WI: Bush Goes To 'Nam

What if either Bush Sr. didn't get him out of the draft or whatever, or he decided to go or something? What would the effects on today be?

He'd either get killed, or become a grizzled vietnam vet like McCain, or he'd become like Kerry. He'd become a democrat and whatnot, and see the errors and horrors of war.
 
What if either Bush Sr. didn't get him out of the draft or whatever, or he decided to go or something? What would the effects on today be?

He'd either get killed, or become a grizzled vietnam vet like McCain, or he'd become like Kerry. He'd become a democrat and whatnot, and see the errors and horrors of war.
A younger McCain, maybe with a mustache. That'd be cool.:D
 
One can view war as evil and stupid and still be a Republican. The GOP used to be rather isolationist, once upon a time.

I posted this awhile back and people theorized that he might end up joining Kerry's people (Vietnam Veterans Against the War).

Thing is, what would he do in Vietnam? A unit of aircraft he flew was deployed to Vietnam but he didn't go with them (I heard he actually looked into it but was told he didn't have enough experience or something)--is that the POD?

Or perhaps he doesn't get into the Guard and gets drafted?
 
I thought he was in the National Guard or something but he didn't have to go because his dad did something or something like that. Yeah...

Maybe Bush would hit the booze a little harder if he actually went to 'Nam.
 
I thought he was in the National Guard or something but he didn't have to go because his dad did something or something like that. Maybe Bush would hit the booze a little harder if he actually went to 'Nam.

Bush was an F-102 pilot in the TANG - which, by the way, wasn't an easy option, the F-102 was a pig to fly. He was in an F-102 outfit because that was what the ANG flew then. The F-102 was a pure interceptor which was why only a few were deployed to Vietnam and they saw little hard combat. One was shot down by a MiG-21 and the others experimented with shooting IR Falcons at ground targets for want of anything better to do (they didn't even have a gun).

So, if Dubya went to Vietnam, he would have spent his time on hot pad alert, twiddling his thumbs and waiting for a call that never came. Then he'd go home. No change at all.
 
Bush was an F-102 pilot in the TANG - which, by the way, wasn't an easy option, the F-102 was a pig to fly. He was in an F-102 outfit because that was what the ANG flew then. The F-102 was a pure interceptor which was why only a few were deployed to Vietnam and they saw little hard combat. One was shot down by a MiG-21 and the others experimented with shooting IR Falcons at ground targets for want of anything better to do (they didn't even have a gun).

So, if Dubya went to Vietnam, he would have spent his time on hot pad alert, twiddling his thumbs and waiting for a call that never came. Then he'd go home. No change at all.

Dammit history! Why do you always fuck us over?
 

CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
Bush was an F-102 pilot in the TANG - which, by the way, wasn't an easy option, the F-102 was a pig to fly. He was in an F-102 outfit because that was what the ANG flew then. The F-102 was a pure interceptor which was why only a few were deployed to Vietnam and they saw little hard combat. One was shot down by a MiG-21 and the others experimented with shooting IR Falcons at ground targets for want of anything better to do (they didn't even have a gun).

So, if Dubya went to Vietnam, he would have spent his time on hot pad alert, twiddling his thumbs and waiting for a call that never came. Then he'd go home. No change at all.

I'm not sure about no change at all. He'd at least have seen some empty seats in the mess hall from Thud & Phantom pilots who didn't make it home. It might at least have given him a BIT of insight.
 
I thought he was in the National Guard or something but he didn't have to go because his dad did something or something like that. Yeah...

Maybe Bush would hit the booze a little harder if he actually went to 'Nam.

I don't think Bush before becoming born again could have hit the bottle any harder without needing a new set of kidneys.
 
Maybe, by his own volition or by Air Force order, he converts to a different type and then ends up going to Vietnam and flying combat missions.

Did Vietnam warp combat pilots the way it did army troops? Pilots avoid the worst horrors of war in their aircraft and on their airbases.
 
First there is zero chance of GW Bush transitioning to another type as the ANG only had the F-102 Delta Dagger ,Second even had he type transitioned there was still only a 1 in 10 chance he would get sent to SE Asia,as most US service men who served on active duty during the period of the Vietnam War did so in other locations(W.Ger,ROK,etc.).As for him joining John Kerry's little neo-commie VAVW organization when his father was so closely linked to Govt service is ludicrous at best. The reality is service in the Vietnam War would turn him into neither Kerry or McCain would it have changed the man we know today most definitely but we would still have the same basic person.
 
Maybe he would have married a nice underage Vietnamese hooker.:eek:

Mmmm, now that would be a fun First Lady!

Think the nation's ready for that?
 
People in the Airforce often change the type of planes they fly. Or he might have transferred from the ANG to the regualr USAF for a multitude of reasons. I work with a RAAF warrant officer who started his career in the RAn on our last carrier, the HMAS Melbourne. When the Melbourne was decommisioned he was given another job in the navy, but he wanted to work on planes again so he transferred to the RAAF. Something similar could easily happen to Georgie boy by push or pull, and he could easily end up in Vietnam.
 
I'm not sure flying missions in Vietnam would give him the same type of grizzled veteran feel a front-line infantry role would.

It was said by some front line troops how the pilots got to enjoy warm and comfortable cockpits and enjoy doughnuts and coffee back at their airbases and hotels.
 
I'm not sure flying missions in Vietnam would give him the same type of grizzled veteran feel a front-line infantry role would.

It was said by some front line troops how the pilots got to enjoy warm and comfortable cockpits and enjoy doughnuts and coffee back at their airbases and hotels.
On the other hand, he could have been shot down and taken prisoner like McCain was.
For the experience to change Bush, he'd probably have to have been in a different unit. I'm not going to say Army, as both Kerry and McCain were Navy- Kerry in PCFs (Swift Boats), McCain in A-4s off USS Forrestal and Oriskany. Perhaps he follows his father into the US Naval Reserve- they had air units in Vietnam.
 
I did not know the delta dagger was used in Vietnam

It was actually quite important. It was the primary air defense interceptor for South Vietnam and was statioed there throughout the Vietnam War. THIS website gives some details of the aircraft's service during the Vietnam war. The following bit is informative.

A total of 15 F-102 fighters were lost in Vietnam. Three were shot down by anti-aircraft or small arms fire, one was lost in air-to-air combat with a MiG-21, four were destroyed on the ground during Viet Cong mortar attacks, and the remainder succumbed to accidents.

Also

ANG members of the period who we've been able to locate indicate that only highly qualified pilot candidates were accepted for Delta Dagger training because it was such a challenging aircraft to fly and left little room for mistakes. According to the Air Force Safety Center, the lifetime Class A accident rate for the F-102 was 13.69 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours, and the rate was especially high during the early years of the plane's service....... Regardless, the F-102 was still far more dangerous to fly than today's combat aircraft. Compared to the F-102's lifetime accident rate of 13.69, today's planes generally average around 4 mishaps per 100,000 hours. For example, compare the F-16 at 4.14, the F-15 at 2.47, the F-117 at 4.07, the S-3 at 2.6, and the F-18 at 4.9. Even the Marine Corps' AV-8B, regarded as the most dangerous aircraft in US service today, has a lifetime accident rate of only 11.44 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours. The F-102 claimed the lives of many pilots, including a number stationed at Ellington during Bush's tenure. Of the 875 F-102A production models that entered service, 259 were lost in accidents that killed 70 Air Force and ANG pilots.
 
Mike Moore make a movie accusing Bush of war crimes draging up some poor Vietnamese child hit in an raid.
 
Top