The Wingmen Assert the Following:
7. George W. Bush volunteered to serve in Vietnam following his flight training.
After his training at Moody AFB and Ellington ANG Base, George W. Bush and his fellow aviator Fred Bradley, sought service in Vietnam. In an article for the National Review, author Jed Babbin wrote that Bush and Bradley, “Both were junior lieutenants without a lot of flying experience. But the inexperience didn't prevent Bush — along with Bradley — from going to their squadron leaders to see if they could get into a program called ‘Palace Alert.’ ‘There were four of us lieutenants at the time, and we were all fairly close. Two of them had more flight time than the president and me, said Bradley.’ All four volunteered for Vietnam (Bradley doesn't remember whether he and Bush actually signed paperwork, but he specifically remembers both Bush and himself trying to get into the Palace Alert Vietnam program.) Bush and Bradley were turned away, and the two more senior pilots went to Vietnam.” Bush’s Squadron Commander, Col. (Ret.) Maurice Udell and squadron mate Col. (Ret.) Scott Woodfin recall that Bush lacked the 500 hours of flight time necessary to qualify for the “Palace Alert” program, which rotated individual pilots to USAF units in the South East Asia war theatre. The program stopped accepting applicants soon after Bush volunteered.

Capt. (Ret.) Paul Repp, who trained with Bush at Moody AFB in 1968, recalled that during training, “ . . . there was the anticipation that everyone would go to Vietnam sooner or later . . . obviously, we talked about it, and he (Bush) thought there was a chance that he would get sent over. Number one, George, being as athletic as he is, wanted to fly airplanes. And, I would assume that with his father being a pilot, he wanted try his hand at it, and he did, and he was very good. We wanted to be in active duty, we wanted to be in combat. That’s the only way you could prove to yourself that all this training and all this work that you put yourself through was worthwhile and you are the best that you could be.”