The View from the Meadow
Observations of the Passing Scene
Political and Social Commentary by Dave Satre
Bush
the Weekend Warrior President
A Fable of Military Service or Favoritism?
Recent investigations into GW Bush’s military service have uncovered yet more lies from this self-proclaimed “War President”. Although our honorable president has repeatedly claimed he fulfilled his military obligations, the record is unclear about several important issues involved.
Bush has repeatedly insisted that he fulfilled all of his military obligations by serving his time as a member of the Texas Air National Guard, but there are many reports of favoritism involved and substantial evidence that he never reported for duty during the last two years of his enlistment.
Refusing to report was in direct violation of two separate written orders and the lack of punishment for this misconduct smells of favoritism of the worst order. Questions concerning this failure to serve also raise issues of GW’s drug and alcohol abuse during the first years of his enlistment.
When Bush graduated from Yale in the Spring of 1968, it was during the height of the Vietnam War draft; a point at which American fighting men were dying at a rate of 350 a week.
GW claimed to support the war, but the party-boy son of a rich and powerful Texas family apparently did not like the idea of the draft. He said he had no desire "to be an infantry guy as a private in Vietnam." He did say that he would like to become a fighter pilot, like Bush the Elder.
For whatever reasons, he did not apply to the Air Force, nor did he choose full-time active military duty. He instead enlisted for "weekend warrior" duty in the Air National Guard, where he could fulfill his military obligation far away from the risk of combat and pursue his civilian career. However, he has claimed, "Had my unit been called I would have gone ... to Vietnam", although he knew at the time that there was little or no chance he would ever be sent to serve in combat.
There was a 100,000 – member waiting list for Air National Guard duty at this time. Somehow, GW jumped to the top of this list, despite his adamant denials that this suggests favoritism. His father, Bush the Elder, was a U.S. Representative from Texas at that time and his grandfather Prescott had been a prominent U.S. Senator from Connecticut. The Speaker of the House in Texas during that period, Ben Barnes, stated under oath that he received a request from a longtime Bush family friend, Sidney Adger of Houston, to help Bush get into the Air National Guard
Bush was accepted by the Air National Guard and despite listing his background qualifications as “none” and achieving the lowest possible passing grade (25 %) on his pilot attitude test he was assigned to flight school over countless more qualified applicants. He was sworn in on May 27 for a six-year commitment.
This rampant favoritism continued throughout GW’s term in the Guard. He received a commission as a second lieutenant through a 'special appointment' by the commanding officer of his squadron and with the approval of a panel of three senior officers.
This commission was extraordinary, it normally required eight full semesters of college ROTC courses, eighteen months of military service or completion of Air Force officer training school to be assigned to flight school. Bush passed over all of those on the existing pilot applicant waiting list and was assigned to the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron.
Bush then received a quick promotion to 1st Lieutenant and was trained to fly the missile-equipped supersonic F-102 Delta Dart jet interceptor fighter. This training required a heavy investment on the part of the US government --- to provide jet pilots with two full years of active duty training in a highly complex supersonic aircraft cost almost a million dollars.
GW earned his wings and accumulated enough flight time to fly solo, about 300 hours, but was far short of the 500 hours required to volunteer for active combat duty in Vietnam. Bush then audaciously applied for active duty, but it was a bluff. He knew he wouldn’t qualify.
He received the promotion through Brigadier General Rose, the man responsible for getting him into the Guard in the first place, and was assigned weekend duty at Ellington AFB in Houston.
The story really gets murky when GW failed to report for a single day of duty in the final two years of his enlistment, contrary to two specific orders. Records show he met his weekend obligation for June 1970 to May 1971, but logged only 22 flight days by May in 1972 (14 short of the required 36 days).
Bush’s last day in the cockpit was in April 1972, with two full years left on his enlistment. He reportedly cleared the Base on May 15, 1972.
GW requested a six-month transfer to an inactive postal Reserve unit in Alabama, a unit that had no airplanes, but the request was denied by National Guard Bureau headquarters on May 31, 1972. At that time, Bush should have returned to his base in Houston and continued with his flying duties, but he was summarily suspended from flying duties on August 1, 1972. Payroll records show he received no pay for the six months between Apr 16th to Oct 28th, 1972.
Bush did not simply give up flying with two years left on his commitment. He was suspended and grounded, quite possibly as a result of substance abuse. If this is the case, a Flight Inquiry Board report should show the true reasons for Bush's suspension, as well as the punishment that was recommended. The lack of any such report raises further questions of extraordinary favoritism for Bush. The Boston Globe, which examined the last two years of Bush's military service in depth, contends that Bush simply "gave up flying" to spend six months on a Republican Senate campaign in Alabama.
Another Bush excuse was that the 111th Squadron was switching to a newer jet, so he could not fly. But the unit's commander told the Boston Globe that Bush could have continued to fly the F-102, which remained in service in his unit past the end of Bush's six-year commitment.
A confirmation memo to the Secretaries of the Army and Air Force, Sep 29, 1972, cites an 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 an annual medical examination."
The Bush camp has several excuses for this failure to take the medical exam. One report claims that he was simply unable to travel to Houston to visit his family physician. However, the Boston Globe reported that Air Force Flight Surgeons were assigned to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery Alabama, where he was then living. Bush claimed there was no reason to take the medical test because he wasn’t flying at the time.
People wonder why Bush gave up flying. He frequently bragged about being a pilot and it was important to his family. GW knew he could be suspended if he failed to complete the mandatory annual flight physical, but he wrote it off as “red tape”.
It was not merely coincidental that in April, 1972 – the same month that Bush "gave up" flying – all of the overseas and stateside military services began subjecting their servicemen to random substance abuse testing for alcohol and drug use.
There is no evidence currently available that a Flight Inquiry Board was convened to deal with Bush's official reclassification to a non-flying, grounded status. Records of such a board could clear Bush’s official record, but the records of such a board are not subject to an ordinary Freedom Of Information Act request because of privacy protections under FOIA. Bush could clear up the matter by simply voluntarily releasing his complete military record. That is, if the evidence were favorable to him.
Bush was then ordered to start serving three months in an active but non-flying administrative Guard unit, the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in Montgomery, Alabama. He was assigned four duty days in October and November on Sep 5, 1972, but no official records exist that that he ever reported for duty.
Interceptor Magazine, the official National Guard publication, ran advertisements asking for anyone to step forward who remembered seeing Bush on duty. A $3,500 reward was offered by a group of veterans in 2000 for anyone who confirm Bush's Alabama guard service. There were 600 to 700 guardsmen who could have worked with him in that unit. No one has officially reported seeing him on duty in Alabama.
Bush has been vague on the issue. He has claimed that, "I was there on temporary assignment and fulfilled my weekends at one period of time. I made up some missed weekends. I can't remember what I did, but I wasn't flying because they didn't have the same airplanes." "I fulfilled my obligations," he said while campaigning in Alabama on June 23.
If Bush was intentionally absent from assigned duty contrary to a specific written order, which is the civilian/Guard Airman equivalent of AWOL, the absence would normally result in disciplinary action and would show up on his official service record.
In May 1973. Bush was ordered to attend nine duty days in person during Summer Camp at Ellington AFB between May 22 and June 7. He did not do so.
Instead, he was credited with 35 "gratuitous" inactive Air Force Reserve points – in other words, non-attendance inactive Reserve credit time. This situation, like everything else related to his military service, reeks of favoritism, powerful family connections and total disregard for the needs of the military or the country.
One wonders what our fighting men and women currently stuck in an ill-advised war in Iraq started by this "war president" would think of such special treatment. Or how the family, friends and neighbors of the over 500 people who have given their lives in this effort would feel.
On October 1, 1973 eight months short of his full six-year service obligation --- he was scheduled for discharge on May 26, 1974 --- Bush received a premature honorable discharge from the Texas Air Guard. Another gift from friends in high places.
For a man who campaigned specifically on a promise to restore honor and integrity to the office of the president, strengthen the military and to tell the plain truth, this man has openly and continuously lied to the American public.
If Bush wants to deny these accusations he can easily clear up this issue by opening his service records to public scrutiny. That is, if what he says is actually true.
Don’t hold your breath. I would, instead, expect more claims that his records are being concealed for purposes of “national security,” one of the Regime’s pet tactics for operating in secrecy.
You can also expect some "witnesses" to now come forward, since the pressure is on, and swear they saw him at work during the period in question. Bush's friends know how to apply pressure in the right places. The man has never been straightforward with Americans.
Bush, a weekend warrior who didn’t bother to fulfill his military obligations to the Texas Air National Guard or the country, has now declared himself a “War President” who thinks about foreign relations in terms of war. This is not a man who should be in the White House.
Note: Bush declared himself to be a "War President" on a recent Meet the Press interview broadcast nationally.
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