Fascinating stuff, Jim Craven. Never knew the details. Is it all documented in one place?
----- Original Message ----- From: "Craven, Jim" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 5:32 PM Subject: [PEN-L] Response:Bush and the F 102 Bush and the Texas Guard flew the F 102. An aviation buddy points out that the F 102 had no conceivable mission in Vietnam. So even if he showed up, his unit wasn't going to go. Gene Coyle Response (Jim C) Absolutely true. At the time Bush got into the Texas Air Guard (with a national waiting list of over 150,000, got in the same day he applied--with 12 days left until his deferment was up, and with a waiting list of 160 in Texas for 2 pilot slots max, and with a score of 25% on the airman exam--lowest possible passing) The F-102 was being phased out. Then he gets a direct commission to 2nd Lt. bypassing a requirement for 23 weeks OCS, then he goes to flight school and finishes 100 hours or so short of the hours requirement, then he is transferred to the Alabama Air Guard with no aircraft (to work on the Senate campaign of his daddy's buddy Winston Blount) then he is missing for 13 months (records since lifted from the Guard records in 1994 by two shadowy characters who paid a visit), then in April 1972 the medical exams are changed to include random drug testing, and he is due for an exam in May of 1972 but in September 1972, he and his buddy James R. Bath (then a principal representative of the Bin Laden family in Houston) refuse to take a medical exam and are taken off flight status--with a pilot shortage existing at the time. Then he gets out 8 months early to go to Harvard Business school after first being denied entrance to Univ of Texas Law School for bad grades. Bush "served" a total of 51 months out of a 72 month Guard obligation. Jim C.