SwiftVets.com

grandforker · Seaman Recruit Joined: 09 Sep 2004 Posts: 44

While on vacation in Denver last June, my family and I visited the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum. In the museum is an exhibit on the Colorado Air National Guard.

Included in this exhibit are newspaper clippings from significant events in the history of the Colorado Air Guard. I took digital photos (shown below) of two clippings that caught my eye.

Doesn't everyone know that being in the Air Guard during the Vietnam War was a safe haven from combat? How could it be that members of the Colorado Air Guard were lost in action during this war? Didn't George W. Bush join an Air Guard unit flying F-102s knowing that it was impossible for him to see action in Vietnam?

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Hard pounding, gentlemen. Let's see who pounds the longest. -- Wellington at Waterloo

Navy_Navy_Navy · Admin Joined: 07 May 2004 Posts: 5777

Yep, real safe duty.

Like flying a dump truck under certain conditions.

grandforker · Seaman Recruit Joined: 09 Sep 2004 Posts: 44

The average person doesn't understand that flying high-performance jet fighters is inherently unsafe, even in peacetime. While flying an F-102 in the States during the Vietnam War might not have been as risky as serving on a Swift Boat in the Mekong Delta, it was certainly more risky than going to Oxford and participating in anti-war protests.

I also discovered something else I didn't know. According to the book Air War - Vietnam, F102s were based in Vietnam and Thailand in the air defense role until 1968.
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Hard pounding, gentlemen. Let's see who pounds the longest. -- Wellington at Waterloo

Kimmymac · Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 5:41 am Post subject:

You guys probably know this already, but the F-102 was very difficult to fly, and thus very dangerous. So many of these planes and crew were lost that the Pentagon decided to stop using them in Vietnam. It is only because of this decision that Bush's unit was not deployed. The Pentagon had stopped using the F-102, and Bush wasn't checked out on the new aircraft.

By all (non-forged) reports, the President performed very well flying the F-102, by the way.

This latest crap about the President and the ANG/Air Force thing; is the DNC serious? They are actually going to hang the campaign on that??

I think they must have their auto-pilot set on *self-destruct* Maybe they are the campaign equivalent of suicide bombers---maybe they just want to sacrifice Kerry to clear the way for a Billary run...

I have never seen a campaign so bizarre.

MJB · LCDR Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 425

When you're goin' down without a net, I guess you grab for anything you can find.

It all does truly boggle the mind. They're in a death struggle and they know it. The Democratic party has lost its way. I am a strong believer in the 2 party system in the country. If it were Joe Lieberman running against an icky Repub, I'd take a long, hard look.

But as it stands, the Dems are now on squishy ground. The war on terror has exposed their deep philosophical divide (security vs. peace, etc.). The far left has been in control of the party for a while now - and the liberal influence is widespread in education, the media, and even many parts of the government (State Dept, CIA, many mid-level fed employees, many state and local employees, etc.).

All of that power is threatened by Bush and his stance on terror. He's not the most fiscally conservative politician to come down the pike, but his uncompromising stance re Islamic terrorism is deeply threatening to libs.

The line has been drawn in the sand. If you support Bush, you are likely to take a hard look at a more conservative philopophy (a more traditionally "liberal" approach at that) - and like what you see.

The libs see that shift happening and are scared ******** of the consequences to their power base.

Ultimately, losing this election could be the best thing for the Dems. It may finally force them to take a hard look at who they are and what they stand for.

But, if after that reappraisal, they vear even harder left then we have a problem. How much harder left can you go without entering the relm of a communistic approach to governement? How extreme will their measures become to regain power?

But what do I know? Count me as one of those just gobsmacked by people's reactions to the Clinton follies. I absolutely could not believe people supported him and his parade of disgusting behaviours.

To me, Kerry is just the latest in a long line of character-less Democratic leaders (Al Sharpton anyone?)
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MJB
USAF '85-'92