General Patton on Lieutenant Kerry

"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 2 Feb 2004 08:10:05 -0500, "George Z. Bush"
wrote:

Ed Rasimus wrote:

Both, however, are military rated pilots. Which places them
considerably above two stripe enlisted journalist assistants with
curtailed combat tours and personal body-guards in terms of their
military service.

Without nit picking too much, why don't we use the past tense in talking
about
the ratings held by the Bush family. Daddy's expired when he was demobilized
at
the end of WWII, and Junior's expired when he deliberately failed to update
his
flight physical. Just one small difference.

Don't know about yours, but my wings don't expire, whether I get a
physical or not. Neither does my similar, but not as highly valued FAA
license. They are lifetime awards. The currency of a flight physical
merely enables me to exercise the privileges. No expirations.

Gee, as if I didn't know that. I didn't say that anybody's wings expired.....I
was talking about the recipient's entitlement to pilot military aircraft. Your
privileges expire when your physical expires.....but you already knew that, and
I'm surprised that you felt so insecure as to feel obliged to parse my meaning
when at least 99 of every 100 former military pilots could figure out exactly
what I was talking about from the words I used.

And while we're at it, I may have missed the early part of this exchange, but
I
thought we were talking about Kerry.....I didn't know he was a two stripe
enlisted journalist assistant. The stripes he had were the kind Navy
commissioned officers wear, I do believe.

We were talking, I thought about presidential candidates. And, we did
discuss the appropriateness of commissioned officers behavior
elsewhere in the thread. Yes, we've recognized repeatedly that Kerry
holds a commission. Surprised he didn't recall the appropriateness of
wearing ribbons with fatigue uniforms.

I can't speak to that but perhaps some memories are less perfect than others.

George Z.

From: "George Z. Bush"





Without nit picking too much, why don't we use the past tense in talking
about
the ratings held by the Bush family. Daddy's expired when he was demobilized
at
the end of WWII, and Junior's expired when he deliberately failed to update
his
flight physical.

I agree about using the past tense.
Now I know you strongly dislike Bush 2, but can you prove he "deliberately
failed to update his flight physical?"

There is enough to dislike about any president without inventing things.


Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

Ed Rasimus wrote:
Further, I really don't like Senator Kerry's comments regarding the
President and his qualifications to welcome home the troops he
commands by flying aboard a carrier. George W. Bush was both a
commissioned officer (like Kerry) and a fully qualified AF fighter
pilot (unlike Kerry.) No president we've ever had is more qualified to
don the Nomex and carry a helmet.


His father?

Been there, done that. He probably would have gone out on a helo, anyway, the
Lincoln being in sight of San Diego--a jet would have smacked of a "photo op".

"ArtKramr" wrote in message
...
Subject: General Patton on Lieutenant Kerry
From: Ed Rasimus
Date: 1/30/04 2:52 PM Pacific Standard Time

And Lt. Kerry's three Purple Hearts, it has been
reported in a number of sources recently resulted in no missed duty
days--it's a puzzlement.

I don't believe a word of it.

Little surprise there.

Do you?

He wrote it, didn't he?

And are you saying that every silver star ever awarded is now null and
void?

No, he is merely pointing out the obvious fact that not *every* Silver Star
was evidence of heroism, and his example of LBJ is an appropriate one in
this case. The curious nature of those Purple Hearts received with
reportedly no absence from duty does make his awards situation questionable.

Or only those awarded to members of opposite political parties?

I suspect Ed would be equally disgusted if a Republican had behaved in the
manner in which Kerry has in regards to his self-serving maneuvers (i.e.,
tossing what he now claims were someone else's medals over the fence in a
well publisized protest event, then displaying his medals and braying about
his military expertise).

Before you accuse Ed of subverting his notions of integrity based upon his
alleged political affiliation, you might care to glance in a mirror and ask
yourself that same question. And BTW, what happened to your recent one-man
campaign against off-topic/political posting? Rather short "battle" you
fought there, eh?

Brooks



Arthur Kramer

"Kevin Brooks" wrote in message ...

No, he is merely pointing out the obvious fact that not *every* Silver Star
was evidence of heroism, and his example of LBJ is an appropriate one in
this case.

I'd like to hear more bout LBJ's silver star.

The curious nature of those Purple Hearts received with
reportedly no absence from duty does make his awards situation
questionable.

My understanding is that none of the three wounds were serious.
I presume that he received firstr aid in the field and did not
require hospitalization upon his return. I don't know what
standard, if any, there is for a purple heart but I don't think
they are restricted to injuries that render one unfit for duty.

--

FF

"Fred the Red Shirt" wrote in message
om...
"Kevin Brooks" wrote in message
...

No, he is merely pointing out the obvious fact that not *every* Silver
Star
was evidence of heroism, and his example of LBJ is an appropriate one in
this case.

I'd like to hear more bout LBJ's silver star.

After wrangling himself a USNR commission, he junketed to the southwest
Pacific and rode in a single sortie (some accounts indicate a milk run) on a
B-26. After he landed they pinned a SS on him, with appropriate press
coverage, of course. Pretty disgusting, all in all.


The curious nature of those Purple Hearts received with
reportedly no absence from duty does make his awards situation
questionable.

My understanding is that none of the three wounds were serious.
I presume that he received firstr aid in the field and did not
require hospitalization upon his return. I don't know what
standard, if any, there is for a purple heart but I don't think
they are restricted to injuries that render one unfit for duty.

Like any decoration, the Purple Heart award can be "abused" in terms of how
it is handed out. My brother knew of one guy in his outfit who actually
tried to write himself up for one (he stubbed his toe trying to get into a
bunker during a rocket attack on their base in Danang); his own commander
offered him one after he was shot down and wrenched his back in the crash
(he laughed that one off). Seeing a guy like Kerry who gets not one, but
*three* PH's, with no reported lost duty days (he claims he missed "one or
two days" for one of the wounds, but we have not seen his records to that
effect yet, have we?) should raise one's eyebrow a bit.

AR 600-8-22: "...the wound for which the award is made must have required
treatment by a medical officer and records of medical treatment for wounds
or injuries received in action must have been made a matter of official
record." Let's see if the media beagles so interested in GWB's military
records care to dig up the dirt on Kerry's PH's--I am not holding my breath.

Brooks


--

FF

In article ,
"Kevin Brooks" writes:

"Fred the Red Shirt" wrote in message
om...
"Kevin Brooks" wrote in message
...

No, he is merely pointing out the obvious fact that not *every* Silver
Star
was evidence of heroism, and his example of LBJ is an appropriate one in
this case.

I'd like to hear more bout LBJ's silver star.

After wrangling himself a USNR commission, he junketed to the southwest
Pacific and rode in a single sortie (some accounts indicate a milk run) on a
B-26. After he landed they pinned a SS on him, with appropriate press
coverage, of course. Pretty disgusting, all in all.

To make things even less palatable, the B-26 he was on had developed a
case of teh Galloping Ner-get-overs, and aborted the mission before
even coming close to the target area.


--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster

Peter Stickney ) wrote:
: In article ,
: "Kevin Brooks" writes:
:
: "Fred the Red Shirt" wrote in message
: om...
: "Kevin Brooks" wrote in message
: ...
:
: No, he is merely pointing out the obvious fact that not *every* Silver
: Star
: was evidence of heroism, and his example of LBJ is an appropriate one in
: this case.
:
: I'd like to hear more bout LBJ's silver star.
:
: After wrangling himself a USNR commission, he junketed to the southwest
: Pacific and rode in a single sortie (some accounts indicate a milk run) on a
: B-26. After he landed they pinned a SS on him, with appropriate press
: coverage, of course. Pretty disgusting, all in all.

: To make things even less palatable, the B-26 he was on had developed a
: case of teh Galloping Ner-get-overs, and aborted the mission before
: even coming close to the target area.

Let's be clear though--MacArthur requested and authorized the
medal because he knew LBJ was FDR's protege and thought this would
get him (Mac) some points.
Nevertheless LBJ proudly wore the ribbon for the rest of his
life. You can see it in his lapel in every picture.