Posted on 09/24/2004 8:58:46 PM PDT by quidnunc
A retired National Guard officer now living in East Tennessee is weighing into the debate over President Bush's service record.
Volunteer TV's Eric Waddell says the man who swore then-Lieutenant George Bush into the Air National Guard, is rising to the President's defense from his Blount County home.
Retired Colonel Ed Morrisey served in the Air National Guard and is familiar with the President's record since the beginning of his service.
Opposite a portrayal of a soldier not performing his duty he describes a flyer, near the top of his class.
Retired Colonel Morrisey has trained, developed and commanded lots of soldiers over a distinguished career.
He also swore in one very notable officer.
"George W. went to pilot training, seated well, being selected to be a fighter pilot, which is at the top of the line in the Air Force selection process. Came back to train in the F-102 at Ellington. He stood alert like anyone else," says Colonel Morrisey.
According to Morrisey, then-Lieutenant Bush more than fulfilled his guard requirements.
Morrisey says in the six years the President served he never failed to meet participation point requirements.
-snip-
"The Air Force, in their ultimate wisdom, assembled a group of 102's and took them to Southeast Asia. Bush volunteered to go. But he needed to have 500 [flight] hours, but he only had just over 300 hours so he wasn't eligible to go, Morrisey recalls.
Despite that, Lieutenant Bush stayed busy.
"He flew in active air defense missions, training missions. Day, night, regardless of inclement weather," Morrisey says.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at volunteertv.com ...
Call me cynical, but I bet he wasn't interviewed by Dan Blather.
Looks like a real slacker to me.
I wonder if he would be willing to say that in a campaign ad?
And, by the time Kerry left, after four months, there wasn't an enemy left. /sarcasm
I bet he's a Republican "operative".
/democRat slime off
You say that in jest, but I'm sure he will be among the people who "sugar-coated" the records. Remember, it's true because Dan and others want it to be true.
Too bad he didn't have the flight hours needed to go, then maybe he would have had three purple hearts too. Naw, probably not. I bet that not too many fighter pilots survived to attain three purple hearts, or do the paperwork for them, or whatever.
I'll bet he trained many more airmen than soldiers, although he is old enough to have been Army Air Corp.
This gets better and better. Did you notice that CBS CEO Sumner Redstone endorsed GWB (see Drudge). Talk about letting the air out of ol'Dans tires. According to the Drudge story he is a long time Dem. Lordy. When the rats start fleeing the ship you sure don't want to get trampled.
Keep in mind that the average intercept training mission was filed for 1+30 (an hour and a half from take off to touch down) So, how many flights did it take to collect 300 hours in an F-102?
"Bush flew with the 111th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which was attached to the 147th Fighter Wing, based in Houston, Texas. While Bush's unit never got called to Vietnam, the 147th was. From 1968 through 1970, pilots from the 147th participated in operation "Palace Alert" and served in Southeast Asia during the height of the Vietnam War. The 147th came off runway alert on Jan. 1, 1970 to start a new mission of training all F-102 pilots in the United States for the Air National Guard." -- credited to a Freeper whose name I cannot find at this moment
"(The President) toward the end of his training in 1970, tried to volunteer for overseas duty, asking a commander to put his name on the list for a "Palace Alert" program, which dispatched qualified F-102 pilots in the Guard to the Europe and the Far East, occasionally to Vietnam, on three- to six-month assignments." -- excerpt from the Lardner and Romano WaPo 7-part series on GW from '99
Sorry, can't be true if Dan Rather and Mary Mapes didn't see fit to tell us about this.... after all, "Mad Mary" worked on this story 'obsessively' for 5 years, so we know she came up with a complete, final, objective report which accurately reflected all aspects of the issue..... right?
/sarcasm
It's not likely that anything good about Bush will be printed in MSM.
I have been getting all kinds of email from nutty lefties lately, ever since I wrote to CBS, and to those nuts at the Texas democrat idiots.
Some nut named "Dave" had the nerve to tell me that Bush's father killed two airmen when he bailed from his plane.
and then picked up by a sub. He claimed it was because Bush Sr. was 'privileged'. Amazing. How was Bush Sr. "privileged" when he was a young man in ww2?
I have read about this before, but apparently to get traction it requires someone like this to come out and say it. A shame reporters can not actually do research and notice this or just read the Byron York on NRO.
It is pretty remarkable that Bush evr even got to fly. Most in the Air Force never make the grade. I'm sure it isn't ll that much easier in the ANG.
"It is pretty remarkable that Bush evr even got to fly. Most in the Air Force never make the grade. I'm sure it isn't ll that much easier in the ANG."
It was remarkable, but no easier.
There were still a lot of Korean War pilots in the Texas units. And though they probably were not flying, more than a few WWII veterans were still there. And, some of the 111th pilots had flown combat missions in Vietnam. If anything, there had to be a lot of pressure on Bush to measure up.
In Korea the 111th was part of the 136th Bombardment Group. In WWII they flew reconnaisance from North Africa, through Sicily, Italy, and finally France.
"In Korea the 111th was part of the 136th Bombardment Group."
Sorry. Make that 136th Bombardment Wing.
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