Bush credited for Guard drills But time frame leaves questions

[MaineDem]

President Bush received credit for attending Air National Guard drills in the fall of 1972 and spring of 1973 -- a period when his commanders have said he did not appear for duty at bases in Montgomery, Ala., and Houston -- according to two new documents obtained by the Globe.

The personnel records, covering Bush's Guard service between May 1972 and May 1973, constitute the first evidence that Bush appeared for any duty during the first 11 months of that 12-month period. Bush is recorded as having served the minimum number of days expected of Guard members in that 12 months of service time.

One of the documents lists nine service periods of 2 to 3 days each and records the points Bush earned toward his service retirement benefit. The other is a summary of his service in the 12 months beginning May 1972, and lists the same number of service points earned.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/02/10/bush_credited_for_guard_drills/

[FreakinDJ]

1. They Faked the Records

At State level of the National Gaurd ?

The plot thickens as we see the long arm of poppy bush in this one

[agingdem]

8. I suggest ...

everyone read Richard Cohen's piece in the op-ed page of the Washington Post. He was in the National Guard and he admitted that he was paid for meetings he never attended. Washingtonpost.com

[KalicoKitty]

20. Thanks, Sandra! Here is the link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27178-2004Feb9.html

[annagull]

2. Hooboy, this is damning

it ends this way:
His final duty day was on July 30, 1973, even though he signed a commitment to fly for the unit until November 1974. Bush was granted an "early out" -- not uncommon as the Vietnam War was winding down -- to attend Harvard Business School.

[NNN0LHI]

3. As soon as the war began winding down and Bush knew he wouldn't...

...have to go to Vietnam he didn't need the ANG no more as his out so he said "well guys, its been real, got to go now". Must be nice. Jeez.

Don

[Gman]

4. Yup... the draft that year only took up to about number 40 or 50

I know because 73 was my year (I was 19) and my number was like 55. (Whew!) Previously if your number was 150 or under you knew you better pack your bags.

[Mithras61]

15. Let's do a little math...

He "fulfilled his commitment" through November of 1974, but there are no records of him appearing after July 1973. That means that for 16 months, he blew off his "commitment" to the TANG. Even if we credit his "arrangement" with TANG to leave 6 months early (HBS starts their fall semester in June?), that still leaves 10 months of drills that should have some record from TANG or ARF, but there's nothing.

Things that make you go :wtf:

[chelsea0011]

5. Signed under penalty of law?

:shrug: So he gets credit for being in Texas while he was suppose to be in Alabama but there aren't any commanding officers who can remember him in Alabama and the commanders in Texas can't give him an evaluation because he is suppose to be in Alabama but these new found records show he did duty in Texas even though he was suppose to be in Alabama.........oh, never mind. Looks like someone signed him off and Bush said thanks. Isn't there some kind of law against this?

[leftchick]

6. not if you are rich, republican and

connected.....

Welcome to DU Feeney2! :)

[LeinesRed]

13. Exactly...

which is worse for exposing old Smirky and his privileged treatment ... "evidence" that proves a cover up or not finding any "evidence" at all.

[Bozvotros]

7. Oh...this is gonna get good

I liked this part.....

"Bartlett said the Guard drills Bush is listed as attending in January and April 1973 were PROBABLYconducted at Bush's home base in Houston. But on May 2, 1973, Bush's two commanders at Ellington Air Force Base wrote that they could not evaluate his performance for the prior 12 months because he had not been there. Two other Bush superiors said in interviews four years ago that they do not believe Bush ever returned to his Houston base from Alabama."

This is getting good. They finally got a good forgery of the document that previously had no name or social security number. And exactly how many times has Bush insisted that he did his time in Alabama? Even if no one remembers. Even if there is no proof. Now he "probably" did them in Houston. Bush should be force fed his weasly words and claims and made to shred this document on national TV with his own teeth and intestine..

[Karenina]

10. Hey there, *Dubya-doo

Where were YOU in '72???

[Fridays Child]

9. This looks even worse for b*sh. See Calpundit...

-snip-

The answer, as you can see from the top line, is that it is an ARF document, as is this record from 1973-74. So what is ARF? I asked Bob Rogers, a retired Air National Guard pilot who's been following this for some time, and what follows is his interpretation of what happened.

ARF is the reserves, and among other things it's where members of the guard are sent for disciplinary reasons. As we all know, Bush failed to show up for his annual physical in July 1972, he was suspended in August, and the suspension was recorded on September 29. He was apparently transferred to ARF at that time and began accumulating ARF points in October.

ARF is a "paper unit" based in Denver that requires no drills and no attendance. For active guard members it is disciplinary because ARF members can theoretically be called up for active duty in the regular military, although this obviously never happened to George Bush.

To make a long story short, Bush apparently blew off drills beginning in May 1972, failed to show up for his physical, and was then grounded and transferred to ARF as a disciplinary measure. He didn't return to his original Texas Guard unit and cram in 36 days of active duty in 1973 — as Time magazine and others continue to assert based on a mistaken interpretation of Bush's 1973-74 ARF record — but rather accumulated only ARF points during that period. In fact, it's unclear even what the points on the ARF record are for, but what is clear is that Bush's official records from Texas show no actual duty after May 1972, as his Form 712 Master Personnel Record from the Texas Air National Guard clearly indicates...

-snip-

http://www.calpundit.com/archives/003220.html

[priller]

11. Yes, Calpundit has been all over this one

And way ahead of the "real" press, as usual.

[Fridays Child]

12. Regardless of where * actually was at that time, he had been reassigned...

...to a disciplinary unit and subjected to the theoretical possibility that he could be sent to Vietnam. The "familia" could not have been too worried about it, though, as this Washington Post article shows:

-snip-

By the end of 1972, Bush's father was mulling over a new job offer from Nixon – to be chairman of the Republican National Committee. With his parents back in Washington, Bush went to stay with them for the holidays and was involved in one of the most notorious incidents of his "nomadic" years. He took his 16-year-old brother Marvin out drinking, ran over a neighbor's garbage cans on the way home, and when his father confronted him, challenged him to go "mano a mano" outside.

There was no fight, and Bush was apparently able to mollify his father with the news that he had been accepted for the following fall at Harvard Business School. But with nothing to do until then, his father decided it was time to give this restless young man some broader exposure to real life.

Shortly after Christmas, Bush began working as a counselor with black youngsters in Houston's Third Ward in a program called PULL (Professionals United for Leadership) for Youth. The brainchild of the late John L. White, a former professional football player and civic leader, it was set up for kids up to 17 in a warehouse on McGowen Street and it offered sports, crafts, field trips and big-name mentors from the athletic, entertainment and business worlds.

-snip-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/bush072899.htm

Personally, I think the "mano a mano" story is a cover for a serious brush with the law (cocaine?) that was taken off the record in exchange for a backroom deal that included community service. Additionally, I think that he got his strange new driver's license number in 1995 because his handlers discovered that the record was still accessible via his Texas DMV records.

[Skidmore]

17. Suppose that time counseling youth might have been

community service time in lieu of jail time? Just a thought.

[UTUSN]

19. They're SCAMMING. This "Disciplinary Unit" Needs to Get to the Media

I hope some DUer is plugged in to a key media figure to get this "disciplinary unit" thing out there.

*********QUOTE******
You know the mysterious torn document? It's torn no longer. And it ain't a Texas Air National Guard document:


http://www.calpundit.com/archives/003220.html

As it turns out, though, we have traded one mystery for another. It's now clear that the document is genuine, but what exactly does it tell us? In particular:


The first listed date is October 29, not November 29 as we had theorized before. But George Bush was still in Alabama in October. What exactly was he getting attendance credit for?


This is neither a Texas Air National Guard document nor an Alabama document. What is it?


The answer, as you can see from the top line, is that it is an ARF document, as is this record from 1973

...


ARF is a "paper unit" based in Denver that requires no drills and no attendance. For active guard members it is disciplinary because ARF members can theoretically be called up for active duty in the regular military, although this obviously never happened to George Bush.

To make a long story short, Bush apparently blew off drills beginning in May 1972, failed to show up for his physical, and was then grounded and transferred to ARF as a disciplinary measure.

************UNQUOTE********

[LeinesRed]

14. I love the old physical excuse too

his physician was unavailable? I think Alabama physicians can administer drug tests just as capably as Texas physicians

[oneighty]

21. In military service

one does not go to private doctors for physical exam. Flight Surgeons conduct exams on pilots I am told by a Flight Nurse friend.

In the Navy Diving Medical Officers conducted exams on divers once every six months. Missing exam was not an option.

180

[HuckleB]

16. Hmm.

Then why did he have to make up all those days the next summer? Something's not right.

[Streetdoc270]

18. Was he the only member of his Unit?

Why can't they find anybody who drilled with Bush during the times in question? You think that they could just get a list of everyone there and ask them, or what about any 'buddies' in his unit that he hung out with.

[Claire Beth]

22. They'll probably pay someone to do it n/t

[GoldenOldie]

23. Not just National Guard but Air National Guard

Georgie commited to the TANG where a million was spent on his training to become a pilot. What happened when he failed to be tested by a military Flight Surgeon and was grounded??? If he truly performed his actual comitment, where is his flight records that require a specific number of hours that must be flown by any pilot be it helicopter or jet in order to remain qualified? So many questions so little evidence!!! Oh those darn blurry records!