- 05 Jan 2004 20:56
#71546
The Real Military Record of George W. Bush: Not Heroic, but Not AWOL, Either
By Peter Keating and Karthik Thyagarajan
For more than a year, controversy about George W. Bush's Air National Guard record has bubbled through the
press. Interest in the topic has spiked in recent days, as at least two websites have launched stories essentially
calling Bush AWOL in 1972 and 1973. For example, in "Finally, the Truth about Bush's Military Record" on
TomPaine.com, Marty Heldt writes, "Bush's long absence from the records comes to an end one week after he
failed to comply with an order to attend 'Annual Active Duty Training' starting at the end of May 1973... Nothing
indicates in the records that he ever made up the time he missed." And in inBush's Military Record Reveals
Grounding and Absence for Two Full Years" on Democrats.com, Robert A. Rogers states: "Bush never actually
reported in person for the last two years of his service - in direct violation of two separate written orders."
Neither is correct.
It's time to set the record straight. The following analysis, which relies on National Guard documents, extensive
interviews with military officials and previously unpublished evidence of Bush's whereabouts in the summer and
fall of 1972, is the first full chronology of Bush's military record. Its basic conclusions: Bush may have received
favorable treatment to get into the Guard, served irregularly after the spring of 1972 and got an expedited
discharge, but he did accumulate the days of service required of him for his ultimate honorable discharge.
At the Republican convention in Philadelphia, George W. Bush declared: "Our military is low on parts, pay and
morale. If called on by the commander-in-chief today, two entire divisions of the Army would have to report, 'Not
ready for duty, sir.'" Bush says he is the candidate who can "rebuild our military and prepare our armed forces for
the future." On what direct military experience does he make such claims?
George W. Bush applied to join the Texas Air National Guard on May 27, 1968, less than two weeks before he
graduated from Yale University. The country was at war in Vietnam, and at that time, just months after the bloody
Tet Offensive, an estimated 100,000 Americans were on waiting lists to join Guard units across the country. Bush
was sworn in on the day he applied.
Ben Barnes, former speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, stated in September 1999 that in late 1967
or early 1968, he asked a senior official in the Texas Air National Guard to help Bush get into the Guard as a pilot.
Barnes said he did so at the behest of Sidney Adger, a Houston businessman and friend of former President
George H. W. Bush, then a Texas congressman. Despite Barnes's admission, former President Bush has denied
pulling strings for his son, and retired Colonel Walter Staudt, George W. Bush's first commander, insists: "There
was no special treatment."
The younger Bush fulfilled two years of active duty and completed pilot training in June 1970. During that time and
in the two years that followed, Bush flew the F-102, an interceptor jet equipped with heat-seeking missiles that
could shoot down enemy planes. His commanding officers and peers regarded Bush as a competent pilot and
enthusiastic Guard member. In March 1970, the Texas Air National Guard issued a press release trumpeting his
performance: "Lt. Bush recently became the first Houston pilot to be trained by the 147th [Fighter Group] and to
solo in the F-102... Lt. Bush said his father was just as excited and enthusiastic about his solo flight as he was." In
Bush's evaluation for the period May 1, 1971 through April 30, 1972, then-Colonel Bobby Hodges, his
commanding officer, stated, "I have personally observed his participation, and without exception, his performance
has been noteworthy." In the spring of 1972, however, National Guard records show a sudden dropoff in Bush's
military activity. Though trained as a pilot at considerable government expense, Bush stopped flying in April 1972
and never flew for the Guard again.
Around that time, Bush decided to go to work for Winton "Red" Blount, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate,
in Alabama. Documents from Ellington Air Force Base in Houston state that Bush "cleared this base on 15 May."
Shortly afterward, he applied for assignment to the 9921st Air Reserve Squadron in Montgomery, Ala., a unit that
required minimal duty and offered no pay. Although that unit's commander was willing to welcome him, on May 31
higher-ups at the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver rejected Bush's request to serve at the 9921st,
because it did not offer duty equivalent to his service in Texas. "[A]n obligated Reservist [in this case, Bush] can
be assigned to a specific Ready Reserve position only," noted the disapproval memo, a copy of which was sent to
Bush. "Therefore, he is ineligible for assignment to an Air Reserve Squadron."
Despite the military's decision, Bush moved to Alabama. Records obtained by Georegemag.com show that the
Blount Senate campaign paid Bush about $900 a month from mid-May through mid-November to do advance
work and organize events. Neither Bush's annual evaluation nor the Air National Guard's overall chronological
listing of his service contain any evidence that he performed Guard duties during that summer.
On or around his 27th birthday, July 6, 1972, Bush did not take his required annual medical exam at his Texas
unit. As a consequence, he was suspended from flying military jets. Bush spokesperson Dan Bartlett told
Georgemag.com: "You take that exam because you are flying, and he was not flying. The paperwork uses the
phrase 'suspended from flying,' but he had no intention of flying at that time."
Some media reports have speculated that Bush took and failed his physical, or that he was grounded as a result
of substance abuse. Bush's vagueness on the subject of his past drug use has only abetted such rumors. Bush's
commanding officer in Texas, however, denies the charges. "His flying status was suspended because he didn't
take the exam,not because he couldn't pass," says Hodges. Asked whether Bush was ever disciplined for using
alcohol or illicit drugs, Hodges replied: "No."
On September 5, Bush wrote to then-Colonel Jerry Killian at his original unit in Texas, requesting permission to
serve with the 187th Tactical Reconnaisance Group, another Alabama-based unit. "This duty would be for the
months of September, October, and November," wrote Bush.
This time his request was approved: 10 days later, the Alabama Guard ordered Bush to report to then-Lieutenant
Colonel William Turnipseed at Dannelly Air Force Base in Montgomery on October 7th and 8th. The memo noted
that "Lieutenant Bush will not be able to satisfy his flight requirements with our group," since the 187th did not fly
F-102s.
The question of whether Bush ever actually served in Alabama has become an issue in the 2000 campaign-the
Air Force Times recently reported that "the GOP is trying to locate people who served with Bush in late 1972 ... to
see if they can confirm that Bush briefly served with the Alabama Air National Guard." Bush's records contain no
evidence that he reported to Dannelly in October. And in telephone interviews with Georgemag.com, neither
Turnipseed, Bush's commanding officer, nor Kenneth Lott, then chief personnel officer of the 187th, remembered
Bush serving with their unit. "I don't think he showed up," Turnipseed said.
Bush maintains he did serve in Alabama. "Governor Bush specifically remembers pulling duty in Montgomery and
respectfully disagrees with the Colonel," says Bartlett. "There's no question it wasn't memorable, because he
wasn't flying." In July, the Decatur Daily reported that two former Blount campaign workers recall Bush serving in
the Alabama Air National Guard in the fall of 1972. "I remember he actually came back to Alabama for about a
week to 10 days several weeks after the campaign was over to complete his Guard duty in the state," stated
Emily Martin, a former Alabama resident who said she dated Bush during the time he spent in that state.
After the 1972 election, which Blount lost, Bush moved back to Houston and subsequently began working at
P.U.L.L., a community service center for disadvantaged youths. This period of time has also become a matter of
controversy, because even though Bush's original unit had been placed on alert duty in October 1972, his
superiors in Texas lost track of his whereabouts. On May 2, 1973, Bush's squadron leader in the 147th,
Lieutenant Colonel William Harris, Jr. wrote: "Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit" for the past year. Harris
incorrectly assumed that Bush had been reporting for duty in Alabama all along. He wrote that Bush "has been
performing equivalent training in a non-flying status with the 187 Tac Recon Gp, Dannelly ANG Base, Alabama."
Base commander Hodges says of Bush's return to Texas: "All I remember is someone saying he came back and
made up his days."
Two documents obtained by Georgemag.com indicate that Bush did make up the time he missed during the
summer and autumn of 1972. One is an April 23, 1973 order for Bush to report to annual active duty training the
following month; the other is an Air National Guard statement of days served by Bush that is torn and undated but
contains entries that correspond to the first. Taken together, they appear to establish that Bush reported for duty
on nine occasions between November 29, 1972-when he could have been in Alabama-and May 24, 1973. Bush
still wasn't flying, but over this span, he did earn nine points of National Guard service from days of active duty
and 32 from inactive duty. When added to the 15 so-called "gratuitous" points that every member of the Guard got
per year, Bush accumulated 56 points, more than the 50 that he needed by the end of May 1973 to maintain his
standing as a Guardsman.
On May 1, Bush was ordered to report for further active duty training, and documents show that he proceeded to
cram in another 10 sessions over the next two months. Ultimately, he racked up 19 active duty points of service
and 16 inactive duty points by July 30-which, added to his 15 gratuitous points, achieved the requisite total of 50
for the year ending in May 1974.
On October 1, 1973, First Lieutenant George W. Bush received an early honorable discharge so that he could
attend Harvard Business School. He was credited with five years, four months and five days of service toward his
six-year service obligation.
Gaining entry to Yale is difficult to say the least. All prospective students are required to sit for their SAT's, which are a form of aptitude tests and comprise a verbal and numeric examination. Each test is out of 800 and therefore a perfect score is 1600. In addition to the SAT's prospects need to do well in the last 2/3 years of their high school studies, receive numerous recommendations from teachers and eminent people. Prospects are also hauled up for an interview and need to write an essay which answers the reason Yale would be a good match. Bush scored a very credible 1330/ 1600 for his SAT's and would not have got into Yale unless he filled the other rigorous requirements which need to be met.
To get into Harvard MBA school a student prospect also needs to demonstrate a certain mental capacity for higher level problem solving and sit for another aptitude test.
As you can see, all in all these requirements are quite rigorous. Just so you understand things a little better, Bush's SAT score would in fact translate into an IQ of about 135. Gore's SAT score were in fact lower than Bush's and he did not complete either a J school or law degree. He flunked out of both course as far a as I know. But Gore's education was never questioned.
Texas leads the nation in reduction of toxic releases. Texas has led the nation in the reduction of toxic releases by 43 million pounds from 1995 to 1998 (during GWB's tenure as governor). It is not the most polluted state in the nation. According to the Environmental Protection Agency's 1998 Toxic Release Inventory (the most recent data available from the EPA, released in May 2000), Texas dropped from first to fifth place in 1998
(while GWB was still governor) for total emissions to the air, water and soil.
fastspawn wrote:i guess the problem here is that nobody can rebut each other because they can say each other sources lie. The truth is, if someone gives 100 points, u are not going to waste ur time and give 100 counterpoints.
I guess the most direct way to get an answer is too ask simply phrased questions a few at a time like,
Did Bush Skip Vietnam?
Did Bush get into Yale and Harvard Business School despite having mediocre SATs?
Did Bush at his gubernaterial term decide to give in to big oil companies(conflicting interests) and pollute the texans?
And the debate can proceed with point counterpoint easily, rather than regurgitating links to sources(dubious)
fastspawn wrote:Did Bush Skip Vietnam?
The Real Military Record of George W. Bush: Not Heroic, but Not AWOL, Either
By Peter Keating and Karthik Thyagarajan
For more than a year, controversy about George W. Bush's Air National Guard record has bubbled through the
press. Interest in the topic has spiked in recent days, as at least two websites have launched stories essentially
calling Bush AWOL in 1972 and 1973. For example, in "Finally, the Truth about Bush's Military Record" on
TomPaine.com, Marty Heldt writes, "Bush's long absence from the records comes to an end one week after he
failed to comply with an order to attend 'Annual Active Duty Training' starting at the end of May 1973... Nothing
indicates in the records that he ever made up the time he missed." And in inBush's Military Record Reveals
Grounding and Absence for Two Full Years" on Democrats.com, Robert A. Rogers states: "Bush never actually
reported in person for the last two years of his service - in direct violation of two separate written orders."
Neither is correct.
It's time to set the record straight. The following analysis, which relies on National Guard documents, extensive
interviews with military officials and previously unpublished evidence of Bush's whereabouts in the summer and
fall of 1972, is the first full chronology of Bush's military record. Its basic conclusions: Bush may have received
favorable treatment to get into the Guard, served irregularly after the spring of 1972 and got an expedited
discharge, but he did accumulate the days of service required of him for his ultimate honorable discharge.
At the Republican convention in Philadelphia, George W. Bush declared: "Our military is low on parts, pay and
morale. If called on by the commander-in-chief today, two entire divisions of the Army would have to report, 'Not
ready for duty, sir.'" Bush says he is the candidate who can "rebuild our military and prepare our armed forces for
the future." On what direct military experience does he make such claims?
George W. Bush applied to join the Texas Air National Guard on May 27, 1968, less than two weeks before he
graduated from Yale University. The country was at war in Vietnam, and at that time, just months after the bloody
Tet Offensive, an estimated 100,000 Americans were on waiting lists to join Guard units across the country. Bush
was sworn in on the day he applied.
Ben Barnes, former speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, stated in September 1999 that in late 1967
or early 1968, he asked a senior official in the Texas Air National Guard to help Bush get into the Guard as a pilot.
Barnes said he did so at the behest of Sidney Adger, a Houston businessman and friend of former President
George H. W. Bush, then a Texas congressman. Despite Barnes's admission, former President Bush has denied
pulling strings for his son, and retired Colonel Walter Staudt, George W. Bush's first commander, insists: "There
was no special treatment."
The younger Bush fulfilled two years of active duty and completed pilot training in June 1970. During that time and
in the two years that followed, Bush flew the F-102, an interceptor jet equipped with heat-seeking missiles that
could shoot down enemy planes. His commanding officers and peers regarded Bush as a competent pilot and
enthusiastic Guard member. In March 1970, the Texas Air National Guard issued a press release trumpeting his
performance: "Lt. Bush recently became the first Houston pilot to be trained by the 147th [Fighter Group] and to
solo in the F-102... Lt. Bush said his father was just as excited and enthusiastic about his solo flight as he was." In
Bush's evaluation for the period May 1, 1971 through April 30, 1972, then-Colonel Bobby Hodges, his
commanding officer, stated, "I have personally observed his participation, and without exception, his performance
has been noteworthy." In the spring of 1972, however, National Guard records show a sudden dropoff in Bush's
military activity. Though trained as a pilot at considerable government expense, Bush stopped flying in April 1972
and never flew for the Guard again.
Around that time, Bush decided to go to work for Winton "Red" Blount, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate,
in Alabama. Documents from Ellington Air Force Base in Houston state that Bush "cleared this base on 15 May."
Shortly afterward, he applied for assignment to the 9921st Air Reserve Squadron in Montgomery, Ala., a unit that
required minimal duty and offered no pay. Although that unit's commander was willing to welcome him, on May 31
higher-ups at the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver rejected Bush's request to serve at the 9921st,
because it did not offer duty equivalent to his service in Texas. "[A]n obligated Reservist [in this case, Bush] can
be assigned to a specific Ready Reserve position only," noted the disapproval memo, a copy of which was sent to
Bush. "Therefore, he is ineligible for assignment to an Air Reserve Squadron."
Despite the military's decision, Bush moved to Alabama. Records obtained by Georegemag.com show that the
Blount Senate campaign paid Bush about $900 a month from mid-May through mid-November to do advance
work and organize events. Neither Bush's annual evaluation nor the Air National Guard's overall chronological
listing of his service contain any evidence that he performed Guard duties during that summer.
On or around his 27th birthday, July 6, 1972, Bush did not take his required annual medical exam at his Texas
unit. As a consequence, he was suspended from flying military jets. Bush spokesperson Dan Bartlett told
Georgemag.com: "You take that exam because you are flying, and he was not flying. The paperwork uses the
phrase 'suspended from flying,' but he had no intention of flying at that time."
Some media reports have speculated that Bush took and failed his physical, or that he was grounded as a result
of substance abuse. Bush's vagueness on the subject of his past drug use has only abetted such rumors. Bush's
commanding officer in Texas, however, denies the charges. "His flying status was suspended because he didn't
take the exam,not because he couldn't pass," says Hodges. Asked whether Bush was ever disciplined for using
alcohol or illicit drugs, Hodges replied: "No."
On September 5, Bush wrote to then-Colonel Jerry Killian at his original unit in Texas, requesting permission to
serve with the 187th Tactical Reconnaisance Group, another Alabama-based unit. "This duty would be for the
months of September, October, and November," wrote Bush.
This time his request was approved: 10 days later, the Alabama Guard ordered Bush to report to then-Lieutenant
Colonel William Turnipseed at Dannelly Air Force Base in Montgomery on October 7th and 8th. The memo noted
that "Lieutenant Bush will not be able to satisfy his flight requirements with our group," since the 187th did not fly
F-102s.
The question of whether Bush ever actually served in Alabama has become an issue in the 2000 campaign-the
Air Force Times recently reported that "the GOP is trying to locate people who served with Bush in late 1972 ... to
see if they can confirm that Bush briefly served with the Alabama Air National Guard." Bush's records contain no
evidence that he reported to Dannelly in October. And in telephone interviews with Georgemag.com, neither
Turnipseed, Bush's commanding officer, nor Kenneth Lott, then chief personnel officer of the 187th, remembered
Bush serving with their unit. "I don't think he showed up," Turnipseed said.
Bush maintains he did serve in Alabama. "Governor Bush specifically remembers pulling duty in Montgomery and
respectfully disagrees with the Colonel," says Bartlett. "There's no question it wasn't memorable, because he
wasn't flying." In July, the Decatur Daily reported that two former Blount campaign workers recall Bush serving in
the Alabama Air National Guard in the fall of 1972. "I remember he actually came back to Alabama for about a
week to 10 days several weeks after the campaign was over to complete his Guard duty in the state," stated
Emily Martin, a former Alabama resident who said she dated Bush during the time he spent in that state.
After the 1972 election, which Blount lost, Bush moved back to Houston and subsequently began working at
P.U.L.L., a community service center for disadvantaged youths. This period of time has also become a matter of
controversy, because even though Bush's original unit had been placed on alert duty in October 1972, his
superiors in Texas lost track of his whereabouts. On May 2, 1973, Bush's squadron leader in the 147th,
Lieutenant Colonel William Harris, Jr. wrote: "Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit" for the past year. Harris
incorrectly assumed that Bush had been reporting for duty in Alabama all along. He wrote that Bush "has been
performing equivalent training in a non-flying status with the 187 Tac Recon Gp, Dannelly ANG Base, Alabama."
Base commander Hodges says of Bush's return to Texas: "All I remember is someone saying he came back and
made up his days."
Two documents obtained by Georgemag.com indicate that Bush did make up the time he missed during the
summer and autumn of 1972. One is an April 23, 1973 order for Bush to report to annual active duty training the
following month; the other is an Air National Guard statement of days served by Bush that is torn and undated but
contains entries that correspond to the first. Taken together, they appear to establish that Bush reported for duty
on nine occasions between November 29, 1972-when he could have been in Alabama-and May 24, 1973. Bush
still wasn't flying, but over this span, he did earn nine points of National Guard service from days of active duty
and 32 from inactive duty. When added to the 15 so-called "gratuitous" points that every member of the Guard got
per year, Bush accumulated 56 points, more than the 50 that he needed by the end of May 1973 to maintain his
standing as a Guardsman.
On May 1, Bush was ordered to report for further active duty training, and documents show that he proceeded to
cram in another 10 sessions over the next two months. Ultimately, he racked up 19 active duty points of service
and 16 inactive duty points by July 30-which, added to his 15 gratuitous points, achieved the requisite total of 50
for the year ending in May 1974.
On October 1, 1973, First Lieutenant George W. Bush received an early honorable discharge so that he could
attend Harvard Business School. He was credited with five years, four months and five days of service toward his
six-year service obligation.
fastspawn wrote:Did Bush get into Yale and Harvard Business School despite having mediocre SATs?
Gaining entry to Yale is difficult to say the least. All prospective students are required to sit for their SAT's, which are a form of aptitude tests and comprise a verbal and numeric examination. Each test is out of 800 and therefore a perfect score is 1600. In addition to the SAT's prospects need to do well in the last 2/3 years of their high school studies, receive numerous recommendations from teachers and eminent people. Prospects are also hauled up for an interview and need to write an essay which answers the reason Yale would be a good match. Bush scored a very credible 1330/ 1600 for his SAT's and would not have got into Yale unless he filled the other rigorous requirements which need to be met.
To get into Harvard MBA school a student prospect also needs to demonstrate a certain mental capacity for higher level problem solving and sit for another aptitude test.
As you can see, all in all these requirements are quite rigorous. Just so you understand things a little better, Bush's SAT score would in fact translate into an IQ of about 135. Gore's SAT score were in fact lower than Bush's and he did not complete either a J school or law degree. He flunked out of both course as far a as I know. But Gore's education was never questioned.
fastspawn wrote:Did Bush at his gubernaterial term decide to give in to big oil companies(conflicting interests) and pollute the texans?
Texas leads the nation in reduction of toxic releases. Texas has led the nation in the reduction of toxic releases by 43 million pounds from 1995 to 1998 (during GWB's tenure as governor). It is not the most polluted state in the nation. According to the Environmental Protection Agency's 1998 Toxic Release Inventory (the most recent data available from the EPA, released in May 2000), Texas dropped from first to fifth place in 1998
(while GWB was still governor) for total emissions to the air, water and soil.