Outspoken, revered Vietnam fighter pilot Jack Broughton dies at 89

LA Times, via Stars & Stripes ^ | Novembe 1, 2014 | Tony Perry

[Timber Rattler]

As a combat pilot, Air Force Col. Jack Broughton was celebrated for bravery and tactical brilliance during the Korean and Vietnam wars. He received promotions and important assignments and seemed headed to become a general.

But a high-profile court-martial during the Vietnam War for allegedly violating the rules of engagement that ruled certain targets off limits ended his career.

After leaving the Air Force, Broughton was free to speak out about what he saw as the incompetence of President Lyndon Johnson and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in micromanaging the war. Pilots couldn't bomb an enemy outhouse without their approval, Broughton once complained.

(snip)

In a modern era where political and military objectives are intermixed, Broughton was "something of an anachronism. A swashbuckling skyjock of the old school, he wanted nothing more than to roll out his fighter jet every day and 'go to work,'" David Gelman, who covered the Vietnam War for Newsday, wrote in his review of "Going Downtown."

(snip)

In June 1967, as the war intensified, a pilot under Broughton's command told him that he may have fired at a Soviet freighter in the North Vietnamese port of Cam Pha while attacking an anti-aircraft site. The Soviet Union complained bitterly to Washington.

To protect his pilots from criticism by civilian and military officials far removed from the realities of the war, Broughton ordered the destruction of the gun-camera film so that no evidence could exist.

(snip)

"It seemed to be that the whole world was out of focus," Broughton later wrote. "Old friends were turning against us and common sense was not to be found."

[zot]

Thanks for the ping. May he rest in peace.
Here is the Wiki entry for him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacksel_M._Broughton

[RWB Patriot]

It’s hard to count Korea, as the Chinese actually made good on their threat to intervene if the US pushed too far, and even then, our boys weren’t required to hand the enemy a knife and bare their throat.

[RWB Patriot]

We didn’t have idiotic rules of engagement until after Korea. In Korea, our boys were permitted to fire on civilians if there was a potential threat to US lives.

[abb]

Your point is valid, but to me, it’s merely a matter of degree. Truman should have been impeached over the MacArthur controversy. He said it best, “there is no subsitute for victory.”

[onedoug]

We had free fire zones in Vietnam. Though it was always up to unit commanders as to how judiciously they were utilized. (Think Calley.) Though we never really got to test our firepower by pivoting North.

One of my platoon leaders was a homicidal maniac. The other should have won the DSC as far as I was concerned. Such is every extreme, until you’re seeing yourself in the dead.