It's the Flight Suit

The Freedom Institute ^ | May 12 2003 | Dr. Bob Orndoff

[isthisnickcool]

[Conspiracy Guy]

The cartoon is not worth a reply. Even the dims gave up on that non-issue. If you have a military background or know anything about the military you'd have heard of "Early Out". They are easy to obtain by ACTIVE DUTY Personnel (I got out 4 months early in USAF in 1976 just by asking if I qualified, served out remaining commitment in Inactive Reserve, happens all the time) and it's a mere formality for Nat. Guard Personnel. But then that would require some knowledge.

[Toespi]

What did they want him to wear on a fighter jet? A business suit? I am relatively uninformed as to the necessary gear to fly in one of those things, but even I know that anyone who flys in them are required to wear the appropriate gear for safety and pressurization.

[Gritty]

One of the reasons President Bush looks so natural in a flying gear is because he is entirely comfortable wearing it. After all, he wore a flight suit for years as part of his uniform. There was nothing "artifical" about it.

Besides, he was flying in an ejection seat in the E-3. He is required by regulation to wear it, as well as the rest of the mandatory safety gear he had on. There is nothing "stagey" at all about this!

The only thing "artifical" in this entire dust-up is the poo-pooing outrage from frothy Liberals who simply can't stand the scene but cry "foul!" for other reasons.

[sweetliberty]

"My fiancee has a major crush on W. Should I be jealous?"

Look at it this way: would you rather she have a crush on Sean Penn or Martin Sheen, or, God forbid, Al Gore or Bill Clinton? Perspective, darlin'. Just shows she has good taste.

[dalebert]

Like the old song says "Walk LIke A Man".

[dixiechick2000]

"It's not the suit, it's the man."

Exactly! There's no way Bubba cold have pulled this one off, because it would not have been believable.

I still gag when I think of Bubba's pasty, white thighs in those jogging shorts. Portraying himself as a fitness buff was not believable, either.

BTW, in the next to last photo you posted, in the background, there is a plane with "VFA-113" painted on it. That's my hubbies' former squadron.;o)

[baseballmom]

It's not the suit, it's the man.

Exactly.

My impression is that President Bush is a modest man, in attire and attitude.
The fact that he looks buff and handsome in any attire is nice, but it won't win wars, win the peace,
or get the other myriad economic problems under control.

The man in the flight suit is a leader, and that's what the 'Rats can stand.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Wait till they get a load of the upcoming beach vacation with the family when he steps from the ocean in swim trunks.

Mitt Romney [MA's very virile Republican Governor] actually had an ad where he was seen frolicking on a raft in swim trunks with his very virile sons, while a voice in the background blathers about his family. Mitt looks great in a bathing suit, especially for a 50+ guy. His Democratic rival, Shannon O'Brien, who's an admitted Lesbian and devotee of Dunkin' Donuts, raised a hue and a cry, Mitt kept running the ads. He's Governor and she's a question on the Massachusetts Edition of Trivial Pursuit. Turnabout is fair play; they tried to imply that he was unfit to be Massachusetts Governor because Mormons were weird. As opposed to adherents of Sappho.

[wjcsux]

If you have a military background or know anything about the military you'd have heard of "Early Out".
Yup, can relate to that one. I got out of the AF, went to college and was accepted into the Navy's AVROC program. Graduated from college (Carter years) the Navy and AF were RIF-ing avaitors as fast as the Administration could force them out.

[x1stcav]

Your's is one of the most poignant observations I've heard yet about all this fuss. The President, after all, is supposed to be the Commander-in-Chief. Then he should act like it. It does remind me of the other GW.

We may be getting past the leftist neutering and emasculation of our military finally.

[Conspiracy Guy]

A High School Firend of mine that joined Army the same day I joined USAF got wounded in Nam and was released voluntarily 1 and 1/2 years early. Guess the dims would say he didn't serve his commitment. What a bunch of crap.

[MizSterious]

"It whould provide an interesting contrast to distastful imagery of a certain lardbutt "romancing" his lardbutt wife on the beach just after the Monica story broke."

You had to go and invoke that awful image, didn't you? The Cellulite Nightmare...

Now, let me go wash my brain with clorox.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Also his unit and the aircraft they were flying was going bye bye. That's always an easy time to say can I go home now? The age of the birds he was flying took GUTS to strap on. A carrier landing takes guts in any fixed wing, heck rotary wing too look how many accidents we recently had in helicopters. I love this!! W is a great man and the dims are making him greater. He's becoming a Legend.

[MizSterious]

"It's not the suit, it's the man. "

Bingo! You could photo shop any Dem's face into those pics, and it wouldn't be even close to the same. (If I recall, Dukakis even tried at one time, and ended up looking like a geek in a helmet.)

[ravingnutter]

After basic training at Lackland and his commissioning as a second lieutenant in 1968, Bush got what amounted to a two-month-plus vacation that enabled him to head to Florida to work for a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, Edward J. Gurney. Put on inactive duty status, Bush arrived in early September and stayed through Election Day, riding the press plane, handing out releases, and making sure traveling reporters woke up in time. He occasionally returned to Houston for weekend Guard duty.

Bush graduated from Combat Crew Training School on June 23, 1970, having fulfilled his two years of active duty. But he still flew the F-102 Delta Daggers a few times a month; his unit kept two of the fighters, fully armed, on round-the-clock alert and needed the pilots to man them.

To start at Harvard, Bush needed early release from Guard duty in Texas, and he got it easily, about eight months short of a full six years. A Bush spokesman, Dan Bartlett, said early departures were quite common and, in Bush's case, appropriate because his unit had phased out the F-102s.

Source

Also in that article...

During a second interview, Bush himself raised the issue. "Had my unit been called up, I'd have gone . . . to Vietnam," Bush said. "I was prepared to go." But there was no chance Bush's unit would be ordered overseas. Bush says that toward the end of his training in 1970, he tried to volunteer for overseas duty, asking a commander to put his name on the list for a "Palace Alert" program, which dispatched qualified F-102 pilots in the Guard to the Europe and the Far East, occasionally to Vietnam, on three- to six-month assignments.

He was turned down on the spot. "I did [ask] – and I was told, 'You're not going,' " Bush said. Only pilots with extensive flying time – at the outset, 1,000 hours were required – were sent overseas under the voluntary program. The Air Force, moreover, was retiring the aging F-102s and had ordered all overseas F-102 units closed down as of June 30, 1970.

[nutmeg]

ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ping list.

[MaeWest]

My fiancee has a major crush on W. Should I be jealous? :-)

Consider yourself lucky, sweetie.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Exactly!!! The cartoon sucked.

[Libertina]

President Bush is a hottie!
(WE all knew this ;)