SwiftVets.com

[barbgeo]

I keep hearing Kerry say that General McPeak supports him and he ran the air war in the first Gulf War. If I recall the air war was run by General Charles Horner--remember he was the one that narrated the TV guided bomb going into "my Iraqi counterpart's HQ". Mc Peak, I believe was the Air Force Chief of Staff. By law (Title 10) the Service chiefs are not in the operational chain of command. Mc Peak was not particularly well thought of and the AF didn't hesitate a minute to ditch what he thought would be his lasting legacy--that stupid looking airline style uniform. Kerry also cites Adm(ret) Crowe as another one that supports him. What he fails to tell you, is that Crowe was one of Clinton's cronies--Clinton appointed him as Ambassador to England. As for Shallikashivili, I don't know what his story is except that I know George Stepanoupolus recommended him to Clinton to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff not because he was particularly outstanding but because he thought it would be "cool" to have a JCS with a Russian sounding name and that my friends believe it or not is a true story

[neverforget]

Nothing of what that diphead says has much truth in it.
_________________
US Army Security Agency
1965-1971

[sdonions]

I can also say that McPeak is not respected by the AF. I have a friend who is a Lt. Colonel and his wife (who isvery conservative and very out spoken) who have nothing nice to say about McPeak. The nicest thing they say about him was that he was an ID10T.

[FreeFall]

Yeah, Horner ran the air war according to this page.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/oral/commanders.html

[eXcel]

What was all that crap about a Gen Shinseki ? Who is this guy and why didn't Bush reference Tommy Franks?

[Mark]

General Shinseki was Army Chief of Staff during the first several Bush 43 years. He was noted for several things. As I recall he authorized the Army Black Berets for all as a morale enhancer, irritating the SF folk who had to EARN theirs. Then he testified (I think before Senate Armed Services) that it would require about 200K troops on the ground to "occupy" Iraq.
Kerry frequently has claimed Shinseki was fired (both debates and some campaign appearances) for that testimony and disagreement with Rumsfeld. Actually, Shinseki retired after two full tours as Army CoS, the norm.
General Wesley Clark was challenged on the Shinseki fired claim right after the first debate (by Wolf Blitzer of all people). Clark waffled around and the best he could do was claim Shinseki's relief (General Shoomaker) was named "early", undercutting Shinseki.
Notably, Shinseki is not one of Kerry's General/Flag endorsers.

While I am disgusted that some senior retired officers have become SO involved in a political campaign I wish the President would counter with his own endorsers from that community.
_________________
Retired USN Capt.; Market Time vicinity ChuLai 6/67-2/68; Maddox 8/64 Tonkin Gulf; NGFS I Corps 6-12/65; Saigon evac. 4/75.

[Rich]

The Gulf-1 air war, as are all wars, was won by a bunch of airmen and junior officers. Every war weve had has been won by nameless men who had no interest in glory or fame. I am reminded of them every time I see our flag.

I cant stand generals who become politicians and try to take the credit from the troops who actually did the fighting............Rich
_________________
"Freedom" is never "free"

[barbgeo]

Actually Shinseki fell out of favor with the adminstration for two reasons (1) the beret issue was a real fiasco, not only did it alienate the Special Operations community i.e. the rangers who "owned the balc beret: and the SF peope, but it was a classic public relations failure because the berets were purchased from China. The thousands of black berets now sit in warehouses unused.(2) As GWB mentioned last night he directed Rumsfeld to Transform the military for 21st Century warfare. This dictated a major rethinking of the "Fulda Gap" mentality the Army had developed since WWII. Shinseki was an Armor officer and the whole upbringing of that particular branch was based upon the "Fulda Gap" mentality. Rumsfeld felt the future of warfare needs to be based upon lighter, more mobile forces and more dependence upon Special Operations. Shinseki was not fired--he served out his tour, but it was clear that Rumsfeld did not agree with his "Cold War" thinking on many issues and picked a retired Special Operator to build the Army in the vision he feels necessary. Was Shinseki right about the 200,000--that is open to debate, but interestingly Shinseki has not announced his support for Kerry.

[kman]