Retired Colonel: Bush Volunteered for Vietnam

WVLT Volunteer TV [Knoxville, TN] ^ | September 24, 2004 | Eric Waddell

[Mo1]

FYI PING

[Arizona]

Thanks for the link. I just sent CBS the suggestion to interview Retired Colonel Ed Morrisey to help bring back a little of their credibility.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for speaking up!

[Racehorse]

I was wth the 747th AC&W Sq at Ellington until the site closed down. (Comm-Elect). You were up at Sweetwater, I think. Do you remember the designation for the AC&W Sq at Lackland? Do you remember which other units were part of the 31st Air Division. Small world.

[Paul Atreides]

I am literally wondering if W is letting the Dims stew over this stuff until it spills over into the debates, at which time, he will blast Kerry for bringing it up and settle the matter once and for all. I can just picture Kerry, droning on about it and W presenting documents and other stuff with which to shut him up.

[ozzymandus]

When will this be on 60 minutes??

[patriciamary]

Oh,that would be great!

[tiki]

Could we send him to CBS to get interviewed? LOL Maybe we should just send him to talk to SKerry and McAuliffe and Harkin.

The one thing that inspires me about Bush is his loyalty to those he respects and their reciprocal loyalty. That is the mark of an honorable man, one who knows how to make friends and keep them.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Nice article, interesting read. Thanks for the ping Mo!:)

[Mo1]

You're welcome :0)

[SeaBiscuit]

Well you can bet the lib MSM will never use this story since they only rely on 3rd party recollections of dead peoples opinions.

[Adrastus]

No, I don't. I went to Lackland a couple of times though. On an eval trip and a cross training trip. The only one I remember there was a Lt named Bill...something. I know we ran the heck out of those Dueces at Ellington and Kelly, though. Indeed, small world. Amazing how a bit of knowledge from the past comes in handy.

[Adrastus]

Another.. I remember an NCO from Ellington named Lou Florer who was at the Hang AC&W Sq at Wheeler when I was at 326 Air Div.

[Kozak]

From http://www.lincolnheritage.org/About_Us/Resources/Weekly_Magazine/New_Articles/F-102__Vietnam___George_W__Bus/f-102__vietnam___george_w__bus.html


Even in peacetime conditions, F-102 pilots risked their lives on every flight. Only highly-qualified pilot candidates were accepted for Delta Dagger training because it was such a challenging aircraft to fly and left little room for mistakes. According to the Air Force Safety Center , the lifetime Class A accident rate for the F-102 was 13.69 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours, much higher than the average for today's combat aircraft. For example, the F-16 has an accident rate of 4.14, the S-3 is at 2.6, the F-15 at 2.47, the F-18 at 4.9, and the F-117 at 4.07. Even the AV-8B, regarded as the most dangerous aircraft in service today, has an accident rate of only 11.05 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours. The F-102 claimed the lives of many pilots, including a number stationed at Ellington during Bush's tenure. Of the 875 F-102A production models that entered service, 259 were lost in accidents that killed 70 Air Force and ANG pilots.

[Irish Eyes]

to the top

[jla]

It's not my intent to muddy the water, but why would Col. Morrissey's recollection and that of Dubya's not seemingly corroborate each others'?

February 8, 2004
excerpt from transcript of interview of President Bush by Tim Russert

Russert: Were you favor of the war in Vietnam?

President Bush: I supported my government. I did.
And would have gone had my unit been called up, by the way.

Russert: But you didn't volunteer or enlist to go.

President Bush: No, I didn't. You're right. I served.
I flew fighters and enjoyed it, and provided a service to our country.
In those days we had what was called "air defense command," and it was a part of the air defense command system.

The thing about the Vietnam War that troubles me as I look back was it was a political war.
We had politicians making military decisions, and it is lessons that any president must learn, and that is to the set the goal and the objective and allow the military to come up with the plans to achieve that objective.
And those are essential lessons to be learned from the Vietnam War.

Source: Meet the Press
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4179618/

[Racehorse]

". . . The only one I remember there was a Lt named Bill...something. I know we ran the heck out of those Dueces at Ellington and Kelly, though. Indeed, small world. Amazing how a bit of knowledge from the past comes in handy."

After all these years, names and numbers kinda blur.

But, if the opportunity comes up, I think more than a few readers would be interested in what you have to say about what a weapons controller did . . . especially the frequency, rigor and intensity of the exercises.  Might give most everyone some insight into how closely the Air Force and the Air Guard worked together carrying out their real-world Air Defense mission.