(Sorry if this is a repeat - but I just now heard it)
Jag
I just heard that report.
Many freepers have known this and it's about time Fox reported it.
They should report it daily for a while.
It is true.
Bush did volunteered for viet service.
Problem was the war was winding down and second the fighters he flew the F104 was not designed for viet battle.
I was cheering! We need to send FaF some PJ's.
Even if he did go to Vietnam, it's not like he had a dangerous job. Dropping bombs on innocent people from 10,000 feet, then flying home 400 miles from the front line to eat a hot meal and sleep in his comfy bed... while *REAL* heroes like John Kerry ate bugs and slept on bamboos skewers.
Oh. Sorry. I was channeling Max Cleland there for a moment...
Okay, I get it now. The first is a Republican and therefore bad and the second is a DemocRAT and therefore good.
Bush had about 300 flight hours and they wanted pilots with over 500 flight hours (they prefered close to 1000)
Bush got turned down on the spot.
Not to diminish this fact, but it is old news. Just not the kind of news you will hear on the alphabet networks.
This won't matter to the detractors. They will just say that Bush had inside knowledge through his Daddy that the F 104's (102's?) were being phased out of participation in the war. Bush knew he was safe. It's all moot anyhow. Bush got an honorable discharge and never sought to make a campaign issue out of his guard service.
I thought I heard that he volunteered for Palace Alert, was turned down due to insufficient flight hours, then re-applied asking for a waiver which was denied.
Anybody elso remenber this?
Killian's son said the same thing.
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2004 09:48:50 -0400 (EDT) To: friends@foxnews.com Subject: Mary Landrieu's Assertion Senator Landrieu asserted that George W. Bush "stayed behind," while John Kerry volunteered for front-line duty in Vietnam. Any facts to back that up? Nope. I think not. YOU seem to be unable or unwilling to share the -UNCONTESTED- and easily verified facts with your viewers: George W. Bush - Requested and was granted training on the F-102. At the time he requested the training, the F-102 was active in Vietnam - After being flight qualified, requested assignment in Vietnam. At the time, F-102 was active in Vietnam. His request was denied because his superior officers deemed him too "green" for combat duty. - After having more experience, again requested assignment to Vietnam. This time his request was denied because the F-102 was not active in Vietnam. John Kerry - Requested assignment on Swift boats at a time when their duty was not upriver, but shore. A Boston Globe story reported, "Kerry also believed a swift boat assignment would keep him away from the frontlines of combat." John Kerry himself wrote, in 1986, "At the time, the boats had very little to do with war. They were engaged in coastal patrolling and that's what I thought I was going to be doing. Although I wanted to see for myself what was going on, I didn't really want to get involved in the war." Now, I know that Senator Landrieu is a partisan, and that she is not truthful. But you are failing to perform a public service when you fail to provide facts for your viewers. Not that there is anything wrong with your omission of relevant facts. But the omission does illustrate the limits of your value as contributing to reasoned public discourse.
Oh, Dan Blather will break in on CBS with a Breaking News Alert on this any moment!
Bush flew the F-102 which was used in Vietnam for air defense. Vietnam F-102s flown under Palace Guard were piloted by Air Guard pilots on 3 - 6 month tours. Bush was not selected because he lacked experience as recent flight school grad - not enough seniority.
I wish I would have taped that intereview. He shot down every one of Rather's arguments.
I don't know why we keep stirring this cauldron. We won this battle. It's over. Forget about it. Throwing out new stuff is just going to muddy the waters.
Wouldn't there be records of this somewhere? Wouldn't he have to fill out some paperwork on this? Why would Bush mention this?
And don't give me the "oh, he's too humble" line. We're in the most important election of a lifetime this year! If he volunteered for Vietnam he should have said so before, and he should say so now. It makes no sense that at the very least his surrogates wouldn't have mentioned this.
Of the four pilots I spoke to who flew with Bush in the Texas days, Fred Bradley knew him best. They had met before going off to the year-long ordeal of pilot school, and entered the 111th at about the same time. Both were junior lieutenants without a lot of flying experience. But the inexperience didn't prevent Bush — along with Bradley — from going to their squadron leaders to see if they could get into a program called "Palace Alert." "There were four of us lieutenants at the time, and we were all fairly close. Two of them had more flight time than the president and me, said Bradley." All four volunteered for Vietnam (Bradley doesn't remember whether he and Bush actually signed paperwork, but he specifically remembers both Bush and himself trying to get into the Palace Alert Vietnam program.) Bush and Bradley were turned away, and the two more senior pilots went to Vietnam.So, coupled with Kerry's attempt to get a deferrment in order go to Paris, and then stating on the public record that he joined the Swift Boat program in order to avoid combat, we can come up with some great trivia questions to drive your lefty co-workers/relatives/etc. nuts, such as:
1) Who is the only major-party presidential nominee to volunteer for a combat role in Vietnam?
2) Who sought more deferrments, Kerry or Vice President Cheney? (The vice president did not actively seek his deferrments; they were automatically granted due to his age when the draft was begun in earnest for Vietnam, his marriage before the draft, the birth of his first daughter, his status in college, and his application for graduate school.)
3) Also, where was Bambi (a.k.a. Breck Boy)? He turned 18 in 1971 when the draft was still going on. How many deferrments did he seek?
When I was in college, I was fascinated by the Martin Scorcese movie, Goodfellas and I went to the library to research some of the actual robberies that were shown in the movie using microfiche of local New York newspapers.
During my research, I was fascinated by all of the old advertising.
Unfortunately, I do not have the time go to the library and do research on whether there was actual advertising by TANG for pilots in the early 70's, but perhaps some enterprising Texas Freeper could take a day and do some research. This would put the final nail in the coffin regarding this issue.Just a thought