Bush prematurely left his Texas National Guard unit because nerves, fear and a possible drinking problem?

[Larry Dighera]

While baby Bush may have once been an airman, Kerry currently owns and
pilots his twin aircraft today. While baby Bush shuts down thousands
of square miles of airspace wherever he roams, Kerry declined flight
restrictions for his presidential campaign.

Now this:


http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041011&s=bakerarticle | Posted
September 29, 2004

Fear of Flying
by Russ Baker

Research support for this article was provided by the Investigative
Fund of the Nation Institute.

A new source has emerged with what she says is personal knowledge
about why George W. Bush prematurely left his Texas National Guard
unit in 1972--because nerves, fear and a possible drinking problem
were affecting his ability to pilot his F-102A plane. If true, this
information further confirms a growing body of evidence that Bush has
not been candid about his departure from his unit. ...



http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040927&s=baker
September 14, 2004

Why Bush Left Texas
by Russ Baker

Growing evidence suggests that George W. Bush abruptly left his Texas
Air National Guard unit in 1972 for substantive reasons pertaining to
his inability to continue piloting a fighter jet.

A months-long investigation, which includes examination of hundreds of
government-released documents, interviews with former Guard members
and officials, military experts and Bush associates, points toward the
conclusion that Bush's personal behavior was causing alarm among his
superior officers and would ultimately lead to his fleeing the state
to avoid a physical exam he might have had difficulty passing.

[Bill Denton]

Quick! Get Dan Rather on the phone!

Do you really believe crap like this?




"Larry Dighera" > wrote in message
...
>
> While baby Bush may have once been an airman, Kerry currently owns and
> pilots his twin aircraft today. While baby Bush shuts down thousands
> of square miles of airspace wherever he roams, Kerry declined flight
> restrictions for his presidential campaign.
>
> Now this:
>
>
> http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041011&s=bakerarticle | Posted
> September 29, 2004
>
> Fear of Flying
> by Russ Baker
>
> Research support for this article was provided by the Investigative
> Fund of the Nation Institute.
>
> A new source has emerged with what she says is personal knowledge
> about why George W. Bush prematurely left his Texas National Guard
> unit in 1972--because nerves, fear and a possible drinking problem
> were affecting his ability to pilot his F-102A plane. If true, this
> information further confirms a growing body of evidence that Bush has
> not been candid about his departure from his unit. ...
>
>
>
> http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040927&s=baker
> September 14, 2004
>
> Why Bush Left Texas
> by Russ Baker
>
> Growing evidence suggests that George W. Bush abruptly left his Texas
> Air National Guard unit in 1972 for substantive reasons pertaining to
> his inability to continue piloting a fighter jet.
>
> A months-long investigation, which includes examination of hundreds of
> government-released documents, interviews with former Guard members
> and officials, military experts and Bush associates, points toward the
> conclusion that Bush's personal behavior was causing alarm among his
> superior officers and would ultimately lead to his fleeing the state
> to avoid a physical exam he might have had difficulty passing.
>
>
>

[Larry Dighera]

On Sun, 3 Oct 2004 12:17:21 -0500, "Bill Denton"
> wrote in >::

>Do you really believe crap like this?

Why wouldn't you believe the words of the widow of the airman who
replaced baby Bush in the TNG when people who know her publicly vouch
for her character and credibility?

[Peter Duniho]

"Larry Dighera" > wrote in message
...
> While baby Bush [...]

This has what to do with piloting aircraft?

Nothing, that's what. Again, is it any wonder no one takes you seriously
when you bitch about off-topic posts?

[Dave Stadt]

"Bill Denton" > wrote in message
...
> Quick! Get Dan Rather on the phone!
>
> Do you really believe crap like this?

Larry does but then again we all know about Larry.

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Larry Dighera" > wrote in message
...
>
> Why wouldn't you believe the words of the widow of the airman who
> replaced baby Bush in the TNG when people who know her publicly vouch
> for her character and credibility?
>

Because she doesn't know what she's talking about.

[Tom S.]

"Steven P. McNicoll" > wrote in message
ink.net...
>
> "Larry Dighera" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Why wouldn't you believe the words of the widow of the airman who
> > replaced baby Bush in the TNG when people who know her publicly vouch
> > for her character and credibility?
> >
>
> Because she doesn't know what she's talking about.
>
And Larry doesn't either.

[C J Campbell]

"Larry Dighera" > wrote in message
...
>
> While baby Bush may have once been an airman, Kerry currently owns and
> pilots his twin aircraft today. While baby Bush shuts down thousands
> of square miles of airspace wherever he roams, Kerry declined flight
> restrictions for his presidential campaign.

Personally, I will take a pilot who flew 600 hours in F-106s over somebody
who took three minor wounds, served 4 months in country and left and then
went over to the other side, committing treason and betraying both his
country and his fellow servicemen.

[Jim Fisher]

"Larry Dighera" > wrote in message

<snip of crap that ain't worth repeating>

This is from the same buttlick who appointed himself RAP spamcop?

Like all far-lefties, you are as hypocritical as you are stupid.

--
Jim Fisher

[Cub Driver]

> about why George W. Bush prematurely left his Texas National Guard
>> unit in 1972-

Lt Bush did not leave his TANG unit in 1972; he transferred to an
Alabama unit for a few months, then returned. In each year of his six
years of Air Guard service, he exceeded the 50 points required of him.
There's a full account at www.warbirdforum.com/bushf102.htm

It's not a great record, but it's a good one, representing more
service (and more dangerous service) than I put in as a member of the
U.S. Army.

(And more, and more dangerous, service than most of his critics! Just
to kick the tires and light the fire on a century-series jet, as an
F-105 veteran points out, is to put your life on the line.)


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! www.vivabush.org

[Larry Dighera]

On Mon, 04 Oct 2004 05:35:27 -0400, Cub Driver
> wrote in
>::

>
>> about why George W. Bush prematurely left his Texas National Guard
>>> unit in 1972-
>
>Lt Bush did not leave his TANG unit in 1972; he transferred to an
>Alabama unit for a few months, then returned. In each year of his six
>years of Air Guard service, he exceeded the 50 points required of him.
>There's a full account at www.warbirdforum.com/bushf102.htm

The two pages you have written at the above URL seem to corroborate
your assertion. Because you are a published author of books on
related subjects, I respect and accept your analyses of the issue.

>It's not a great record, but it's a good one, representing more
>service (and more dangerous service) than I put in as a member of the
>U.S. Army.
>
>(And more, and more dangerous, service than most of his critics! Just
>to kick the tires and light the fire on a century-series jet, as an
>F-105 veteran points out, is to put your life on the line.)
>
>
>all the best -- Dan Ford
>email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)
>
>Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
>Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
>Viva Bush! www.vivabush.org

As the creator of the Viva Bush web site, your political bias is even
more apparent as mine. That is not to say the facts you present are
inaccurate or deliberately twisted, and absent any information to the
contrary, I accept them. And absent any contradictory facts, I also
accept the information related to Ms. Linke by Bush's "now-deceased
commanding officer in the Texas Air National Guard's 111th Fighter
Interceptor Squadron, Lieut. Col. Jerry Killian:"

[Lieut. Col. Jerry Killian] confided in her and her husband during
an encounter at a social gathering as to the reasons Mr. Linke had
been brought in to replace Bush. "He said Bush was mucking up his
flying very badly and he couldn't fly the plane," Linke said.
"Killan told us that he was having trouble landing, and that
possibly there was a drinking problem involved in that"--which
Linke took to mean a particularly debilitating one, since
carousing was almost the norm in such units.

Your web site states: "The records show Bush's last flight was in
April 1972." and "A friend recalls that he kept off alcohol for 24
hours before such assignments." And Ms. Linke's statements indicate
that her husband was indeed transferred into Bush's unit in May 1972.
Because the record indicates that Bush did not fly the F-102
subsequent to Mr. Linke's transfer, I don't see any inconsistency
there.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Because the The Nation article is no longer available at the URL I
posted in the article that started this message thread, I'll include
it below:



article | Posted September 29, 2004

Fear of Flying
by Russ Baker

Research support for this article was provided by the Investigative
Fund of the Nation Institute.

A new source has emerged with what she says is personal knowledge
about why George W. Bush prematurely left his Texas National Guard
unit in 1972--because nerves, fear and a possible drinking problem
were affecting his ability to pilot his F-102A plane. If true, this
information further confirms a growing body of evidence that Bush has
not been candid about his departure from his unit. At various times
the President and his spokespersons have offered shifting rationales,
from the planned eventual mothballing of the F-102As, to his doctor's
unavailability to give him a flight physical, to a professional
opportunity in another state.

However, Janet Linke of Jacksonville, Florida, says that it all came
down to an inability to perform. Linke is the widow of Jan Peter
Linke, who was brought into Bush's National Guard unit to replace him
when Bush left the unit and the state for Alabama in May 1972.


Linke says that Bush's now-deceased commanding officer in the Texas
Air National Guard's 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Lieut. Col.
Jerry Killian, confided in her and her husband during an encounter at
a social gathering as to the reasons Mr. Linke had been brought in to
replace Bush. "He said Bush was mucking up his flying very badly and
he couldn't fly the plane," Linke said. "Killan told us that he was
having trouble landing, and that possibly there was a drinking problem
involved in that"--which Linke took to mean a particularly
debilitating one, since carousing was almost the norm in such units.

Jan Peter Linke, a veteran Air Force pilot who was flying the same
plane, the F-102, for the Florida Air National Guard, was hired by
Bush's superiors to replace him in his Texas Air Guard unit. "They
[Houston] were looking for someone they didn't have to spend extra
money training," recalled Linke.

Linke does not appear to have sought out journalists or publicity for
what she knows. She says she voted for Bush's father but that she had
become increasingly disturbed by what she regarded as the younger
Bush's hypocrisy. Frustrated by ads from "Swift Boat Veterans" that
questioned Kerry's military service, Linke visited the Duval County
Democratic Party to pick up a Kerry-Edwards lawn sign. While there,
she made a remark about Bush's flying record. Party officials
encouraged her to tell her story to a local alternative paper, Folio
Weekly, which she did. Linke subsequently consented to an interview
with The Nation.

Notably, Linke's contact with Folio occurred before the White House's
lawsuit-generated release of Bush's flight logs, which appeared to
corroborate the thrust of her claims. Those logs show Bush in the
winter and early spring of 1972 having problems landing his plane and
being placed into two-pilot training planes--from which he had
graduated years earlier.

Linke's account is crucial, because her husband was killed on August
21, 1973, in an automobile accident following drinks at the officers'
club, when his car went off a road. An official hard-bound album
created for the Guard unit's fiftieth anniversary in 1973 features a
group shot of the 111th Squadron in which Jan Peter Linke is pictured,
but not Bush (the unit photo was taken in December 1972).

Linke, who raised her son on military widow's benefits and worked as
an art teacher and arts coordinator in public and Episcopal schools
before suffering a stroke, was intensely private about personal
matters, according to those who knew her, and didn't often speak about
her husband and his tragic death. However, several people remember her
mentioning her knowledge of Bush's flying problems in the past. One,
her fiancé, Delfino Dosio, said the topic of her late husband's
piloting work came up sometime after they met five years ago, and that
he recalls her mentioning several years ago his replacing the
faltering Bush. "[Bush] couldn't cut the mustard; he was failing in
his abilities to fly," Dosio remembered hearing. "They were going to
send him for retraining." A neighbor, Renee Soforenko, a real estate
entrepreneur, says she also recalls Linke mentioning the matter
several times over the past few years.

Sylvia Johnson, principal of West Jacksonville elementary school,
where Linke taught, is not familiar with the Bush material, but rated
Linke highly. "She was a wonderful, outstanding teacher, able to
connect with children in a way you rarely see." She said she didn't
know about the National Guard matter, but "I don't have any reason to
doubt her honesty."

Linke says her husband first heard about the opening for a pilot in
Bush's unit on May 12, 1972. That date preceded Bush's recorded
departure from his base, suggesting that superiors were already
planning to replace him. Bush's last recorded flight came on April 16,
1972. Although his contractual obligation to continue flying would not
expire for another two years, Bush would never fly again for the
National Guard. In August 1972 Killian suspended the departed Bush
from flying, ostensibly for his failure to take an annual physical
exam. But Linke says that the physical was the result, not the cause.
"He just became afraid to fly," she said. "I don't believe he was a
coward. But he clearly had a problem flying one of these machines, and
a problem landing."