George W. Bush military service controversy

The George W. Bush military service controversy is an ongoing American political controversy regarding U.S. President George W. Bush and the differing contentions about his service with the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. The controversy was discussed in the mass media during the 2000 presidential campaign and again in the 2004 presidential campaign. Prior to his presidential campaigns, opponents of Bush invoked various contentions about his service during his successful Texas Gubernatorial campaigns in 1994 and 1998. In 1998, Harriet Miers, then the president of a prominent Dallas law firm, and Bush's personal attorney, was paid $19,000 by the Bush gubernatorial re-election campaign to examine rumors questioning Bush's service in the National Guard.

Flight performance and flight status in 1972 and 1973

Flight logs released by the White House in September, 2004 in response to a lawsuit (see below) showed that Bush had been flying the F-102A Delta Dagger, an interceptor until February and March of 1972, when he was assigned to a T-33, a two-seat trainer. He also resumed conducting practice sessions on a flight simulator. Despite this extra assistance, however, the logs also showed that Bush needed improvement in landing the F-102.

Related Topics:
2004 - Below - F-102A Delta Dagger - Interceptor - 1972 - T-33 - Trainer

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Janet Linke, the widow of the pilot who replaced Bush in the Texas unit, said in a recent interview that she (and her husband) had been privy to adverse comments about Bush's performance from his commanding officer: "He was mucking up bad, Killian told us," Linke said. "He just became afraid to fly." http://www.wjwb.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WJWB/MGArticle/JWB_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031778123118&path=%21frontpage

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The final two entries of Bush's official flight logs show him being assigned to work as an instructional pilot in late May 1972 at a Texas Air National Guard base. But Bush left for Alabama in mid-May (see next section) and his pay records show he wasn't paid for any work on the two dates of the instructional pilot assignment. The logs have a code indicating the assignments were eventually deleted from his official records. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,131961,00.html

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By regulation, National Guard pilots were required to take and pass an annual physical in order to remain in flight status, in the three months prior to a pilot's birthday (in Bush's case, July 6). For reasons that are unclear, Bush apparently chose not to take this mandatory physical examination in mid-1972. As a result, his flight status was suspended by a National Guard Bureau order on September 29 1972 http://users.cis.net/coldfeet/grounded.gif, which meant he no longer was authorized to fly as a pilot. The same order suspended the flight status of Major James R. Bath, a long-time friend of Bush.

Related Topics:
July 6 - September 29 - 1972

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The order directs Bush to acknowledge the suspension in writing ("Off will comply with para 2-10, AFM 35-13"). Air Force regulations required the commander of Bush's Texas National Guard unit to "direct an investigation as to why the individual failed to accomplish the medical examination." Following the investigation, the local commander was required to either convene a Flying Evaluation Board to review Bush?s suspension or to forward a detailed report on his case up the chain of command. Either way, there should have been a record of the investigation. (Arizona Daily Star, February 12 2004, http://www.azstarnet.com/dailystar/relatedarticles/9588.php)

Related Topics:
February 12 - 2004

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Bush has claimed that he wanted to wait to take the physical until it could be done by his own private doctor, but this is problematic because regulations required that the physical be performed by an Air Force doctor. Flight physicals were typically given during a drill weekend. Air Force Flight Surgeons were assigned to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, where Bush was drilled in October and November 1972 and in January 1973.

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There is no record of a physical being taken in either 1972 or in 1973, the last two years in which Bush attended drills. After April 1972, according to his released military records, Bush never flew again as a National Guard pilot.

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In Bill Minutaglio's "First Son, George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty," Random House, NY, 1999, on page 151, is the following:

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"David Anderson was another PULL employee, two years older than Bush, and he especially liked the fact that Bush had made arrangements to take some of the PULL kids such as Jimmy up for their first airplane ride. The day of the ride, Bush asked his sixteen-year-old brother, Marvin, to come along. One of the PULL kids started popping off, making noise, once they were up in the air. Bush stalled the engine for a second, and the passengers, scared to death, grew quiet."

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Bush has claimed that he did not take the National Guard physical because he was no longer flying and it was therefore unnecessary. This is incorrect - an annual physical was required of all National Guard members, flying or not. Rumors of Bush's use of cocaine in his youth (which he has refused to deny) have prompted speculation that Bush was afraid of testing positive for illegal drug use (random drug testing during physicals had begun in 1972).

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Critics have claimed that failure to show up for the 1972 physical, in and of itself, constituted being "Absent Without Leave".

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