A aviation & planes forum. AviationBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » AviationBanter forum » rec.aviation newsgroups » Military Aviation
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

bush rules!



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #51  
Old February 14th 04, 05:43 AM
dougdrivr
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"B2431" wrote in message
...
From: "* * Chas"



The bottom line is this:

During the Vietnam era it wasn't too difficult for the draft
age sons of the wealthy and/or politically well placed to
find ways of avoiding the posibility of going to Vietnam or
in many cases avoiding military service altogether!


I read somewhere reliable that the casualties of rich people in Viet Nam

was no
lower than that of the poor. Were there more middle class in Viet Nam than
rich? Yes, ofcourse, the "middle class" population is, and was, bigger

than the
upper and lower classes combined.

The percentage of black casualties was roughly the same percentage as the

U.S.
black population etc.

Can we find examples of people using influence to get cushy spots? Sure,

it
happens throughout society at all levels.

I hardly call joining the guard or reserves avoiding the draft since they

are
military services. This is expcially true since there were elements of

both who
went to Viet Nam and you can find the names of some of them on the wall.

By the way, being drafted did not ensure a trip to Viet Nam in the

infantry.
Draftees were given MOS and posts as needed. If memory serves the

percentage of
draftees who saw combat as about 50%.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired


I'm just pulling numbers out of my ass here, Dan, but I'd guess the number
of total draftees that went to Viet Nam was 50%. The number that actually
saw combat was probably less than 10%.


  #53  
Old February 14th 04, 06:55 AM
Be Kind
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Move to Screen Bush File in 90's Is Reported
By Ralph Blumenthal
The New York Times www.truthout.org
www.rememberjohn.com

Thursday 12 February 2004

HOUSTON, Feb. 11 — A retired lieutenant colonel in the Texas
National Guard complained to a member of the Texas Senate in 1998 that
aides to Gov. George W. Bush improperly screened Mr. Bush's National
Guard files in a search for information that could embarrass the
governor in future elections.

The retired officer, Bill Burkett, said in the letter to Senator
Gonzalo Barrientos, a Democrat from Austin, that Dan Bartlett, then a
senior aide to Governor Bush and now White House communications
director, and Gen. Daniel James, then the head of the Texas National
Guard, reviewed the file to "make sure nothing will embarrass the
governor during his re-election campaign."

A copy of the letter was provided to The New York Times by a
lawyer for Mr. Burkett to support statements he makes in a book to be
published this month, which Mr. Burkett repeated in interviews this
week, that Mr. Bush's aides ordered Guard officials to remove damaging
information from Mr. Bush's military personnel files.

Mr. Bartlett denied on Wednesday that any records were altered.
General James, since named head of the Air National Guard by President
Bush, also denied Mr. Burkett's account. But Mr. Bartlett and another
former official in Mr. Bush's administration in Texas, Joe Allbaugh,
acknowledged speaking to National Guard officials about the files as
Mr. Bush was preparing to seek re-election as governor.

Both said their goal was to ensure that the records would be
helpful to journalists who inquired about Mr. Bush's military
experience.

Questions about Mr. Bush's service in the National Guard have
arisen in every campaign he has run since his 1994 race for governor.
His 2004 re-election campaign is no different, as Democrats have
pointed to apparent gaps in his service record with the National
Guard.

On Tuesday, the White House released 18 months of payroll records
that it says demonstrate that Mr. Bush fully completed his service.
And on Wednesday, the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said the
administration was awaiting more records and promised to make public
any previously undisclosed information from the file.

Mr. McClellan and other administration officials criticized the
Democrats for their attacks on Mr. Bush's service in the National
Guard during the Vietnam War. "What you are seeing is gutter
politics," Mr. McClellan said. "The American people deserve better.
There are some who are not interested in their facts. They are simply
trolling for trash."

Mr. Burkett's letter to Senator Barrientos was part of a running
battle that he waged with the National Guard after retiring in January
1998. In it, Mr. Burkett complained of "severe retaliation" from
General James for what he said was reporting "illegal acts" within the
National Guard. He also complained about the government's failure to
pay for his medical care after suffering from a tropical disease after
a military assignment to Panama in 1997. Before finally winning
medical benefits in July 1998, he said, he suffered a nervous
breakdown and was hospitalized for depression.

A spokesman for Senator Barrientos, Ray Perez, said on Wednesday
that "Mr. Burkett did correspond with this office." Senator Barrientos
said he was trying to find the six-year-old records of contacts with
Mr. Burkett. Another Texas legislator contacted at the time by Mr.
Burkett, Representative Bob Hunter, Republican of Abilene, said Mr.
Burkett had appeared before his committee overseeing military affairs
and had complained of mishandling of his medical claims but did not
mention Mr. Bush's files. He called Mr. Burkett "disgruntled."

In telephone interviews this week from his home near Abilene, Mr.
Burkett, 55, a systems analyst with 27 years in the National Guard
including service as deputy commandant of the New Mexico Military
Academy, said he happened to be in General James' office at Camp Mabry
in Austin in mid-1997 and overheard Mr. Allbaugh on a speakerphone
telling General James that Mr. Bartlett and Karen P. Hughes, another
aide to Governor Bush, would be coming to the Guard offices to review
Mr. Bush's military files.

Ms. Hughes, who left the White House in 2002, did not return a
call.

Mr. James said though a spokesman that "that discussion never
happened" and that he would "never condone falsification of any
record." Mr. Allbaugh called the account "pure hogwash," but said he
talked to General James about making Mr. Bush's records available to
reporters.

"We spoke about a lot of things," Mr. Allbaugh said. "I'm sure we
had a conversation with General James where all the records were kept
because it was an issue in 1994 and 1998 and would be in 2000. We
wanted to make sure we could refer people of your profession where to
go."

Mr. Burkett further said that about 10 days later he and another
officer walked into the Camp Mabry military museum and saw the head of
the museum, Gen. John Scribner, going through Mr. Bush's personnel
records. Mr. Burkett said he saw a trash basket with discarded papers
bearing Mr. Bush's name. Mr. Burkett said the papers appeared to be
"retirement point certificates, pay documents, that sort of thing."

General Scribner dismissed the account. "It never happened as far
as I know," he said. "Why would I be going into records?"

Mr. Burkett is quoted at length in a book to come out by the end
of the month, "Bush's War for Re-election" by James Moore, a former
Texas television reporter and co-author of "Bush's Brain."

The other Guard officer who Mr. Burkett says was with him the day
he saw General Scribner going though the records, George Conn,
declined in an e-mail message to comment on Mr. Burkett's statements.
But Mr. Conn, a former chief warrant officer for the Texas Guard and
now a civilian on duty with American forces in Europe, said: "I know
LTC Bill Burkett and served with him several years ago in the Texas
Army National Guard. I believe him to be honest and forthright. He
`calls things like he sees them.' "

A retired officer, Lt. Col. Dennis Adams, said Mr. Burkett told
him of the incidents shortly after they happened. "We talked about
them several different times," said Mr. Adams, who spent 15 years in
the Texas Guard and 12 years on active duty in the Army. He now works
for the Texas Department of Public Safety as a security officer
guarding the state Capitol.

www.rememberjohn.com www.truthout.org
  #54  
Old February 14th 04, 05:26 PM
Tarver Engineering
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"dougdrivr" wrote in message
...

I'm just pulling numbers out of my ass here, Dan, but I'd guess the number
of total draftees that went to Viet Nam was 50%. The number that actually
saw combat was probably less than 10%.


A lot of draftees wound up in Europe manning the nuclear atrillery.


 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Juan Jiminez is a liar and a fraud (was: Zoom fables on ANN ChuckSlusarczyk Home Built 105 October 8th 04 12:38 AM
Bush's guard record JDKAHN Home Built 13 October 3rd 04 09:38 PM
"W" is JFK's son and Bush revenge killed Kennedy in 1963 Ross C. Bubba Nicholson Aviation Marketplace 0 August 28th 04 11:30 AM
"W" is JFK's son and Bush revenge killed Kennedy in 1963 Ross C. Bubba Nicholson Aerobatics 0 August 28th 04 11:28 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:13 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 AviationBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.