wrote in message
...
On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 07:28:01 -0600, sandy
wrote:

Someone wrote:

Yes, as did George Bush

When I was 19, in 1967, I looked into the National Guard.
Everybody knew the guard was the easiest way to avoid combat duty
in Viet Nam (was then, anyway). But I was told it was essentially
impossible to get into the guard. You had to know somebody.

It's also worth remembering the National Guard secretary who
said she didn't write the famous Dan Rather document did also
say "everything in that letter is essentially the truth, it's
just that I didn't write it."

Anybody who thinks George Bush's intermittant tenure in
the Texas National Guard was the same as Kennedy's duty
has a few cognitive wires crossed somewhere.

Interesting edit. The quote in context was "as did George Bush
(actually, both of them)," referring primarily to GHW Bush, a WWII vet
with Jack and Joe (who was killed). He did enlist and was "in harm's
way." And as to GW, while the Guard was pretty much a way to try to
avoid Vietnam, it was by no means a sure way, and signing up exposed one
to the potential to see combat. A number of members of GW Bush's unit
were sent over (IIRC, all voluntary) and some were killed in Vietnam.
Bush, with others, inquired about going under the volunteer program and
were told they didn't have enough flight time. By the time Bush had
enough hours, the 102 was withdrawn from the area. Would he have still
gone "but for"? Who knows, probably including GW himself, but I'd not
argue that his choosing the Guard was pretty good evidence that he, at
least, wasn't chomping at the bit to get to Vietnam any way he could.
And as a sidenote, at the time of their respective signups, GW's unit
was a more risky choice than Kerry's as far as potential for personal
risk. Regardless, military service, in and of itself, is not germane
to this particular topic.

Well, that's a whole lot of "not germane".

Wolfgang
who believes he could come up with SOME better way of closing an argument
than telling the audience that it should be disregarded.