Retired Col. Rufus G. Martin, then personnel officer in charge of the 147th Fighter Group, said the unit was short of its authorized strength, but still had a long waiting list, because of the difficulty getting slots in basic training for recruits at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. Martin said four openings for pilots were available in the 147th in 1968, and that Bush got the last one.

(People report) that it was not uncommon for well-connected Texans to obtain special consideration for Air Guard slots. In addition to Bush and Bentsen, many socially or politically prominent young men were admitted to the Air Guard, according to former officials; they included the son of then-Sen. John Tower and at least seven members of the Dallas Cowboys. (The Air Guard )was sometimes called Air Canada, What that meant was you didn't have to go to Canada to stay out of Vietnam.
"The well-to-do kids had enough sense to get on the waiting list," Martin said. "Some [applicants] thought they could just walk in the door and sign up."
http://www.awolbush.com/
http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2003/02/ma_217_01.html

 

Ben Barnes, a former speaker of the Texas House recommended George W. Bush for a slot in a National Guard unit during the Vietnam War. Barnes released a statement that a Houston businessman who was a friend of the Bush family had asked him to recommend Bush for a Guard slot. Barnes called the general overseeing the Texas Air National Guard. Bush became an airman in May 1968.
http://www.sptimes.com/News/92899/Worldandnation/Texan_questioned_aboushtml

 

Barnes had been contacted by the now-deceased Sid Adger, a Houston oilman and friend of the elder Bush.

Snip
( Bush was made 2nd Lieutenant straight out of boot camp without the normal officers training school or ROTC history. http://awol.gq.nu/Valleyforge.htm)

 

In late November, Bush was sent to Moody Air Force Base outside Valdosta, Ga., for year-long undergraduate flight school. Bush impressed fellow trainees with the way he learned to handle a plane, but he became a celebrity for something else. In the middle of his training, President Richard M. Nixon sent a plane down to fetch him for an introductory date with his older daughter Tricia, according to fellow trainee Joseph A. Chaney. It did not lead to another date, but the story lives on. So does memory of the graduation ceremony: Rep. Bush gave the commencement speech.

In December 1969, George W. returned to Houston to hone his skills and eventually fly solo on the all-weather F-102, firing its weapons and conducting intercept missions against supersonic targets. His solo flight was in March 1970. Bush graduated from the 147th Combat Crew Training School on June 23, 1970, having fulfilled his two years of active duty.

Bush's father went on to run for senator in 1970 against Lloyd Bentsen Jr. �€“ a prominent Texas Democrat whose own son had been placed in the same Texas Guard unit by the same Col. Staudt around the same time as Bush. On Election Day, before the polls closed, Guard commanders nominated both George W. Bush and Lloyd Bentsen III for promotion to first lieutenant.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/bush072899.htm
----
Bush's military records, obtained by the Globe. In his final 18 months of military service in 1972 and 1973, Bush did not fly at all. And for much of that time, Bush was all but unaccounted for: For a full year, there is no record that he showed up for the periodic drills required of part-time guardsmen.
Snip
On May 24, 1972, Bush made a formal request to do his (required monthly drills) /training at the 9921st Air Reserve Squadron at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. Two days later, that unit's commander, Lieutenant Colonel Reese H. Bricken, agreed to have Bush join his unit temporarily. In Houston, Bush's superiors approved. But a higher headquarters disapproved, noting that Bricken's unit did not have regular drills.
But on May 31, 1972, the Headquarters Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver Colorado disallowed Lt Bush's request for a transfer to Alabama "http://awol.gq.nu/cgi-bin/i/doc5.gif". The Director of Personnel Snip

After his transfer request was rejected Bush choose to stay in Alabama working on the Senate campaign. We know that Lt Bush did not report back to the Texas Air National Guard (TxANG) for his required drills.
http://awol.gq.nu/4dawol.htm

 

In August 1972, Bush was grounded for failing to take an annual medical examination that included a drug test. The drug test was created to ferret out drugs from the Vietnam-era military. In April 1972, the Pentagon implemented a drug-abuse testing program that required officers like part-time reservist Bush to undergo at least one random drug test a year. http://awol.gq.nu/nypostawol.htm
http://users.cis.net/coldfeet/grounded.gif

On Sept 5, 1972, Lt Bush made a request to be transferred to the 187th Tac Recon Gp at Dannelly ANG Base, Alabama, four months after he had ceased attending Guard drills with the 111th at Ellington.
His orders, dated Sept. 15, 1972, said: "Lieutenant Bush should report to Lt. Col. William Turnipseed, DCO, to perform equivalent training 7-8 October 0730-1600, and 4-5 November 0730-1600"(at the 187th Tactical Recon Group in Montgomery).
http://users.cis.net/coldfeet/doc11.gif

 

--- In interviews with the administrative officer (of the 187th) at the time, Kenneth K. Lott, said they had no memory of Bush ever reporting. Turnipseed (now a the retired general) said, To my knowledge, he never showed up,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A59151-2000Jun25&notFound=true

 

''Had he reported in, I would have had some recall, and I do not,'' Turnipseed said. ''I had been in Texas, done my flight training there. If we had had a first lieutenant from Texas, I would have remembered.''
Lloyd, a retired Texas Air Guard official, said he does not know whether Bush performed duty in Alabama. ''If he did, his drill attendance should have been certified and sent to Ellington, and there would have been a record. We cannot find the records to show he fulfilled the requirements in Alabama,'' he said.
Indeed, Bush's discharge papers list his service and duty station for each of his first four years in the Air Guard. But there is no record of training listed after May 1972, and no mention of any service in Alabama. On that discharge form, Lloyd said, ''there should have been an entry for the period between May 1972 and May 1973.''
Said Lloyd, ''It appeared he had a bad year.
In an effort last year to solve the puzzle, Lloyd said he scoured Guard records, where he found two ''special orders'' commanding Bush to appear for active duty on nine days in May 1973. That is the same month that Lieutenant Colonel William D. Harris Jr. and Lieutenant Colonel Jerry B. Killian effectively declared Bush missing from duty.
In Bush's annual efficiency report, for the period May 1, 1972, to April 30, 1973) the two supervising pilots did not rate Bush for the prior year, writing, ''Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of report. A civilian occupation made it necessary for him to move to Montgomery, Alabama. He cleared this base on 15 May 1972...
There is no doubt that Bush was in Houston in late (December)1972 and early 1973. During that period, according to Bush's autobiography, he held a civilian job working for an inner-city, anti-poverty program in the city.
Bush's two superior officers declared him absent for the full year and the Bush did not tell his Commander(s) he had moved back to Houston (emphasis added) .
Bush failed to comply with an order to attend "ANNUAL ACTIVE DUTY TRAINING" from 22 May to 4 May 73 "http://awol.gq.nu/cgi-bin/i/doc17.gif".

Records show that Bush conducted drills into May, June, and July 1973 (after being AWOL for a year). During those three months, Bush spent 36 days on duty.
A document shows that Bush did not enough points to make up for both the missing year and the last year of Bush's service. "http://awol.gq.nu/cgi-bin/i/doc16.gif".
http://awol.gq.nu/4dawol.htm

Bush's last day in uniform before he moved to Cambridge was July 30, 1973. His official release from active duty was dated Oct. 1, 1973, eight months before his six-year commitment was scheduled to end.
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/campaign2000/news/One_year_gap_in_Bush_s_Guard_duty+.shtml
Bush requested and was released from the Air National Guard to attend college on October 1, 1973, about eight months short of a full six years. Bush was transferred to a reserve unit in Boston for the rest of his time.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/bush072899.htm
The final separation date for Lt Bush to be 21 November 1974, a half year later than the anticipated separation dates of 26 May 1974 which was recorded on Bush's enlistment record and on all documents as late as October 2nd 1973 "http://awol.gq.nu/cgi-bin/i/doc10.gif"

For some reason there is an extra five months and twenty-four days tacked onto to Bush�€™s normal six-year commitment.
By not taking his required physical and getting grounded, Bush could not have preformed his required training in a "SATISFACTORY MANNER". This means that the 36 days of service were perform in an unsatisfactory manner, and he should not have gotten credit for them for pay and retirement points.

Remember, he was a pilot and it was his duty to make damn sure his flight physical was good, in case of a National Emergency/WAR
----
When questioned by the press, Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett has offered several different reasons for his grounding, August 1, 1972. Initially Bartlett said that Bush could not get to Houston for his physical, but this was proved wrong when it was shown that Bush could have visited flight surgeons stationed in Alabama. Bartlett then said the F-102 fighter that Bush was trained to fly was removed from service, but this was proved wrong when it was shown that the F-102 remained in service in Bush's unit for two more years.
Major General Francis Greenleaf, then Chief of the National Guard Bureau in Washington DC, confirmed the suspension of 1st Lt. George W. Bush from flying status. This written confirmation cites an earlier August 1, 1972 verbal order of the TX 147th Group's Commanding Officer that suspended and grounded Bush from flying duty for "his failure to accomplish annual medical examination." see: "http://users.cis.net/coldfeet/grounded.gif"

There are two ways to interpret this crucial memo: either 1st Lt. Bush took his mandatory annual flight physical for pilots and failed it for some as-yet undisclosed reason, or he refused to present himself in the first place to an Air Force Flight Surgeon, who were readily available in almost every state.
Bush's grounding would normally have been reviewed by a Flight Inquiry Board of three senior officers, but there is no record that such a board was convened in Bush's case. This absence of a Flight Inquiry Board is of particular interest to veteran pilots who are intimately familiar with normal disciplinary procedures.
There is no mention of the grounding in Bush's biography, which falsely implies that Bush continued flying until he left the National Guard.
Bush's pilot training cost the government nearly $1 million, and this was a huge investment that the Pentagon would not lightly abandon with two years remaining of a pilot's obligation. Moreover, pilots were badly needed at the time because of the war in Vietnam. Therefore, Bush's "failure to accomplish annual medical examination," could not have been either casual or accidental.
Failure to follow a direct written order should have been charged against Lt Bush for his failure to report to Lt. Col. William Turnipseed, DCO, to perform equivalent training 7-8 October 0730-1600, and 4-5 November 0730-1600"(at the 187th Tactical Recon Group in Montgomery).
"http://users.cis.net/coldfeet/doc11.gif"

Aides to Texas Governor George W. Bush visited the Air National Guard archives at Camp Mabry in 1997 and possibly altered Bush's military service records to conceal Bush's grounding from flight in 1972 and subsequent missed duty, according to LTC Bill L. Burkett ( Retired).
LTC Bill Burkett, was the State Plans Officer of the Texas National Guard at the time, said Bush operative Dan Bartlett headed a high-level operation to "scrub" Bush's Air National Guard record, to make sure it was in synch with the biography that the campaign was preparing.
Below is the statement of: Bill L. Burkett, LTC, Ret, US Army
"I was outside the Adjutant general of Texas office when I overheard a call from Joe Allbaugh and Dan Bartlett that told General James to "make sure there is nothing embarrassing in the Governor's file" in preparation for his reelection run and a run for the presidency. I was present when James and Asst AG General Marty told a state services employee to do the same. I was there when the retained records person surrendered files under order of COL William Goodwin, Chief of Staff, for the scrub of the Governor's files."
LTC Burkett, was working on active duty under General James and Governor Bush to develop a "work out strategic plan" for the Texas National Guard beginning in June 1996. At time of incidents, served as direct advisor to Gen James.
NOTE: Last December 1, 2001, Bush nominated Gen. James to be the Director of the Air National Guard of the United States. As Director of the Air National Guard of the US, Gen. James will be responsible for the direct control of all airspace over the Continental United States and will be the first responsible Officer for managing the network which scrambles fighters.
LTC Ret. Burkett stated, "I submitted official challenge, as did other former national guard officers, to the appointment of James. In Texas, James is still the defendant within civil courts for anti-Semitic actions, retaliation and gender discrimination. USA Today in December alleged that James falsified federal personnel and readiness documents in a scam to obtain an additional $20 million dollars per year in funding for the Guard."
"http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/2002/05/28_Scrubbed.html"

 

Bush the Deserter
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:            Mon, 09 Feb 2004 13:01:33 -0800
From:                 Riverrun <Riverrun2@mindspring.com>
Subject:              Re: the Deserter

  (*Editors Note | Speaking from the Oval Office with NBC's Tim Russert
>in a segment broadcast Sunday, George W. Bush attempted to defuse a
>growing controversy over unexplained absences during his military service.
>In doing so he failed to provide any new details that would refute the
>charges. Bush simply said: "They're just wrong," he did add, "I served in
>the National Guard . . . I flew F-102 aircraft. I got an honorable
>discharge." Bush placed on the table the same promise he made during the
>2000 campaign when the question of his military service arose, saying he
>would, "absolutely" release additional records that would prove he served
>when assigned to do so. Four years later, it's a pledge still waiting to
>be fulfilled. -- ma.)

---interesting how this verbally challenged yutz has learned the
dissembling-tactics his father used -- instead of answering the question he
stated facts -- I served .. I flew F-102's (which incidentally were
obsolete, so anyone training on that particular plane had to know he would
never be sent to Vietnam) and I got an honorable discharge (well, yeah, your
father was head of the CIA at the time.).. getting the right piece of paper
is not that same as answering the question which wanted to know, did you
DESERVE to get that piece of paper, did you earn it by fulfilling the
requirements?

When the October Surprise Treason was being investigated and questioned (it
would have been treason for a civilian, which both Reagan and Bush were
prior to the election, to negotiate a treaty with a foreign power,
especially one which caused that foreign power ot hold on to hostages which
were govt officials until it was beneficial to these people, rather than the
country) -- the question of the Adnan Koshogi meetings and etc were always
answered with "The vice president never went to this place or met with that
one."  His people NEVER said "Mr Bush never ..." which is interesting since,
at the time being discussed, Mr Bush was NOT the vice President.  Of course
the VP never did that -- the hostages were released the day he became VP....

   "You can't fool all of the people all of the time,
     but if you do it once, it lasts for four years."    Roger Price

    "You can fool some of the people all of the time,
     and those are the ones you have to concentrate on."  George W. Bush, April 01)

http://www.angelfire.com/zine/crapshoot
>
>
        Bush's Missing Year By Eric Boehlert Salon.com,   Thursday 05 February 2004

In 1972, George W. Bush dropped out of his National Guard service and
later lied about it. With the media finally paying attention, will he now
come clean?        In 1972, George W. Bush simply walked away from his
pilot duties in the Texas Air National Guard. He skipped required weekend
drill sessions for many months, probably for more than a year, and did not
take a mandatory annual physical exam, which resulted in his being
grounded. Nonetheless, Bush, the son of a well-connected Texas congressman,
received an honorable discharge.        If an Air National guardsman today
vanished for a year, military attorneys say that guardsman would be
transferred to active duty or, more likely, kicked out of the service,
probably with a less- than-honorable discharge. They suggest the penalty
would be especially swift if the absent-without-leave guardsman were a
fully trained pilot, as Bush was.
      Bush's National Guard record, long ignored by the media, has surfaced
with a vengeance. If the topic continues to rage, and if the media presses
him, Bush may finally be forced to release his full military records, which
could reveal the truth. By refusing to make all those records public, Bush
has until now broken with a long- standing tradition of U.S. presidential
candidates.
        Democrats have seized on the story of Bush's "missing year," which
was first raised in a 2000 Boston Globe article. This week Democratic
front-runner Sen. John Kerry called on Bush to give a fuller explanation of
his service record. That brought an outraged response from Bush-Cheney '04
chairman Marc Racicot, who denounced Kerry's request as a "slanderous
attack" and "character assassination." White House spokesman Scott
McClellan also tried to slam the door on the subject, declaiming that
Democratic questions about Bush's military service "have no place in
politics and everyone should condemn them."
    In a sign that the Bush team is taking the issue seriously, on
Wednesday Bush's campaign spokesman questioned the integrity of the retired
Guard commander who claims Bush failed to show for duty in 1972, citing the
commander's recent donation to a Democratic candidate for president.
Republicans clearly want to quarantine the issue of Bush's service and have
it labeled as outside the bounds of acceptable public discourse. With good
reason: If the story takes root it could do real damage to Bush's
reelection run, which is anchored on his image as a trusted leader in
America's war on terrorism. Trying to make the subject go away could prove
difficult, though. "It's a booby trap that's out there ticking for Bush,"
warns retired U.S. Army Col. David Hackworth. "His opponents are going to
keep turning this screw until something gives."
Snip
olga666@rattlebrain.com
http://www.gunsanddope.com/
a midi pommes bleues

 

 

Letter from Michael Moore to George Bush on just released Mil Records!