President Bush --- Membership int eh American Legion

Factual Questions
1

In in St. Louis, Missouri, at the 85th Annual Convention of the American Legion, President Bush said he was a member from Post 77, in Houston, Texas.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/08/20030826-5.html
On the website for the American Legion it lists the following qualifications:

[/quote]
YES! I’ll help my fellow veterans by becoming a member of The American Legion. I certify by forwarding this application that I served at least one day of active military duty during the dates marked below and was honorably discharged or am still serving honorably. Please charge my credit card $20 for annual membership in The American Legion. All fields must be completed in order for billing to be accomplished. Thank you.

SNIP

Dates of Service:
Apr. 6, 1917 - Nov. 11, 1918
Dec. 7, 1941 - Dec. 31, 1946
June 25, 1950 - Jan. 31, 1955
Feb. 28, 1961 - May 7, 1975
Aug. 24, 1982 - Jul. 31, 1984
Dec. 20, 1989 - Jan. 31, 1990
Aug. 2, 1990 - Open

Branch of Service:
U.S. Army
U.S. Navy
U.S. Air Force
U.S. Marines
U.S. Coast Guard
U.S. Merchant Marine
(Dec. 7, 1941 - Aug. 16, 1945)

[/quote]

http://join.legion.org/be_a_member/bm_applyonline.php
So given those qualifications, how is President Bush a member? Is it his status as Commander In Chief? Does have to do with his Texas Air Force service (not on the American Legion list)?

2

U.S. Air Force includes the Air National Guard, I would imagine.

3

“active military duty” would include training, even for members of the National Guard or Reserves.

4

the VFW, on the other hand, requires actual combat duty.

5

According to my friend who served as Commander of his American Legion post two years ago, they count as “active duty” annual traing in the National Guard or Reserve, but not the MUTA-4/MUTA-5 weekend drills.

There is, of course, no “Texas Air Force.”

  • Rick