Posted on Jul 18, 2015
CAPT Senior Principal Policy Analyst
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Posted in these groups: 61c89c28 Donald Trump
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SSG Jerry Johnson
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Trump crossed the line long before this and all he got was encouragement.
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LCDR Naval Aviator
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Senator McCain is a courageous man and a war hero. He was also a shitty pilot who only got where he was because of nepotism. It is what it is. That doesn't diminish what he did as a POW.
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CAPT Senior Principal Policy Analyst
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And you base your judgment of his aviating skills how? He flew single-seat A-4s into combat day and night off small conventional aircraft carriers.
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LCDR Naval Aviator
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He managed to crash a perfectly good airplane into the bay at Corpus Christi because he had a bad scan and a low power setting, with no awareness of his airspeed and altitude. You tell me how that happens to a good pilot. Then he cut some power lines in Spain because he was ignoring SOP and flying dangerously low; also something that doesn't happen to a good pilot. He got where he was because of his familial line, not his ability.
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Capt Lance Gallardo
Capt Lance Gallardo
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LCDR (Join to see) - Apparently McCain' flying skills improved after hundred of traps, night and day, in a high combat op tempo, where Brother Aviators were being shot down on a pretty regular basis (and this after surviving the fire on the USS Forrestal that killed 150 Plus of his shipmates) on Yankee Station and night strikes in Vietnam. Your comments are pretty salty for someone who has not faced the type of integrated air defense (probably the best in the world at the time) over North Vietnam. Are you ignoring his DFC for what his combat flying earned him or the rep he had made for himself as a Good Combat Aviator among his peers prior to being shot down?
http://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=23680
How many combat hours in those kind of conditions do you have LTG? How many DFCs do you have under your belt? Damn you have some stones to say John McCain was not a good pilot, without qualifying your remarks to say he started off as a lousy pilot. But what the hell do I know I was just a JAG in the Marine Corps. Also in his era aviators got away with a lot of flying and risk taking (and behavior in general) that would have cost you your wings in the zero defect military that we now have. A kick ass combat aviator like the Donald "The Great Santini" Conroy would not have lasted a year in today's military due to his behavior outside of the cockpit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Conroy
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LCDR Naval Aviator
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Anyone can learn to fly when given unlimited chances. Did he end up being excellent? Sure he did, just like anyone else would. Did he deserve all those chances? Nope. Nepotism.
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MSgt Bj Jones
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Trump supported McCain in the 2008 elections but turned on McCain when he lost, saying he (Trump) does not like losers. It makes me wonder if Trump will despise himself if he does not win the Republican nomination, much less the Presidency. I guess those of us who weren't captured should be consoled by the notion we are "heroes" according to Trump (*Note: Sarcasm). What Trump forgot was in attacking Senator McCain's war record, he messed with the "Brotherhood" of Veterans and Service Members. We may insult, demean, attack, and beat each other up, but God help the world if anyone who never put 1 millisecond of time into Military service does such to our fellow Comrades in Arms. I don't see Sen McCain as a sham nor phoney. I see him as a Disabled Veteran who went through more than many of us can imagine. For Trump to attack McCain for being captured, I'd like to see how he would have reacted had he actually served. At least McCain served and put his life on the line. Trump should have kept his comments to McCain's political service and left his wartime service alone. http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-john-mccain-war-hero-2015-7
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Capt Lance Gallardo
Capt Lance Gallardo
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MSgt Bj Jones - I think you and I and other serious minded Voters, to say nothing of serious minded Vets or Currently serving Service-Members, see the presidential race as a time to vet the candidates, to hear their specific policy proposals (what they actually propose doing to make the military and the country Better, improve the economy, reduce the deficit, improve the Health Care delivery system, engage in Criminal Justice reform, improve race relations, decrease poverty, address all of the serious issues confronting our nation, that need serious people, with serious and specific proposals. Instead we get the circus show of Donald Trump who speaks in "glittering generalities," who does not seem to be investing in the kind of infrastructure (ie building a team of experts and advisers on all of the relevant issues and more that I just mentioned.) that credible and serious Presidential Candidates normally have. Want to build a wall along the Mexican Border, how are you going to pay for that? How many Billions (or possibly trillion) do you want to spend to make that happen? What other domestic spending priorities will be cut or eliminated to do that? Our infrastructure, road, and highways, and buildings and ports, need the kind of investment that you want to spend on a border wall and the hiring of tens of thousands of more Border Patrol Agents to man those walls. That still leaves the Canadian Border a wide open joke. The Canadians have been welcoming in many Muslims in recent years as refugees and asylum seekers, at least one of whom attacked the Canadian Parliament building recently, and killed a Canadian Soldier. Another was caught trying to enter the US from Canada intent on committing a terrorist act in the Los Angeles Area. How are you going to get Mexico to help pay for such an endeavor, when Mexico is this side of a failed state, and they can't even keep their version of Osama Bin Laden locked away in a supermax prison for more than a year. We are also I am presuming actually vetting Candidates for their character and fitness to hold office based upon their demonstrated behavior, and their significant life choices. I still think the President of the United States is supposed to be an Honorable Man or Woman, who's judgment and temperament is beyond reproach. No, I am not looking for the perfect person, but someone who's character and integrity is way above average. We are elected a President, not the Pope.
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MSgt Bj Jones
MSgt Bj Jones
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Bingo Capt Lance Gallardo ! You mentioned the costs of building a border wall as one example. Some people praise Trump for his ability to make money and excuse his four different times of bankrupting his companies. Some even like to say that Walt Disney went bankrupt 18 times (not true as Disney would've ended up in prison). Even if Disney did go bankrupt multiple times, Disney did not make a run for the Oval Office. Trump was kicked out of being head of his own company (Trump Hotel and Casino). That was just one of his bankruptcies. As someone who owns multiple shares of stock in various companies (to include Trump Hotel and Casinos), that Trump could make his billions by selling shares and bankrupting his businesses-thus hurting those who invested in his companies, does not make me anxious to give him the reins to the US Budget. In fact, I'd love to be the reporter who asks him how soon he plans to bankrupt the American economy.
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Capt Lance Gallardo
Capt Lance Gallardo
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I don't view the Presidential Election as a form of entertainment, although it does at time get entertaining. I think as more details emerge about how Donald Trump has made good and bad and highly questionable (or morally unethical?) business decisions many people will be less inclined to give him a pass on the less savory elements of his character. His circus act will get tired and irritating sooner rather than later.
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MSgt Bj Jones
MSgt Bj Jones
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I don't see the Presidential Election cycle as entertaining, either. If I wanted to watch an election cycle for entertainment value, I'd watch the British elections and goings on in the Houses of Lords and Commons.
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Capt Richard I P.
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Lol.
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LTC Jason Strickland
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I'm disappointed in what Donald Trump said. I highly regard Senator McCain's status as a former POW and the suffering he endured. While I like many of Donald Trump's positions, I believe he went too far on this one...
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LTC Jason Strickland
LTC Jason Strickland
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SSG Ryan R., I don't think Sen. McCain should be shielded from criticism...I didn't think he was the GOP's best candidate in 2008. In my opinion, it was a faux pas to for Trump to offer that type of insult. Needless to say, I think The Donald will bounce back from this and continue to ruffle Republican feathers and stay in the top 3.
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Capt Lance Gallardo
Capt Lance Gallardo
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SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S. - Hilarious! Tomb of the Unknown Comb Over!
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Capt Lance Gallardo
Capt Lance Gallardo
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But what do I know I have been the master of the cheap haircut since I joined the Marine Corps at 18.
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Capt Lance Gallardo
Capt Lance Gallardo
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LTC Jason Strickland - LTC Strickland I too have liked some of the things that Trump said, but his message got destroyed by stupid remarks like questioning McCain's Status as a War hero, and by implication, anyone who got shot down and captured. You are an optimist if you think he will "bounce back" from this. But I guess we will all see soon. No Crystal ball here!
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SFC Military Police
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While I obviously can't speak for him I think what he meant is that McCain was only considered a hero because he was captured. Had he served and come home without incident would he have gotten the same title? There are hundreds of thousands of vets that have served in a combat zone but did absolutely nothing combat related. They sat in Internet cafes, at coffee shops, attended college classes, went to Salsa night, etc... Are they war hero's? To say yes would diminish the valorous actions of many others.
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CAPT Senior Principal Policy Analyst
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I would call flying day and night strikes off aircraft carriers into combat valorous. He was already a war hero before he ever got shot down. His bravery under extreme adversity cemented it.
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SFC Military Police
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I reiterate "I think what he meant" not what I think.
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Capt Lance Gallardo
Capt Lance Gallardo
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CAPT (Join to see) - Absolutely Sir! My mother's brother John Gallardo, was a teenager serving as an Aviation Ordinance man on the USS Connstellation on Yankee Station in 1966 (he volunteered for the US Navy at 17 with his parent's permission right out of High School), when many of these great men made dozens of combat missions before they were shot down, flying off of CV carriers, like the Oriskany, the Ranger, The Forrestal, the Connie, the Enterprise. I have a photocopy of a letter he wrote to his sister, my mother, asking how her 2 year old was doing (me) in 1966, and his letter is a part of our family historical documents, because he tells us what is like to be a 19 year old young man on a SuperCarrier at war. He wrote in his letter how tired he was a all the time. The OP tempo was crazy as was the emotional strain and stress on all hands especially the squadrons. He writes of how one his favorite pilots flew off on a combat mission one day and never came back. He was told there was no chute, and the pilot was KIA. He writes about how they had to medivac enlisted crewmen who had psych breakdowns due to the stress. He wrote and has told me of seeing aircrew and pilots landing badly shot up planes, with horribly injured pilots & aircrew aboard from AAA Flak from missions over North Vietnam. Some died in sickbay from their wounds. Most enlisted crew members had secondary jobs/billets that they had to fill in addition to whatever they did in their normal 12 hour job. In my Uncle's rate it was bombing up the planes for missions, an inherently dangerous job, as shown on the video tape of John McCain barely avoiding being killed on the USS Forrestal when a rocket cooked off on the deck and started an inferno on his Carrier: " In the Gulf of Tonkin on 29 July, Forrestal had been launching aircraft from her flight deck. For four days, the planes of Attack Carrier Air Wing 17 flew about 150 missions against targets in North Vietnam from the ship. On 29 July 1967, during preparation for another strike, a Zuni rocket installed on an F-4 Phantom (#110), misfired, impacting an armed A-4 Skyhawk, side #405, parked on the port side (U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General Investigation Report of USS FORRESTAL Incident). The rocket's impact dislodged and ruptured the Skyhawk's 400-gallon external fuel tank. Fuel from the leaking tank caught fire, creating a serious conflagration that burned for hours, killing 134, injuring 161, destroying 21 aircraft and costing the Navy US$72 million. On the flight deck that day was Lieutenant Commander (later Senator) John McCain.[6]" This is the Naval Aviator that Trump is calling a loser and "no war hero."

Goddamn You Donald Trump for slandering ALL of the great Americans who fought over the skies of Vietnam (and some other places we were not officially flying over then), and some of whom had the misfortune to be shot down, many on their second and third combat deployments and who did not have to be there. You are a Goddamn coward for deferring your way out of Vietnam and having the stupidity to say what you did about a Brotherhood of Heroes who's bravery gave you the opportunity to spend your life chasing the almighty dollar. You don't have the Salt to speak McCain's name. You are truly lower than whale shit at the bottom of the Sea!
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SFC Military Police
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SSG Izzy Abbass
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There is a reason Trump is being followed by some groups under their Entertainment sections vs their Political sections
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SrA Realty Specialist
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Some groups? It's one group...the Huffington Post...which is nothing more than a glorified blog anyways. Not many take them seriously. Don't over exaggerate the biased action of one blog.
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Capt Jeff S.
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I like him more. McCain is NOT a Patriot.
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SPC Randell Pendley
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I certainly do.
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SPC Randell Pendley
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I'll be on the Trump train for the duration.
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