Top is the "memo". Bottom is from documents provided by Bush.
Posted on 09/09/2004 6:07:17 AM PDT by xzins
WASHINGTON (AP) - Newly unearthed memos state George W. Bush was suspended from flying for the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam war because he failed to meet Guard standards and failed to take his annual flight physical as required. The suspension came as Bush was trying to arrange a transfer to non-flying status with a unit in Alabama so he could work on a political campaign there.
A memo written a year later referred to one military official "pushing to sugar coat" Bush's annual evaluation.
"On this date I ordered that 1st Lt. Bush be suspended from flight status due to failure to perform to USAF/TexANG standards and failure to meet annual physical examination ... as ordered," says an Aug. 1, 1972 memo by Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, who is now dead.
The same memo notes that Bush was trying to transfer to non-flying status out of state and recommends that the Texas unit fill his flying slot "with a more seasoned pilot from the list of qualified Vietnam pilots that have rotated."
The Vietnam-era documents add details to the bare-bones explanation of Bush's aides over the years that he was suspended simply because he decided to skip his flight physical.
The White House said in February that it had released all records of Bush's service, but one of Killian's memos stated it was "for record" and another directing Bush to take the physical exam stated that it was "for 1st Lt. George W. Bush."
"I can't explain why that wouldn't be in his record, but they were found in Jerry Killian's personal records," White House communications director Dan Bartlett told CBS's "60 Minutes II," which first obtained the memos.
Bartlett said Bush's superiors granted permission to train in Alabama in a non-flying status and that "many of the documents you have here affirm just that."
A memo dated May 19, 1972, five days after Bush was supposed to have completed his physical, summarizes a telephone discussion with Bush about how he "can get out of coming to drill from now through November." It says Bush was "told he could do ET for three months or transfer." ET referred to equivalent training, a procedure for meeting training requirements without attending regularly scheduled drills.
The same memo says "we talked abut him getting his flight physical situation fixed" and quotes Bush as saying he would "do that in Alabama if he stays in a flight status." It also says, I advised him of our investment in him and his commitment."
Democratic Party chairman Terry maculae said, "George W. Bush's cover story on his National Guard service is rapidly unraveling. ... George W. Bush needs to answer why he regularly mislead the American people about his time in the Guard and who applied political pressure on his behalf to have his performance reviews 'sugarcoated'"
Bartlett told CBS, "As it says in your own documents, President Bush talked to the commanders about the fact that he'd be transferring to a unit ... in Alabama that didn't fly that plane," the F-102, the type Bush was trained in.
Using only last names, one of the newly disclosed documents points to sharp disagreement among Bush's superiors in Texas over how to evaluate his performance for the period from mid-1972 through mid-1973.
"Stuart has obviously pressured Hedges more about Bush," Killian wrote on Aug. 18, 1973. "I'm having trouble running interference and doing my job - Harris gave me a message today from Grip (a headquarters unit) regarding Bush's OETR (officer efficiency training report) and Stuart is pushing to sugar coat it. Bush wasn't here during rating period and I don't have any comments from 187th in Alabama. I will not rate."
The memo concludes: "Harris took the call from Grip today. I'll backdate but won't rate. Harris agrees."
At the time, Walter B. Stuart was commander of the Texas National Guard; Lt. Col. Bobby Hedges was one of Bush's superiors in Texas who two years earlier had rated Bush an outstanding young pilot; and Lt. Col. William D. Harris Jr. was another superior of Bush's.
Records released this year when Bush's military service re-emerged as a campaign issue contain no evidence that he showed up for duty at all for five months in mid-1972 and document only a few occasions later that year.
Asked about Killian's statement in a memo about the military's investment in Bush, Bartlett told CBS: "For anybody to try to interpret or presume they know what somebody who is now dead was thinking in any of these memos, I think is very difficult to do."
For record does not mean "For the Personal Records Jacket of George Bush." It's a term that means "to be filed" for his personal future reference.
To "1st Lt Bush" does not mean it goes into the personal records Jacket. It means that Bush gets a copy of what the commander's thinking.
Again and again it's apparent that these folks simply don't understand how the military works.
Liberal reporters have an anti-military mindset and they think the worst of any one who's done military service. This mindset explains why they are going hammers and tongs after Bush but going gentle on Kerry since he shares their loathing of the military lifestyle and culture.
In the Army today, there is an item called "Memorandum for Record" that does not mean it goes into the personal records jacket of anyone mentioned in the memo.
It means that it's for the writer's personal files for future reference.
The above memo's were found in the writer's personal files.
There are strictly defined rules on what goes into any individual soldier's Personal Records.
How did he get suspended without it going in his real file, not just Killian's double-secret-probation file?
Note to AP: Bush is running on his record from the past four years. Get it?
I really don't think that the voters still up for grabs care at all about what Bush did or didn't do 35 years ago.
Maybe 4 years ago, when Bush was an unknown commodity. But now they have seen him in action for the past four years and know very well what to expect from him.
For Kerry, his behavior 35 years ago is more relevant, since voters don't have a lot of information about him, and he has made his Viet Nam career the cornerstone of his campaign.
The underlined, red section above is key.
This commander is ACKNOWLEDGING that Lt Bush is legitimately putting the physical OFF until Alabama.
The commander is ACKNOWLEDGING that there might NOT be flight status there for Lt Bush.
The commander ALLOWS a Lieutenant to tell him IF. (IF -- read that.) It is a contingency. And the COMMANDER accepts it.
I'd love to see this entire memo instead of these carefully crafted excerpts from it.
blah, blah, blah
No debate till Senator Kerry signs Form-180!
this just in from (kr)AP...We are still kicking, no beating this dead horse into the ground.. repeat..we are beating this dead horse into the ground..more info or more of the same later..
What matters here is not what the media report but how the Bush campaign responds to it. If the President takes the bait, it will hurt him. If he doesn't, it won't. People will only care about it if the President becomes unhinged over it the way Kerry did over the Swiftees. And the Bush campaign can even spin this back, if the Bush family were really so evil and diabolical, and President Bush's actions during that time something horrible that had to be covered up (i.e. drug use, that's what the Left is after and still haven't found that smoking gun) these records would have been destroyed and never found.
People knew about Clinton's transgressions, didn't stop them from voting for him twice. Why can't the Rats understand that throwing these kind of allegations is going to end up sinking them even deeper? Oh well, stupid is as stupid does.
The media knows exactly what it is doing.
I say through Viet Nam out of bothe sides. Even Kerry's Anti-US/Pro-Commie post war activities. Then look at Bush's 3.5 years as Commander in Chief and Kerry's 20 year senate record.
That is a loss for Kery as well. Basically Kerry is a loser in any match up.
The memo where Killian notes Bush said he'd take the physical if he maintained his flight status shows, as usual, that GWB has been straight forward all along.
This is nothing that wasn't known before. Additional information that buttresses, not new that contradicts.
Exactly. When I first read the memo last night that jumped out at me. Killian does not say he told Bush he couldn't do that.
Once again, the media is misrepresenting the significance and meaning of the memo.
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