On Sun, 23 May 2004 06:29:06 GMT, Guy Alcala
wrote:

Ed Rasimus wrote:

On Sat, 22 May 2004 07:46:55 GMT, Guy Alcala
wrote:

snip

-- I'm after the technical stuff, and "GD" provides more of that
than "TR".

Seems the "technical stuff" of GD is mostly legalistic and the Uniform
Code of Military Justice.

snip

Then you must have skipped the chapter discussing "Project Swatrock" in Korea (where he used those 'Oerlicon' rockets on his F-84), as well as
Broughton's opinions on the various Century series fighters, feelings about the Genie (IIRR he spelled it 'Geenie'), etc. That was the stuff that
interested me.

One of the grad courses I suffered through in my formative years
required reading of a half-dozen works (maybe more,) some book-length,
some journal articles. In each, the task was to determine the author's
"thesis"--the core idea that provided the backbone of the book, and
then to ascertain if the author had provided the logically reasoned
argument to support that thesis.

In "Going Downtown" Broughton's thesis is that he was a victim of the
AF's desire to scapegoat him and destroy his career while he was
simply doing the proper thing as a commander and supporting his
troops. His recounting of his biographical experience is part of the
argument of "what a great guy am I."

The majority of the book deals with his legal travails as the AF holds
him accountable for wilful destruction of the evidence that his troops
violated the ROE. The investigation, the arrest, the detainment at
Clark, etc. are all Jack's bewailing his treatment. "Everyone knows I
was on the fast track to Chief of Staff...."

Bah humbug. It's a poor self-serving attempt to rewrite history. I'm
hoping I can encourage Olds to get his details of the story included
in his book.



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