Posted on 07/18/2015 2:16:08 PM PDT by jimbo123
In the fall of 1967, when a 14-year-old Texan named John Ellis Bush arrived on the bucolic campus of Phillips Academy in Andover, great expectations preceded him.
-snip-
A few weeks after graduation, on July 16, 1971, Bush filled out an index card on which he registered for the draft. (A copy of the card was obtained by the Globe under the Freedom of Information Act.) On the line requesting a contact, he listed his father, who continued to serve as Nixon’s United Nations ambassador: “Amb. George H. W. Bush, Waldorf Towers . . . New York City.”
Bush received a draft number of 26 on a calendar-based scale that went to 365, earning him a “1A” classification that meant he probably would have been drafted if the war continued at full pace.
But he avoided such a fate because the war was winding down — a fact for which some credit was due those of his generation who participated in protests that he had refused to join.
Bush’s mother, Barbara Bush, once told United Press International that Jeb had considered declaring himself a conscientious objector, adding that the family would have backed such a decision.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonglobe.com ...
Neither of Bush’s two draft-age sons went to Vietnam, and one, Jeb, considered filing for conscientious-objector status to avoid the war, according to Barbara Bush.
She said in an interview with United Press International in 1984 that her husband told Jeb, “Whatever you decide . . . I will back you 100 percent.” Jeb eventually decided to submit to the draft, she said.
http://articles.philly.com/1992-10-11/news/26000431_1_son-jeb-war-policy-jeb-bush
Interesting that GHW Bush would “back his draft dodging sons 100 percent” all the while voting to send other peoples’ sons to the same war with a no-win strategy. This is bipartisan; I remember the horrendous incompetent liar Robert McNamara presiding over a strategy that needlessly killed 50,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese while his own draft dodging son hosted antiwar protesters come to Washington to demonstrate against his old man’s war in the family basement.
Yet no one cared about Bill Clinton or Barack Obama. Or the fact that “Army photojournalist” Al Gore had four heavily-armed, hand-picked soldier bodyguards with him at all times for his long four month tour in Vietnam?
So the left blames the protesters because Bush wasn’t drafted?
Even if he was drafted it would have been late 71, early 72 before he reported for Basic and AIT.
That would have been pushing the summer of 1972 and the last combat troops were out August 1972.
There were still troops in VN but they were doing stuff no rookie draftie would be assigned to.
Let me get this straight. Our “betters” can have us murdered at their whim.
That’s the Elite’s M.O. My attitude is, you want war? Fine. Your kids MUST go.
In my lifetime there have been five Presidents who really seemed to care about what happened to US troops who fight for this country. Truman, Reagan, Nixon, Eisenhower and JFK. The rest? Not really in my view. One thing about the draft, if it is truly universal and not filled with deferments for school, marriage, politicians’ sons, etc., then it probably would make the politicians a bit less likely to commit to poorly thought out adventures abroad.
Is this story designed to endear him to the voters he’s appealing to, Democrats?
¡Yeb! NEVER !
No, he wasn't. He registered for the draft, and the draft ended before he was called up. When you swear to tell the truth, you swear to tell " the whole truth". It's a lie to tell only part of the truth.
I am no Jebite, but this story seems like crap. I could only take so much before it seemed like a tedious attempt at a second rate hit piece. Is it worth a full read?
I graduated HS in 71. I went to Army BCT training 2 weeks after graduation. As far as I know, nobody was drafted that graduated in 71. I could be wrong.
Same here, had a draft number of 103 or thereabouts. Didn’t have to go and I’m glad I didn’t. Stupid war.
“Yet no one cared about Barack Obama”
LOL, that’s just what we needed Nam, ten year old soldiers.
While I’ve got any number of issues with Dubya, his military service during the Vietnam era isn’t one of them. Flying Century-series fighters was hardly a risk-free endeavor, if you look at the number of deaths in training and operations. Plenty of rear echelon jobs in Vietnam were much less risky, from an actuarial perspective.
Putting this as you do seems less than honest about the facts of that matter. If you want to attack Jeb on this issue, fine, but leave Dubya out of it unless you want to sound like a dishonest Lefty.
I’m roughly Barry’s age. I served.
My uncle was in the National Guard during the Vietnam war. They did much of the stateside work that still needed doing. His was a transportation company so he spent a lot of time processing vehicles through.
I also know a guy who was regular army and spent the duration of the Korean war in Alaska guarding American military prisoners. He was no less a soldier than his brother who did go to Korea and came back a real mess.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.