Lt Bush's direct comission

[HueyPilot]

Fairness and the military

Singlecoil:

You seem to miss the point about Bush Sr being awarded a DFC for his actions in WWII when he lost his aircraft. You point out that the fact he was awarded the honor, but his other two crewmen were not is an example of how the "rich kid" always gets the credit.

That's not why Bush got the medal and the others did not. Bush was the pilot of the aircraft, and thus in command of the aircraft. As per military tradition, typically the pilot in command gets the higher award unless they decide to give the award to the entire crew, or unless a specific crew member performs a specifically heroic act. Here are a few examples I know of off the top of my head that demonstrates this (and points out how the awarding of medals isn't necessarily a "fair" process):

Michael Novosel was a Chief Warrant Officer 4, and pilot-in-command of a UH-1 medical evacuation (medevac) helicopter in Vietnam. He repeatedly flew his battle-damaged helicopter into harms way and eventually rescued 29 wounded South Vietnamese soldiers. He was unhurt, but that action resulted in the Army awarding him the Medal of Honor.

Charles L. Kelly was also a PIC of a medevac UH-1, and was enroute to a hot landing zone to pick up wounded ARVN troops. Inbound, he was told he should abandon the approach because the LZ was too dangerous. He is well known amongst medevac crews in the Army, and his "Dustoff" callsign soon became the adopted nickname of all medevac flights. His last words became the unofficial motto of the medical evacuation community. After being told to go around and avoid the hot LZ, he said "When I have your wounded...". He was cut off in mid-sentence by a bullet which killed him instantly, and his helicopter rolled over and crashed with the loss of all aboard. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (second to the Medal of Honor).

My own grandfather was seriously wounded as an infantry platoon leader in Korea, when a soldier from his platoon was hit by enemy machine gun fire and left in an exposed area. He rushed out of the cover and dragged him to safety, in the course of the rescue he himself was hit by that very same machine gun. He was hospitalized for several months, and asked to return to service in Korea (which he did for another year). He got a Bronze Star.

You see, when an aircraft performs a particularly risky mission, the whole crew works to make it happen. But it's the PIC who makes the decisions, and ensures they press on. So typically they get the higher honors. If it's any comfort, Bush's crewmates at least got a Purple Heart...in itself a pretty high decoration. I'm not sure if they received any other citation. In the above examples, two pilots did almost identically brave things, and one paid with his life while the other escaped with a shot up helicopter. Yet they guy who lived got the MOH. Go figure.

 

[Singlecoil]

Thanks Huey for pointing that out. In the recent Gulf War CNN had on a Lt. Col. from one of the tank units that had just been awarded the silver star. I was kind of wondering if that was more of a unit citation rather than for individual achievement. They didn't explain what the medal was for exactly. My grandfather landed on Omaha Beach and later earned the silver star, and my father flew in the Air Force, so I am definitely not "anti-military" by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[VFR on Top]

Re: back in those days

Some have accused him of being a draft dodger, I do not see how joining the military could be considered draft dodging. .... My 1966 AOCS class had about 10% draft dodgers in it, guys who could not get into OCS at Newport because of the waiting list, but were in draft status and physically qualified for flight duty so they went to Pensacola, got their commission and DORed into some stateside billet.

Funny, first you say you don't see how someone joining the guard can be called a draft dodger, then you go on to tell us about the draft dodgers you were in AOCS with.

People who flocked to the guard during the draft--especially the children of powerful politicians--deserve to be called "draft dodgers" every bit as much as Clinton did.

 

[pilotyip]

Draft Dodger/avoider definition

I can see how that doesn't really make sense say GWB was not a dodger, but saying the guys in my Navy class were. I guess there are two meanings, one is avoidance of military service which non of my class mates nor GWB did, which would include going into the service to not get drafted, i.e. draft avoider, I might even fit that, because I did not want to get drafted and serve in the infantry, so like GWB, and my classmates I volunteered for military service, Bill Clinton did not do any service in the military and there is a big difference, he was a military servcie avoider. You are young, guessing by your flight time, you were not involved in personal decisions effecting your life during the mid to late 60's. Therefore you placing a judgment on someone else's actions during that time period is like you judging Truman on dropping the A bomb. You were not there, you did not have to make the decision.

 

[Spur]

I guess I must be a draft dodger too... seein as I never even registered at age 18. Instead I joined the air force (cunning move on my part). Well, the government finally caught up with me at age 22. See, I was down on the mexican border... little installation near Del Rio, TX (Guess it took them so long 'cause they always start looking in Canada) when Hefe (aka my flight commander) told me the selective service was hot on my trail and I'd better register before it was too late. Well, at that point, I was a little older and had wised up a little, and was thinkin of startin a family one day. I didn't want to drag them through a life on the run, so I finally gave in and signed up for the draft... Man, I was sooooo close.

Guess I'd better stay away from public office.

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

I believe the tennis hottie is Anna Kournikova. At first the name that came to me was Svetlana Viturina, but she was a Russian volleyball player, not a tennis player, and she is not a hottie.

Cliff
MCI

PS-Thanks to the above posters who explained in more detail how the Guard works. I think that what Bush did was immoral, but I see how in the Guard system it wasn't so abnormal. I do know that when he got back to TX his CO there said he was in trouble, and that he had to do a bunch of stuff to make up for his missing guard duty while in AL. He did the stuff require to get it made up, so he wouldn't be drafted.

Hey, we can avoid all of this stuff by voting for females, as there won't be, at least for current politicians, questions of whether or not they were draft dodgers.

 

[scarface]

Actually, I think the only way you can avoid the draft dodger controversy is to only run someone who was drafted.

 

[Spur]

I know this thread has been dead for awhile, but my blood is still boiling and I found this interesting...

'Bush and I were lieutenants'
George Bush and I were lieutenants and pilots in the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS), Texas Air National Guard (ANG) from 1970 to 1971. We had the same flight and squadron commanders (Maj. William Harris and Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, both now deceased). While we were not part of the same social circle outside the base, we were in the same fraternity of fighter pilots, and proudly wore the same squadron patch.
It is quite frustrating to hear the daily cacophony from the left and Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, et al., about Lt. Bush escaping his military responsibilities by hiding in the Texas ANG. In the Air Guard during the Vietnam War, you were always subject to call-up, as many Air National Guardsmen are finding out today. If the 111th FIS and Lt. Bush did not go to Vietnam, blame President Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, not lowly Lt. Bush. They deliberately avoided use of the Guard and Reserves for domestic political calculations, knowing that a draftee only stirred up the concerns of one family, while a call-up got a whole community's attention.
The mission of the 147th Fighter Group and its subordinate 111th FIS, Texas ANG, and the airplane it possessed, the F-102, was air defense. It was focused on defending the continental United States from Soviet nuclear bombers. The F-102 could not drop bombs and would have been useless in Vietnam. A pilot program using ANG volunteer pilots in F-102s (called Palace Alert) was scrapped quickly after the airplane proved to be unsuitable to the war effort. Ironically, Lt. Bush did inquire about this program but was advised by an ANG supervisor (Maj. Maurice Udell, retired) that he did not have the desired experience (500 hours) at the time and that the program was winding down and not accepting more volunteers.
If you check the 111th FIS records of 1970-72 and any other ANG squadron, you will find other pilots excused for career obligations and conflicts. The Bush excusal in 1972 was further facilitated by a change in the unit's mission, from an operational fighter squadron to a training squadron with a new airplane, the F-101, which required that more pilots be available for full-time instructor duty rather than part-time traditional reservists with outside employment.
The winding down of the Vietnam War in 1971 provided a flood of exiting active-duty pilots for these instructor jobs, making part-timers like Lt. Bush and me somewhat superfluous. There was a huge glut of pilots in the Air Force in 1972, and with no cockpits available to put them in, many were shoved into nonflying desk jobs. Any pilot could have left the Air Force or the Air Guard with ease after 1972 before his commitment was up because there just wasn't room for all of them anymore.
Sadly, few of today's partisan pundits know anything about the environment of service in the Reserves in the 1970s. The image of a reservist at that time is of one who joined, went off for six months' basic training, then came back and drilled weekly or monthly at home, with two weeks of "summer camp." With the knowledge that Mr. Johnson and Mr. McNamara were not going to call out the Reserves, it did become a place of refuge for many wanting to avoid Vietnam.
There was one big exception to this abusive use of the Guard to avoid the draft, and that was for those who wanted to fly, as pilots or crew members. Because of the training required, signing up for this duty meant up to 2½ years of active duty for training alone, plus a high probability of mobilization. A fighter-pilot candidate selected by the Guard (such as Lt. Bush and me) would be spending the next two years on active duty going through basic training (six weeks), flight training (one year), survival training (two weeks) and combat crew training for his aircraft (six to nine months), followed by local checkout (up to three more months) before he was even deemed combat-ready. Because the draft was just two years, you sure weren't getting out of duty being an Air Guard pilot. If the unit to which you were going back was an F-100, you were mobilized for Vietnam. Avoiding service? Yeah, tell that to those guys.
The Bush critics do not comprehend the dangers of fighter aviation at any time or place, in Vietnam or at home, when they say other such pilots were risking their lives or even dying while Lt. Bush was in Texas. Our Texas ANG unit lost several planes right there in Houston during Lt. Bush's tenure, with fatalities. Just strapping on one of those obsolescing F-102s was risking one's life.
Critics such as Mr. Kerry (who served in Vietnam, you know), Terry McAuliffe and Michael Moore (neither of whom served anywhere) say Lt. Bush abandoned his assignment as a jet fighter pilot without explanation or authorization and was AWOL from the Alabama Air Guard.
Well, as for abandoning his assignment, this is untrue. Lt. Bush was excused for a period to take employment in Florida for a congressman and later in Alabama for a Senate campaign.
Excusals for employment were common then and are now in the Air Guard, as pilots frequently are in career transitions, and most commanders (as I later was) are flexible in letting their charges take care of career affairs until they return or transfer to another unit near their new employment. Sometimes they will transfer temporarily to another unit to keep them on the active list until they can return home. The receiving unit often has little use for a transitory member, especially in a high-skills category like a pilot, because those slots usually are filled and, if not filled, would require extensive conversion training of up to six months, an unlikely option for a temporary hire.
As a commander, I would put such "visitors" in some minor administrative post until they went back home. There even were a few instances when I was unaware that they were on my roster because the paperwork often lagged. Today, I can't even recall their names. If a Lt. Bush came into my unit to "pull drills" for a couple of months, I wouldn't be too involved with him because I would have a lot more important things on my table keeping the unit combat ready.
Another frequent charge is that, as a member of the Texas ANG, Lt. Bush twice ignored or disobeyed lawful orders, first by refusing to report for a required physical in the year when drug testing first became part of the exam, and second by failing to report for duty at the disciplinary unit in Colorado to which he had been ordered. Well, here are the facts:
First, there is no instance of Lt. Bush disobeying lawful orders in reporting for a physical, as none would be given. Pilots are scheduled for their annual flight physicals in their birth month during that month's weekend drill assembly — the only time the clinic is open. In the Reserves, it is not uncommon to miss this deadline by a month or so for a variety of reasons: The clinic is closed that month for special training; the individual is out of town on civilian business; etc.
If so, the pilot is grounded temporarily until he completes the physical. Also, the formal drug testing program was not instituted by the Air Force until the 1980s and is done randomly by lot, not as a special part of a flight physical, when one easily could abstain from drug use because of its date certain. Blood work is done, but to ensure a healthy pilot, not confront a drug user.
Second, there was no such thing as a "disciplinary unit in Colorado" to which Lt. Bush had been ordered. The Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver is a repository of the paperwork for those no longer assigned to a specific unit, such as retirees and transferees. Mine is there now, so I guess I'm "being disciplined." These "disciplinary units" just don't exist. Any discipline, if required, is handled within the local squadron, group or wing, administratively or judicially. Had there been such an infraction or court-martial action, there would be a record and a reflection in Lt. Bush's performance review and personnel folder. None exists, as was confirmed in The Washington Post in 2000.
Finally, the Kerrys, Moores and McAuliffes are casting a terrible slander on those who served in the Guard, then and now. My Guard career parallels Lt. Bush's, except that I stayed on for 33 years. As a guardsman, I even got to serve in two campaigns. In the Cold War, the air defense of the United States was borne primarily by the Air National Guard, by such people as Lt. Bush and me and a lot of others. Six of those with whom I served in those years never made their 30th birthdays because they died in crashes flying air-defense missions.
(continued)

 

[Spur]

(continued from above)
While most of America was sleeping and Mr. Kerry was playing antiwar games with Hanoi Jane Fonda, we were answering 3 a.m. scrambles for who knows what inbound threat over the Canadian subarctic, the cold North Atlantic and the shark-filled Gulf of Mexico. We were the pathfinders in showing that the Guard and Reserves could become reliable members of the first team in the total force, so proudly evidenced today in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It didn't happen by accident. It happened because back at the nadir of Guard fortunes in the early '70s, a lot of volunteer guardsman showed they were ready and able to accept the responsibilities of soldier and citizen — then and now. Lt. Bush was a kid whose congressman father encouraged him to serve in the Air National Guard. We served proudly in the Guard. Would that Mr. Kerry encourage his children and the children of his colleague senators and congressmen to serve now in the Guard.
In the fighter-pilot world, we have a phrase we use when things are starting to get out of hand and it's time to stop and reset before disaster strikes. We say, "Knock it off." So, Mr. Kerry and your friends who want to slander the Guard: Knock it off.

COL. WILLIAM CAMPENNI (retired)
U.S. Air Force/Air National Guard
Herndon, Va

 

[GCD]

Good post, COL.

I was active duty in the 70's, and became disgruntled with the dismantle the military mentality in the 70's. After a tour in Korea, I was getting very little flight time, mostly being used as a range safety officer. I kept looking up and saw that someone was flying missions.

Well, I went to the airfield and found out who it was. It was the Guard. I immediately pulled the pin on active duty. Yes, I asked to get out a few months early, and request approved. I then immediately went over to the Guard facility and signed up. Presto-chango I got my NGB approval and was flying missions.

Now, 26 years after getting off active duty and going Guard, I have been deployed more and saw more combat as a traditional Guardsman than most active duty pilots, pre 9/11.

Now, at 50, I am bound for another combat tour in a few months and I am proud to be a Guardsman.

Oh, and by the way, I am a draft dodger, too. I was fresh out of high screwell when the draft board called. I told them I had no problem going, but I want to go as a pilot and I need at least two years of college. Deferral approved. Althought the draft was cancelled while I was in college, I kept my promise and went to flight school. I wrote the members of the draft board a thank you letter, with my class date and number enclosed (small town, you know).

Gosh, I should be ashamed of myself. A draft dodging Guard bum. I guess I was a drain on the American taxpayer. All the 26+ years trying to jugle my family life, my civilian employment, and my Guard committment. As a civilian airline pilot and a Guard pilot, I was gone so much that I didn't get to see my children growing up. In 2003, I was only in my house 60 days out of the entire year. I am not complaining, and neither is my wife. That is the dedication of your typical Guardsman.

Thank you for your service, COL. Campenni