[Cicero]

Bush avoided active duty, but he did so honorably, unlike some we could name. Moreover, as a member of the National Guard he did take at least some risk of being called into active service, since once you get involved in the military nobody can predict for certain what will happen next. (Only in hindsight can you be sure of staying safely out of it.)

Bush seems to have been a manly young man and a capable pilot.

[rmgatto]

My understanding is that many Air National Guard Units were called to service in Vietnam and that Bush had no way of knowing whether his would. I do not remember the source but it was a list of ANG units deployed to combat.