On Sat, 6 Mar 2004 11:47:39 -0500, "George Z. Bush"
wrote:

You might not have read the full bios. While he spent three years on
active duty, he then spent a full military career continuing to fly in
the Naval Reserves until retiring with the rank of Captain (O-6).


Ed Rasimus

I was aware that he had stayed in and retired as an O-6. I guess you didn't
notice that the lump in my cheek was caused by my tongue rather than a case of
the mumps. Maybe I should have included my homemade smiley sign to signify that
I didn't want my comments taken too seriously. (^-^)))

BTW, since you brought it up, don't you ever wonder how he got through the
entire Viet Nam War without any active service during it, considering how much
of a warrior he turned out to be as a civilian? Most of the rest of us who
wanted to do our bit in uniform found ways to make it happen.

Is that your tongue again or do I smell a herring?

If you return to the bios, you'll note that upon graduation from NROTC
(pretty serious commitment and additionally indicative of getting a
college degree without some sort of inheritance or paternal
influence), he fulfilled his active duty commitment in the '50s (after
Korea, before SEA). He could then have drifted out of service upon
completion of ready reserve requirements, but he didn't.

He appears to have moved down a pretty impressive career path before
SEA heated up. The fact that he simultaneously maintained his reserve
qualifications is adequate for me.

But, we can certainly find a lot of SecDefs on both sides of the
political spectrum without ANY spit-shined brogans in their
closet--dare I mention Les Aspin, Robert Strange McNamara, Robert
Cohen, etc?



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