UPDATED: OCT 14, 2007
WILL THE REAL PHONY SOLDIERS PLEASE STAND UP?
Rush Limbaugh opened a can of worms when he dubbed one of his radio callers a “phony soldier.” Why would Rush call him a phony soldier? Well, the soldier disagreed with Bush’s War and Occupation policies in Iraq, that’s why. First, the wiretapping, then the habeas corpus, and then goes the freedom of speech. Makes me wonder what pills Rush is poppin’ this time. Did he ever go into rehab for the parking lot purchase of $400M of OxyContin from his house maid?
Even the 28% of Americans polled who still give Bush good marks AFTER NO weapons of mass destruction were ever found, silently seem to be disassociating themselves from Bush. His Cabinet is crumbling. Nobody believes in Bush or his private War anymore. With each new discovery, e.g., Blackwater mercenaries who Bush pays five times more than we pay our own uniformed forces, Americans ain’t buying it anymore, Rush. These drunken guns-for-hire cowboys have been shooting up Iraq with no accountability for years, Rush, get it? Taxpayers have paid Blackwater over a Billion dollars since the war began. Now Iraq wants them out. No uniforms, Rush. Think Blackwater might qualify as some of your phony soldiers, Rush?
None of the GOP candidates ask Bush to appear at their fund-raisers, ain’t that strange? Even Republicans know that Bush is poison, yet here Rush comes, jowls-a-shakin’, defending the indefensible, and attempting to demonize a legitimate American serviceman. Remember the old Bushism “If you’re not for us, you are against us?” Looks like Rush’s got a Bush Playbook. But who is Rush Limbaugh who dares to discredit our soldiers and question the honor of U.S. American service men and women just because they disagree with George W. Bush’s private War on Iraq? How is Rush qualified to criticize American soldiers? What military service was Rush in, and when did he serve? He didn’t. A pilonidal cyst (ingrown hair) on his ass got him out of the draft when the Viet Nam War burned in its full fury.
Let’s look at Rush Limbaugh’s definition of a phony soldier. And in all fairness to those who serve, let’s talk about some of the bums like Rush Limbaugh who wormed their way out of serving their country when there was a military draft.
The Army drafted me in 1964. Proof of diploma at my draft board allowed me to join the Navy and to attend Officer Candidate School in Newport, R.I. OCS completed, I received a commission in the U.S. Navy as an Ensign. I was assigned to the USS Sumner County (LST 1148) stationed in San Diego, CA. From early on, I saw little of San Diego. We had just returned from a deployment in the Philippines when we got the news. The USS Maddox, the Naval message said, had been fired upon by North Vietnamese gunboats in the Gulf of Tonkin, and things were about to explode. Our deployment orders came that same day. In three days we lashed tanks and jeeps and extra landing craft boats to every vacant inch of hull and deck, and sailed with 100s of Marines to Da Nang Harbor, Viet Nam. I was the Gunnery Officer in charge of our ship’s guns (40 MM Canons and 50 Caliber Machine Guns), all sorts of machine guns, rifles, BARs, grenades, and bullets. Our job was to support the land troops in the earlier stages of US buildup in VN. Coast Guard cutters were our business, too. In our boats we traveled the Da Nang River each day, and we supported the Swift Boats, Spook Boats, and even white Coast Guard cutters that conducted rescue missions when soldiers and Marines might have found themselves stuck on a beach with the enemy closing in from behind. We patrolled Da Nang Harbor at night and boarded suspicious fishing junks that neared dozens of various Navy vessels at anchor in the harbor or moored to the pier.
Let’s talk about phony soldiers. And sailors. I did not volunteer for duty in Viet Nam. I served because that’s what I was ordered to do. I cannot say that I felt noble of purpose in serving my country there or in helping to free South Viet Nam from the Communists from the North or the Viet Cong of the night. None of us did. Viet Nam was an impossible endeavor from the beginning. You could not determine who the good guys were. And if they existed, did they want us there so we could bring them freedom and democracy? No, they were indifferent. It was a nightmare. We served because we were obliged to serve. And we were efficient in patrolling the harbor and in bringing beef and bullets to our own. And then years later, they told us that the Bay of Tonkin incident was a hoax. Never happened.
I knew many of the Swift Boaters who ran the rivers in a blaze of speed, always at full-throttle, going somewhere perilous. They were a good bunch of chaps. And for the most part, many of them, like John Kerry, volunteered. They made a definite choice to place themselves in harm’s way, a fact that is beyond reproach, beyond criticism. Speaking of criticism, all of us felt a bond that precluded criticism. We officers and men worked round the clock without recreation, without essence of any kind in our lives. No super markets, no ice, no reminders of home. Imagine the hurt that I discovered in me when I heard the ‘Swift Boat Veterans for Truth’ discredit John Kerry, a fellow officer, during massive ads paid for by a Republican millionaire, Bob J. Perry. How could they trash Kerry who volunteered for combat duty? None of us during the Viet Nam era ever sunk that low, I thought. Even if you and a shipmate did not agree or see eye-to-eye on matters, you didn’t trash him. Your respected him for being there and for his work and sweat and tears, 24-7. You didn’t second guess whether his Purple Hearts were legitimate or not. You didn’t second guess his commanding officer for his judgment in awarding those medals, either.
Phony soldiers? I would give the Blue Ribbon Phony Award to the Swift Boaters who sank from respecting and honoring their colleagues, to taking money to do ads for John Kerry’s opponent in the 2004 Presidential Election. And this brings us to the top award for phony soldier of all time: George W. Bush. I have to wonder if Rush’s “phony soldiers” tag did not jerk the White House by the short hairs. After all the heat Bush took over the years from the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times and other diligent news services with authentic documentation, do you think Rush’s newly-coined “phony soldiers” tag might raise some old skeletons that the Bushes had buried so snugly with Dan Rather’s career? Would Rush stumble and bumble and re-torch that old fire? He would.
See, since Dan Rather’s source document was bogus, maybe the Bushites could use that little ditty to nullify ALL the past source documents (even the authentic ones quoted by the Globe and the Times). One worm in the apple barrel destroys them all. Grouping all the genuine documents, still extant and posted on a hundred websites, with Dan Rather’s bogus one might just serve to end the whole issue of Bush’s questionable military service. “I wonder?” Rove must have mused. Did Bush attend drills as ordered? Or was Bush a deserter? A political cartoon followed soon after the Dan Rather lynching where Bush and Cheney are in the Oval Office, beaming at newspaper headlines debunking Dan Rather. Bush asks Cheney, “Does this mean that I really did attend all those Air Guard drills in Alabama, after all?”
Bush got his Poppy to get an old River Oaks buddy, Sid Adger of Houston to speak to General Rose, Commandant of the Texas Air Guard. Time was running out on young Bush who was about to get drafted, just like I was during those days of the military draft. So General Rose selected young George W Bush over many other qualified applicants for the coveted TANG slot (All knew that Reservists never served in combat). Ben Barnes, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives confessed his part in arranging this skullduggery of special privileges by scuttling what might have been left of common decency in those who sit on high perches in government. He said he was sorry for his part in it, and America waited in silence for the other shoe to fall. It didn’t. Americans did not seem to care that Bush received special treatment when over 300 soldiers a day died in Viet Nam because they had no such special treatment or special privileges. General Rose, to make things even more special, gave young George a direct commissioning as an officer with a stroke of his pen. No OCS, no ROTC, just “poof” and you are an officer. This unheard of practice is usually reserved for doctors and lawyers. From there Bush reported to General Bobby Hodges at Ellington AFB, Houston where he flew the F102s. For a while.
Then Bush put in for a transfer to the Alabama AFG so he could campaign for a family friend, Winton “Red” Blount, running for the Senate and attend Reserve drills in Alabama. General Turnipseed, the Alabama commander said he never saw Bush report for duty as ordered. “I was stationed in Corpus Christi, Texas, and if I had a pilot from Texas on board here, I would have known about it. And he wasn’t.” None of the other officers and men report seeing George Bush in Alabama, either. The Globe, in its relentless research also questioned General Bobby Hodges in Texas about Bush’s whereabouts during the time Bush was ordered to report to General Turnipseed in Alabama. Hodges said, “If Bush had been here in Houston (Ellington AFB), I would have had him flying F102s, but he was not observed.” Bush’s flight officer in Houston had not observed him, either, and noted this on a fitness report. Bush missed his flight physical too, and was disqualified from flying. A Reservist would have been sent directly to active duty if he had missed drills, no questions asked. If I or any other officer or crew member missed ship’s movement or muster, we would have faced courts-martial. But not Bush. Instead, he got out of his 6-years obligated months early to attend Harvard Business School. Such a deal.
The Bush service record bogs you down in bottomless quagmire every step of the way. Stated plainly, Bush did not report for duty as ordered. And he was rewarded with getting out early. Wish I could have got out early. Adding insult to injury, this phony soldier donned an Air Force flight suit to land aboard the USS Lincoln to report “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq. That was years ago. We are still there, trying to accomplish Bush’s mission. Phony soldiers, indeed!
Rush, you need to face the music and report on the real phony soldiers like George W. Bush. And while you’re at it, why not tell us the true story on how you avoided military service with a simple pimple on your butt? Is it true that your own private (phony soldier) doctor made the diagnosis instead of a real Army doctor in uniform?
Last Update: 10/21/2007