Gaps in Service Continue to Dog Bush (WP)

[Nambe]

President Bush's military records, including personal flight logs just released by the Pentagon, paint a picture of a solid, if hardly outstanding, pilot who energetically performed his duties for much of a six-year stint with the Air National Guard. Then, in the spring of 1972, the picture changes.

After initially expressing his intention to make flying "a lifetime pursuit," Bush checked out an F-102 interceptor jet for an 80-minute spin on April 6, 1972, in Texas , and never piloted a military plane again. ..

Whatever Bush's reasons for failing to take the physical, he seems to have put in minimal service at best in Alabama. According to his official personnel records, made public by the White House and the Pentagon, he failed to show for any drills between May and October 1972, even though Air Force regulations required him to attend 90 percent of scheduled drills, barring events "beyond his control."

[KittyWampus]

1. Why Did Junior Refuse An Order To Take His Physical?

?

[yardwork]

2. Kick

We're not going to let W get away with this.

[pinkpops]

3. As part of the physical he would have to release any pertinent

medical information, such as treatment for substance abuse. Your buddy Mr. Bath would have to do the same, since you were both arrested in the same incident. Good plot, huh?

[henslee]

4. I know......

[Isere]

11. HA! I snort thee, knave!

Up his!

[Spiffarino]

21. Close but...

...it should have shown him snorting off a hooker's naked arse.

[henslee]

23. I'd have to be a member to download those photos.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. Glad to see this

Whether the documents were legit or not is a smoke screen. The fact is military records covering the years in question per Bush's guard service are missing. Why?

[AlCzervik]

6. Yes, nice to see that they are looking at the content

the content that has not been disputed instead of looking at the content provider.

[LisaL]

7. Those are serious allegations.

We should demand Bush addresses these allegations!

[Soft Georgia]

19. That's what John Kerry should do in the debates

providing Bush doesn't have Rove in his ear, giving him the answers. John Kerry should DEMAND that Bush answer the charges right then and there, on the stage. When Bush says "I'm not going to address that here" Kerry should say "Mr. President, you must, or risk looking like a hypocrite. Your attack dogs have torn my own military record to shreds looking for lies, when all the records show that I requested service in Vietnam and did my duty under fire. Now the American people DEMAND that you answer the charges, Mr. President, and we expect you to do it now. The floor is yours."

[truthisfreedom]

8. but the events WERE beyond his control. he was "young and irresponsible &"

religiously addicted to cocaine. he has an excuse!

[TahitiNut]

9. He was AWOL for 193 days.

I wish folks would stop saying "five months" and "between May and October" since both are understatements. He didn't show up at all from April 17 through October 27. That's 193 days - about two weeks longer than a typical plea-bargained sentence of "180 days of community service."

If he was, as claimed, working on a campaign then why did he show up on October 28-29, 1972? Since when is the end of October a convenient time to take a break on working a Congressional campaign? That's just nonsense!

If he was in Alabama, then why is his address shown on his records, the address to which any checks were sent, as 2910 Westheimer, Houston, Texas?

There's no way he was working on any campign in Alabama. He was doing court-ordered community service.

[Philostopher]

15. Shee-yit, Tahiti.

This is the first time I've seen the actual dates of the service lapse. If he was, as he has claimed, working on Poppy's buddy's campaign, why the hell would he go back before the election? That makes no damned sense. Duh -- if he'd returned on November 4th or 5th, that would have made the excuse seem more legit. Heading back a week, more or less, before the election? I don't think so.

[LunaC]

18. PUSH the "Project P.U.L.L" angle with the media

I sent the following email to:

Keith Olberman - MSNBC [e-mail]
James Carville?Paul Begala - CNN [e-mail]
Bill Maher - HBO http://www.hbo.com/billmaher / - Ask Bill
Jon Stewart - Comedy Central http://www.comedycentral.com/help/questionsCC.jhtml
Anderson Cooper - CNN http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?10

Let me know who else might be willing to cover this angle (and add your own emails to pique their interest.)

=========================================
This is a news angle/tidbit you may want to consider:

The recent expose' of Bush's military records begs the questions "WHY did he disregard a direct order.......WHY didn't he report for his physical?

What's yet to be revealed about the missed physical and the "missing months" in his military records is his participation in a communitty service
program for an alleged cocaine arrest.

According to J.H. Hatfield's book "Fortunate Son", "Bush was arrested for cocaine possession in Houston in 1972" and he later "got off with a
little community service at a minority youth center" known as Project P.U.L.L

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/18/cocaine /

Note that an AP timeline of Bush's ANG service reveals that in May-July 1973 he participated in non-flying drills at Ellington and worked at AN
INNER-CITY POVERTY PROGRAM earlier in the year.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/consumer_...

So to answer the brand new burning questions of "WHAT did he REALLY do and WHEN did he do it?", The World's Shortest Blog offers this "One
Simple Question" challenge: If you find your way into a public forum and ask Bush "How many times have you been arrested, Mr. President?"
you can claim a bounty currently worth $1800 and growing as contributions are added through PayPal.

http://onesimplequestion.blogspot.com /

This would make for a great "running gag" as you track the Bounty's growth on a daily or weekly basis!
=====================

While it's no laughing matter, a little levity may be the best way to start some "buzz" with this story!

[cal04]

32. The service question

A review of the regulations governing Bush's Guard service during the Vietnam War shows that the White House used an inappropriate--and less stringent--Air Force standard in determining that he had fulfilled his duty. Because Bush signed a six-year "military service obligation," he was required to attend at least 44 inactive-duty training drills each fiscal year beginning July 1. But Bush's own records show that he fell short of that requirement, attending only 36 drills in the 1972-73 period, and only 12 in the 1973-74 period. The White House has said that Bush's service should be calculated using 12-month periods beginning on his induction date in May 1968. Using this time frame, however, Bush still fails the Air Force obligation standard.

Moreover, White House officials say, Bush should be judged on whether he attended enough drills to count toward retirement. They say he accumulated sufficient points under this grading system. Yet, even using their method, which some military experts say is incorrect, U.S. News 's analysis shows that Bush once again fell short. His military records reveal that he failed to attend enough active-duty training and weekend drills to gain the 50 points necessary to count his final year toward retirement.

The U.S. News analysis also showed that during the final two years of his obligation, Bush did not comply with Air Force regulations that impose a time limit on making up missed drills. What's more, he apparently never made up five months of drills he missed in 1972, contrary to assertions by the administration. White House officials did not respond to the analysis last week but emphasized that Bush had "served honorably."


Some experts say they remain mystified as to how Bush obtained an honorable discharge. Lawrence Korb, a former top Defense Department official in the Reagan administration, says the military records clearly show that Bush "had not fulfilled his obligation" and "should have been called to active duty."

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/040920/usnews/20guard.htm

[Old and In the Way]

25. Curious to know what your take is on the Salon article.

I've wondered about this Linda Allison. Could this have been a planted story?

[starroute]

28. Except that there were plenty of people who saw him in Alabama

There were the people at the campaign who'd see him come in late, boast about how drunk he'd been the night before, and never do any work. (Despite drawing a salary, which most of the rest of them weren't.)

There were the people whose house he rented and then wrecked.

And whatever the truth was about the October 28-29 days he supposedly put in, he sure didn't do it in Houston. His superiors wrote the next spring that they hadn't seen him in a year. I recall reading somewhere that his Houston unit wasn't even meeting on October 28-29.

No, I believe he was really in Alabama from May to December. His family sent him there to try to get him out of trouble, and when he showed up in Houston at Christmas, there was plenty of family tension. If was after that, from January 1973 to sometime in the spring, that he put in the community service.

[A_Possum]

10. He "changed his mind"

Even the White House admits that it's ok for Georgie Bush to just "change his mind" and walk out on his committment to his country.

What a patriot.

[Rose Siding]

12. Very nice

The lies in his bio- both the book and the 2000 campaign, are mentioned.

[Catfight]

13. Just someone you can do a line of coke with...what a loser. n/t

[Corgigal]

14. I was a person

who was granted "flying status" when I was in the USAF. I wasn't a pilot but an Air Traffic Controller and our physicals were serious affairs. It could take all day or if you're lucky just the whole morning. You hoped they never found anything because you worked so hard to gain your profession.

However Bush just doesn't show or gets rejected off of flying status and failure to make the appt, during a time of engagement, is no big thing? I served during peacetime and I would probably still be in jail right now if I did this.

As a chick who passed the flight physicals and never had it pulled, then in the republican world, I'm more of a man then Bush. HA.

[AlCzervik]

17. My Dad was a pilot in Vietnam and he still flies today

and every year he has to take a physical and it does take all day.

[Spiffarino]

24. My dog is more of a soldier than the Shrub ever was

At least he obeys when given a direct order.

[Longhorn]

16. Link? n/t

[dweller]

20. click the WP icon in the post

i didn't try it, cuz i don't read that rag, but it looks like the link.
dp

[Longhorn]

22. For some reason, links aren't showing up on my screen!

I just realized it when I checked another LBN story. There's space for it but nothing shows. I have no idea what THAT'S all about!

[dweller]

26. are the words

Washington Post surrounded by a blue border in the original post above?

as to all links in other threads....hmm. What browser are you using?
dp

[Longhorn]

29. No, the words "Washington Post"

appear nowhere in the post. I'm using IE but I also opened it with Mozilla Firefox and still can't see it! It's the same way on another post by Nambe referring to the NYT. But I can read the links in other posts. :shrug:

Thanks for your help! :hi:

[dweller]

30. well, i'm stumped...

the blue border around Nambe's WP icon in his post makes the words themselves the link.
I don't have IE, so can't guide you to the prefs to look for what you may have to change.

in the meantime or until someone else can help you out, here's the link:

try this

hope it works,
dp

[JoFerret]

27. Furthermore---how did he get into the TANG

in the first place?

[diamond14]

31. BREAKING: eyewitnesses to bush* Alabama war-service....

http://www.whitehouse.org/news/2004/021104.asp



Ms. Randi Ryder: Oh he was in Alabama, all right. I remember like yesterday him snorting a line that went clear from my tushy to toenails on a cold metal picnic table out back of a bar in Tuscaloosa. Now, if you could get the boy to drop his drawers, I'd be extra positive. I never forget a dick.



Pvt. Pablo Cocaczar: Oh yeah, I remember that dude in Alabama. I was like way broke, but the base C.O. kept me on latrine duty for like five years, right? But then that hombre Bush shows up, and I made enough money to buy a new El Dorado on all the blow he scored from me. He'd do this funny thing where he'd put a pretzel rod through the hole where his septum used to be!



Cptn. Tom Stryker:
Oh yes, I absolutely, positively remember Lieutenant George W. Bush. Specifically, I remember him buzzing the control tower back in July of 1972. Why it stands out in my mind so clearly is that he wasn't even in a plane.

[Judi Lynn]

33. The Washington Post remains determined NOT to look into this story

with any seriousness. The entire article sounds as if they had formed their position long ago and are 100% unlikely to alter it.

The did have this spiffy photo:

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/images/I14817-2004Sep11L
In 1968, George W. Bush was sworn in to the Texas Air National Guard by Walter B. Staudt. One of the disputed documents was allegedly written after Staudt left.

Photo Credit: Texas Military Forces Museum