"Kevin Brooks" wrote in message
t...

"George Z. Bush" wrote in message
...

(Snip)

George, his flight phsical did not run out until sometime in 1972--he
volunteered for Palace Alert while he was finishing training in early 1970.
By the time his physical ran out Palace Alert was no longer sending ANG
F-102 pilots to Vietnam/Thailand, and in fact the ANG was already starting
to dump its F-102's entirely (IIRC the majority were retired by mid 1974).
So I still don't see what you are griping about--he volunteered while he was
completing his Combat Crew training in the F-102, and he remained qualified
in the F-102 throughout the remaining period that Palace Alert was sending
ANG folks overseas. Apparently he was told upon volunteering, "Thanks, but
no thanks--we have enough experienced (1000 hour plus) F-102 pilots asking
for this duty so wea re not taking LT's straight out of the schoolhouse."
You admitted earlier that you had never even heard of Palace Alert, but now
you are in a position to judge GWB's volunteer status in that regard without
realizing that you apparently had your timeline out of whack? If you want to
condemn him for not being the best officer they ever had in the 111th FG
based upon his overall service record, fine, that is a matter of opinion for
you to decide--but trying to claim that he never volunteered, or that he
volunteered and then figuratively shot himself in the foot via his flight
physical to avoid having to meet that voluntary requirement, is just plain
false, and the factual timeline does not support that assertion.

On the subject of volunteering, when he first joined the Texas ANG, he filled
out a form and checked a box on that form indicating that he did not wish to
serve overseas. When asked about it, he later said that he didn't remember it,
and a member of his staff subsequently offered the imaginative explanation that
a personnel clerk must have done it for him. Even if it was true, it didn't
matter who did what.....he signed the form and was responsible for the accuracy
of everything in it.

About Palace Alert, Bush apparently applied for it some time during his Combat
Crew Training program, and also apparently was promptly told that he didn't have
a snowball's chance in hell of being selected for it because of his lack of
flying experience. In any case, I learned that the program was discontinued
exactly one week after Bush had completed his Combat Crew Training Course. The
fact of his volunteering for that program hardly signified any serious interest
in making that kind of contribution, since he was told up front that it wasn't
going to happen for him.

Regarding the business about his flight physical, they normally expire a month
following the birth month of the flyer, which would make it August of '72 in his
case. In April of '72, it apparently became common knowledge that flight
physicals were going to routinely include drug screenings. It wouldn't have
stopped me one way or the other, but it must have bothered him enough to
manufacture an excuse for not making his appointment by saying that his
physician resided in Houston, Texas while he was ostensibly serving with an
Alabama ANG unit. He abandoned that excuse when it was pointed out that any
rated flight surgeon was authorized to conduct such examinations, and there were
numerous ones available for his use at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. He chose not to
renew his physical knowing full well that it would end his flying career, which
it did. Doesn't it make you wonder what the impetus might have been to do
something like that? I think we both know what the reality of the situation
was.

I'm sure that you're thoroughly unimpressed with all of this, and perhaps it's
time to lay it to rest and move on, since it looks like neither of us is going
to change our views of the man. In any event, he's still our President and CIC,
and belaboring the details of his service isn't really going to change anything.

George Z.