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Aynne -> RE: Does Obama have the Democratic Nomination? (6/6/2008 6:20:51 AM)
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A little morning reading for DA. Please remove the GOP issued blinders in order to fully comprehend the below article.
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Bush enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard on May 27, 1968, during the Vietnam War, with a commitment to serve until May 26, 1974. In his 1968 Statement of Intent (undated), he wrote, "I have applied for pilot training with the goal of making flying a lifetime pursuit and I believe I can best accomplish this to my own satisfaction by serving as a member of the Air National Guard as long as possible." He performed Guard duty as an F-102 pilot through April 1972, logging a total of 336 flight hours[1] and was promoted once during his service, to First Lieutenant.[2]
In November 1970, Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, commander of the 111th Fighter Squadron (Texas Air National Guard), recommended that Bush be promoted to First Lieutenant, calling him "a dynamic outstanding young officer" who stood out as "a top notch fighter interceptor pilot." He said that "Lt. Bush's skills far exceed his contemporaries," and that "he is a natural leader whom his contemporaries look to for leadership. Lt. Bush is also a good follower with outstanding disciplinary traits and an impeccable military bearing."[3]
Bush's six-year obligation to serve required him to maintain his immediate readiness as an individual and a member of a unit to be called to active duty in the event of a national emergency. Bush's military records indicate that until May 1972 he fulfilled that obligation. But from that point on, Bush failed to meet the attendance requirements established by Federal law, Department of Defense regulations, and Air Force policies and procedures for "obligated" members of the Air National Guard, and the Air Force requirement for an annual physical examination for pilots.[4]
[image]http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png[/image]Bush beside a jet.During the 1968–1974 period, Presidents Johnson and Nixon decided against calling up National Guard units for service in Vietnam. As a result, National Guard service was widely portrayed as a way to avoid combat. The waiting list for the Guard at that time was extremely long, and there have been charges that young men from influential families were improperly moved to the top of the list. A similar accusation was leveled at Dan Quayle, who served in the Indiana National Guard, and was Vice President from 1989 to 1993.
According to various media outlets, Bush jumped to the top of a list of over 500 applicants for his position as a pilot despite receiving the minimum passing score (25) on the pilot entrance aptitude test and listing no other qualifications. Other reports indicated that although there were many candidates interested in weekend enlisted duty, there were fewer, if any, people who were both sufficiently educated to qualify for an officer pilot position and willing to commit to the more than one year of full-time service required of Air National Guard pilots. Ben Barnes, the former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives and Lieutenant Governor of Texas, stated under oath that he had called the head of the Texas Air National Guard, Brig. Gen. James Rose, to recommend Bush for a pilot spot at the request of Bush family friend Sidney Adger.[5] Later, Barnes repeated these claims in an interview with CBS News on September 8, 2004.
Former Texas legislator Jake Johnson has stated that before General Rose died, Rose told him that he had been responsible for Bush's acceptance into the Guard. Both George W. Bush and his father have stated that they did not ask Adger to intercede and were unaware of any action he may have taken. Walter Staudt, the colonel in command of Bush's squadron, has stated that he accepted Bush's application without receiving any outside pressure to do so. In a 1994 interview, Bush stated that he joined the Guard because "I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment. Nor was I willing to go to Canada. So I chose to better myself by learning how to fly airplanes."[6]
The unit in which Bush served was known as a "Champagne unit," where the scions of the Texas aristocracy could avoid combat duty with relatively few demands on their time. Serving in that unit with Bush were the sons of three prominent men: Democratic Governor John Connally, Democratic Senator and future Vice-Presidential nominee Lloyd Bentsen, and Republican Senator John Tower, as well as seven members of the Dallas Cowboys professional football team, and James R. Bath, who would become a longtime friend of Bush's.
Air National Guard members could volunteer for active duty service with the Air Force in a program called Palace Alert, which deployed F-102 pilots to Europe and Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and Thailand. According to three pilots from Bush's squadron, Bush inquired about this program but was advised by the base commander that he did not have the necessary experience (500 hours) at the time and that the F-102 was outdated.[7]
[edit] Flight performance and flight status in 1972 and 1973
[edit] Final flights
Flight logs released in September 2004 in response to a lawsuit (see below) showed that Bush, who had been flying solo in the F-102A Delta Dagger, an interceptor, for most of his career, flew nine times in T-33 trainers in February and March 1972 — nearly twice as many times as he had flown in T-33s in the prior 18 months.[8] He also used a flight simulator, and was heavily focused on flying by instruments.[9] The logs also show that in March and April 1972, Bush twice needed multiple tries to land the F102 fighter.[10]
The final two entries of Bush's official flight logs show him being assigned to work as an instructional pilot in late May 1972 at a Texas Air National Guard base. But Bush left for Alabama in mid-May (see next section) and his pay records show he wasn't paid for any work on the two dates of the instructional pilot assignment. The logs have a code indicating the assignments were eventually deleted from his official records.[8]
[edit] Flight physical
By regulation, National Guard pilots were required to take and pass an annual physical in order to remain in flight status, in the three months prior to a pilot's birthday (in Bush's case, July 6). For reasons that are unclear, Bush apparently chose not to take this mandatory physical examination in mid-1972, thus ending his pilot's career. He never flew again after April 15, 1972.
As a result of his failure to take his physical, his flight status was suspended by his commander on 1 August 1972, confirmed by Col Bobby Hodges on 5 September 1972 and confirmed again by a National Guard Bureau order on September 29, 1972, which meant he no longer was authorized to fly as a pilot. The confirmation order also confirmed the suspension of flight status of Major James R. Bath, a long-time friend of Bush.
The document directly orders Bush to acknowledge the suspension in writing ("Off will comply with para 2-10, AFM 35-13") but there is no evidence Bush obeyed this order and no evidence that he did not. The Air Force regulation cited here, AFM 35-13 Para 2-29m[11] required the commander of Bush's Texas National Guard unit to "direct an investigation as to why the individual failed to accomplish the medical examination"[12] but there is no evidence this investigation ever occurred.
Following the investigation, the local commander was required to either convene a Flying Evaluation Board to review Bush’s suspension or to forward a detailed report on his case up the chain of command. Either way, there should have been a record of the investigation.[13]
Although he had taken the physical twice previously by flight surgeons, Bush says that he wanted to wait to take the physical until it could be done by his own private doctor. Regulations require that the physical be performed by an Air Force doctor.[14] Air Force Flight Surgeons were assigned to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, where Bush purportedly drilled in October and November 1972 and in January 1973. There is no record of his attendance in the 187th Alabama ANG, The Alabama unit’s commanders say they never saw Bush or any paperwork showing he performed drills there, however a January 1973 document references a dental exam that Bush received at the Alabama base.[15]
There is no record of a physical being taken in either 1972 or in 1973, the last two years in which Bush attended drills. According to his released military records, Bush never flew again as a National Guard pilot after April 1972, and was suspended from flying on August 1,1972.[16].
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