IN DEFENSE OF LT. BUSH

WASHINGTON TIMES.COM ^ | OCTOBER 11, 2004 | CHARLES D. YOUREE, JR., USAF (Ret)

[CHARLITE]

In defense of Lt. Bush

By Charles D. Youree, Jr.

President Bush's military service is being unjustly vilified. I feel a sense of anger and frustration when I hear that instead of volunteering for Vietnam, Mr. Bush "hid out" flying fighter/interceptor jets in the Air National Guard (ANG) for four years.

As a former Air Force pilot with 6,000 hours of flying time, including more than 3,000 hours in jet fighters, I know that whenever you strapped yourself into a jet fighter and took off, you were in harm's way. Your life was on the line. As fighter pilots, we did not feel we were in harm's way. Statistics proved us wrong.

During my first four years of military service as both a student and an instructor pilot in fighter aircraft, I experienced many close shaves and witnessed dozens of jet fighter pilots killed in my flying training wing due to air accidents. The next two years, I was on exchange duty with a Navy squadron of about 24 pilots. Two other instructor pilots checked into the squadron the same week as I did — Navy Lt. Bill Charles and Marine Lt. Sam Murphy. Within eight months both Lt. Charles and Lt. Murphy, along with their pilots undergoing checkout, died in air accidents.

Brig. Gen. Charles D. Youree, Jr., USAF (Ret.) is former Strategic Air Command chief project officer for the B-1 bomber.

[Jeff Head]

Senator Kerry, APOLOGZE NOW!.

[nikos1121]

I have been saying this for months now. I too, have known people who have been killed in training as pilots.

The plane Bush flew also, I understand, did not have a stellar safety record.

nick

[Conspiracy Guy]

Twitchy and unforgiving.

[NonValueAdded]

Ping

[FR_addict]

It takes a lot of courage to be a fighter pilot. I've been wondering why the Bush campaign hasn't been pointing this out.

This is an excellent article.

[rocksblues]

Comparing these data, it is obvious that Lt. Bush, as a jet fighter/interceptor pilot in the Air National Guard, was more than twice as exposed to fatal danger than he would have been if he had taken his chances on an average tour in Vietnam.

I wish this article had statistics stating the US Naval Viet Nam casualties for Officers that were not flight rated!

[SkyPilot]

One of things John O'Neill said that was so infuriating to him and the other Swifties was how John Kerry was campaigning in a leather A-3 flight jacket with all these Vietnam patches on it.

O'Neill said they never wore those, and besides it was 98 degrees in Vietnam most of the year.

GW Bush, on the other hand, can wear one with pride because he earned it. He should wear one more on the campaign trail.

Democrats can't wait to "dress up" as warriors that they never were. I remember this Time magazine cover during "MAD Maddie's War" (aka Allied Force):

An Air Force full Colonel loaned "Madame" Secretary his jacket because she said she was cold. She ran to the mirror and loved the way the jacket looked on her. Not only did she insist on keeping the leather jacket, she called her friends at Time to snap this ridiculous cover shot.

[A.A. Cunningham]

That's an A-2 jacket. Squids would wear G-1s. A-3s were sheepskin lined trousers.

[SkyPilot]

Yup--you're right.