Posted on 08/28/2004 5:10:56 PM PDT by IMRight
After weeks of denigration of the Democratic challenger's Vietnam war record, Mr Kerry's backers have responded with allegations against the President - including the claim that he was once photographed in uniform wearing a medal ribbon he had not earned.
As polls showed that Mr Bush had edged ahead of Mr Kerry for the first time, a pro-Kerry organisation labelled the President an "impostor" over the photograph, taken in 1970 and discovered in his father's Presidential Library in Houston, Texas.
The ribbon is an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award - which was not awarded to the 111th Fighter Intercept Squadron in which Mr Bush served until 1975, five years after the photograph was taken, according to the group US War Report.
..clip..
Asked about the medal ribbon, a White House spokesman said he could not respond until the record had been checked.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1200914/posts
I was told it had been previously posted and thoroughly debunked (but nobody could find a link to the previous post).
Based on prior research, here's what I need to debunk this:
1) Evidence that the Air Force (or Guard) regulations at the time allowed for "temporary wear" (that is, that men joining a unit AFTER the awarding of a unit medal were to wear the medal while serving with the unit, but would then remove it (so it would never show up on that individual's separation documents.
2) That a previous unit Bush served with (perhaps a training unit) had earned the medal while Bush was there (and it's perhaps an oversight that it is not on his paperwork (errors have been made - not Kerry's "Silver Star with combat 'V').
3) Evidence that the 111th or 147th earned the medal prior to the date in question (while Bush was still there. A couple websites talking about the history of the 102 Bush flew talked about the 147th earning their first such medal a couple years BEFORE Bush joined (contradicted by this article). Perhaps there was a SECOND award during the time Bush was there.
One argument in our favor. Men wear awards they didn't earn all the time and get away with it. But it's hard to believe you could wear a UNIT award around other members of the UNIT who didn't have such an award. If I were going to fake a more heroic record, I might pick something harder to debunk.
If John F*ckin' wants to keep slogging on who is a medals-wearing braggart, what can I say, "bring it on!"
This is pure desperation.
LOL....this is the big "bombshell" cooked up by those looney tunes over at DU. They've been e-mailing every tabloid on the planet trying to get a nibble. Looks like they got a bite.
I'll take this seriously when we have an 111th Fighter Intercept Squadron Vets for Kerry group publishing a best seller on the subject and running a commercial featuring veterans saying that Bush's wearing of the ribbon was used in an attempt to break them while they were being tortured in North Vietnam.
If this is the best he can do, Kerry is sinking like a two-ton rock.
This is great...the longer they stay off-message like this the better. Some DNC nitwit actually thinks this is an issue that will help them?
There is SUCH desparation in the dem groupies to CHANGE THE MEDIA talk of the Swift Boat Vets and kerry's unfitness.
Even as they know this is bogus...getting President Bush to respond will grab the liberal media propagandists by the you know what! And they will once again control the shots. Not likely. LOL
This is one mountain made of a molehill that will not fly.
The dems are learning that being on the defensive is just not much fun! LOL I hope they keep on doing this stuff....it is a MIRACLE for us!
Nit Pick award goes to these whiners.
I'm in the Air Force right now, and AFPC (Air Force Personnel Center) commonly gives ribbons to people who don't deserve them, especially AFOUAs and AFOEAs. When an award comes down, it is given to everyone in the unit, then some are pulled back by the system over time. It's stil screwed up even with the computerized system we now have.
Somebody posted the picture earlier and explained that it is common practice to wear the award from your division, or whatever. It was not done to prop him up, as was the case with Kerry.
Where is the DNC crybaby logo?
The picture has been posted here today on FR. I don't remember which thread.
Clearly this was concocted by the finest minds of the finest ivy-walled colleges and universities, and law schools, of the USA.
Such a shame they never lived up to their potential...
Does Bush have a personalized license plate that says AFOUA?
The ribbon is an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award - which was not awarded to the 111th Fighter Intercept Squadron in which Mr Bush served until 1975, five years after the photograph was taken, according to the group US War Report.When I was in INSCOMM I wore a colorful unit citation that the unit, not me, had earned years ago. When I left the unit I stopped wearing it. What's the big deal?
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