Fred the Red Shirt wrote:
"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message
...

GW Bush is Presient. I do not care to defend any of the three.

2) AFAIK, Clinton has denied nothing you alleged above.

3) I am not convinced that Bush was AWOL, it appears that at worse
he was left without orders to appear anywhere in particular for
about a year. Certainly a far cry from volunteering for combat
duty however.


In fact he was apparently in the national guard reserve at the time
and this was the period after he had volunteered and been
turned down for active service.

Huh? I never heard anyone claim that GWB volunteered for active duty.

The following was extracted from http://www.greaterthings.com

"At this point in the Vietnam War, the US Air Force desperately needed
additional F-102 pilots to fly the dangerous reconnaissance missions so
important to the fate of American troops on the ground. With only a small amount
of solo flying experience, Bush applied for a voluntary three month Vietnam
tour, perhaps counting on preferential treatment once again to overcome his lack
of readiness, or perhaps safe in the knowledge that his request would certainly
be rejected."

Parenthetically, during his interview by Tim Russert on Meet the Press, Feb.8,
2004, Bush denied ever volunteering for service in Viet Nam. How sad that he
couldn't remember doing it; I still have my 201 file dating back to WWII, which
contains stuff like copies of volunteer statements, special orders, etc. I'm
amazed that somebody as highly organized as he is somehow apparently misplaced
his.

Also, in the US the National Guard and the Reserves are different
outfits, though in the last 15 years or so the National Guard have
been called to active duty more than any time since WWII I think.

During the Vietnam War, National Guard troops stayed in the US
and were only activated for natural disasters and riot control.

I believe there were some National Guard troops who served in VN. Cong.
Gephardt (D-Mo), for one, was in the Missouri ANG and served in VN.

Given the aircraft he trained
on was being phased out and the war was winding down I
kind of doubt he was the only one who did less than the
optimum with regard to service.

That may be true, but he undoubtedly was the only President who lied about it.
AIR, Clinton had applied for entrance to the ROTC and, when the Selective
Service System initiated the use of lotteries to determine which registrants
would be called for service, and Clinton drew a high number (#311), he withdrew
his application for entrance to the ROTC. He subjected himself to the draft
process, which never got around to calling him. Many other Americans did the
exact same thing, and it did not involve telling lies, merely taking advantage
of the system that had been set up to provide equity in selection.


My guess is that he was such a crappy pilot his commander in TX
was glad to see him quit flying befor he screwed his aircraft
into the ground.

But the documents posted online indicate that his commander in TX
gave him verbal permission to transfer to an AL unit in advance
of written orders. After that transfer was officially denied,
it appears no one ordered him back to duty in TX. And no one
noticed for about 14 months at which time GWB asked for an
early discharge. Which he got.

Maybe he did some duty somewhere during that time but if so,
no one seems to know what or where.