Welcome home, Capt. Speicher.

[malmapus]

I entered service not long after the Gulf War ended. Still remember the rumors flying around that he might have still been alive. Glad they found him and his family can have some peace now.

Remains found of first American shot down in Gulf War

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The remains of the first American shot down in the 1991 Persian Gulf War have been uncovered, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Sunday.

U.S. Navy Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher was shot down in an F/A-18 Hornet on January 17, 1991, the first night of the war.

The announcement early Sunday of the discovery of Speicher's remains ends more than 18 years of speculation about whether Speicher may have survived the crash and been held captive, or died in captivity in the ensuing years.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Yes, it's good for his family to finally have some answers.

[MADem]

2. I remember the egregious rush by Dick Cheney, personally, to declare Scott dead.

So it wouldn't "ruin" the victory parades, that a Naval aviator might be captured, hidden, wounded, or what have you.

It was unseemly.

Every time I think of Scott, I think "Fuck you, Dick."

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. Yep. RIP sir. Don't forget though the neocons

were dead wrong on this.

The Clinton Admin's Navy Dept insisted he was dead. There was no evidence he survived the crash. the family, with Bill Nelson and some neocons (frankly don't remember which ones now) kept hammering at it, it was a minor RW flap against Clinton in the 96 elections and against Gore in 00

as soon as the ** got in, he forced the Navy to reverse itself

now, we see they were wrong on this, just like everything else.

[Captain Hilts]

4. Why is he being called 'captain'. I don't 'get' that. He was an LCDR. Welcome home.

I will check out his gravesite at Arlington and leave something.

[malmapus]

5. That's right, I forget a Captain is different to Navy guys.

Didn't seem wrong to me, since that's about the rank that flyboys are in the AF or Army, least if they aren't WOs.

[Captain Hilts]

6. A lot of the articles are referring to him as 'captain'. Was he given a posthumous promotion? nt

[malmapus]

7. Not sure, I was going by what the Media was saying.

Didn't catch it in my head since I always saw pilots at Pope who were like O-3s. Completely forgot that in the Navy it's a whole other set of rules.

[malmapus]

8. Looks like they did make him a Captain in the Navy

Found this on Wiki. Gave him two promotions.

In January 2001, the Secretary of the Navy changed Speicher's status to "missing in action." This was the first time the Defense Department had ever made such a change. In conjunction with the change in classification, Speicher was promoted to commander, in accordance with Navy practice for POWs held a long time. The 2001 CIA report stated that he may have survived by ejecting. Rumors from Iraq said that Speicher was captive, walked with a limp, and had facial scars. In July 2002, Speicher was further promoted to captain.

[Captain Hilts]

9. Okay, that makes him an 0-5. Still not a captain. Interesting. nt

[malmapus]

10. O-6, I must have edited my post when you were replying.

I should have read the rest of that paragraph before posting. Had his promotion to full Captain in 2002 that I changed my post after finding the first one to O-5 from Jan 01.

[Captain Hilts]

11. Ahhh....nt