Posted on 05/10/2003 10:38:14 AM PDT by Utah Girl
A jet landing on an aircraft carrier is as glorious as it is dangerous. Or, perhaps, it is glorious because it is dangerous.
That's why some people want to make a living doing it, and only a few can. That's why President Bush, who can do just about anything he wants, hitched a ride May 1, arriving on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in about the most dangerous way any human being can go anywhere.
He survived the physical danger and so reaped the glory, not only of an exhilarating personal experience, but also of the priceless political bounce of being seen around the world, on live TV, as a victorious, hands-on commander in chief.
The political danger, though, lingers.
The problem for Bush is not so much the jealous Democrats moaning about the $1 million it supposedly cost, they charge, to keep the Lincoln at sea an extra day to become a prop in a Bush campaign commercial. The danger for the president is that, by so graphically identifying himself as personally in charge of the war on terror, he leaves himself no escape hatch if things go badly.
And he all but dares his political rivals -- and a press that ought to be pursuing such things -- to again examine the president's own military record.
During the 2000 election campaign, The Boston Globe reported that Bush not only spent his years of exposure to Vietnam military service in the Texas Air National Guard rather than any combat-bound organization, but also managed to disappear from even that duty for a year.
Despite allegations that Bush pulled strings to overcome mediocre test scores and a long waiting list to get one of the few flight-school billets available, it was never as cut-and-dried as Bill Clinton's draft-dodging, or even Dan Quayle's rich-kid National Guard hitch. Learning to fly F-102 jet fighters, as Bush did, is hardly a risk-free desk job. He did pull 21 months of full-time duty, including 18 months in flight school, a commitment to service that apparently was a factor in his being accepted ahead of others who were better qualified.
But there remains the matter of allegations -- denied and forgotten, but never refuted -- that Bush never reported for duty when he wrangled a transfer to the Alabama Guard in order to work on a friend's political campaign. You might think that people would remember serving with the man who later became president, but nobody has been found in Alabama who does.
Of course, if the war continues to go well, if November 2004 finds Iraqis and Afghans living in prosperous, democratic nations, if terrorists are on the run, then it probably won't matter whether Bush earned his wings, or his carrier landing.
But if Osama strikes again, if Iraq follows Iran into the arms of Islamic fundamentalism, or if Afghanistan has become the same kind of swamp for America that it once was for the Soviet Union, then it will be the Democrats who will be running TV commercials with that picture of George W. Bush in a crash helmet.
They might even be happy to reimburse the Navy for the picture, never mind the cost.
This is an outright lie. Ari demolished it the first time it came up. The Big A docked in port as scheduled.
A Reservist who wishes to move out of state gets a "90 day letter" exempting him from his reserve obligation that long, while he looks for a new unit that will take him. If there is no unit in the new state that will take him, or has no open slot, he's off the hook for his obligation while in that state. And with Reserve and Guard units filled up during that time, I doubt if there was any unit in Alabama that had an opening for a pilot trained in an aircraft type they didn't use.
Those same rules are in effect today. Sometimes both the regular military and the reserves can't find its ass with both hands, and has no idea of where the openings are. That's just the way things work.
The terrorists pick on big city targets, which means Gore voters. The city dwellers won't be running to the Democrats if a dirty bomb goes off. The Democrat Party might not even survive such an attack.
Is it dangerous? Yes, but only if you make a mistake. It is not, by far, the most dangerous occupation. The most dangerous occupation in the United States per 1,000 participants, is jockey. Policemen, firemen, etc., follow in due course. Naval aviators are way down the list.
But who am I to interrupt a good rant?
Congressman Billybob
My memory, and this goes back a couple decades, is that he was assigned to the Pensacola Naval Station. My memory is also that he "made General," but per your comment I must be wrong about that. I do know that Pete was as good with a plane's stick as he was with a lacrosse stick (he was All-American in that sport in 1964).
So, per your comments, I stand corrected.
John / Billybob
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