The Discerning Texan

Sember Fi, W.

Marine fighter pilot: Bush’s Guard duty was more dangerous than Vietnam.

And James H. Warner, a retired attorney, should know; he served as a fighter pilot in Vietnam with the Marines.

In a column in the Hagerstown, Md., newspaper, Warner wrote:

In the Texas Air National Guard George Bush flew the F-102 Delta Dagger. This was a dangerous aircraft. The U.S. purchased a total of 875 Daggers, of which 259 crashed, killing 70 pilots - all peace-time accidents. The number of pilots killed constitutes approximately 1.4 percent of all the pilots who ever flew the F-102. In other words, George Bush “sat out” the Vietnam War by exposing himself to a risk of death that was approximately 40 percent higher than he would have been exposed to had he gone to Vietnam. It is fair to ask liberals, “Precisely what risk was Bush avoiding by flying the F-102?”

Warner confirmed what I had always guessed: That it was likely that far from avoiding combat, Bush was trying to follow his father’s footsteps as a combat pilot.

His father, too, was a Yalie and could have ducked out of World War II. Poppy Bush was one of the youngest vets of that war.

It’s a real cool article, which ends:

It is difficult not to believe that liberals are projecting their own fears onto the president. As for me, I would have been proud to have George Bush as my wingman in combat. In the Marine Corps, that is the highest compliment one can give.

Hat tip: Lucianne.