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A Petition to John Kerry from the American People . . . Senator Kerry, We, the voters of the United States, petition you to immediately complete and sign a copy of Standard Form 180 for the purpose of obtaining your military service and medical records and releasing them to the media.

The column entitled "Missing in Action" by Nicolas Kristof in the 9/8/04 edition concludes: "The sheer volume of missing documents, and missing recollections, strongly suggests to me that Mr. Bush blew off his Guard obligations. It's not fair to say Mr. Bush deserted. My sense is that he (like some others at the time) neglected his National Guard obligations, did the bare minimum to avoid serious trouble and was finally let off by commanders who considered him a headache but felt it wasn't worth the hassle to punish him. "The record clearly and convincingly proves he did not fulfill the...

WASHINGTON - The Associated Press sued the Pentagon and the Air Force on Tuesday, seeking access to all records of George W. Bush's military service during the Vietnam War. Filed in federal court in New York, where The AP is headquartered, the lawsuit seeks access to a copy of Bush's microfilmed personnel file from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin. The White House says the government has already released all the records of Bush's military service. Controversy surrounds Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard because it is unclear from the record what duties he performed...

Campaign commercials for presidential candidate John Kerry are again bringing up the issue of President George W. Bush's service record. Both men went to Yale University. Kerry enlisted in Vietnam and returned a hero. George W. Bush joined the US National Guard and left his duty eight months early. Retired Air Force Captain Jack Lang now lives in Buffalo. He was one of the president's flight instructors and says that the future president was not given any special treatment. When Lang first met George W. Bush in 1969 he had no idea the young man was from a prominent Texas...

John Kerry's Service Record John Kerry volunteered for service in the Navy during the Vietnam War, where he served as skipper of a Swift Boat. Lt. Kerry was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star with V, three awards of the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Navy Presidential Unit Citation, Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal. He is a cofounder of the Vietnam Veterans of America and a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Kerry is also a member of the NamVets Association, the SWIFT Boat Sailors Association, and...

I am looking for anyone who served with my Dad during WWII - he went by the nickname of Johnny. He was on Guadacanal and was both a cook and drove Jeep for a Colonel. He was active duty for 18 months during 1942-1943. He also served with the CCC's but I do not know where or when. I would also like to know how to get a copy of his military records so that I will know what type of awards he earned and what was his hightest rank.

Much has been investigated about President Bush's reserve record but what about John Kerry's?Kerry was commissioned as an officer in the US Navy following graduation from college. As a reserve officer he incurred a six year committment when he was commissioned. This was a typical path for ROTC and OTS officers. Sometime later, in their carreer, the promising ones would be offered a regular commission. Kerry served four months in Vietnam, requested a received a return to stateside duty then requested and early release from the Navy. If he did not serve the total six years, then he would have...

Kerry's Vietnam service deserves a look The Democrats have been making much hay over President Bush's time in the National Guard. However, John Kerry's Vietnam service has been taken for granted. In only four months in Vietnam, Mr. Kerry won a Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. That is some record. Better than Audie Murphy, Sgt. York or even Hollywood's Rambo. Yet something here does not compute. In action, any combat vet will say there are few minor wounds. Yet Mr. Kerry took three of them in 16 weeks and had little down time. Upon the third award,...

<p>February 23, 2004 -- AT 8:46 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 struck the north tower of the World Trade Center. At the same time, two F-15 fighters were ordered to intercept United Flight 175, then speeding toward the south tower. In six minutes the planes were aloft, manned by National Guard pilots. They arrived eight minutes late.</p>

Retired general: Enough on Bush William R. Turnipseed, who has been at the center of the Bush military service case, did not donate to Edwards, and he says Alzheimer's remark was a joke 02/22/04 By EDDIE CURRAN Staff Reporter MONTGOMERY -- Four years ago, a reporter from the Boston Globe called retired Brig. Gen. William R. Turnipseed to ask whether he remembered George W. Bush reporting for duty with the Air National Guard unit in Montgomery then commanded by Turnipseed. He responded: "Had he reported in, I would have had some recall, and I do not. I had been in...

The following was sent to a Marine chat net by a retired Marine Master Sergeant who was in S-2, 3rd Bn, 1st Marines, Korea in 1954. It calls into serious question John Kerry's military actions in Vietnam. We present it to give our readers another perspective to the media's one-sided "war hero" adulation, and to open his actions to the light of public discourse. -- The Editors. "I was in the Delta shortly after John Kerry left. I know that area well. I know the operations he was involved in well. I know the tactics and the doctrine used, and...

Bush said he reported for duty in Alabama, but even with the new documents, the evidence is thin. TIME looks at four key questions George W. Bush has long had a habit of giving people nicknames—and perhaps that's because he picked up a few along the way himself. Like the one he earned in 1972, when he left his home in Houston to work on the long-shot Senate campaign of Winton M. (Red) Blount in Alabama. Bush, then 26, would often turn up at campaign headquarters in Montgomery around lunchtime, recount his late-night exploits and brag about his political connections,...

Pointless debate on Bush service The release of what records remain of President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard ought to put to rest criticism, if only on the grounds that the critics don't have any evidence. The president has been accused of shirking his Guard duties while he was politicking for a family friend in Alabama. The president said he didn't, and the evidence that is available after the passage of 30 years is negligible -- some pay stubs, and Bush's honorable discharge. That doesn't prove he wasn't absent without leave at some time -- but is...

I've been amused to see the Good People rushing to the defense of the Air National Guard. Their concern for the integrity of the Guard's training program is certainly touching--though perhaps a bit selective. (At left: all kitted out as a military pilot, the president was in great good cheer after landing on the Abraham Lincoln in May 2003.) Just to set the record straight, I've researched what is known about George Bush and his six years in the Texas Air Guard. Given all the hoo-hah, it's fairly straightforward: In the winter of 1968, as a senior at Yale and...

washingtonpost.com 1973 Document Puts Bush on Guard Base By Mike Allen and Lois Romano Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, February 12, 2004; Page A01 The White House last night released a document showing that President Bush was at a military base in Alabama during the last year of his National Guard service, but aides backed away from his weekend pledge to release all his military records. Bush's staff provided copies of a one-page record of a dental exam, complete with drawings of Bush's teeth, that showed he was at Dannelly Air National Guard base in Montgomery, Ala., on Jan. 6,...

Bush met military obligation, aide says 02/11/04MARY ORNDORFF and BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE News staff writers A White House spokesman said Tuesday that President Bush worked enough days as a member of the Texas Air National Guard in 1972 and 1973 to fulfill his annual training requirements, but new payroll records he released also show a five-month gap while Bush was assigned to a small reserve unit in Montgomery. Bush did not receive military pay from May to September of 1972, according to the documents, and the former commander of the 9921st Air Reserve Squadron said Tuesday that Bush didn't show...

I am trying to build my reference file on articles about the President's National Guard service. I know (and have read) articles from the 2000 election cycle that reviewed this topic and exonerated Pres. Bush of the exagerrated charges against him. As I remember there were good articles from the NY Times, Boston Globe and Fort Worth Star-Telegram, though there were probably others as well. Can anyone provide a link or links to any of these original articles? Thanks in advance!

<p>'Bush and I were lieutenants'</p> <p>George Bush and I were lieutenants and pilots in the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS), Texas Air National Guard (ANG) from 1970 to 1971. We had the same flight and squadron commanders (Maj. William Harris and Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, both now deceased). While we were not part of the same social circle outside the base, we were in the same fraternity of fighter pilots, and proudly wore the same squadron patch.</p>

<p>President Bush received credit for attending Air National Guard drills in the fall of 1972 and spring of 1973 -- a period when his commanders have said he did not appear for duty at bases in Montgomery, Ala., and Houston -- according to two new documents obtained by the Globe.</p>

WASHINGTON - The White House struck back Tuesday at Democratic critics questioning President Bush (news - web sites)'s record of military service, saying the issue "represents the worst of election-year politics." "It is outrageous and baseless," presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said in response to suggestions that Bush shirked his military duties when he was in the Texas Air National Guard in 1972. Military service has emerged as an issue in the campaign for the White House. Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), the front-runner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, and retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark (news...