200 Stranded Marines Needed A Plane Ride Home, Here's How Donald Trump Responded

When Corporal Ryan Stickney and 200 of his fellow Marines prepared to return to their families after Operation Desert Storm in 1991, a logistics error forced them to turn to a surprising source for a ride home: Donald J. Trump.

Stickney (left), was a squad leader in a TOW company of a Marine reserve unit based in Miami, FL and spent approximately six months in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War between 1990 and 1991.

Upon his unit’s return to the United States, the former Marine says the group spent several weeks decompressing at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina before heading back to Miami.

Stickney recalls being told that a mistake had been made within the logistics unit and that an aircraft wasn’t available to take the Marines home on their scheduled departure date.

"The way the story was told to us was that Mr. Trump found out about it and sent the airline down to take care of us. And that’s all we knew….I remember asking 'Who is Donald Trump?' I truly didn't know anything about him," the former Marine said.

The Trump campaign has confirmed to Hannity.com that Mr. Trump did indeed send his plane to make two trips from North Carolina to Miami, Florida to transport over 200 Gulf War Marines back home. No further details were provided.

The Marine says he and his family are—to this day—grateful for Trump’s kind gesture. "It may not seem like much to most people, but it was very important to a bunch of jar heads and more importantly their families waiting for them on the hot tarmac."

Stickney says that his father—a Korean War veteran and former Eastern Airlines captain—claimed to have never seen a 727 turn around and refuel so quickly. His father was so appreciative of Mr. Trump's help; he said he would fly for Trump for free to thank him for what he did.

Stickney says that in his 28 years of public service, he has yet to see this kind of support for the troops from any of the other candidates running for president: "I have not seen a Clinton or Sanders plane, or anything else for that matter, sent to support the troops."

It’s not hard to critique Snopes’ claims.

First, this is a first person story, told by a participant, backed up by photographic evidence. And Snopes’ check of military sources confirms the basic facts. It’s basically indisputable that a plane marked “Trump” delivered these Marines home.

Snopes attack on the story is focused on the notion that Donald Trump did not, directly or indirectly, arrange for the plane to pick up and transport the marines.

Snopes’ claim that Trump did not arrange for the plane is based almost entirely on the theory that Trump was no longer in control of the Trump shuttle at the time the marines were flown from Georgia to Florida. The conclusion that Trump was no longer in control is based on a single internet source—an article in the July 2015 edition of New York aviation that says this:

“In September of 1990 Trump defaulted on his loan and control of the airline went back to the banks led by Citibank. Unlike most other airlines that failed during this time period, the Shuttle was still a valuable asset given its business-oriented customer base and access to slot-controlled airports in New York and Washington.”

“Citibank put the airline up for sale, and after some lengthy negotiations with Northwest and American, settled on a deal with USAir Group.”

The statements in the article appear to me to be based on unsourced statements in a Wikipedia article about the Trump Shuttle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Shuttle

So Snopes’ claim that Trump was not in control is based on the inference that since he defaulted, he was ousted from control. That is not a valid inference.

I know a bit about debtor-creditor law and bankruptcy, having practiced assisting a bankruptcy trustee. Normally, the mere fact of default would not lead to an instantaneous transfer of control over an asset like this to a creditor bank.

What I would expect to see is a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in response to default, followed by negotiations between the debtor and creditor. In a chapter 11 bankruptcy, the creditor retains control of the business and its assets, unless the Court orders otherwise.

I would also expect the creditor would WANT Trump to continue to run the airline for a time, until it had found someone else qualified to do so, in order to best preserve the value associated with the asset, an operating business.

In fact, looking for CONTEMPORANEOUS reporting on the Trump Shuttle, I found this: http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/20/business/deal-made-on-trump-shuttle.html

That article makes it perfectly clear that something like what I would expect to have occurred had in fact occurred after the default, and that in December 1991—more than 6 months after the Trump plain flew these marines from Georgia to Florida-TRUMP WAS STILL IN CONTROL OF THE OPERATIONS OF THE TRUMP SHUTTLE.

Snopes goes on to say suggest that the Trump Shuttle had contracted with the US government to ferry troops, citing the recollection of a retired general. The contract itself has not been produced, so we don’t have the best evidence of what it provided. But the general himself is reported as only recalling it provided for the ferrying of troops from the east to the west coast.

What I think can be fairly said is that some of the details surrounding this story could stand to be further verified. But Snopes’ claim to have debunked the story is, itself, BUNK!

We sat for two weeks hitching rides on 141s. Our CO was last out with me.

We had to scramble for a lot of things. A lot like living in a big family. But back then I thought, geeze, why doesn’t some business interest look at the logistics of what the average captain is dealing with over here and figure out how to help

Then we got home to ‘no more war for oil’. Well, ok. That makes sense. I could tell them first hand the Saudis do not like us. They are not our friends. So yeah. Let’s quit getting and depending on oil from these Beverly hillbillies. (A ton of dough from black gold does not civilize them)

Clinton then increased Mid East oil dependence by like 40% he seemed very close to the Bushes to me. In that way

All together, it made Trump seem like a normal common sense logical choice. He talks about, and in this case, does things logically in our relationship with the Mideast. He’s looking at it like some business interest looking at what the average military captain has to deal with. Sure. That’s trump

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