Former Dannelly worker: Bush not AWOL [another eyewitness steps forward]

THE DECATUR DAILY ^ | 2.16.04 | Eric Fleischauer

[ambrose]

Former Dannelly worker: Bush not AWOL

By Eric Fleischauer

DAILY Staff Writer

eric@decaturdaily.com · 340-2435

Retired Master Sgt. James Copeland does not care so much whether people think President Bush went absent without leave in 1972, but one thing he hears bothers him plenty.

"Maybe the Bush family was well known in Texas, but we didn't know who he was here. He was just another guy in a flight jacket," Copeland said Sunday.

Copeland, who lives in Hartselle, retired from the Air Force on Jan. 31, 1980. He was the disbursement accounting supervisor, a full-time position, for Dannelly Air National Guard Base in Montgomery from Oct. 28, 1971, to Oct. 27, 1975. His office was less than 100 yards from the hangar where Bush performed drills.

Rumors say Bush went AWOL while assisting Winton "Red" Blount in an unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate focus on 1972 and 1973.

Copeland, 65, remembers meeting Bush on two occasions. He does not remember the precise dates. On one occasion, Copeland said, Bush and Lt. Col. John "Bill" Calhoun came to Copeland's office with a question about Bush's pay. Copeland is not sure, but he believes the question had to do with where to mail Bush's checks.

Bush was never a member of the Alabama National Guard, he just did his drills here. For that reason, Copeland thinks he referred the pay question to the paymaster for the Texas National Guard.

The other time Copeland remembers meeting Bush was at the base canteen. Bush was there drinking coffee or a soft drink, Copeland said.

Copeland stressed that Calhoun's account of Bush's service in Montgomery would be accurate because Calhoun was in a position to work with Bush during every drill. Calhoun told The Associated Press last week that he saw Bush every drill time, which was one weekend each month.

Not only was Calhoun in a position to know of Bush's service, Copeland said, but Calhoun "was an ethical and honest officer."

No easy treatment

The suggestion that he or anyone else gave Bush a break because of the family legacy bothers Copeland.

"You hear people saying that everybody (at Dannelly) knew the Bushes. Well, that's just a lie," Copeland said. "He was just another pilot. No one paid any more attention to him than to anyone else. There was no hoopla."

Copeland said Bush trained on an F-106 fighter plane in Texas, so he was not qualified to fly the planes at Dannelly. Dannelly had F-84 Thunderjets and, later, F-4 Phantoms.

The issue of whether Bush skipped his Air National Guard duties is not a new one.

Some Democrats have long questioned whether Bush continued his drills while absent from Texas for Blount's campaign.

Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan said Friday that the White House is making no effort to locate people who could document Bush's service.

Joe Holcombe, 71, of Joppa worked with Bush on the Blount campaign. He told THE DAILY last week that he remembers Bush missing at least one campaign meeting because of his National Guard drills.

While Copeland said he thinks claims that Bush was AWOL are baseless, he said one thing puzzles him.

"All Bush would have to do to get proof of his Alabama service is pick up the phone and contact military records," he said. "It seems a little odd that he hasn't done that."

Copeland also is puzzled by dental records that Bush produced as evidence of his duties at Dannelly.

"We had no dentist at Dannelly Field," Copeland said. "The only dentists were at Maxwell (Air Force Base)."

[cyncooper]

Aha! Chris makes my point AND cites his wife, Kathleen, who I think really is behind the screwy off base turns Matthews takes so often.

Matthews says that Kathleen thinks a military man who has gone to war is less reluctant to send off troops as opposed to "these neocons" who are in a strategy room mapping out plans and don't have a concept of battle.

How breathtaking. But exactly as I've had that couple pegged.

BTW, of course Kathleen was a huge Clinton supporter and I'm sure she'd have some convoluted reason why his total lack of military experience, yet he sent troops off here and there, was just fine.

[cyncooper]

I know but I'm not buying the garbage he's selling.

That's because YOU have a brain and you know how to use it.

:)

[alnick]

The last two quoted questions in the article do need to be addressed. Or have they already been?

Regarding the military records: Isn't that what the release of the 400 pages was about?

Regarding the dentist: Seems simple. Either Copeland's memory is fuzzy or Dubya went to the dentist at Maxwell AFB. Does the dental record reflect the location of the exam?

[ambrose]

The last two quoted questions in the article do need to be addressed. Or have they already been?

They have been. The records were obtained and released. Moreover the dental records (http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/gwbush/gwb10673dent.jpg) show exactly where the examination took place.

[Mo1]

(As I've mentioned, there are exactly ZERO eyewitnesses to the event for which Kerry got a Silver Star.)

Hey Hon .. I was just watching Chris Mathews and Brinkley mentioned he interview not only the guys that were on the boat with Kerry .. but also other men that knew Kerry at that time

He said the men that shared a boat with Kerry spoke highly of him

But the other men who knew him then .. did not

Does anyone know who these men were??

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Copeland said Bush trained on an F-106 fighter plane in Texas, so he was not qualified to fly the planes at Dannelly.

Bush Flew the F-102 which looks nearly identical to the F-106, both being the only (as far as I know) Delta wing aircraft in our inventory at that time.

My father worked on the F-106 and I probably have more time in the cockpit (on the ground of course) of one than Bush but only a trained eye would be able to spot the difference without a sign haning on it.

[ambrose]

These idiots seem to be attempting to frame this race as a rerun of the election of 1864, with John Kerry now playing the role of General George McClellan, and Bush as Abe Lincoln.

Sames arguments... And I bet we'll see the same results as well.

[jwalsh07]

That is understandable. The bond they have is non-negotiable.

[ambrose]

[cyncooper]

I want redlipstick to see your post #27. She opined the same thing the other day.

Let's hope so.

[Miles Vorkosigan]

I hope so, but the nation is in a far greater state of decay than it was then.

[nutmeg]

read later bump

[alnick]

Thanks. That settles that.

[drlevy88]

Could it be the Maxwell dentist also did exams at Dannelly.

[EllaMinnow]

ambrose, have you been reading my freepmail? LoL.

I wrote that exact same thing to cyn last week, that this was turning into a repeat of the 1864 election.

Wasn't "Don't change horses in the middle of the stream" one of Lincoln's campaign slogans?

[ambrose]

Candidate 1 is Abraham Lincoln as many people saw him in the summer of 1864. More radical members of his own party thought that he was not prosecuting the war vigorously enough. The summer of 1864 was one of the darkest seasons of Lincoln's presidency. During a three-month span that summer, Union casualties totaled 110,000, double the number during any comparable period of the war. Lincoln was heavily criticized by newspaper editors, members of Congress, and others for his insistence that the Confederacy must end slavery as a condition of peace. Some of his other policies were equally unpopular. In August, Lincoln gloomily predicted to a friend that he was "going to be beaten, and unless some great change takes place, badly beaten."

Lincoln's opponent in the 1864 presidential race was Peace Democrat George McClellan. The Democratic Party platform, adopted at the party's convention at the end of August, demanded an immediate end to the war. Southerners rejoiced. The Charleston Mercury exulted that a Democratic victory in November-just two months away at that point-"must lead to peace and our independence. . . if. . . we hold our own and prevent military success by our foes."

Southern hopes for McClellan's election were quickly dashed. On September 2, just a few days after the Democratic convention, Union troops captured Atlanta. The political picture changed overnight. Headlines blazoned the news across the North. Dissidents within the Republican party abandoned plans to nominate an alternate Republican candidate and threw their political clout into the effort to defeat McClellan. When the election was held only two month later, Lincoln won with 212 electoral votes, beating McClellan by more than 500,000 popular votes. His support was especially strong among Union soldiers.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

The question for the White House now, would seem to be-when to hold the reunion for President Bush's ANG unit, including those from the Alabama air base. I am sure the pilots from the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron will be a lot more strack than the love beaded, rag tag bunch of peaceniks that Kerry attracts. I look forward to the photo ops.

[ambrose]

Nope, but I've been seing this as replay of 1864 for a while now. The parallels would have been even more striking if Wes Clark had gotten the nomination...

[mitchbert]

Could it be the Maxwell dentist also did exams at Dannelly.

You mean like the Dental Surgeon from Windsor, Ontario that came into my smaller town (Chatham) once a week? Sure. Just spreading out resources.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

This guy who said they had no dentist at his base was the Disbursing officer (he did the pay records) and he may be relying on the fact that he never paid any dentist.

That doesn't mean a dentist stationed at another base wasn't detailed to do exams at the paymaster's base some weekend or more likely Bush ran over to the nearest base with a dentist to get his tooth looked at.