Posted on 08/18/2004 12:55:19 PM PDT by Littlejon
Fortunately.
Hack is a HACK.
Was that before or after he made his girlfriend get an abortion?
Or maybe he just joined to avoid getting arrested for his cocaine addictions.
Nah. Somehow I have a hard time envisioning GWB's father George Herbert Walker Bush, himself a WWII fighter pilot hero, calling up the recruitment office and demanding they put his son in the Air National Guard flying F-102s, which at the time were tasked to intercept and stop Soviet bombers coming to drup nuclear bombs on American soil.
I sent him an email asking him that; no answer!
BINGO!!! That's is the BEST question ever!!!!
I think the rumor about McCain is that he gave up valuable secret info to the enemy when he was in captivity. It might have come from his own mouth or in a book he wrote. People thought he looked too healthy when he got off that plane.
PS: It is not that the so-called "bumped ahead" claim is beyond the realm of possibility.
It is just that, even if someone in the upper chain of command DID put GWB up in line, he did not necessarily do him any favors.
Flying F-102s was not only an important part of American defenses, there was every likelihood that GWB could have been rotated to Vietnam, as were many of his fellow pilots in the Air National Guard.
Check the stats. Many ANG pilots served and were killed in Vietnam.
Really. I fail to understand the slight. It was honorable service, as was the Coast Guard, the ARMY National Guard, and the Air Force Reserves.
Kerry's problem is not excused as lack of humility. He knowingly took a destructive course of action against his brethren when there were constructive alternatives. McCain has used this well, also.
ping
Hackworth was badmouthing GWB on the radio on 9/11 and 9/12. He's just another water carrier for the Demagogic Party.
I can assure you and Hack that the term "draft dodger" in those days did not apply to those in the National Guard.
That term was reserved for the likes of Bill Clinton who jobbed the system until the draft was over and those 25,000 or so brave hearts who ran up to Canada and the like.
There were several kinds of deferments - like 4F - not physically fit to serve, those folks weren't considered draft dodgers.
In fact John F'ing Kerry, almost certainly carried a 2S deferrment for several years...as soon as he graduated he would have been changed to 1A - that's prime draft material. So he did the sensible thing, join the Navy, after all his father was retired military and serving as an attorney for the State Department's Bureau of United Nations Affairs.. so he couldn't get away with what Clinton did
...on a per-capita basis the names on that wall are by far and away mostly Army and Marines.
I would think his saying that during Vietnam, Bush a) dodged the draft AND b) land[ed] a spot in the ANG could be construed as saying 'those in the GuArd didn't serve during Vietnam.' Is there any other way to interpet it ?
I get tired of these "lets play nice" appologists dumping on SwiftVets. What HACKS me off even more is they can never write anything without a dig at the President's honorable service. He didn't DODGE the draft or get help from "daddy".
Hackworth is a scumbag if joined up with Kerry and his "Band of Brothers Hippies, and on that alone I wouldn't exactly call him honest. He's been anti-Bush on every show I have seen him. Armchair General-ing and second-guessing our military's plan of battle.
No matter how many stripes on his sleeve, he's just another WATERBOY for the Kerry campaign.
He's flying a jet....think that would be more likely to get sent to Vietnam rather than a desk clerk.
HOLY COW!
And Kerry's service was not honorable? So both men found a way to leave the military early - Bsh so he can work on a political campaign and Kerry by overstating wounds for 3 purplehearts. But I guess we praise our guy and damn the other one.
No offense, you seem to be part of those delirious Dems who accuse Bush supporters of saying Kerry's service in the Navy as "not honorable."
Choosing to serve and serving was honorable, just as the Bush campaign has said repeatedly.
But accusing your fellow soldiers of being war criminals like Ghengas Khan when you knew it was untrue was "not honorable."
Joining a group of fake soldiers in giving testimony in Winter Soldier was "not honorable."
Praising the enemy and marching with the North Vietnamese flag while our soldiers were still POWs was "not honorable."
And yes, exaggerating your 18 missions during the 127 days he spent in Vietnam simply so he could pretend he is JFK is "not honorable," just as the sickening braggadocio about his service is "not honorable."
If you can't understand that my friend, then that's a problem you will have to deal with.
GWB spent two years active duty flying F-102s, the plans tasked to protect our country from incoming Soviet bombers, and 3 and one-half years in the AIR National Guard reserves. He received an honorable discharge six months early.
As for myself, I (by law) signed up for the draft in 1970 when I turned 16, and was listed as ?4W or 4Y, which I think meant I was too young to be drafted.
Six months later, President Nixon stopped the draft as by then, we had drawn down our Vietnamese force to the point we did not need more soldiers.
I remember the late 60s and early 70s as being very contentious. An honorable man would not have trashed his fellow soldiers by heaping lie upon lie he knew were not true.
See that is POST SERVICE activity and Kerry needs to be slammed for POST SERVICE choices. But all I see here is slamming of his Naval service. Which means The Navy's medal awarding criteria is a fraud and all naval medals are thus subject subject - and I don't think it is. Slam Kerry for his post service political activities including possible conspiring with terrorists to assassinate Senators.
Oh and PS: FU for calling me a Democrat.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.