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.
Ooops!
Bush flew 102's.
He flew the F 102 not the F 104.
The F 102 fire control system was a 1950 design.
No transistors only tubes.
Its computer was analog not digital.
You have to also throw in the argument that if they had accepted GW for NAM duty...he would have had to retrain into another airframe...which means at least six months of training. And the major airframes of the period would have been the B-52, C-130, C-141, and the F-4.
Bush flew the F-102 Delta Dagger interceptor, whose mission was domestic Air Defense against attacking Soviet bombers. However, stranger things have been know to happen in war. The B-52 was a strategic bomber - not designed for the tactical bombing it was used for in Vietnam. Same with the F-111. So who knows? The important thing is that he volunteered - and there might have been a mission for his aircraft cobbled together - or he might have been retrained for another aircraft.
Why do people keep saying Bush flew the F-104 when it was actually the F-102? Rush made the same mistake the other day.
GW flew the F102, not the F104.