Combat Ready Bush?

Sir,

I'd like to start my counter-argument with the President's motivation
for entering the ANG. G.W. Bush stated to the Dallas Morning News
that, "I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in
order to get a deferment.
Nor was I willing to go to Canada." (MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4271520/ )

If G.W. Bush could pass a Class A flight physical, he could have
joined practically any active-duty unit that deployed to SEA. Simply,
George Bush did not answer his country's call in its most difficult
times.

Whether or not he was a good fighter pilot becomes irrelevant if he
was vaulted over 500 other candidates for a intensely competetive ANG
billet with a 25% score in his pilot's aptitude test. (Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer)

After earning the coveted US Air Force wings at the cost of several
hundred thousand dollars to the American Taxpayers, he completes less
than 200 flight hours in F-102 Daggers





Ed Rasimus wrote in message
Third, drug testing was not routine during the period in question. It
was available to commanders on a "suspicion" basis but seldom
applicable to aircrews. Random drug testing for lower rank enlisted
came into practice in '73-74 and was expanded to all ranks by the end
of the decade long after Bush was discharged from the ANG.

Fourth, even when drug testing was instituted, it was NEVER part of a
flight physical which was a scheduled event--hence a druggie could
clean up before the physical. Drug testing was separate, done under
controlled conditions and with samples handled in a total different
chain than urinalysis from annual physicals.

Fifth, some folks don't have an all-encompassing interest in flying
fighters for a career. They may have other goals and ambitions.
Nothing at all unusual about that.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
"Phantom Flights, Bangkok Nights"
Both from Smithsonian Books
***www.thunderchief.org

wrote in message
om...
Sir,

I'd like to start my counter-argument with the President's motivation
for entering the ANG. G.W. Bush stated to the Dallas Morning News
that, "I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in
order to get a deferment.
Nor was I willing to go to Canada." (MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4271520/ )

Yeah, and John Kerry is on record as saying the only reason he volunteered
for Swift boat duty was because at that time they were only involved in war
on its periphery, so that would be a great way for him to get his "combat
veteran" ticket punched without having to actually expose himself to combat.
So what?


If G.W. Bush could pass a Class A flight physical, he could have
joined practically any active-duty unit that deployed to SEA. Simply,
George Bush did not answer his country's call in its most difficult
times.

You are apparently of a mistaken view as to what "answering his country's
call" really means. He volunteered for ANG flight duty,and he made it
through the training program, versus taking his chances on the draft
lottery--how do you know he might not have drawn a lottery number that did
NOT get him drafted in the end? So in essence, he volunteered for a Guard
hitch, ensuring he was "answering his country's call", versus taking his
chances in regards to either being drafted or not. He went beyond that by
asking to volunteer for Palace Alert, but he did not have the necessary
experience to make him competitive for that program at that time. And before
you step on your crank, you might recall that when he joined the Guard, some
twenty thousand Guardsmen ( from both Army and Air contingents) had just
been sent off to active duty in Vietnam, with another ten thou or so ending
up elsewhere, in places like Korea (which was anything but a "cold" warzone
in the late sixties). he did answer his country's call--he just did not do
so in the exceedingly narrow view that you have chosen. So, what about all
of those active duty personnel who served at the same time, but never made
it to Vietnam--do you think *they* were not answering the call, either?
Maybe you think those active military personnel should have been able to
just decide for themselves where their duty locations were to be? I don't
think so.


Whether or not he was a good fighter pilot becomes irrelevant if he
was vaulted over 500 other candidates for a intensely competetive ANG
billet with a 25% score in his pilot's aptitude test. (Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer)


That has yet to be proven--how many of those 500 could (a) pass the flight
aptitude test, (b) were willing to fly, and (c) were willing to take the
extensive time required for active duty for training (ADT) that went along
with getting qualified as a F-102 pilot? I doubt you can provide a concrete
answer to even one of those questions, and if you can't, then your claim
that he was unfairly vaulted over those other guys is baseless.


After earning the coveted US Air Force wings at the cost of several
hundred thousand dollars to the American Taxpayers, he completes less
than 200 flight hours in F-102 Daggers

So? You might care to read Ed's posts today in regards to the pilot
situation at the time, and then you'd have to recall that his unit had just
been changed from being an active air defense player to its new role of
serving as a training element for ANG interceptor crews. It was looking at
losing its remaining F-102's in the near term, and when you have a choice
between paying to requalify a junior part-time ANG pilot with little
expereince versus maybe instead taking some O-3 who just got off an active
duty tour with beaucoup hours in the aircraft you are transitioning to,
which do you think is the better deal for said taxpayers?

This ignores the fact that Guardsmen do move sometimes, and those moves can
require them to find a new unit closer to their new abodes. It is a
*part-time* job, for gosh sakes, not their most self-absorbing activity in
life.

Brooks



Ed Rasimus wrote in message
Third, drug testing was not routine during the period in question. It
was available to commanders on a "suspicion" basis but seldom
applicable to aircrews. Random drug testing for lower rank enlisted
came into practice in '73-74 and was expanded to all ranks by the end
of the decade long after Bush was discharged from the ANG.

Fourth, even when drug testing was instituted, it was NEVER part of a
flight physical which was a scheduled event--hence a druggie could
clean up before the physical. Drug testing was separate, done under
controlled conditions and with samples handled in a total different
chain than urinalysis from annual physicals.

Fifth, some folks don't have an all-encompassing interest in flying
fighters for a career. They may have other goals and ambitions.
Nothing at all unusual about that.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
"Phantom Flights, Bangkok Nights"
Both from Smithsonian Books
***www.thunderchief.org