Letters to the Editor
Squeaky McCrinkle
Published Letters: 19
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Kurtz gets it wrong, again . . .
[Read the article: Journalists, McCain and the false Iran/al-Qaida link]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm coming to this very late, but the comment by Kurtz that McCain "led a Navy squadron during the Vietnam war" is the kind of lazy, almost-true crap that passes for journalism these days.
As I've posted on other sites, there's a very interesting thesis by Peter Fey about this subject. It's titled “THE EFFECTS OF LEADERSHIP ON CARRIER AIR WING SIXTEEN’S LOSS RATES DURING OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER, 1965-1968”. It’s available at:
http://www.skyhawk.org/2e/vietnam/1965-68_oriskany_rolling-thunder.pdf
I think this thorough and historically accurate report is extremely interesting for insights into what makes John McCain tick, and the culture that produced him.
Author Fey describes his work as follows: “During Operation Rolling Thunder, Carrier Air Wing 16 suffered the highest loss rates of any unit in naval aviation during the Vietnam conflict. During three separate cruises on the USS Oriskany (CVA-34), the air wing was continually plagued with high losses. The worst losses were taken during the June 1967 through January 1968 deployment. During 122 days of combat the USS Oriskany lost one-half the airplanes assigned to her and one-third of her pilots. Twenty aviators were killed or missing in action, seven taken prisoner of war, and thirty-nine aircraft lost. This thesis will examine the factors that led to Carrier Air Wing 16’s extreme loss rates. It will first provide a background of the Rolling Thunder campaign. This thesis will then discuss the divide between America’s strategic goals and the operational level goals, and the resulting affects on the United States Navy. Next it will examine the underlying reasons for attrition at the tactical level. The thesis will then examine the leadership in the air wing and analyze what role, if any, it played in the losses. This study will conclude with the resultant morale issues arising from these experiences and implications for a professional military dependant on volunteers.”
John McCain served with Carrier Air Wing 16 during that fateful June 1967 to January 1968 deployment.
McCain was part of a group that developed a death-or-glory mentality that was peculiar to the times. McCain himself recalled: “When orders came down to escalate the bombing campaign, the pilots on the Oriskany were ecstatic. As the campaign heated up, we began to lose a lot more pilots. But the losses, as much as they hurt, didn’t cause any of us to reconsider our support for the escalation. For the first time we believed we were helping to win the war and we were proud to be usefully employed.”
Fey writes: ” . . . these pilots quickly adopted a careerist attitude towards the war, in that they had a vested interest in the institutional success of naval aviation, regardless of the politics of the war. Many believed it their professional obligation to fight the war to the best of their abilities, while working hard to enhance the reputation of naval aviation. The ultimate litmus test for these men, therefore, was to fly in combat. Most of them had flown and trained too long and hard, enduring constant danger, to simply give up and not go to war. Not flying in combat, i.e. Vietnam, for a naval aviator during Rolling Thunder was tantamount to failure”.
And I roughly timed the Meet The Press segment that purported to be about the three presidential candidates. Russert devoted (by my rough count) 30 minutes to Clinton and Obama and three minutes to John McCain. The first part trumpeted a Charles Krauthammer column and an incendiary Reverend Wright clip and the deep thoughts of Todd, Robinson, Meacham and Noonan.
The second part was a quick couple of questions, no follow ups, no graphics, and the smarmier half of the panel didn’t even take part.
An absolute disgrace.
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Just for the record . . .
[Read the article: Journalists, McCain and the false Iran/al-Qaida link]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The man who actually led VA-163, (McCain's Skyhawk squadron), was CDR Bryan Compton, acknowledged as an exceptional leader and awarded the Navy Cross "for leadership and coordination skills in an attack strike over North Vietnam that resulted in destruction of the Hanoi thermal power plant".