Bush Goes to Vietnam

On the old board, there was a "Clinton Serves" thread about Clinton going to Vietnam. Now that a similar issue has been raised about Bush...

As we all know, Bush served in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. During his time there, George W. Bush heard about a pilot program to use the jets he was trained on (the F-102) to fly in Vietnam. He inquired into the program, but one of his superiors told him he lacked the needed amount of flying time to volunteer. That was the end of the matter...Bush didn't push it.

Here're some links:

http://www.warbirdforum.com/f102.htm

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37162

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/bush072899.htm

http://www.calpundit.com/archives/003336.html

WI Bush did end up in Vietnam on the F-102 program? Let's say he pushed the matter, or developed a sense of motivation and flew a bunch more hours. Now what?

I imagine the "AWOL Bush" thing wouldn't be a big political issue, assuming his life takes a similar course as it did in OTL. Some F-102s were shot down by ground fire...might Bush become a McCain-like figure? Or die in combat? Would Bush's presence affect the "Palace Alert" program to any significant degree?

Any ideas?

Here's another link, since many people on this site will be leery of WorldNetDaily, since it's a rather partisan conservative site.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031773659263&path=!news&s=1045855934842

The F-102 and F-106 (both relates aircraft) served briefly in 'Nam. He would only serve for a few months until the F-102's were phased out from the frontlines. He could either return to the states are a reservists, transfer to oher aircraft (F-4, F-105, or F-5, which the F-5 too served briefly in 'Nam), or retire or get killed, or better yet, go MIA.

Bush killed in Vietnam certainly raises some interesting possibilities.

Or even better yet - his father in Korea.

Val,

Bush I was shot down in the Pacific during WWII and bobbed around for a few hours before being rescued--if you want to nix Bush I (and by extension, Bush II and Jeb and the others), just have a hungry shark come around.

Thanks for the info. I didnt know that at all.

The implications would be huge. Especially if we can assume there is some truth behind the stories that Bush I had a role in the JFK events and was secretely with the CIA at the time.

Probably sound like a strange conspiracy theory in the US but its taken as a fact by many in Europe.

Bush sees some of the horrors in Vietnam, sees just how screwed up things are, and how the politics from Washington are sending more people to the grave than necessary (IE cant shoot back while getting shot because friendly's might be in the area). Bush's stance shifts to the left during the war, but not enough to qualify him as a true liberal, more of a moderate.

Once back in the states he feels it his duty to get involved with politics and make sure another Vietnam ever happens again. He runs for the Texas Congress in the mid 70s and serves there until the early 1980s when he goes to Washington as a Congressman from Texas, he shifts to the Senate in the early 1990's and is an outspoken critic of Clinton. In 1996 he attempts a Republican run for President but loses to Dole and is considered a potential VP, however he just returns to the Senate where he serves for four more years.

Senator Bush never considered 2000 to be his year, the 1996 campaign gave him quite a shock, however he supported his close friend from the Senate, another Vietnam aviator John McCain. McCain easily won the 2000 election chosing Bush as his VP. Bush is a popular center-right Republican and is believed the Republican Party is grooming him for President.

"The implications would be huge. Especially if we can assume there is some truth behind the stories that Bush I had a role in the JFK events and was secretely with the CIA at the time."

I know that Bush I was Director of the CIA during the 1970s, but I don't know what he did before. Could you provide a more detailed version of the theory?

Matt Quinn said:

"The implications would be huge. Especially if we can assume there is some truth behind the stories that Bush I had a role in the JFK events and was secretely with the CIA at the time."

I know that Bush I was Director of the CIA during the 1970s, but I don't know what he did before. Could you provide a more detailed version of the theory?

Click to expand...

Bush Sr. was our No. 1 man in communist China under Nixon. In a completely coincidental move, he became director of the CIA in 1976, shortly after he returned from China. Nothing to see here, please move along.

As the story goes, he was not a member of the CIA beforehand, while he played the part of US Envoy to communist China. Yeah, right. Still, I have trouble believing he had anything to do with the assassination of JFK. He was director of the CIA for 10 days short of a full year (that being throughout 1976).

Wel, from what we know of Bush's character it s more likely he would come back from action completely f%%%up and become a drunkard, drug addict etc and the black sheep of a family, but understood to be combat-related so as noty to impede the progress of his father and brothers

Grey Wolf

Mikey said:

The F-102 and F-106 (both relates aircraft) served briefly in 'Nam. He would only serve for a few months until the F-102's were phased out from the frontlines. He could either return to the states are a reservists, transfer to oher aircraft (F-4, F-105, or F-5, which the F-5 too served briefly in 'Nam), or retire or get killed, or better yet, go MIA.

Click to expand...

Cmon, Bush cant be so bad as to wish he was captured by the NVA/VC

as an Air Force pilot, Bush would hardly see the horrors of Vietnam up close and personal, unless he got shot down. Of course, the odds were that he wouldn't; most pilots didn't get shot down, or even a large percentage of them. Odds are, Bush would fly his missions during his tour of duty there and come back fine. The only affect on the world would be the absence of whole 'AWOL' issue, which doesn't seem to be much of an issue anymore (you don't see much about it in the news lately).

David Howery said:

Odds are, Bush would fly his missions during his tour of duty there and come back fine. The only affect on the world would be the absence of whole 'AWOL' issue, which doesn't seem to be much of an issue anymore (you don't see much about it in the news lately).

Click to expand...

I don't remember seeing much about it in the news ever.

My first instinct was to propose that Bush might pursue a military career, but on second thought that doesn't seem very likely.

Time ran a pretty good article on the whole AWOL issue a while back. They basically concluded that Bush didn't quite do everything he should have done during his tour of duty, but he didn't really go AWOL. From what I read, it was mostly a non-issue...

David Howery said:

as an Air Force pilot, Bush would hardly see the horrors of Vietnam up close and personal, unless he got shot down. Of course, the odds were that he wouldn't; most pilots didn't get shot down, or even a large percentage of them. Odds are, Bush would fly his missions during his tour of duty there and come back fine. The only affect on the world would be the absence of whole 'AWOL' issue, which doesn't seem to be much of an issue anymore (you don't see much about it in the news lately).

Click to expand...

I dont know, there was a popular saying among veterans of the war, there was no place safe in Vietnam. My dad who was enlisted in the Air Force was over there, he talks about the numerous attacks on his base while he was there in 1970. There were times the base would come under attack, now naturally one would think once a soldier was getting shot at, he would be allowed to shoot back right? Not in Vietnam. In Vietnam if you got shot at you had to call and get permission to shoot back. There were soldiers who literally went crazy because they were waiting on permission to shoot the enemy soldier who at the time was killing their friends. If they didnt wait for orders or ignorned the orders to shoot the enemy, they were sent to the brig. These are some of the things Dubya might have seen first hand, hell afterwards Dubya might have joined Kerry in protesting the war.

How the government expected to win that war by tying the soldiers arms behind their backs is beyond me. It leads me to believe the government sent thousands of men to their death, those government officials still alive need to be arrested tried for mass murder, treason, and any other crime that can be charged up against them.

yes, Bush could have possibly come under fire.... but the odds were against it. Most of the air force pilots there flew their missions, didn't get shot down, and didn't get shot at on base. While all kinds of awful things could have happened to Bush, the best odds are that he would spend his tour of duty there without any mishaps and return home....