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No record military service Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/dailynews/bush_guard000624.htmlhttp://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/dailynews/bush_guard000624.html
Did Bush Serve?
Claims He Was In Alabama Guard, But There’s No Record
By Chris Williams
The Associated Press
A U S T I N, Texas, June 25 — Gov. George W. Bush’s campaign workers have concluded that no documents exist showing he reported for duty with the Alabama National Guard as ordered in 1972. They are looking for people who served with him to verify his story.
Dan Bartlett, a spokesman for Bush’s Republican presidential campaign, said he reviewed another 200-page packet of documents last week from the National Guard’s records repository in Denver.
“I have read it, and there is nothing earth shattering,” he said.
The campaign was looking for payroll records that would show Bush reported for duty with the Guard in Montgomery, Ala., — a temporary assignment adjustment away from the Texas National Guard to accommodate Bush while he was working on the unsuccessful Senate campaign of former Postmaster General Winton Blount.
The new records were mostly duplicates of documents obtained by the campaign from the Texas National Guard headquarters in Austin about 18 months ago.
“The official records were either lost or misplaced or not filled out correctly or not deposited. We are not sure,” Bartlett said.
Records May Be Gone
Roberto Trinidad, freedom of information officer for the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, said the military does not retain the sort of records Bush campaign officials are seeking.
“His payroll records are not here,” Trinidad said.
The military saves only the most important personnel records for 50 years. Less important documents, including check stubs, are destroyed.
Bush, campaigning in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Friday, was asked at a news conference about his 1972 Alabama service.
“I was there on a temporary assignment and fulfilled my weekends at one period of time,” Bush said. “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.
Expanding on Bush’s remarks later, campaign spokesman Ari Fleischer quoted Bush as saying he did “paper shuffling” in Montgomery.
“He thinks it was desk work,” said Fleischer.
Bartlett said the campaign is now focusing its attention on trying to locate people who served with Bush in late 1972 in the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in the Alabama capital.
General Said Bush Did Not Report
The campaign was surprised in late May when retired Gen. William Turnipseed said Bush did not report to him, although the young airman was required to do so. His orders, dated Sept. 15, 1972, said: “Lieutenant Bush should report to Lt. Col. William Turnipseed, DCO, to perform equivalent training.”
“To my knowledge, he never showed up,” Turnipseed said last month.
Bush served as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard from May 1968 to October 1973, primarily flying F-102 fighter-interceptors at Ellington Air Force Base, south of Houston.
He received a three-month transfer to Alabama to work as political director of Blount’s Senate campaign. Blount, postmaster general from 1968-71, was a friend of Bush’s father, former President George Bush.
Spokesman Bartlett said Bush remembers meeting Turnipseed and performing drills in Montgomery sporadically during the campaign and more frequently after the election in November and December.
“Governor Bush specifically remembers pulling duty in Alabama at the end of the campaign,” Bartlett said.
No Record Found In Review
The Associated Press reviewed nearly 200 pages of Bush’s military records released by the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Va. They contained no evidence that Bush reported for duty in Alabama.
Bob Stein, a political science professor at Rice University in Houston, said the gap in the military record will become an issue only if Bush’s story changes.
Bill Clinton’s avoidance of the draft did not hurt him in his 1992 election campaign against Bush’s father, a decorated World War II veteran and the incumbent president, so a gap in Bush’s military records will not matter, Stein said.
“It is just not an issue, unless the very act of asking the question forces the candidate to deceive or to lie,” he said.
Bush was honorably discharged to reserve duty in October 1973 to attend Harvard Business School. He left the Guard for good in November 1974, records obtained by the AP show.
Bush’s National Guard Timeline
Major dates during Gov. George W. Bush’s service in the Texas National Guard, according to official records from the National Guard Bureau:
Jan. 19, 1968: Bush completes Air Force officer qualifications test in New Haven, Conn., while attending Yale University.
May 27, 1968: Walter B. Staudt, commander of the Texas National Guard, interviews Bush and recommends he be accepted for pilot training. Bush’s application for enlistment in the Guard is approved.
June 1968: Bush receives bachelor of arts degree from Yale.
July 12, 1968: A three-member Federal Recognition Examining Board reports Bush is qualified for promotion to 2nd Lieutenant in the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron.
July 14, 1968: Bush attends basic military training in San Antonio.
Aug. 25, 1968: Completes basic military training.
Nov. 26, 1968 — Dec. 2, 1969: Attends undergraduate pilot training with the 3559th Student Squadron, Moody Air Force Base, Ga. He is trained to fly standard Air Force aircraft, including the T-31, T-37, and T-39.
Dec. 29, 1969 — Jan. 20, 1970: Trainee, 111th Squadron, Ellington Air Force Base, near Houston.
Jan. 11, 1970: Assigned flying duty as a pilot of F-102 fighter interceptors, 111th Squadron at Ellington.
Aug. 24, 1970: Three-member board recommends 2nd Lt. Bush for promotion to first lieutenant. Bush later receives the promotion.
Sept. 6, 1972: Bush’s request for a three-month transfer to 187th TAC Recon Group, Montgomery, Ala., is approved so he can work as political director for a Senate campaign.
Sept. 18, 1973: Bush receives permission to transfer to reserve status to attend Harvard Business School.
Oct. 1, 1973: Receives honorable discharge.
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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