I can't even believe I'm going to wade into this silliness, but I personally think this story (er, attack) has just plain gotten out of hand. It's starting to remind me of that whole Janet Jackson boobie bruhaha in it's overall insignificance, but what the hey...
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http://archive.observernews.com/stories/archives/viewpoints/2003view/051603/16letr7.shtml
| To the editor: |
| While our wonderful freedoms, won and protected by the military that liberals (a.k.a. Democrats) like your respondent Tom Hutchins (The Observer May 9) abhor, allow him to spew his hate-filled opinions against George Bush, they do not allow him to deceive your readers with a blatant misstatement of the facts (a.k.a. lies). |
| Specifically, Mr. Hutchins stated "... as a member of the Texas Air National Guard, Mr. 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 to which he had been ordered." |
| And further, that "Bush abandoned his assignment as a jet fighter pilot without explanation or authorization at a time when other such pilots were risking their lives or even dying in Vietnam." |
| I stand in admiration at Mr. Hutchins' ability to squeeze so many errors in two sentences. Apparently, he relies on every anti-Bush web blogger for his database. For the record then, let me set some things straight. |
| George Bush and I were lieutenants and pilots in the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Texas Air National Guard in 1970 to1971, the period in question. We had the same flight and squadron commanders (Maj. Don Harris, and Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, both now deceased). So let's address the Hutchins deceptions in order. |
| 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 (UTA). 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 for special training, the individual is out of town on civilian business, etc. |
| The pilot is temporarily grounded until he completes the physical. Also, "the year when drug testing first became part of the exam" is false, because the 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. |
| Second, there was no such thing as a "disciplinary unit" to which Bush would have been ordered. They just don't exist. Any discipline, if required, is handled within the squadron or group, administratively or judicially. There would be a record and a reflection in Lt. Bush's performance review, and none such exist, as was confirmed in a (unfriendly) Washington Post article in 2000. |
| Next, as for abandoning "his assignment as a jet fighter pilot without explanation or authorization," this is untrue. Lt. Bush was excused for a period to take employment in Florida for a congressman and later Alabama for a Senate campaign. |
| Excusals for employment are common then and now in the Air Guard, as pilots are frequently in career transitions and most commanders (I was later one) are flexible in letting their charges take care of career affairs until they return or transfer to another unit near their new employment. |
| If you check the 111th F.I.S. records of 1970-71, you will find other pilots excused for career obligations. The Bush excusal in 1971 was facilitated by a change in the unit's mission, from an operational fighter squadron to a training squadron with a new airplane, from F-102 to F-101, which required more pilots be available for full-time instructor duty rather than part-time traditional reservists with outside employment. |
| The wind-down of the Vietnam War in 1971 (Nixon's "Vietnamization") provided a flood of exiting active duty pilots applying for these instructor jobs, and forcing out part-timers like Lt. Bush, and me. |
| Finally, Mr. Hutchins does not comprehend the dangers of fighter aviation at anytime or place, Vietnam or at home, when he states "... other such pilots were risking their lives or even dying." Our unit lost several planes right in Houston during Lt. Bush's tenure, with fatalities. Just strapping on one of those obsolescing F-102s was risking one's life. One didn't have to go to Vietnam. |
| And you were always subject to call up, as many Air National Guardsmen are finding out today. If the 111th F.I.S. and Lt. Bush did not go to Vietnam, blame Hutchins' heroes Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara, not lowly Lt. Bush. |
| William Campenni |
| Herndon |
