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To: ansel12
Firstly, know that you're corresponding with a retired member of the U.S. Navy Reserve. And, when I was in it was expected that, as a reservist, one did 48 drills/year (4 drills/weekend) PLUS an active duty period (usually 14 days) for a total of 62 points. You're correct about the gratuitous points and the fact that 50 points kept you above board HOWEVER one did not receive a good fitness report if you did not amass at least 60 points per year. Lt. Bush, by your own submission, failed to do that his final two years. He also failed to do it in a time of great national need (Vietnam) plus he, by his own admission, had to make up a lot of drills as his campaigning for the Alabama congress seeker required him to be on the stump during scheduled drill weekends. One and, occasionally two, weekends missed is sometimes overlooked but the missed drills he's admitted to is unacceptable to my way of thinking because I personally know of enlisted Sailors who missed drills who were called to active duty. Bush was also missing his drills during a time of great national need. The Air Force paid good money to train him as a pilot and expected him to do his six good years. He also swore an oath to Texas as an Air Guardsman and reneged on that oath by transferring out of his pilot status to go campaigning in Alabama. He failed to do his duty! He failed also when better men than he were fighting and dying in Vietnam!
51 posted on 02/03/2010 4:50:51 PM PST by meandog (OWEbummercare: "Arbeit Macht Frei!")
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To: meandog
Bush was also missing his drills during a time of great national need.

I was in the Army during then, Bush was not going to Vietnam in mid 1972, his earlier request for Vietnam was turned down, and his unit was not called up and sure wasn't going to be in 1972. (Read the article)
"Beyond their apparent hope that Bush would be a good ambassador for the Guard, Bush’s superiors might have been happy with his decision to go into politics for another reason: They simply had more people than they needed. “In 1972, there was an enormous glut of pilots,” says Campenni. “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.”

One and, occasionally two, weekends missed is sometimes overlooked but the missed drills he's admitted to is unacceptable to my way of thinking because I personally know of enlisted Sailors who missed drills who were called to active duty.

I spent years in the National Guard also, and they were very good about letting people work around their schedules and transfer to units in different states, don't try and tell these people that the Guard does not allow them to pursue their personal lives by moving to different states and missing meetings and annual training for a while if it can't be avoided, as long as you make it up.

You didn't dispute the article at all, Bush had a pretty high speed hitch in the Guard, amassing much more duty time than required and fulfilling his duty honorably.
"Together, the record “clearly shows that First Lieutenant George W. Bush has satisfactory years for both ‘72-’73 and ‘73-’74, which proves that he completed his military obligation in a satisfactory manner,” says retired Lt. Col. Albert Lloyd, a Guard personnel officer who reviewed the records at the request of the White House.
All in all, the documents show that Bush served intensively for four years and then let up in his fifth and sixth years, although he still did enough to meet Guard requirements. The records also suggest that Bush’s superiors were not only happy with his performance from 1968 to 1972, but also happy with his decision to go to Alabama. Indeed, Bush’s evaluating officer wrote in May 1972 that “Lt. Bush is very active in civic affairs in the community and manifests a deep interest in the operation of our government. He has recently accepted the position as campaign manager for a candidate for United States Senate. He is a good representative of the military and Air National Guard in the business world.”

52 posted on 02/03/2010 5:21:51 PM PST by ansel12 (anti SoCon. Earl Warren's court 1953-1969, libertarian hero, anti social conservative loser.)
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