What it means is that you are out to smear Bush with your nonsense, he didn’t “abandon” someone, he transferred, and missing some drills and doing makeups is not a great sin, and the end of the Vietnam war was a time when everything in the military was shutting down, units were overmanned with nothing to do, officers were being driven from the service or busted back to enlisted rank by the hundreds or thousands.
I left the army pretty close to when Bush left the Guard but ten years later I joined a high speed Guard Company and spent a few years there, missed drills were accommodated as were transfers, in fact I remember when a less desirable unit was trying to steal away some of our guys. My company was desirable enough that we had guys flying in from distant parts of the country to attend but if that became too much trouble then they could transfer to another unit in their home state.
Don’t be trying to convince this audience that if they join the Guard that they are signing their life away, if they want to move to another state or if they have to miss a few drills then the Guard is fine with that.
I wonder if Bush’s Guard duty might have been a little more intense than yours, what did you do in the navy reserves?
Well, I don't know about your particular unit but if you missed a certain amount of drills in mine you were not allowed to re-enlist and, if a member were on his/her initial enlistment and missed drills, they were sent to the active USMC or Navy...to my knowledge that's the way the Army and Air Force Reserve Component worked too. I suppose the Guard works differently but according to this: it doesn't
Don’t be trying to convince this audience that if they join the Guard that they are signing their life away, if they want to move to another state or if they have to miss a few drills then the Guard is fine with that.
Well, I'm certainly glad that you're now out and we don't have to depend on your "patriotism" and demonstrated attitude about missing drills and probably vital training to defend our country but thanks for your service anyway!
I wonder if Bush’s Guard duty might have been a little more intense than yours, what did you do in the navy reserves?
It began after boot camp at Naval Supply Activity DaNang Vietnam (no combat but one attack on the base where I spent about 8 hours in a bomb shelter) ... I signed up for an active duty stint to get out of there and went into the submarine service where I spent four years; after discharge I went on to college on the G.I. Bill and joined the Navy Reserves and retired after Desert Storm and Shield in March 1991.