Lieutenant Bush was an F-102 driver. The ‘102, like the B-36 before it, was designed for a threat which never materialized. Small numbers of them found their way to RVN, but they were 3-woods in a 9-iron environment.
It is in my family’s genes. My Dad was a bombardier in a B-24 outfit in the 15th Air Force. He stayed in, became a pilot and retired in 1960 after 22 years.
My Mom was in the Navy for the duration of WWII and worked in Hawthorne, NV as a Naval ammunition inspector.
I was in the Army on active duty from 8/66 to 5/69. RVN service from 3/67 to 5/69. Army Reserves from 5/69 to 8/72.
My brother was a Coast Guard officer from 72 to 78.
“Were there some other options, might these have been vetted earlier before the catapulting?” she asked in an interview afterward. “Of course there are concerns.”
It makes me exceedingly proud as an American Taxpayer to know that we have as a member of the Armed Services Committee a public servant who does not know the difference between “catapulting” and “ejecting.”
/sarcasm off
I spent two Thanksgiving Days in Viet Nam aboard a 338-foot Army ship, the USAV Page. Our chow was always good, but imagine the surprise of the enlisted crew when our ship’s officers showed up wearing their going home khakis. As each man made his choices, an officer would order him to take a seat and the officer would deliver his tray. This nineteen year old kid was impressed!
We should also take note of the fact that Senator McCain slipped in a zinger to the effect that “I don’t have a seal yet.” I loved it when he let that one fly.
I find it rather amusing that the Chinese airline is flying a copy of the Boeing 727, which first flew in 1963 and is no longer in service with any major airline in the Western World.
Has anyone ever seen Biden’s DD214? Did he ever command so much as a shit burning detail in VN? Maybe a Captain’s Gig in the Navy? In other words, what in his life’s experience makes him qualified in some way to look over the shoulders of General Petraeus and play Monday Morning Quarterback?