"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 4 Feb 2004 19:26:19 -0500, "George Z. Bush"
wrote:


He was current in a "combat aircraft in use in Viet Nam". The F-102
(including ANG crews) was deployed at Udorn, Danang and Tan Son Nhut
among other place.

Your memory is apparently failing. See Juvat's comments elsewhere on this
subject.

If I was an F-102 pilot who was hot to trot, I think I might have volunteered
to
transition into one of the birds actively used in the shooting war, like the
F-105, or whatever equipment they were then using for top covers.

"Top covers"?? What the hell are they? Do you mean MiGCAP? Not a
specialized mission for most of the war, usually flown by F-4s.
Primary job was ground attack, not traditional "fighter" against
"fighter" stuff.

Whatever! I obviously did not fly in VN and am not familiar with the terms used
there. "Top cover" was a term used in WWII and Korea, son.

......F-102s were deployed for airbase defense intercept
duty throughout the war.

Not according to Juvat.

Remember, Bush was ANG, not active force, hence he would have needed
to move out of state and establish residence to find a unit with one
of those aircraft types, which would probably not have gotten him
deployed anyway. Your whole postulate is a non-starter here.

So, follow the thread, contribute relevantly, get your facts straight,
and reduce the level of your personal agenda.

Would you care to comment on his submission of a "volunteer for o/s duty"
statement when he knew or should have known that he had insufficient flying
time
in the bird to be favorably considered? All he had to do was to ask around,
and
he'd have learned that they wanted people with more hours than he had.
Excuse
me if I conclude that he was just going through the motions but I can't
think
of any other reason for volunteering for something you know you're not going
to
get.

Volunteering means a requirement exists and if your volunteer
statement is accepted, you are eligible.

His wasn't, so he wasn't eligible. So what's your point?

.....There might have been a "desired" hours requirement, but it was a long
way from "hard and
fast" if you were current in the system.

So what? Are we now going to criticize the people who turned him down? I made
a point that was critical of him and you're intent on making excuses for his
behavior. Until you can show me something different (and I know you can't),
I've concluded that he put in his volunteer statement knowing full well when he
did it that it wouldn't be approved, and that he did it for self-aggrandizing
purposes.

I flew my first F-105 combat to NVN, right out of training with less
than 120 hours after undergraduate pilot training. I flew my first F-4
combat, again to NVN with less than 30 hours in the F-4C (the combat
was in the F-4E).

I don't think lack of hours was any sort of protection from
deployment.

Perhaps not. I've read somewhere that he, even with his 300 hours more or less,
was not the brightest candle on the F-102 cake. IAC, as I'm sure you know and
will agree, there are pilots and there are pilots, and they sure as hell aren't
one just like the other. For all I know, you could have taken up an F-102 with
15 or 20 hours under your belt and done a better job with the bird than he could
with 500. It's possible.

George Z.

Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8