Posted on 09/08/2004 10:36:43 AM PDT by FlyLow
AP Lawsuit Prompts Release of New Records Showing Bush Grades As Air National Guard Pilot
WASHINGTON Sept. 8, 2004 — Months after insisting it could find no more records of President Bush's Air National Guard service, the Defense Department has released more than two dozen pages of files, including Bush's report card for flight training and dates of his flights. The records, released under pressure of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by The Associated Press, show Bush ranked in the middle of his 1969 flight training class and flew 336 hours for the Texas Air National Guard, mostly in the F-102A fighter.
The Pentagon and Bush's campaign have claimed for months that all records detailing his fighter pilot career have been made public, but defense officials acknowledged Tuesday they had found two dozen new records detailing his training and flight logs after the AP sued and submitted new requests under the public records law.
"Previous requests from other requesters for President Bush's Individual Flight Records did not lead to the discovery of these records because at the time President Bush left the service, flight records were subject to retention for only 24 months and we understood that neither the Air Force nor the Texas Air National Guard retained such records thereafter," the Pentagon told the AP.
"Out of an abundance of caution," the government "searched a file that had been preserved in spite of this policy" and found the Bush records, the letter said. "The Department of Defense regrets this oversight during the previous search efforts."
Bush's Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard has become an issue in the presidential campaign as the candidates spar over who would make the best commander in chief. Supporters of Democratic nominee John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran, have criticized Bush for serving stateside in the National Guard. Kerry's Republican critics claim Kerry did not deserve some of his five medals.
Bush has said repeatedly he is proud of his Air National Guard service. As late as last week, White House spokesmen said the administration knew of no other records of Bush's military service.
"These documents confirm that the president served honorably in the National Guard," White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said Tuesday night.
Democratic National Committee communications director Jano Cabrera disagreed. "For months George Bush told the nation that all his military records were public," he said. "Now we know why Bush was trying so hard to withhold these records. When his nation asked him to be on call against possible surprise attacks, Bush wasn't there."
The newly released records show Bush, a lieutenant in the Texas Air National Guard, ranked No. 22 in a class of 53 pilots when he finished his flight training at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia in 1969.
Over the next three years, he logged 326.4 hours as a pilot and an additional 9.9 hours as a co-pilot, mostly in the F-102A jet used to intercept enemy aircraft. Of the 278 hours he flew in the interceptor, about 77 hours were in the TF-102A, the two-seat trainer version of the one-seat fighter jet.
The records show his last flight was in April 1972, which is consistent with pay records indicating Bush had a lapse of duty between April and October of that year. Bush has said he had permission to go to Alabama in 1972 to work on an unsuccessful Republican Senate campaign. Bush skipped a required medical exam that cost him his pilot's status in August of that year.
Bush's 2000 campaign suggested the future president skipped his medical exam in part because the F-102A was nearly obsolete. Records show Bush's Texas unit flew the F-102A until 1974 and used the jets as part of an air defense drill during 1972.
A six-month historical record of his 147th Fighter Interceptor Group, also turned over to the AP on Tuesday, shows some of the training Bush missed with his colleagues during that time.
It showed the unit joined a "24-hour active alert mission to safeguard against surprise attack" in the southern United States beginning on Oct. 6, 1972, a mission for which Bush was not present, according to his pay records.
Bush's lone service in October was outside Texas, presumably with an Alabama unit he had permission to train with in September, October and November 1972.
As part of the mission, the 147th kept two F-102A jets the same type Bush flew before he was grounded on ready alert to be launched within five minutes' warning.
The records also show Bush made a grade of 88 on total airmanship and a perfect 100 for flying without navigational instruments, operating a T-38 System and studying applied aerodynamics. Other scores ranged from 89 in flight planning to 98 in aviation physiology.
The newly released records do not include any from five categories of documents Bush's commanders had been required to keep in response to the gaps in Bush's training in 1972 and 1973. For example, National Guard commanders were required to perform an investigation whenever any pilot skipped a medical exam and forward the results up the Air Force chain of command. No such documents have surfaced.
Why doesn't the AP sue to get Kerry's full miltiary record? Because they want Kerry to win.
I think anybody that donated money to the DNC this year should aks for their money back...
WHERE ARE KERRY'S RECORDS??!!
Exactly. They could find out if they wanted to but they aren't interested. Let 'em keep looking for dirt on Bush - after a year of searching, they have yet to find something that sticks.
So this totally exonerates W regarding the Air National Guard accusations, correct?
Well, did you see all of that confetti, at the Dim Coven?
DITTO to that!
The Dems are complete idiots for fanning the flames of this military-service issue. The public sees it as all partisan politics, including the Swift boat stuff. They know that Kerry served in Vietnam, was decorated, and later criticized the war; they know Bush was in the NG and got an honorable discharge despite minimal (but sufficient) hours served in Alabama. They don't care about the rest of it, and this debate takes Dems away from some real issues where Bush is vulnerable - the deficit, health care, and ongoing problems in Iraq.
LOL!
AP sucks, what a joke. I'd rather read the weekly world news than those clowns.
How can ANYONE think that the media is right-wing????
AP should be sued under CFR for not asking Kerry to sign the 180 and acting like a wing of his election campaign.
Hey AP, Bush signed his 180 so he is not trying to withold anything! Ask John F Kerry why he hasn't signed his 180!!!
A graphic demonstration of the fact that the Government never throws anything away. I'm reminded of that scene at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark".
He graduated in the top half of his pilot training class. The shame!
Over the next three years, he logged 326.4 hours as a pilot and an additional 9.9 hours as a co-pilot, mostly in the F-102A jet used to intercept enemy aircraft. Of the 278 hours he flew in the interceptor, about 77 hours were in the TF-102A, the two-seat trainer version of the one-seat fighter jet.
The coward! Only 326 hours in one of the most dangerous aircraft in the world.
The records show his last flight was in April 1972, which is consistent with pay records indicating Bush had a lapse of duty between April and October of that year. Bush has said he had permission to go to Alabama in 1972 to work on an unsuccessful Republican Senate campaign. Bush skipped a required medical exam that cost him his pilot's status in August of that year. Bush's 2000 campaign suggested the future president skipped his medical exam in part because the F-102A was nearly obsolete. Records show Bush's Texas unit flew the F-102A until 1974 and used the jets as part of an air defense drill during 1972.
In other words, because the F-102A was obsolete and being phased-out, Bush had lost his "seat." Same thing happened to us when the SP-2H was being replaced by the P-3 in the Naval Reserve. There was a 18-24 month gap between flying the two airplanes.
A six-month historical record of his 147th Fighter Interceptor Group, also turned over to the AP on Tuesday, shows some of the training Bush missed with his colleagues during that time. It showed the unit joined a "24-hour active alert mission to safeguard against surprise attack" in the southern United States beginning on Oct. 6, 1972, a mission for which Bush was not present, according to his pay records. Bush's lone service in October was outside Texas, presumably with an Alabama unit he had permission to train with in September, October and November 1972. As part of the mission, the 147th kept two F-102A jets the same type Bush flew before he was grounded on ready alert to be launched within five minutes' warning.
You mean he had to RESCHEDULE DRILLS?? What an outrage! Just like everyone I knew who flew with me in the Naval Reserve. (Liberals are clueless about how the military works.)
The records also show Bush made a grade of 88 on total airmanship and a perfect 100 for flying without navigational instruments, operating a T-38 System and studying applied aerodynamics. Other scores ranged from 89 in flight planning to 98 in aviation physiology.
My God, the man was a menace! Almost straight "A"s!
The newly released records do not include any from five categories of documents Bush's commanders had been required to keep in response to the gaps in Bush's training in 1972 and 1973. For example, National Guard commanders were required to perform an investigation whenever any pilot skipped a medical exam and forward the results up the Air Force chain of command. No such documents have surfaced.
You mean... THE GUARD FAILED TO KEEP ANY RECORDS IT WAS NOT REQUIRED TO KEEP?? WHERE IS THE FBI WHEN YOU NEED THEM!
The shame, the shame...
The MSM/DNC maintaining the focus on Bush's record in the National Guard also maintains the focus on Kerry's Vietnam service and all of the questions surrounding it, including the fact that Kerry has not released his full records, and most obvious to anyone paying attention, that the MSM/DNC has not been filing lawsuits to get Kerry's record released.
The double-standard/hypocrisy is so blatant that it is becoming evident even to non-political people barely paying attention.
In today's news comes word that Judicial Watch has formally asked John Kerry to remove his Silver Star Award Certificate from the web pending serious questions about its authenticity. This follows Judicial Watch's 18 August formal complaint with the DoD and Navy to investigate numerous gaps and inconsistencies in Kerry's Navy record. Despite constant appeals from many for Kerry to release his Navy record, he has refused, and instead, cherry-picked what records he has posted. Now, even those are under a cloud of suspicion. Kerry made his Navy service the only foundation of his run for the presidency. Now that this service is being questioned, he has turned to insulting those questioning him rather than answer their questions.
A look at what he has posted raises additional troubling questions:
* FORM DD-214: RELEASE FROM ACTIVE DUTY. Kerry's initial date of service/enlistment was 15 DEC 66. He completed OCS and was commissioned an ENS, USNR, on about* 18 JUNE 67. On or about 18 JUNE 1970, he was released from active duty, with a terminal/obligated service date of 17 FEB 1972 (standard six year contract of the time). In April, 1971, while he was still an officer in the Navy, he appeared deliberately out of uniform, slandered his shipmates, and told what are now revealed to be bold-faced lies before Congress. This is punishable under the UCMJ by serious prison time and dismissal from the service (the officers' version of a Dishonorable Discharge). His duty between leaving Vietnam in early 1969 and his discharge date in 1972 is unexplained and unresolved.
* Kerry's DD-214 is in New Roman typeface. Unfortunately, in 1970, all DD-214s were required to be in OCR typeface. More than coincidence for a guy who wrote his own after action reports?
* FORM NRPC 1900: RESIGNATION OF COMMISSION: Kerry's Resignation of Commission/Discharge from the USNR is dated 13 JULY 1978. How was Kerry, seven years after lying to Congress and six years after his obligated service was up, still in the Navy? At the time, any reserve officer who had dropped into the Inactive/Standby Reserve would have been discharged long before six years had passed. Nor is there a Request for Duty in the Individual Ready Reserve, the only way Kerry could have stayed in the Navy until 1978.
* HONORABLE DISCHARGE FROM THE US NAVAL RESERVE: dated 18 FEB 1978. How could Kerry have been discharged from the Navy five months before he resigned his commission?
* FORM DD-215: CORRECTION TO DD-214. Addition of 4 bronze stars to Vietnam Service Medal: Kerry's four month duty in Vietnam was not nearly long enough to cover four campaigns.
* AWARD OF SILVER STAR MEDAL VIA ADM JOHN HYLAND, COMPACFLT, 1969, together with AWARD OF SILVER STAR MEDAL VIA JOHN LEHMAN, SECNAV, 1986. There is also word that a THIRD, different Silver Star citation for the same medal has surfaced. Leaving alone the current problem of his DD-214 showing a Silver Star with Combat "V" -- which doesn't exist -- no one gets two or three different citations for the same medal twelve seventeen apart.
More to come...
LTN72@charter.net
AP reported Bush crowd had boo's and ooohs with video showing the crowd didn't... if AP reports this then I don't believe that Bush served in the Guard... in fact I doubt there is a thing called the National Guard.. I doubt that there really was a Vietnam War... or that there are even things called jets that fly. AP can't be trusted.
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