training, then came back and drilled weekly or monthly at home, with two weeks of "summer camp." With the knowledge that Mr. Johnson and Mr. McNamara were not going to call out the Reserves, it did become a place of refuge for many wanting to avoid Vietnam.

There was one big exception to this abusive use of the Guard to avoid the draft, and that was for those who wanted to fly, as pilots or crew members. Because of the training required, signing up for this duty meant up to 2½ years of active duty for training alone, plus a high probability of mobilization. A fighter-pilot candidate selected by the Guard (such as Lt. Bush and me) would be spending the next two years on active duty going through basic training (six weeks), flight training (one year), survival training (two weeks) and combat crew training for his aircraft (six to nine months), followed by local checkout (up to three more months) before he was even deemed combat-ready. Because the draft was just two years, you sure weren't getting out of duty being an Air Guard pilot. If the unit to which you were going back was an F-100, you were mobilized for Vietnam. Avoiding service? Yeah, tell that to those guys.

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 obsolescing F-102s was risking one's life.

Critics such as Mr. Kerry (who served in Vietnam, you know), Terry McAuliffe and Michael Moore (neither of whom served anywhere) say Lt. Bush abandoned his assignment as a jet fighter pilot without explanation or authorization and was AWOL from the Alabama Air Guard.

Well, as for abandoning his assignment, this is untrue. Lt. Bush was excused for a period to take employment in Florida for a congressman and later in Alabama for a Senate campaign.

Excusals for employment were common then and are now in the Air Guard, as pilots frequently are in career transitions, and most commanders (as I later was) are flexible in letting their charges take care of career affairs until they return or transfer to another unit near their new employment. Sometimes they will transfer temporarily to another unit to keep them on the active list until they can return home. The receiving unit often has little use for a transitory member, especially in a high-skills category like a pilot, because those slots usually are filled and, if not filled, would require extensive conversion training of up to six months, an unlikely option for a temporary hire.

As a commander, I would put such "visitors" in some minor administrative post until they went back home. There even were a few instances when I was unaware that they were on my roster because the paperwork often lagged. Today, I can't even recall their names. If a Lt. Bush came into my unit to "pull drills" for a couple of months, I wouldn't be too involved with him because I would have a lot more important things on my table keeping the unit combat ready.

Another frequent charge is that, as a member of the Texas ANG, Lt. Bush twice ignored or disobeyed lawful orders, first by refusing to report for a required physical in the year when drug testing first became part of the exam, and second by failing to report for duty at the disciplinary unit in Colorado to which he had been ordered. Well, here are the facts:

First, there is no instance of Lt. Bush disobeying lawful orders in reporting for a physical, as none would be given. Pilots are scheduled for their annual flight physicals in their birth month during that month's weekend drill assembly — the only time the clinic is open. In the Reserves, it is not uncommon to miss this deadline by a month or so for a variety of reasons: The clinic is closed that month for special training; the individual is out of town on civilian business; etc.

If so, the pilot is grounded temporarily until he completes the physical. Also, the formal drug testing program was not instituted by the Air Force until the 1980s and is done randomly by lot, not as a special part of a flight physical, when one easily could abstain from drug use because of its date certain. Blood work is done, but to ensure a healthy pilot, not confront a drug user.

Second, there was no such thing as a "disciplinary unit in Colorado" to which Lt. Bush had been ordered. The Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver is a repository of the paperwork for those no longer assigned to a specific unit, such as retirees and transferees. Mine is there now, so I guess I'm "being disciplined." These "disciplinary units" just don't exist. Any discipline, if required, is handled within the local squadron, group or wing, administratively or judicially. Had there been such an infraction or court-martial action, there would be a record and a reflection in Lt. Bush's performance review and personnel folder. None exists, as was confirmed in The Washington Post in 2000.

Finally, the Kerrys, Moores and McAuliffes are casting a terrible slander on those who served in the Guard, then and now. My Guard career parallels Lt. Bush's, except that I stayed on for 33 years. As a guardsman, I even got to serve in two campaigns. In the Cold War, the air defense of the United States was borne primarily by the Air National Guard, by such people as Lt. Bush and me and a lot of others. Six of those with whom I served in those years never made their 30th birthdays because they died in crashes flying air-defense missions.

While most of America was sleeping and Mr. Kerry was playing antiwar games with Hanoi Jane Fonda, we were answering 3 a.m. scrambles for who knows what inbound threat over the Canadian subarctic, the cold North Atlantic and the shark-filled Gulf of Mexico. We were the pathfinders in showing that the Guard and Reserves could become reliable members of the first team in the total force, so proudly evidenced today in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It didn't happen by accident. It happened because back at the nadir of Guard fortunes in the early '70s, a lot of volunteer guardsman showed they were ready and able to accept the responsibilities of soldier and citizen — then and now. Lt. Bush was a kid whose congressman father encouraged him to serve in the Air National Guard. We served proudly in the Guard. Would that Mr. Kerry encourage his children and the children of his colleague senators and congressmen to serve now in the Guard.

In the fighter-pilot world, we have a phrase we use when things are starting to get out of hand and it's time to stop and reset before disaster strikes. We say, "Knock it off." So, Mr. Kerry and your friends who want to slander the Guard: Knock it off.

COL. WILLIAM CAMPENNI (retired)
U.S. Air Force/Air National Guard
Herndon, Va.5

[A Navy Vet]

What? You don't think you're a Naval Aviation "wiseass"? Be proud of it!

Damn, I only wish I was in Olong[a]po during your tour to meet at JoLo's on Maysaysay. Can you say, "dropping pennies"? Thought you could...heh.

[Genyous]

On May 3, 1968, the first of four Air Guard fighter squadrons began arriving in Vietnam with their F-100s. In addition, 85 percent of the 355th Tactical Fighter Squadron -- on paper a regular Air Force unit -- were Air Guardsmen. The Air Guard units were quickly integrated into Air Force combat operations and performed well.

http://www.ang.af.mil/History/Features/CallUps.asp

[Robert A Cook PE]

Used to be "Wooden Ships and iron Men."

At the turn of the century, before the Brit's taught how to shoot and fight the new long-range guns, became "Iron Ships and Wooden Men."

Now, one weapon, one hit will dismember a destroyer-sized ship - even if that weapon didn't explode!

In 150 different accidents, incidents, explosions, and impacts since WWII, EVERY destroyer-sized ship - after being hit by just ONE weapon - has been lost immediately her weapons system, her propulsion, or her communications. Or all three.

And, without the ability to fight, flee, or fire, that ship is gone in a real war.

[Robert A Cook PE]

What decorations did Kerry wear (on his fatgues!) duringa ll his protests?

Did he only wear the decorations he actually was awarded?

For example, according to his service records, Kerry was only "awarded" his extra campaign stars on his Vietnam ribbon in March, 2001 after he petitoned for extra awards in his DD-214/DD-215.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Ramsey Clark to Join Panel for Saddam’s Defense
arabnews Wednesday, 25, August, 2004


People can get
Kerry's real book here,
right now,
online FREE!!

From Kerry's "The New Soldier":
Al Hubbard Sgt., 22 Troop Carrier Squadron Aug. ’65-June ’66

Emotions: Walking down the flight line at Saigon past stacks of aluminum cases containing American bodies and past stacks of aluminum luggage containing American currency. Seeing the tight, sad face of an Airman loading the bodies aboard a dirty Air Force Transport and the wide smiling face of a stewardess greeting the passengers aboard a clean Pan American Clipper Jet. Hearing a Vietnamese beg you to leave his country and an American colonel tells you to bomb his country. Hearing a Vietnamese invite you to live in his home, after the war and an American explain why you can’t live in his block, after the war. Flying over barren, brown, safe American held terrain and over lush, green unsafe enemy terrain. Feeling happy to be leaving a country in which you do not belong and sad to be returning to a country in which you are not allowed to belong. Sacrificing a portion of your consciousness so you won’t have to deal with being there and building mental blocks so you won’t have to deal with having been there.

- Al Hubbard, proven fraud who never set foot in Viet Nam. The only Vietnamese he ever met was when he was collaborating with the North Vietnamese in Paris
on the American Communist Party's nickel.
John Kerry's explanation: "He (Hubbard) simply exaggarated his particular position.
But nobody knew it at the time. And those things happen."

The New Soldier,
By John Kerry
and Vietnam Veterans
Against the War
PART I
PART II
PART III

Kerry hopes everyone
in the USA gets this book!

[dixiechick2000]

btt backatcha ;o)

[dixiechick2000]

Oooooh! I bet you had a ball!
I imagine the experience was very helpful
to you when someone was interested in the
turbo RX-7, as well.
I've done the grand prix type course (that
was my "do not try this at home" moment),
and the oval.
The oval is absolutely the best experience.
The one thing I had a problem with was
decelerating in the turns.
You don't do that on the oval. ;o)

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[nutmeg]

find later bump

[A Navy Vet]

"In 150 different accidents, incidents, explosions, and impacts since WWII, EVERY destroyer-sized ship - after being hit by just ONE weapon - has been lost immediately her weapons system, her propulsion, or her communications. Or all three. And, without the ability to fight, flee, or fire, that ship is gone in a real war."

Thank you for pointing that out. God help any sailor nowadays who has nowhere to hide, run, retreat,...and only to sent to the darkest depths of the ocean.

I have the upmost admiration for ground-pounders and their heroic efforts. But in this high-tech era, once the battle starts on the seas, it will be apocalypcic. We're talking massacre, depending on who shoots first.

Still, at this time our ground pounders are taking the brunt in Iraq and Afganistan...and God love and keep them.

[mtntop3]

Well said.

[Squantos]

After carefully listening to a screamin rat presstitute last evening she stated that kerry's 4 months of combat made him a better CIC that GW. Well lets see GW's administration has been under Terrorist, Socialist Rat's n'Rinos and Iraqi fire as CIC since day one of his 4 years as president and thus Kerrys creds valid or not are piss compared to GW's real world experience.

What really gets me PO'd is Kerry and his handlers keep repeating GW was "just" National Guard........ How in the hell can any friend , family or co-worker of any National Guard, or Reservists who have served, been wounded , crippled or worse gave the ultimate sacrifice allow such a piece of dog crap like Kerry to even get close to the Oval office. Much less the active duty , career or retired troops. He came back from Vietnam and called Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors and Marines who served or were serving in Vietnam war criminals ........

Personally I have served and protected Presidents I didn't vote for as I respected the office vs the man. The day sheeple vote this turdburgler into office that stops . John Kerry, his supporters and the presstitutes that lie trying to put him in office can KMA !

Stay safe Travis.....

[dsutah]

He was also married and divorced from actress Olivia Hussey who played young "Juliet" from "Romeo and Juliet"(1968or69). I remember reading that when she heard the news, she was so stunned, she got up out of her chair where she was having lunch with a friend, and walked out. I think that was how the story went.(I could be wrong, though). Even though they had split up, they were still friendly.

[Travis McGee]

"Unfit for Command" is just coming out, and you can bet it will be passed among the entire serving military over the next year. How will the military be able to respect Kerry if he becomes CIC?

[Travis McGee]

The more Bush's F=102 service is examined, the more this will become apparent.

[PhilDragoo]

[Squantos]

Outstanding.........A Keeper to be shared with all via E-mail and posters.

Stay safe Phil !!

[TeleStraightShooter]

1st off, thank you for your service
I just burns me up when I read on the net people dis'in stateside service for hateful partisan reasons.

Just a point of FYI clarity as you stated:

A) In August of 1955 the 5th FIS designation was transferred to Suffolk County AFB.
B) In the spring of 1957 the unit transitioned into F-102As.
C) In February 1960 the 5th FIS moved to Minot AFB, North Dakota

But as Post# 39 points out: Static display aircraft are provided by the Air Force out of storage areas

[backtothestreets]

Thanks Genyous. I do appreciate the corrections.