Guess again!:

Now, Here's the Rest of the story! By: drmiler Posted: Sunday, September 19, 2004 Message Board: Politics Bush Guard Service, the True Story Written by Gordon Bloyer Thursday, August 26, 2004 Here is the full and true story of President Bush's Air National Guard service. There are no UNANSWERED questions. There are no missing records. He did not miss any meetings. The truth is known. You can find everything in this article, in other publications but none of the others are complete. You have to put them all together to get the full story. It is a shame that our national ''objective'' media refuse to do their job and put the whole story together. First, in answer to the charge that Bush was AWOL or missed meetings, George Bush was NEVER assigned to the Alabama Guard. This is a myth promoted by the ''objective'' media. Here is what really happened. Here is what the head of the Alabama Guard said. Turnipseed states that Bush was never ordered to report to the Alabama Air National Guard. He points out that Bush never transferred from the Texas Air National Guard to the Alabama Air National Guard. He remained in the Texas Guard during his stay in Alabama. This was confirmed by the Texas Guard. And Turnipseed added that Bush was never under his command or any other officer in the Alabama Guard. Turnipseed added that Bush was informed of the drill schedule of the Alabama Guard as a courtesy so he could get credit for drills while in Alabama for his service record in the Texas Guard. There was no compulsory attendance. This was also confirmed by the Texas Guard. This was reported in the Chicago Sun-Times and has never been picked up by any other news organization. Turnipseed then also added: For Bush to be ''AWOL'' or ''away without leave,'' he would have had to have been assigned to a unit and under its command. For the liberals reading this, go back and read it again. You see, Bush did NOT miss any meetings. The whole argument is nonsense. He got permission from his commanding officer to go to Alabama and attend meetings as a courtesy so he could attend when he could. Another part of this attack is that no one saw Bush at the meetings he did attend. It was reported that Turnipseed never saw Bush. Read what was reported about that. Turnipseed reversed gear after retired Lt. Col. John ''Bill'' Calhoun went public to say that not only did he remember Bush in Alabama, but that it was Turnipseed himself that introduced the two. Oops. And really...the media is completely asleep at the switch on this one. How many people that you saw a few times do you remember from 30 years ago? Why didn't fellow pilots see Bush in Alabama? The planes being flown by the Alabama Guard were not the same as the F102 that Bush was trained on. Why would pilots see him if he was not flying? That is why Lt. Col. Calhoun came forward to say that was Bush was in his office for study and drill time. Remember he was not assigned to the unit; he did NOT have to be there. The following is from a letter by Col. William Campenni Ret. published in the Washington Times: There was one big exception to this abusive use of the Guard to avoid the draft, and that was for those who wanted to fly, as pilots or crew members. Because of the training required, signing up for this duty meant up to 2½ years of active duty for training alone, plus a high probability of mobilization. A fighter-pilot candidate selected by the Guard (such as Lt. Bush and I) would be spending the next two years on active duty going through basic training (six weeks), flight training (one year), survival training (two weeks) and combat crew training for his aircraft (six to nine months), followed by local checkout (up to three more months) before he was even deemed combat-ready. Because the draft was just two years, you sure weren't getting out of duty being an Air Guard pilot. If the unit to which you were going back was an F-100, you were mobilized for Vietnam. Avoiding service? Yeah, tell that to those guys. The Bush critics do not comprehend the dangers of fighter aviation at any time or place, in Vietnam or at home, when they say other such pilots were risking their lives or even dying while Lt. Bush was in Texas. Our Texas ANG unit lost several planes right there in Houston during Lt. Bush's tenure, with fatalities. Just strapping on one of those obsolescing F-102s was risking one's life. Here is some information that the ''objective'' media avoids telling you. John Kerry joined the Navy Reserve, he did not JOIN the Navy. The Reserve was just like the National Guard. Kerry did NOT know he would be sent to Vietnam. George Bush joined the Guard for a SIX-year term. If you are drafted, you only have to serve TWO years. Bush probably did not need to pull strings to get into a jet fighter unit. Jets required a greater time commitment than normal Guard postings. Pilots from the unit that he joined were being sent to Vietnam. All the publications that have researched this have concluded that there is NO evidence that he used any influence to get into the Guard. The liberal publications will say that there is no evidence, but it is still suspicious. That is a good journalistic standard? So, do you get it? Bush joined a unit that at the time was serving in Vietnam. The following is research from aerospaceweb.org: Nevertheless, we have established that the F-102 was serving in combat in Vietnam at the time Bush enlisted to become an F-102 pilot. In fact, pilots from the 147th FIG of the Texas ANG were routinely rotated to Vietnam for combat duty under a program called ''Palace Alert'' from 1968 to 1970. Palace Alert was an Air Force program that sent qualified F-102 pilots from the ANG to bases in Europe or southeast Asia for periods of three to six months for frontline duty. Fred Bradley, a friend of Bush's who was also serving in the Texas ANG, reported that he and Bush inquired about participating in the Palace Alert program. However, the two were told by a superior, MAJ Maurice Udell, that they were not yet qualified since they were still in training and did not have the 500 hours of flight experience required. Furthermore, ANG veteran COL William Campenni, who was a fellow pilot in the 111th FIS at the time, told the Washington Times that Palace Alert was winding down and not accepting new applicants. As he was completing training and being certified as a qualified F-102 pilot, Bush's squadron was a likely candidate to be rotated to Vietnam. However, the F-102 was built for a type of air combat that wasn't seen during that conflict, and the plane was withdrawn from southeast Asia in December 1969. The F-102 was instead returned to its primary role of providing air defense for the United States. In addition, the mission of Ellington AFB, where Bush was stationed, was also changing from air defense alert to training all F-102 pilots in the US for Air National Guard duty. Lt. Bush remained in the ANG as a certified F-102 pilot who participated in frequent drills and alerts through April of 1972. ... By this time, the 147th Fighter Wing was also beginning to transition from the F-102 to the F-101F, an updated version of the F-101B used primarily for air defense patrols. Furthermore, the war in Vietnam was nearing its end and the US was withdrawing its forces from the theater. Air Force personnel returning to the US created a glut of active-duty pilots, and there were not enough aircraft available to accommodate all of the qualified USAF and ANG pilots. Since USAF personnel had priority for the billets available, many of the Air National Guard pilots whose enlistments were nearly complete requested early release. The ANG was eager to fulfill these requests because there was not enough time to retrain F-102 pilots to operate new aircraft before their enlistments were up anyway. Bush was one of those forced out by the transition, and he was honorably discharged as a first lieutenant in October 1973, eight months before his six-year enlistment was complete. Bush had approximately 600 flight hours by the time he completed his military service. The folks at aerospaceweb concluded: While Bush did not see combat in Vietnam, it is also obvious that he was not seeking a way to avoid the risk of being sent to Vietnam. At the time he was training to be an F102 pilot, ANG units and that aircraft type were based in Vietnam. In conclusion, there is no evidence that Bush got special treatment to join the Guard. He did NOT miss any meetings, and he was not assigned to the Alabama Guard. The reason the so called ''objective'' media holds onto this myth is that it lets them keep asking, ''Where was Bush?'' The issue of his being grounded is also answered because he would no longer be flying since his plane was obsolete and he did not have enough Guard time left to train in a new jet. You don’t need to report for a physical if you are not flying. Duh! Kerry joined the Navy Reserve and did not expect to go to Vietnam. When Kerry did go to Vietnam the swift boats were not doing river patrols. They were doing coastal patrols and were not in much danger. That is when he volunteered to join the Swiftees. The assignment of those boats was changed after he was accepted for the duty. Surprise, he got action and the rest is disputed history. The information in this article was published in George Magazine, New York Times, Washington Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Washington Post, and on aerospaceweb.org.

And PLEASE pay attention to just WHERE this info comes from! And BTW all info can be backed up by verifiable government documents!

Reply #2 By: COL Gene - 9/26/2004 6:50:00 PM The proof George W.got in the guard with the help of his father comes from his own mouth. He told Professor Tsurumi this while in graduate school. Ben Barns has confirmed the same thing. No one with a flight aptitude score in the bottom 25% would have been sent to flight school without help. He was required to have a physical and did not obey Air Force Regulations. Guard members were required to attend drills in fact Bush should have been attending drills to maintain his flight training to fulfill the obligation he accepted when he joined the Guard and became a pilot. When the Guard enabled Bush to avoid service in Vietnam the Guard was fine . When it got in the way of what he wanted to do, he did not meet his obligations!

You obviously did NOT pay attention to WHERE the info comes from! I'm NOT disputing the fact he had daddy's help getting in! SO WHAT? But the rest of what your saying is just not so!

And BTW all info can be backed up by verifiable government documents!

Actually, the real issue is the fake memos because nobody cares if Bush was AWOL or not. However, people do care if the Media is trying to fuck the populace over.

drmiler:

Regardless of how W got into the guard, the truth is that he should have entered the army or air force and served as ordered in a time of war. Isn't that what he asks young Americans to do every day with himself as Commander in Chief, a man who could have served, but didn't?

People can say that Kerry did a disservice to his country by protesting, but at least when the nation called for him to serve, he did.

"People can say that Kerry did a disservice to his country by protesting, but at least when the nation called for him to serve, he did."

I think what puts people off is the fact that all the things he did happily and without protest he later characterized as "war crimes". If he had threw down his gun and refused, it would have looked sincere. Instead, he burned villages, yadda...yadda... and waited until he had an opportunity to work on his political career to make a stink.

The more I here about this professor the more of a political hack he sounds. I've taken over 40 collage classes and not once did I ever give one tenth the info that this guy says Bush told him.

My Two Cents

Everytime someone says anything that may make Bush look bad the tactic is to discredit them. Former Sec of the Treasury, Richard Clark, His college Professor, the former Speaker of the Texas House, the secretary of his old commander, Chief of Staff of the Army. Bush has turned a budget Surplus into the largest deficit ever, he thinks sending jobs overseas is good, he has traded an evil dictator for a terrorist hot bed in Iraq and failed to return to a good economy that produces jobs that can meet the basic needs of the American Worker. He has succeeded in giving the wealthy more money they do not need and that we do not have available. Great Job!

Bush has turned a budget Surplus into the largest deficit ever, he thinks sending jobs overseas is good, he has traded an evil dictator for a terrorist hot bed in Iraq and failed to return to a good economy that produces jobs that can meet the basic needs of the American Worker. He has succeeded in giving the wealthy more money they do not need and that we do not have available. Great Job

Because you don't have a leg to stand on, you then change the subject.

Just drop it. It's all BS just like the whole Kerry Vietnam fiasco. It's a non-story and it doesn't really matter if Bush served his entire Texas Guard sentance or if Kerry rightfully earned his medals. It's pure BS from both the Left and the Right. So just ignore it and focus on the real issues. We need to bring our thoughts up to what's going on in the present and not what happend or could of happend in their ancient histories.

BakerStreet:

Having lived through that period and experienced the effects of Viet Nam first hand (in the form of a brother who served for 2 years in the Central Highlands) I can tell you that this "police action" we undertook was ill concieved and never executed properly. If you have read McNamera's book about how the government lied and lied and lied about what was going on you quickly would see why if you served there you would be very upset by our involvement.

I can honestly say that not one of the people who I knew who served in Viet Nam came back with any sense that what we were doing was right, noble, or patriotic. So, when you say Kerry was dishonorable in what he did, I can tell you he was in the great majority of soldiers in terms of the way they felt.

As I said on another blog, it isn't his expression that I find dishonerable. It is the bending of truth, the "movement" to effect the overall will of the people. He didn't just express misgivings, he used the tactics of a propagandist to propel himself politically. They weren't satisfied to organize dissent. They wanted to take matters into their own hands and effect change whether the government willed it or not.

It is a fine line to tread. There were no doubt excesses and abuses. Perhaps the situation there was obviously misrepresented. The fact is, though that that happens in every war. His efforts were not of someone who wanted to educate the public, they were aligned against the government with the intention of robbing them of public support.

Had that behavior been limited to Vietnam, I might be more apt to say it was genuine, but he has continued that kind of treasonous tactic to this day. His "quagmire" rants are irrepairably destructive, and his insult to the current leaders in Iraq are worse. At every opportunity he tries to gut the ability of President to gain support for the effort.

His behavior after returning from Vietnam doesn't cast doubt on his behavior now, it is the other way around. I was a third party in terms of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, but Kerry's behavior in the last two weeks has done more to cast a shadow on his denials than anything they could have presented.

"So, when you say Kerry was dishonorable in what he did, I can tell you he was in the great majority of soldiers in terms of the way they felt. "

I think that is a vast overstatement. I have known many Vietnam Veterans, and while they were angry that they were often kept from doing their job and many think the war was poorly led, none of them considered it an unjust war. They saw the horrors being perpetrated by the North Vietnamese, and they saw themselves as a hedge against it. People like Kerry, though, spent their time hamstringing the government, making them afraid to commit out of fear of their treasonous dissent.

You gut the power of a President by subverting the public will, making them afraid of every hint of a mistake, and then when they don't do enough, you call them on that too. Kerry's ilk are why we can't deal with terrorists in Iraq once and for all, and have to half-ass it.

If he wins, he will be a vastly unpopular President, if for only the fact of the bed he has made himself regarding Iraq. He'll inherit a war that he himself has poisoned the American people against, and he'll have no will to finish it,and will crawl from it in shame.

Sorry, but Chickenshit is the word for the day

I will try and locate the source of the five months of missing drills and the OER. You are correct you can not obtain the actual pay voucher. Every month a member of the Guard or Reserve attend drills, they receive a pay voucher and at the end of the year a retirement point statement. Bush did not receive a pay vouchers for five months during 1972-73 and that was confirmed by his retirement point statement to my recolection. I will try and locate the source. His Officer Efficiency Report (OER) is available at awolbush.com. The statement from Lt. Bush's commander was that he did not observe Lt Bush for the period of the report (April 72-Mar 73) and could not evaluate him. There is no question, Bush did not attend drills for five months. He showed up the month after this five month period for one month and then missed another month.

I was a commander of a Reserve Unit during this period (Reserve and Guard units have the same requirements about member attendence). The policy was that when a member did not atend drills, they were reported to the active component,(in the case of Bush the Air Force) and placed on Active Duty for assignment including Vietnam. Bush was allowed to miss drills for five months without being placed on active duty. This is another example of the special treatment he received. This was during the time he was active with a political campaign which was more important than his committment to the Guard.