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"The OETR Scam"
Allah Pundit ^ | Allah Pundit

Posted on 09/13/2004 9:35:32 PM PDT by Sir Gawain

I just got an e-mail from someone calling himself "JFH" which raises an intriguing question about an acronym used in one of the Killian docs. Jeff Goldstein wrote a post yesterday about a reference in the August 18, 1973 memo to something called an "OETR". Two people familiar with military terminology e-mailed Jeff to say that the acronym the author of the memo meant to use was "OER" -- an abbreviation for "Officer Effectiveness Report". Read Jeff's post and you'll see that his contacts are quite adamant that "OER" is a commonly used term and that no one familiar with military jargon would botch it in a memo. Or click here and see the listings for "O" on a webpage devoted to military abbreviations. "OER" is listed. "OETR" is not.

Enter JFH, who agrees with Jeff's contacts.

I wondered how could the forger [be] so clueless on using a made-up acronym of OETR when every officer in the Air Force and Army knows the acronym is OER. . . . The acronym OER is so pervasive in the Air Force community that every officer's wife and kid (as I was during this period) knew what it was. These are the most important documents of an officer's career. It is worth much more than it[s] weight in gold as it drives the promotion process. How could anyone ever call this thing an OETR? . . . .

It was only after a commenter to Jeff's post pointed to an anti-Bush website called the "AWOL Project" that it all became clear.

J's point is a simple one (and please note that he's not saying the webmaster of the site is the forger). If you click the "AWOL Project" link and scroll down about three-quarters of the way, you come across a cache of documents underneath a header entitled . . . "The OETR Scam". The same faulty acronym.

How did the AWOL Project webmaster get "OETR" from "OER"? J thinks he knows. He says if you click the document entitled "Notice of Missing or Correction of Officer Effectiveness Training Report (6-29-73)" you'll see a heading at the top of the first page that looks like it reads "Officer Effectiveness Training Report." But, says J, it doesn't:

Because of a hole punch in this document, the website authors missed the fact that the name of the form is actually: Notice of Missing or Correction of Officer Effectiveness / Training Report. The slash which you can barely make out (and trust me, there is a slash there… as I can explain my certainty if you need me to) show[s] that this form is used for notifications for both an OER and a Training Report (don't have a lot of detail on this report yet; but it makes sense that training reports that record success[ful] completion of formal training are almost as important to get corrected or added before a promotion board meets). But if this document is your starting point in an investigation into your biased AWOL story, you may have [missed the slash and] thought that this form was for correcting "OETRs".

J points out that the correct acronym -- "OER" -- is actually printed right there on the form in boxes 4, 8, and 12, but the print is small enough that the webmaster might have missed it and followed the (apparent) acronym in the heading instead. J also notes that the three other documents listed under "The OETR Scam" as "Officer Effectiveness Training Reports" are, in fact, OERs (see the bottom right of the first page of each).

J wonders if perhaps the header on the AWOL Project used to read "The OER Scam" and was recently changed after the August 18, 1973 memo came to light to make the terminology conform to that document. Answer: no. Here's a Google cache of the site from August 20th that includes the "OETR" acronym. And here's another one from September 6th. The new Killian memos weren't released by CBS until September 8th.

So what does all this amount to? Two things. First, the fact that the August 18, 1973 memo bungled a commonly used bit of military terminology suggests that the author wasn't Killian and, therefore, that the document is a forgery. That's assuming, of course, that J is right about the usage of "OER" versus "OETR", which I think he is; if anyone disagrees with him on that point, e-mail me or leave a comment below and I'll mention it. Second, the fact that the author of the document made the same novice mistake about the same acronym as an anti-Bush website suggests that he might have visited the site before writing the document and picked up the "OETR" acronym for them. Needless to say, this would also rule out Killian as the author while shedding a little light on the real author's motives.

I want to emphasize again that neither J nor I is accusing the webmaster of the AWOL Project site of being the forger. On the contrary: A pamphlet posted on the site written by Gerald Lechliter uses the correct heading of the "OETR" form ("Officer Effectiveness / Training Report", replete with slash) and avoids using the erroneous aconym. All we want to know is how that strange, apparently unknown abbreviation ended up first on an anti-Bush website and then, later, in a primary source document purported to have been written thirty years ago.

One more fact for you to chew on as you digest all this. A Google search of the phrase "officer effectiveness report" returns over 400 results. A search of "officer effectiveness training report" returns only 10. And every last one of them has to do with George W. Bush supposedly being AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard.



TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bush; documents; forgeddocs; forgeddocuments; forgeries; oer; oetr; tellthetruth
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; Sir Gawain

Great find:

This from the blog site: Protein Wisdom found on a Yahoo search re OETR:

"OETR doesn’t stand for Officer Efficiency Training Report. The OETR is not a report at all, rather it’s the place where educational transcripts are kept. It’s just an office at the AFIT (Air Force Institute of Technology). The AFIT has been granting degrees since 1956, and was in operation for quite a long time even before that, according to their brochure [here (my emphasis)].

AFI 36-2305, which references the OETR, (see “Attachment 1, Abbreviations and Acronyms") is online at [here; you can find the reference in table 1, rule 1, column C (on page 4). And while there is no online contact information for OERT, that appears to be because they are a subset of the registrar’s office].

To put it simply: any reference to “Bush’s OETR” is absurd in the extreme, because it’s not an acronym for a report. The supposition that an officer would get the name of the OER, a widely used and important report, wrong is absurd as well."


61 posted on 09/13/2004 11:09:17 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (When will the ABCNNBC BS lunatic libs stop lying to Americans? Answer: NEVER!)
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To: swheats

The kerry campaign crossed over a long time ago.


62 posted on 09/13/2004 11:10:39 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: patriciaworthy

Holy Shit. He just resigned? Have a look.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2003/09/16/kerrys_communications_director_resigns/


63 posted on 09/13/2004 11:10:43 PM PDT by planekT
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To: Fedora

bttt


64 posted on 09/13/2004 11:11:22 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Marty Heldt has been #1 on my hit parade of liars and scammers re this latest scam by the MSM to discredit GW!


65 posted on 09/13/2004 11:11:27 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (When will the ABCNNBC BS lunatic libs stop lying to Americans? Answer: NEVER!)
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To: planekT

Some detective I am. Article is dated in 2003. Sorry.


66 posted on 09/13/2004 11:14:19 PM PDT by planekT
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To: rolling_stone

Thanks for that very interesting link.


67 posted on 09/13/2004 11:14:41 PM PDT by ladyinred ("John Kerry reporting for spitball and typewriter duty.")
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To: Sir Gawain; Joe Hadenuf; Cap'n Crunch

Brilliant detective work!


68 posted on 09/13/2004 11:16:11 PM PDT by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
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To: piasa

Excellent find: "The network also includes Ellsberg's Truth Telling Project and McGovern's group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity."

Makes one wonder if these networks/organizations are being funded by one of Ma Ma T Rex's non profits or George $ora$$.


69 posted on 09/13/2004 11:17:37 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (When will the ABCNNBC BS lunatic libs stop lying to Americans? Answer: NEVER!)
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To: piasa

Yep.


70 posted on 09/13/2004 11:17:42 PM PDT by swheats
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To: Sir Gawain

Also, I recall one memo uses the acronym NLT, but spells it out first, so it reads "not later than (NLT)"

Why would you use an acronym if you are going to use the longhand version as well?

Doesn't make sense or is some peculiarlity of the military?

It looks to me as if the forger looked up the acronym in some lexicon and pasted it along with it's explanation, by mistake.


71 posted on 09/13/2004 11:21:38 PM PDT by Wil H
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To: planekT; Ernest_at_the_Beach; mhking; nutmeg; backhoe; piasa; Howlin; MeekOneGOP

Please post that as a thread by itself.

Then we can link a lot of the garbage that has been going on since he started this short career with Kerry.

One would bet that Lehane's paw prints are all over one of these lies which have emerged since Labor Day.


72 posted on 09/13/2004 11:21:57 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (When will the ABCNNBC BS lunatic libs stop lying to Americans? Answer: NEVER!)
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To: planekT

What are you talking about??

That article is dated 9/16/2003


73 posted on 09/13/2004 11:24:33 PM PDT by Mo1 (Why is the MSM calling the Vietnam Vets and POW's a suspected group??)
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To: Wil H

You posted, "It looks to me as if the forger looked up the acronym in some lexicon and pasted it along with it's explanation, by mistake."

That is exactly what happened. Here is my reply #63 above:

"This from the blog site: Protein Wisdom found on a Yahoo search re OETR:

"OETR doesn’t stand for Officer Efficiency Training Report. The OETR is not a report at all, rather it’s the place where educational transcripts are kept. It’s just an office at the AFIT (Air Force Institute of Technology). The AFIT has been granting degrees since 1956, and was in operation for quite a long time even before that, according to their brochure [here (my emphasis)]."

"AFI 36-2305, which references the OETR, (see “Attachment 1, Abbreviations and Acronyms") is online at [here; you can find the reference in table 1, rule 1, column C (on page 4). And while there is no online contact information for OERT, that appears to be because they are a subset of the registrar’s office].

"To put it simply: any reference to “Bush’s OETR” is absurd in the extreme, because it’s not an acronym for a report. The supposition that an officer would get the name of the OER, a widely used and important report, wrong is absurd as well."




61 posted on 09/13/2004 11:09:17 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (When will the ABCNNBC BS lunatic libs stop lying to Americans? Answer: NEVER!)


74 posted on 09/13/2004 11:24:50 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (When will the ABCNNBC BS lunatic libs stop lying to Americans? Answer: NEVER!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

who is Marty Heldt ???


75 posted on 09/13/2004 11:31:22 PM PDT by Mo1 (Why is the MSM calling the Vietnam Vets and POW's a suspected group??)
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To: Sir Gawain

You might also want to look at this
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-09-09bushdocs.pdf
This is a link to the fake bush docs with the two new one... look at the first one and you will see it notes two offices Bush & Bath ... now look and the following on page ten
http://www.usatoday.com/news/bushdocs/11-4_2004_Personnel_File.pdf

It has it list the flight status suspension for Bush on Aug 1… and just under is a second officer flight status suspension on Sept 1 that second officer name is redacted (blackout) … however on the Kerry site there is the same paper but without the name being redacted (blackout)… and that name is Bath… question is how did the Kerry camp get an un redacted copy and did the forger uses it to come up with the name Bath and I would be curious to see if this Bath name is someone that Killian would have is a memo ant the same time as Bush

Finally just Fyi look at page ten of the following to get and idea of the Al. posting
http://www.usatoday.com/news/bushdocs/6-Reassignments_Spilt_Training.pdf


76 posted on 09/13/2004 11:32:19 PM PDT by tophat9000 ("Blackrock Bob" (aka DAN RATHER)....is in full denial)
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To: Grampa Dave
Here is some fun reading:

littlegreenfootballs.com ...

Scroll down a ways for this one:

Selectric Composer Theory Decomposing

77 posted on 09/13/2004 11:33:10 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (A Proud member of Free Republic ~~The New Face of the Fourth Estate since 1996.)
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To: Sir Gawain

Great!


78 posted on 09/13/2004 11:33:41 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: Mo1

Records draw interest

Marty Heldt, a private researcher who has spent several years examining Bush's military records, said the human reliability rules may answer the mystery of why Bush abruptly stopped flying.

‘‘It seems entirely plausible to me, particularly given what we know about that period of his life,” Heldt said. ‘‘We know that he was a drinker, going out a lot,” Heldt said. ‘‘That is something that could get him suspended under the human reliability program.”

Heldt, an Iowa farmer, is part of a network of amateur researchers who have used the federal Freedom of Information Act to examine Bush's military records. Researchers use the Internet to share information.

Heldt said he tends to vote Democratic, but is not a party activist. Some of his interest in Bush goes back to the 2000 presidential campaign when the issue of Bush's military service first received national attention, he said.

Retired Lt. Col. Bill L. Burkett, a strategic planner at Texas Guard headquarters in Austin when Bush was the governor of Texas, also confirmed that the HRP regulations applied to the Texas Air National Guard at the time Bush served.

In a New York Times interview and in Moore's new book, Burkett claims he saw some of Bush's military records being destroyed in the mid-1990s.

Bush's file was scrubbed for embarrassing information, Burkett alleges, at the direction of Daniel James III. James headed the Texas National Guard, and Burkett was his chief military adviser when Bush was governor of Texas.


79 posted on 09/13/2004 11:35:39 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: kcvl

Thanks


80 posted on 09/13/2004 11:38:19 PM PDT by Mo1 (Why is the MSM calling the Vietnam Vets and POW's a suspected group??)
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