Wednesday, February 11, 2004

GWB and the Guard

I hit this topic only to explain why I don’t see Bush’s Guard service as a big deal.

1.  If the critics took an honest look at how common it is for Guardsmen to miss drill, then make it up later in the year, they wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.

2.  As to the charges that he joined the Guard to avoid Vietnam, yes, he could have joined an active duty unit.  But, he had a desire to work in politics at the same time, and active duty doesn’t allow for that.  If he was truly trying to guarentee that he wouldn’t see service in Vietnam, he wouldn’t have chosen to be a pilot.  After all, at the time he joined, his unit was on an active rotation to SE Asia.

3.  And finally, drop the AWOL crap.  Those who fling around charges of “AWOL” and “deserter” don’t have any clue what those terms mean.  Guys who go AWOL or desert end up in Leavenworth, not honorably discharged.

 

(9) Comments
Posted by Jed at 0642 hrs
Politics + Politics - General

  1. 1. The “everybody else does it” defense. Pathetic.

    2. Bush was a “pilot” who couldn’t fly after May 1972 because he blew off taking his annual flight physical and was grounded. If his guard unit had been called up to active duty at any time after that, Bush would not have been ready to “fulfill his duty.”

    Also, I’m sure there were a lot of guys in Vietnam who would have rather worked in a political campaign back then.

    3. Call it what you want, but it is clear that Bush had a spotty attendance record in the guard and did not take his duty to his country seriously for the last year and a half of his service.
    If you want to say that this is all in the past now and he is a better person today, that is fine. But trying to pretend that there is nothing to this AWOL issue is not facing up to reality.

    Here?s the difference between John Kerry?s and George W. Bush?s military service records:

    While John Kerry?s military superiors were busy giving him medals for valor and heroism, Bush?s military superiors were scratching their heads wondering where the hell he was half the time.

    Kerry was an asset to the military. Bush was a liability and a disciplinary problem.

    Posted by Mike Thomas on February 11, 2004 at 1037 hrs


  2. And furthermore…..

    First attempt to post got an error and didn’t register.

    See above.

    Posted by Mike Thomas on February 11, 2004 at 1217 hrs


  3. Why is Bush’s military issue even a question? Hasn’t he been the Commander and Cheif since his election?

    Aside from the debate as to whether or not the war in Iraq is right or wrong, has the general command with regard to military action been effective? Without question. The argumentative lot of you will ask me to define “effective.” I think you know what it means, so don’t ask.

    The point is that the Kerry campaign, in conjunction with the liberal Media, are digging real deep in order to try to deface Bush’s value as a military leader. That’s perposterous at this junction.

    The fact that people even give any of their time to the argument, or even go so far as to give it credit *laugh my ass off*.... c’mon, SUCKERS, get real.

    Have a nice day

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 11, 2004 at 1324 hrs


  4. You can be reasonable about the issue until the cows come home, but it won’t matter. 

    The folks riding the issue don’t care about the facts, the legality, or even about the military per se.  They’re looking to elect their candidate, whomever it is, and be damned to polite discourse.

    What they’re really doing, in my not so humble opinion, is trashing the Republic.


    And yes, the same thing happened from the Right during the Clinton years.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 11, 2004 at 1552 hrs


  5. Come on, let’s not forget the legal dimension.  It’s not possible for a Guardsman or Reservist to go AWOL from drill.  They’re only subject to UCMJ while on orders, and they’re not on orders for weekend drill.  No orders, no military-specific offenses.  It’s as simple as that.

    But then again, when did the law ever stop the Left?

    Posted by Ben on February 11, 2004 at 2111 hrs


  6. GW </b></i>DID<i><b>serve his country.  Lots of folks joined the guard to avoid going to Nam.  That does not make them less patriotic.  Clinton ran off to wherever to avoid </i>any<i>form of military service.  The fact that he didn’t inhale was immaterial.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 11, 2004 at 2114 hrs


  7. “1.  If the critics took an honest look at how common it is for Guardsmen to miss drill, then make it up later in the year, they wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.”

    I did that on occasion when I was in the Reserves.  So did some others.  It wasn’t a big deal.  We had to get approval ahead of time, but it was no biggie.

    Posted by Sophorist on February 11, 2004 at 2121 hrs


  8. it was no biggie.

    Great!

    Then it will be no biggie to release the full service record of our Commander in Chief, a proud veteran who has nothing to hide.

    Nothing at all to hide.
    Not a thing.
    Squeaky clean.

    Which means we should be seeing that full service record aaany minute now…

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 12, 2004 at 0427 hrs


  9. “Guys who go AWOL or desert end up in Leavenworth, not honorably discharged”

    Yea, and guys like bush who score the minimum passing score of 25 on the texas air guard exam don’t get enlisted ahead of many others with perfect scores of 100—UNLESS their rich daddy gets them a sweetheart deal.

    So if bush’s daddy can help him get out of vietnam by getting him into the texas national guard despite rock-bottom proficiency scores, what makes you think bush is going to be treated like everyone else when he deserts his duty?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 18, 2004 at 0143 hrs


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