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Records Show Bush Guard Commitment Unmet
Records show pledges unmet
September 8, 2004 This article was reported by the Globe Spotlight Team -- reporters Stephen Kurkjian, Francie Latour, Sacha Pfeiffer, and Michael Rezendes, and editor Walter V. Robinson. It was written by Robinson. In February, when the White House made public hundreds of pages of President Bush's military records, White House officials repeatedly insisted that the records prove that Bush fulfilled his military commitment in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. But Bush fell well short of meeting his military obligation, a Globe reexamination of the records shows: Twice during his Guard service -- first when he joined in May 1968, and again before he transferred out of his unit in mid-1973 to attend Harvard Business School -- Bush signed documents pledging to meet training commitments or face a punitive call-up to active duty. He didn't meet the commitments, or face the punishment, the records show. The 1973 document has been overlooked in news media accounts. The 1968 document has received scant notice. On July 30, 1973, shortly before he moved from Houston to Cambridge, Bush signed a document that declared, ''It is my responsibility to locate and be assigned to another Reserve forces unit or mobilization augmentation position. If I fail to do so, I am subject to involuntary order to active duty for up to 24 months. . . " Under Guard regulations, Bush had 60 days to locate a new unit. But Bush never signed up with a Boston-area unit. In 1999, Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett told the Washington Post that Bush finished his six-year commitment at a Boston area Air Force Reserve unit after he left Houston. Not so, Bartlett now concedes. ''I must have misspoke," Bartlett, who is now the White House communications director, said in a recent interview. And early in his Guard service, on May 27, 1968, Bush signed a ''statement of understanding" pledging to achieve ''satisfactory participation" that included attendance at 24 days of annual weekend duty -- usually involving two weekend days each month -- and 15 days of annual active duty. ''I understand that I may be ordered to active duty for a period not to exceed 24 months for unsatisfactory participation," the statement reads. Yet Bush, a fighter-interceptor pilot, performed no service for one six-month period in 1972 and for another period of almost three months in 1973, the records show. The reexamination of Bush's records by the Globe, along with interviews with military specialists who have reviewed regulations from that era, show that Bush's attendance at required training drills was so irregular that his superiors could have disciplined him or ordered him to active duty in 1972, 1973, or 1974. But they did neither. In fact, Bush's unit certified in late 1973 that his service had been ''satisfactory" -- just four months after Bush's commanding officer wrote that Bush had not been seen at his unit for the previous 12 months. Bartlett, in a statement to the Globe last night, sidestepped questions about Bush's record. In the statement, Bartlett asserted again that Bush would not have been honorably discharged if he had not ''met all his requirements." In a follow-up e-mail, Bartlett declared: ''And if he hadn't met his requirements you point to, they would have called him up for active duty for up to two years." That assertion by the White House spokesman infuriates retired Army Colonel Gerald A. Lechliter, one of a number of retired military officers who have studied Bush's records and old National Guard regulations, and reached different conclusions. ''He broke his contract with the United States government -- without any adverse consequences. And the Texas Air National Guard was complicit in allowing this to happen," Lechliter said in an interview yesterday. ''He was a pilot. It cost the government a million dollars to train him to fly. So he should have been held to an even higher standard." Even retired Lieutenant Colonel Albert C. Lloyd Jr., a former Texas Air National Guard personnel chief who vouched for Bush at the White House's request in February, agreed that Bush walked away from his obligation to join a reserve unit in the Boston area when he moved to Cambridge in September 1973. By not joining a unit in Massachusetts, Lloyd said in an interview last month, Bush ''took a chance that he could be called up for active duty. But the war was winding down, and he probably knew that the Air Force was not enforcing the penalty." But Lloyd said that singling out Bush for criticism is unfair. ''There were hundreds of guys like him who did the same thing," he said. Lawrence J. Korb, an assistant secretary of defense for manpower and reserve affairs in the Reagan administration, said after studying many of the documents that it is clear to him that Bush ''gamed the system." And he agreed with Lloyd that Bush was not alone in doing so. ''If I cheat on my income tax and don't get caught, I'm still cheating on my income tax," Korb said. After his own review, Korb said Bush could have been ordered to active duty for missing more than 10 percent of his required drills in any given year. Bush, according to the records, fell shy of that obligation in two successive fiscal years. Korb said Bush also made a commitment to complete his six-year obligation when he moved to Cambridge, a transfer the Guard often allowed to accommodate Guardsmen who had to move elsewhere. ''He had a responsibility to find a unit in Boston and attend drills," said Korb, who is now affiliated with a liberal Washington think tank. ''I see no evidence or indication in the documents that he was given permission to forgo training before the end of his obligation. If he signed that document, he should have fulfilled his obligation." The documents Bush signed only add to evidence that the future president -- then the son of Houston's congressman -- received favorable treatment when he joined the Guard after graduating from Yale in 1968. Ben Barnes, who was speaker of the Texas House of Representatives in 1968, said in a deposition in 2000 that he placed a call to get young Bush a coveted slot in the Guard at the request of a Bush family friend. Bush was given an automatic commission as a second lieutenant, and dispatched to flight school in Georgia for 13 months. In June 1970, after five additional months of specialized training in F-102 fighter-interceptor, Bush began what should have been a four-year assignment with the 111th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron. In May 1972, Bush was given permission to move to Alabama temporarily to work on a US Senate campaign, with the provision that he do equivalent training with a unit in Montgomery. But Bush's service records do not show him logging any service in Alabama until October of that year. And even that service is in doubt. Since the Globe first reported Bush's spotty attendance record in May 2000, no one has come forward with any credible recollection of having witnessed Bush performing guard service in Alabama or after he returned to Houston in 1973. While Bush was in Alabama, he was removed from flight status for failing to take his annual flight physical in July 1972. On May 1, 1973, Bush's superior officers wrote that they could not complete his annual performance review because he had not been observed at the Houston base during the prior 12 months. Although the records of Bush's service in 1973 are contradictory, some of them suggest that he did a flurry of drills in 1973 in Houston -- a weekend in April and then 38 days of training crammed into May, June, and July. But Lechliter, the retired colonel, concluded after reviewing National Guard regulations that Bush should not have received credit -- or pay -- for many of those days either. The regulations, Lechliter and others said, required that any scheduled drills that Bush missed be made up either within 15 days before or 30 days after the date of the drill. Lechliter said the records push him to conclude that Bush had little interest in fulfilling his obligation, and his superiors preferred to look the other way. Others agree. ''It appears that no one wanted to hold him accountable," said retired Major General Paul A. Weaver Jr., who retired in 2002 as the Pentagon's director of the Air National Guard." http://www.boston.com/news/politics/...duty_at_guard/ Bush is as dishonorable as he is unfit to command. Walt |
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Bush is as dishonorable as he is unfit to command. I was watching Buchanon and Scarborough skewer Bush on his show yesterday - the pair of them were ticking off the list of what was wrong with Bush, from the Conservative standpoint. It was almost exactly the same list of problems I have with him, and it was not a short list. I am now a 'reluctanct democrat' because I served under Bush Sr. and I was lied to by that man and his circle of friends. I know him to be otherwise honorable, but this was a personal thing. That led me to quit the Republican party after years of support. If not for his stand on abortion rights and his desire to incorporate his religion into his presidency, I would have returned to the GOP to support Bob Dole; I remain estranged from my party of choice. When this current guy surfaced, it was usually as some report of a drunk incident or other tacky public faux pas that embarrassed his family. Then, in front of God and everyone, he took over the presidency when it was clear there was no national mandate - yet he alienated that other half of the country by ramrodding his own agenda through in a manner that has made us reviled around the world. When he "landed" a Navy jet on a carrier under "Mission Accomplished", the ultimate PR stunt, and he got Powell to perjure himself in front of Congress and the UN, it just made me sick. He told me and everyone else that field commanders in the Iraqi Army were capable of deploying those agents. He showed us photos of tractor trailors, and pronounced them mobile chemical warfare labs. A dozen other statements that have now been shown wrong. Powell is an honorable man, that Bush and Cheney got to lie, for their purposes. He is a Republican I could vote for in a heartbeat, after I heard him explain why he did what that. I have watched with disbelief as my country sank into the hands of the same Bonesmen that lied to us last time (remember Rumsfeld shaking Saddam's hand?) and I am holding my breath to see if we are going to get clear of this nightmare. The other night, Cheney tried to convince the nation that a vote for Kerry could lead to an attack by the terrorists - without mentioning that his own DHS has foretold many times that we are definitely going to be struck again, not if, but when. Cheney was trying to scare the "sheep people" into thinking that somehow, a vote for Bush would mean we'd somehow sidestep that inevitability. What kind of a tactic is that? Certainly not very honest of him. Kerry has a hell of a lot more leadership behind him than GWB had when he took over the White House - warts and all, I can't see the country plunging to its doom simply because yet another career politician took over, but a few more years under George, Dick, and Don is about the worst thing I can imagine. Well, maybe Gore - that would be worse. The folks that served _with_ Kerry said he earned the medals and if others that weren't there, _on his boat_ disagree, it shouldn't matter, since the Navy reviewed all the details at the time, and awarded them to him. That the Republicans would now get the Navy to open a formal review of those medals is deeply insulting, to everyone that every got one. If I disagree with the current administration, does that mean the Navy will now revoke my Navy Comm? Kerry was in combat. Bush was out raising hell. Anyone that can't see that is a poor judge of character. Bush's characterization of his service ("I fulfilled all my obligations") really doesn't toe in with what his documents show - and its bothersome to me that these records have to come dribbling out a couple at a time, each accompanied by a polite, "sorry, honestly, this is the last of them," note. To bring a small amount of on-topicness to this post, does anyone know why he flew so many of his hours in that bizarre 2-seater F-102? That is one ugly bird: it now sits in a tiny air and naval museum in Del Rio, Texas, all but forgotten. Most fighter jocks I know love single seaters, and I don't know any of them that preferred to fly a side-by-side ship, if there was anything else available. That two seater was supposedly not that great in the air and I wonder why he spent so much time in it. Curious. v/r Gordon ====(A+C==== USN SAR Its always better to lose -an- engine, not -the- engine. |
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"Ed Rasimus" wrote To bring a small amount of on-topicness to this post, does anyone know why he flew so many of his hours in that bizarre 2-seater F-102? No problem there at all. He had to train in the airplane. That means he flew the two-seater during operational qualfication. Every F-102 equipped unit had a couple of "tubs" and if they weren't used for check-out or periodic check rides, they could fill the flying schedule. We (49th FIS) referred to our 2 seat -106 as 'The Bus'. Pete |
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"Krztalizer" wrote
Most fighter jocks I know love single seaters, and I don't know any of them that preferred to fly a side-by-side ship, if there was anything else available. Most generalizations don't stand up. OK, name five fighter pilots that you "know" who wouldn't fly any airplane that was full of free gas. |
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Most fighter jocks I know love single seaters, and I don't know any of them that preferred to fly a side-by-side ship, if there was anything else available. Most generalizations don't stand up. OK, name five fighter pilots that you "know" who wouldn't fly any airplane that was full of free gas. The one that comes to mind first is Diz Laird, who thought once you had a "friend" in the cockpit, it was no longer a "fighter". I've sat at tables with fighter aces at their reunions in San Diego, Mesa, San Antonio and other places and Diz' comments were in line with what the guys were saying. That said, almost anyone with a history of flying would fly in a motorized ****can, if that was the only thing available. I can't imagine why Bush would go through training and then walk away from a once in a lifetime opportunity to fly the Deuce, or any other jet fighter. Gordon ====(A+C==== USN SAR Its always better to lose -an- engine, not -the- engine. |
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(WalterM140) wrote in
om: Records show pledges unmet All the record shows is that Walterm140 is an idiot who knows nought whereof he whines. IBM __________________________________________________ _____________________________ Posted Via Uncensored-News.Com - Accounts Starting At $6.95 - http://www.uncensored-news.com The Worlds Uncensored News Source |
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Most generalizations don't stand up. OK, name five fighter pilots that you "know" who wouldn't fly any airplane that was full of free gas. I mentioned Diz - the other name that pops up right off the bat is Robin Olds, who used to tell his backseater to "shut up and hold on". Besides, I didn't say the guys wouldn't ride in a two-seater, I said I don't know any of them that preferred to fly a side-by-side ship, if there was anything else available. Did you miss that part of my comment, Bob? Gordon ====(A+C==== USN SAR Its always better to lose -an- engine, not -the- engine. |
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"Pete" wrote in
: [snip] We (49th FIS) referred to our 2 seat -106 as 'The Bus'. I was only ever close to a 106 at an airshow in Plattsburg back in the 80's. I was surprised. I'd always pictured it as a much larger aircraft. IBM __________________________________________________ _____________________________ Posted Via Uncensored-News.Com - Accounts Starting At $6.95 - http://www.uncensored-news.com The Worlds Uncensored News Source |
#10
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"Krztalizer" wrote
Most fighter jocks I know love single seaters, and I don't know any of them that preferred to fly a side-by-side ship, if there was anything else available. Most generalizations don't stand up. OK, name five fighter pilots that you "know" who wouldn't fly any airplane that was full of free gas. The one that comes to mind first is Diz Laird, who thought once you had a "friend" in the cockpit, it was no longer a "fighter". I've sat at tables with fighter aces at their reunions in San Diego, Mesa, San Antonio and other places and Diz' comments were in line with what the guys were saying. That said, almost anyone with a history of flying would fly in a motorized ****can, if that was the only thing available. I can't imagine why Bush would go through training and then walk away from a once in a lifetime opportunity to fly the Deuce, or any other jet fighter. Believe me! It happens all the time. In the late 90's F-15 and F-16 pilots were jumping out in record numbers because of all the bull**** orbits in Iraq. When the training is not realistic, the fun goes out of flying pretty fast. There's just a ****load of additional duties that pilots have to perform, and some peckerhead is always coming-up with a new ground training requirement that must be bean-counted to ****ing death. Charts and slides, briefings to people who can't wipe their own ass. It all adds up to the fact that flying is 5% of the job description, and 95% is non-mission-related. I tell you what... Spend 90 days overseas wearing diapers and ****ting all over yourself, and ****ing all over yourself while sitting on a seat kit for 14 hours waiting for some raghead to fire a round at you. Please! Let me get rid of this ****ing ordinance so I can empty my ****ing diapers. There's only a very special breed that will do that, and they usually will take it because they want to be a General one day, and of course fix everything :-) |
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