The National Guard service of George W. Bush is all over the TV news shows. Most of the coverage fails to address the service issues related to George Bush in the Texas Air National Guard.
This story has as the following major elements:
How did GWB get into the guard?
Did GWB fail to attend drills in 1972?
Did GWB fail to take a required flight physical which resulted in the loss of his flight status?
How did Bush obtain an early Honorable discharge?
How do the fake documents used by CBS impact the above questions?
The former speaker of the Texas House has stated publicly that he got George W. Bush into the guard. He also admitted he did the very same thing for the sons of other prominent Texans. The forged documents CBS used had no impact on how Bush got in the guard. He was given preferential treatment and was put ahead of about 100 other young men.
The pay records of GWB, releases by DoD show that for five months at the end of 1972, George W. Bush did not attend drills anywhere. In addition the National Guard personnel officer at the time Bush was in the guard stated that his failure to attend those drills meant that he did not have the required flight hours to maintain flight proficiency. The argument that he had enough drills in 1972 for a good retirement year DOES NOT answer the fact that those missed drills prevented him from completing the required flight time. The CBS documents have absolutely nothing to do with the Bush failure to attend those drills. That has been documented by the records released by DoD.
Documents released by the Department of Defense include order that grounded Lieutenant Bush for failure to take a required flight physical. In addition was the CBS letter from the Commander of Lt Bush directing him to take that physical that was fake. However, the Secretary to the commander of Lt Bush has stated she DID TYPE such a letter but states the actual letter CBS used was not the one she typed. Thus from the Grounding Order from DOD released records and the statements of the secretary it is clear Lt. Bush did not obey Air Force Regulations that require him to take a flight physical and he was grounded.
There is no disagreement that Bush obtained an early discharge from the Guard. There is no credible evidence I have seen that indicates how George W. Bush was able to obtain an early Honorable discharge from the National Guard. One question however that does deserve an answer is that how an officer who did not attend require drills and did not take a flight physical received an Honorable discharge? The military does not normally give an Honorable discharge to member that disobey regulations.