The DNCs use of the “fortunate son” narrative shows how out of touch the Left is when it comes to America’s military history. Fortunate sons have always served this country well in time of war. Yes, there have been shirkers and war profiteers but by and large the scions of the wealthy have been up front in every conflict. In a previous thread I mentioned the First US Volunteer Cavalry, which was made up of Cowboys and 5th Avenue dandies. There is also a very famous Pennsylvania National Guard outfit from Philadelphia made of the son’s of the mainline familiies that have served this country since the Civil war. On the individual level John Pierpont Morgan IV spent 30 years in the Navy as submariner and retired as a Captain. Let us not forget George Patton, who in his own right was from a very wealthy California family, and was by marriage the wealthiest man in the US Army.
GWB’s Squadron was done flying in Vietnam before Bush got there. That was unknown when he signed up as elements of the squadron were deployed to SE Asia. He probably would have been a better performer in his last two years had his unit been doing something besides training and a few intercepts of TU-95s probing US airspace along the southern coast. Until the end of the Cold War the ANG has always had yesterdayís toys. The reason the TANG flew F-102s is that the regular AF didnít want them. ANG Squadrons equipped with the more useful F-100 were flying an obsolescent aircraft that was useful in ground attack and were sent to SE Asia as a result. Regular Air Force Air Defense Command squadrons were flying F-106 interceptors not dogs like the F-102. At the end of Vietnam his squadron began replacing their F-102 with F-101, which was a slightly safer 2 engined interceptor. The ANG finally began to receive quality multi-mission aircraft in the late 1970ís and the early 80ís when the introduction of F-15 and F-16 into the USAF released a large number of F-4 Phantoms to the Guard. Finally, the post-Cold War drawdowns allowed the ANG to receive first line aircraft. The ANG has a history of outperforming regular AF squadrons even when equipped with last yearís aircraft.
If the DNC actually understood these facts they would not be seizing Bushís service as a big issue.
