[DRILL SGT. D]

i am an army reserve drill sergeant, and i am reading up on this subject in order to prepare a response of my own. for now i can say that the anti-bush crowd would have us believe that the air national guard functions the same way as the active component...that is purely false.

the purpose of monthly drills in the reserves and nat'l guard is to keep you trained so that you can perform in the case of activation, that is why you are required a minimum number of retirement points for a good year- and the points to which they are refering are retirement points. these points really only count for anything when it comes time to calculate your retirment benefits.

the fact is that in the reserves and nat'l guard, if your commander believes you to be worthy and not just looking for a free ride, they can allow you to miss months at a time. it is, for the most part, up to their discretion.

the only records of your attendance are your pay records and the sign-in sheet (which is rarely held onto for long). and when you sign in you see any number of names with either a "u" or an "a" in the signature block. the "u" stands for unsatisfactory, meaning that you are not excused, and the "a" stands for absent, as in excused absence. i have seen a drill sergeant buddy get "a's" for 4 months in a row to study abroad. he was allowed this luxury because he performed above the standard at other times and had earned leniency.

bush had a good year EVERY year of his service. one year was close, but still good, because he was working on a campaign trail...on-the-job-training for his future. and the chain of command in the reserves and nat'l guard understands that we are not active duty, and they tend to make allowances for this kind of situation.

so this article, found on the drudge report site, is a good one for those that dont know how the nat'l guard works.

[dawn53]

Welcome to Free Republic!

[Riley]

Good article, Sergeant. Welcome aboard.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Suggestion! Use upper and lower case. All lower case is a bad profile on most posts. We don't want you to get profiled. Good article.

[magslinger]

DRILL SGT. D;

Good post, it explained a lot I didn't know.

Welcome to FR.

Mag

[airborne]

Welcome to the cutting edge Fellow FReeper!

[ravingnutter]

Welcome to FR! Good first post...have you seen the story about Dan Rather's forged documents yet? We could use your military experience on those threads as well.

[listenhillary]

Bump find later

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Bump for later read

[colorado tanker]

"In 1972, there was an enormous glut of pilots,” Campenni says. “The Vietnam War was winding down, and the Air Force was putting pilots in desk jobs. In ’72 or ’73, if you were a pilot, active or Guard, and you had an obligation and wanted to get out, no problem. In fact, you were helping them solve their problem.”

My experience in the Army was similar. My experience dates back to 1975 and by then the Army was throwing O-3's and O-4's off active duty in reductions in force, or RIF's.

[ZULU]

BEAUTIFUL!!

I'm going to print this out and MEMORIZE it verbatim, so I can better argue with those cretins who bash Bush while supporting creatures like Kerry the GI basher and Bill the draft doger Clinton.

[GailA]

btt

[Libloather]

So just for the record, here, in full, is what Bush did...

Bump...

[yhwhsman]

Bump for tracking purposes

[Betteboop]

Thanks for posting this---I'd heard it on the radio and really wanted to have a hard copy.
And welcome to FR. You'll find lots of great people here.

[kellynla]

Welcome to FR, Sarge!
And thanks for posting this piece.
It really tells the President Bush's military service record in a easy and concise way that everyone can comprehend.

Semper Fi,
Kelly

[ThomasMore]

Thnx for the thread!

...and thanks for the ping from the other thread cuz. ;^)

[self_evident]

i am an army reserve drill sergeant

Don't know if the Air National Guard is like the Reserve in this, but is it true that physicals are scheduled around birthdates? The "memo" that "orders" Bush to take his physical does not correspond to his b-day.

[bray]

Can Drill Sgts wear Pajamas?? Carry on and thank you for your sacrifice!

Pray for W and Our Troops

[spotbust1]

Great find. Welcome to FR. Alot of interesting reading here. Don't know if you are active or reserve, current or retired or if you went into harms way overseas, but thanks for your service.

Bump.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Now.

About John Kerry (who served in Vietnam ya know!):

What was his obligated service AFTER leaving the USS Gridley early yo go to Swift boat school in that tough duty station at Coronado, CA?

Kerry got to Vietnam the last week of November, served 120 days, and left early (He was kicked out with a Swift boot in his a*s - as one veteran puts it - because his fellow skippers feared for THEIR safety if Kerry continued to pilot his boat alongside their's) to get an admiral's aide billet in New York City.

John Kerry then left THAT active duty station early, before his obligated duty had ended, to go run for Congress. He, like Bush, was administratively transferred to the USN Reserves, but Kerry's transfer occurred in the midst of an active war, and while trained officers were desperately needed in the fleet.

3) Was John Kerry still on active duty with the Navy when he spent time flying democratic candidates around New York?

4) What was John Kerry's required USNR service obligation? How many of those service obligation dates did John Kerry meet? When did John Kerry's Reserve obligation end?

5) John Kerry met twice with Vietnamese negotiators in Paris while still (while official US government peace negotiations were STILL GOING ON). What effect did his meetings have on Vietnamese delays in releasing fellow POW's? Did John Kerry deliberately sabotage US government negotiations while still an obligated member of the USN reserves? Did John Kerry transfer classified or sensitive nformation about the Paris Peace negotiations FROM the North Vietnamese TO the anti-war movement, including his VVAW?

6) Continuing his earlier pattern of negotiating with the enemy, John Kerry went to Nicaragua and met with the Communist government there while President Reagan (and undoubtedly the CIA and others) were actively supporting the pro-democracy Sandinista guerilla movement.

What information did John Kerry pass to the Nicaraguan Communists? How much damage to the Sandinista's did he do while opposing freedom in Nicaragua?