Did Bush snort & avoid physical, or was he just lazy, when he went AWOL?

[lostnfound]

Always worried over accuracy, we lefties let the Right Wing Spin Machine define the battlefield. (Were the memos real or fake?) Big picture for us should be: it's established that Bush was AWOL, the question is why?

Was he doing coke with his friend James Bath, couldn't pass a physical? What evidence is there of that?

Or was he just lazy & undisciplined, looking for a way out because he is the pampered son of an aristocrat, felt entitled to shirk what ever responsibilities he had, since he had avoided the draft so easily with his connections?

These are the burning questions, aren't they? Let's talk about it, so that (when I approach undecideds) my head is filled with evidence supporting his drug addiction and supporting his laziness, and not bogged down in typewriter fonts and ridiculous charges that CBS would go out on such a limb without substantial proof.

[chelsea0011]

1. Who knows, but one thing is for sure

he used his family to pull strings whenever possible. He treated his service like a private club to come and go whenevr he felt like it. He never took his service seriously and just used it to aoid service in Vietnam. Nice life if you can get it.

[Infomaniac]

2. Dishonorable

He used his connections to get into the National Guard, relied on his connections to save him from any consequences for avoiding duty or complying with direct orders while in the National Guard and his connections helped to get him an honorable discharge from the National Guard. Where is the honor in that service?

[Ganja Ninja]

3. Certainly that's the question no one's asking.

While the media with the exception of CBS is desperately trying to debunk the Killian documents they're not asking new questions. Why did Bush skip out on his National Guard service? Where was he and what was he doing when he should have been in Alabama? The word/speculation is that he was doing community service for a drug offense back in Texas. Those are questions Bush can answer and should be asked.

[Blue Wally]

4. Not AWOL

The correct term is "nonperformance of duty". Missing IDT drills is not AWOL as defined by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Reserve component individual who miss drills are "punished" administratively either by being ordered to active duty (if they don't report, they are then in criminal trouble) or by being transferred to non-drill, non-pay status.

Apparently, George Bush (like a ton of other NG and reserve "alternative to the draft" servers) realized in 1972, that there would be no calls to active duty because the services were being downsized and kicking people out. They then became quite casual about drilling and were transferred to nonpay status.

Reserve omponents weren't too pissy about chasing these guys down bewcause they had access to more dedicated folks being released from active duty and looking for drill slots to salvage some compensation from their active duty years by earning a reserve retirement.

Notice that Bush was real diligent about drilling up until 1972 when the services began their post Vietnam cutbacks and active officers were being RIFed by the carload. That was when the threat of being ordered to active duty became an empty threat.

[Warpy]

5. The Vietnam War was winding down, and

the Guard had served its purpose. I think he just stopped going through the motions because it was no longer necessary to avoid fighting in that war he supported.

He'd been busted back from flying to training, possibly due to the effects of his hard partying on his performance, and new possibilities to fail were opening up all over the place. Continuing his obligation had become inconvenient on many levels, and I think he just walked away, knowing his doting but corrupt father would get it fixed.

That's really the point. He's had no reason to develop any strength of character because he's never had to face any consequences. He's been bought into everything, and bought back out of it when the time came.

[Blue Wally]

6. Warpy.....

George Bush walked away because there was no credible penalty for walking away. His father didn't need to fix anything. A whole lot of his "alternative to the draft" compatriots also walked away in 1972-1974 with zero consequences without anyone to "fix it" for them. 1972-1980 was pure hell for active duty officers who were being tossed out like Christmas help at K-Mart. A lot of them had 8 to 16 years of active duty and were clamoring to get into the NG or reserves to complete 20 years and vest their retirements at age 60. With all of these combat veterans who wanted to drill available, the reserve components weren't working very hard to track down and punish "reluctant warriors".