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Scott Peterson wrote in message ...
(Kevin Brooks) wrote: You are aware that the Cold War was still alive and well through the *eighties*? Yes. But I'm also aware that throughout the Viet Nam era National Guard units were regarded as draft dodgers refuges. Specifically, the TxANG 147th fighter group was considered a "champagne" unit that was a refuge for the area's privileged. Its ranks included John Conally's son, Lloyd Benston's son, John Tower's son, George Bush's son and seven Dallas Cowboys I wonder if you'd have the temerity to utter such a thing to, say, the personnel from the ANG units like those in CO and NM that were activated and flew in Vietnam, or to those "champagne unit" (your description) members who pulled their voluntary rotations in Vietnam? Methinks not... And that despite the fact that the TXANG units were based in Texas, they could have been assigned air defense duties *anywhere*? Could of, maybe shudda, but weren't and considering that in that time frame the F-102 was no longer a first-line aircraft, were probably close to the bottom of the list for doing that. Was no longer a "first line aircraft"? Uhmmm...care to guess when the last F-102's left active duty? Since you did not even have a ghostly idea that they had served in Vietnam, how the heck are we supposed to believe your assessment of their operational status? As to even the definition of 'first line", have you ever looked at what the breakdown in the old ADC force was during that period? Take a gander at how many of those forces you call "second echelon", I presume, were standing alert on a routine basis. The situation today is not all that different (except that today's threat is unlikely to shoot back), with ANG fighters flying AD missions from detached locations on a routine basis. You've lost me here. I'm not aware of any 'threats' that shot back at air defence missions around the Continental US. In the seventies or now. You had no idea that the TU-95 was armed?! Or that Bears routinely trolled down the eastern seaboard, and into the Gulf? That the USSR used Cuba as a refueling point for those Bears (even into the 90's IIRC)? I believe that in the sixties and seventies, the units were much more tightly tied to the state than they are now. Not really. The degree of state control has always been exaggerated by those who have never served in a Guard unit, which number I am guessing from your sneering tone you would be a part of. Also since they were flying aircraft that were not in first-line service, and fairly high-maintenance, moving them to other bases not equipped to handle them would have been a major logistical move that would be difficult to justify. Uhmmm...take a gander at when the F-102 retired from active service, and recall that two NATO allies continued to fly them even after they left ANG service--and you can't see where they might have been used? You may not like GWB, but attacking the service of the F-102 pilots who did their duty *wherever* it occured is not gaining you very much. I said it wasn't the stuff of legend. i.e. not particularly memorable. That's a long way from attacking them. Anyone who did their duty honorably can be justifiably proud, regardless of how memorable it was. Too little, too late (in terms of backpeddling, that is). Go up and read your first paragraph in *this* post and then come back and tell me you were not "attacking". Brooks Scott Peterson |
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