# White House Releases Bush's Guard Records **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 11, 2004, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601 "2004-02-11T04:28:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/21 "2004-02-11T17:42:44Z")
I saw most of the press conference on C-SPAN last night. I haven’t seen this much one-legged tap dancing since Nixon regularly pulled the rug out from under Ron Ziegler. (“This is the operative statement. All previous statements are inoperative.”) McClellan did such a piss-poor job that he might have well have hung a “Kick Me” sign on Karl Rove’s butt. Or course, “snobby rich kid gets pampered” is hardly news. We knew that already. But the way the White House is handling it is bound to keep the pack baying. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/22 "2004-02-11T17:55:30Z")
Sorry Sam, but it’s not exactly smart to take at face value the claim that, thanks to Bush we now have released to us all the relevant records that settle the matter. If you’d read anything about the issue, you’d know that this just isn’t the case, and it’s highly misleading to present it that way in the OP. The President himself says that they can’t find any records for the period at issue. The ONLY evidence they’ve offered to contradict the existing testimony from his commanding officers and paper evidence of a missed physical (something for which the Bush camp was caught in a lie about, saying that the family physician was not available to give it, when these physicals are always done by guard physicians, not private ones) that he was AWOL are an ex-girlfriend and a Republican staffer who said that Bush told them he was going to go do guard duty. Going with your conspiracy theory motif: what Bush just did is akin to Oswald releasing a movie ticket paystub that shows he was at the movies after Kennedy was shot. This might well work to get the press to lead with a headline “Oswald releases records that show his whereabouts,” but it doesn’t actually clarify the main issue at all: where was Oswald during the major events at question? So either you got taken in by this sort of “mislead via incomplete headline” ploy, or you’re hoping others will. And the real issue here is not so much his guard duty, but that he’s never been forthcoming about it, and indeed that much of what he’s traded on for his public image has been misleading. It’s hard to top the line in his biography when he or his ghost writer declare that his proudest day was having his father pin a military award on his chest that doesn’t even exist, but he’s trying. It’s also hard to find sympathy for people for want to play down this issue, but who made a big fuss over Clinton’s draft dodging or Gore’s assignment. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/23 "2004-02-11T17:56:55Z")
> [@](#): > > They will probably not bring up the “medal throwing incident”. When pigs fly. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/24 "2004-02-11T18:27:47Z")
And Sam, there is another reason you should be suspicious. If there were nothing to this story, can’t you agree that it would be VERY EASY for the President to simply say “I was there on those dates in Alabama, and I remember doing so and so with so and so.” Has Bush forgotten the names of everyone he would have trained with so that the can’t find a single barrack mate to back him up? And yet, he’s careful avoided saying anything specific. Instead, he says: “I was — I served in the National Guard. I flew F-102 aircraft. I got an honorable discharge.” NONE of these things are what is in dispute. He goes on to say " There may be no evidence, but I did report; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been honorably discharged. In other words, you don’t just say “I did something” without there being verification. Military doesn’t work that way. I got an honorable discharge, and I did show up in Alabama." Notice that, again, this statement is relying on the _military’s_ say so, not his own. It’s almost as if he’s saying “I don’t remember serving, but the military wouldn’t have given me an honorable discharge if I didn’t (which is not true), so I must have.” Can’t you agree that that’s awful suspicious? Why not even a single clear anecdote? A name? A description of what he did? Give that, and the entire case would fall apart. So why hold back? And note this: > [@](#): > > Russert: But you authorize the release of everything to settle this? > > President Bush: Yes, absolutely. We did so in 2000, by the way. How can that possibly be true if the next day (in 2004, note) they released a document that the public had never seen? If THEY didn’t know where it was in 2000 when THEY and the press had done an exhaustive search in 1994,1997, and 2000, where had it been hiding in all that time? How come it turns up almost immediately when the issue gets raised again if it was so hard to find back in 2000 that it couldn’t have been released when they supposededly “released everything?” Indeed, this Clintonian parsing of language fits a pattern: all throughout the interview he avoided direct questions about specific answers. When asked why his administration had opposed the 9/11 commision on so many fronts, he answered, inexpicably, that terrorists are people who hide in caves. When asked about why they didn’t find WMD notice that EVERY SINGLE scenario he presented assumes that WMD were there before the war. He keeps changing the subject from whether there was no doubt about WMD to whether there was no doubt that Saddam was a bad guy (two quite different subjects) without answering the former question. He crudely fumbled past the question of whether he had reversed his stance on “nation-building.” This is not a man trying to defend his position. It is a man trying to avoid having to defend his positions. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/25 "2004-02-11T18:54:04Z")
I seem to remember in previous administrations the opposition made a big deal out of it when documents seemed to advantageously appear or disappear at opportune times… ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/26 "2004-02-11T19:16:48Z")
I’m not a huge fan of Mr. Bush, but this is such a non-issue for me. Lets stay grounded on the important issues. If he did or didn’t X years ago just will NOT change the quality of my life today. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/27 "2004-02-11T21:41:09Z")
Bush on [Meet the Press](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ID/4179618/) > [@](#): > > Russert: But you authorize the release of everything to settle this? > > President Bush: Yes, absolutely. From [today’s press conference](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/02/20040211-3.html#5): > [@](#): > > When you get the President’s full file, what will be the standard for deciding whether additional information will be released? > > MR. McCLELLAN: Well, one, we would have to see if there is any new information in that. Like I said yesterday, we thought we had all the information that was relevant to this issue. So we haven’t even seen that information at this point. > > Q Again, when this controversy came up 10 years ago, the then Bush-Quayle campaign, on October 15, 1992, put out a press release saying that because of the controversy and the questions, that Governor Clinton should release all documents relating to his draft status, and went on to list letters to the Selective Service system, to the Reserve Officer Training Corps, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines, the Coast Guard, the Departments of State and Justice, any foreign embassy or consulate. Was that a fair standard? One of these quotes is not like the other. One of these quotes is not the same. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/28 "2004-02-11T21:50:53Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I’m not a huge fan of Mr. Bush, but this is such a non-issue for me. Lets stay grounded on the important issues. If he did or didn’t X years ago just will NOT change the quality of my life today. I share your sentiment to a point. I always thought Vietnam War service status was a horrible issue to make a litmus test for presidential candidates. I can deeply appreciate any young man’s desire to fulfill one’s duties in a less-risky manner than being drafted and sent to Vietnam. It doesn’t, in my mind, show lack of character. What others have said, however, and that I agree with, is that it has become an issue because of Bush’s own actions and claims. His party has attacked political opponents on their lack of service, and Bush has made claims about his duty that may not be true. It’s an integrity issue. ---
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/29 "2004-02-11T22:04:51Z")
It strikes me that, yes, this is a minor issue in this campaign. Certainly, we have plenty of other, larger issues with which to go after the incumbent. But I’m thinking that it’s pretty shrewd to bring the small stuff into play at this point. At the moment, this issue has the White House on the defensive, as evidenced by Scott McClelland’s briefing transcripts. As long as they’re on the defensive, they’re limited in their potential attacks on the Democratic candidates. It’d look silly to bring this up in August or September; that’s when the big issues come into play. But right now, it’s keeping them distracted and on the ropes, when they expected to be rallying for an attack. We’ve got enough ammunition to keep hammering them until November. This is just an opening salvo. And if it happens to score a critical hit, then hey, bonus! ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/30 "2004-02-11T22:06:52Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > IIRC guard obligation is for one weekend a month and two weeks during the summer…am I correct? > > Let’s add it up. Follow me if you can… > > 12x2=24+14=38…follow me so far? So he should have been on duty 38 days during that year. But those records say he was there 9 days. He was there just a tiny bit more that 25% of the time he was obligated to be. > > Works for me. > > :rolleyes: I hope the moderators won’t mind if I crosspost someting I typed in the Pit, since it’s relevant here as well, considering your quote. It’s actually in support of your position, believe it or not, although I’m just telling it like it is. > [@](#): > > Actually, if you must know (and this is going to make Bush look REALLY bad, but I’m obligated to state the facts here), for Bush to have had satisfactory service as a pilot, as with any aviator he was required to fly. Guardsmen do not generally fly on UTA weekends because there are many things that must get done on that weekend that cannot be done any other time. > > Flyers have what are called A-Forms, which is a list of responsibilities that must be done on a regular rotating basis or else you will be grounded. A good number of those things can only be done with the assistance of other Guardsmen, who are only in for that weekend. So chances are that flying is not on the schedule for that weekend. That means that one must come in on their own during the week to fly, and that is very important because one must fly at least one time in every thrity day period or they will become Non-Current, and thus Non-Mission Capable. > > So what does that mean? It means that in addition to the one weekend a month and the two weeks a year, a flyer must come in at least one day/night a month in order to remain current. For pilots like Bush, there are also visual/instrument landing requirements, pattern flying requirements, aerial refueling requirements, checkride requirements, approach requirements, and a few others that I can’t think of right now that must be accomplished every six months or you become Unqualified, hence Non-Mission Capable. > > A pilot cannot, repeat cannot get all of that done flying only once a month. So Bush, in order to truly fulfill his committment, would have had to have come in for a total of no less than four days per month (counting UTA weekends) to remain current, and that’s if there were no maintenance aborts or weather problems so everything went perfect every time. > > Add that up and you get 48 days of training plus two weeks. Flyers obviously have many more responsibilities. I know, I am one. > > I’ll let you decide what this means to you. I’m just reporting the news, not commenting on it. There you go, **Reeder**. Don’t say I never did anything for you. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/31 "2004-02-11T23:40:34Z")
Question, **Airman** : Is it possible that Lt. Bush had with the permission of the relevant officers been allowed to lapse into non-mission capable status? I ask because our friend **Sam** has suggested in the past that the missed physical exam was simply the result of Bush not bothering to keep up his status after being moved to some sort of non-flying position. I have not the knowledge to assess the likelihood of such a possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/32 "2004-02-12T00:09:20Z")
Want to see something weird? Look at the strangely prescient [discussion](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=193490) **elucidator** and I had in these two [threads](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=194471&page=2) from seven months ago. I said the Republicans wanted to make gay marriage the central issue in this campaign. **'luce** said Karl Rove would rather wipe his ass with a scorpion than put Bush’s record up against Kerry’s, so they were focusing on Dean, the civil union advocate. (Fortunately, Karl Rove has Scott McClellan to wear the Arachno-Depends for him.) And that part about Howard Dean’s campaign being fed by the RNC? Unproven, yet somehow it led to two very correct predictions. And suddenly Dean is in the dirt, thanks in small part to a Massachusetts Supreme Court decision. It’s almost as if someone set off the Republican booby trap early… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/33 "2004-02-12T01:58:24Z")
Jane Fonda and gay marriage. So far, that’s about all they got to use on Kerry. Maybe all they’ll get. So if they have to, and they _do_ have to, they’ll use 'em. Be nice to be wrong. Usually not. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/34 "2004-02-12T02:00:17Z")
Here’s someone who might know something about Bush’s flying: [Letter to the Editor From One of Bush’s Squadron Mates](http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20040210-082910-8424r.htm). > [@](#): > > If you check the 111th FIS records of 1970-72 and any other ANG squadron, you will find other pilots excused for career obligations and conflicts. The Bush excusal in 1972 was further facilitated by a change in the unit’s mission, from an operational fighter squadron to a training squadron with a new airplane, the F-101, which required that more pilots be available for full-time instructor duty rather than part-time traditional reservists with outside employment. > The winding down of the Vietnam War in 1971 provided a flood of exiting active-duty pilots for these instructor jobs, making part-timers like Lt. Bush and me somewhat superfluous. There was a huge glut of pilots in the Air Force in 1972, and with no cockpits available to put them in, many were shoved into nonflying desk jobs. Any pilot could have left the Air Force or the Air Guard with ease after 1972 before his commitment was up because there just wasn’t room for all of them anymore. > Sadly, few of today’s partisan pundits know anything about the environment of service in the Reserves in the 1970s. The image of a reservist at that time is of one who joined, went off for six months’ basic training, then came back and drilled weekly or monthly at home, with two weeks of “summer camp.” With the knowledge that Mr. Johnson and Mr. McNamara were not going to call out the Reserves, it did become a place of refuge for many wanting to avoid Vietnam. > There was one big exception to this abusive use of the Guard to avoid the draft, and that was for those who wanted to fly, as pilots or crew members. Because of the training required, signing up for this duty meant up to 2½ years of active duty for training alone, plus a high probability of mobilization. A fighter-pilot candidate selected by the Guard (such as Lt. Bush and me) would be spending the next two years on active duty going through basic training (six weeks), flight training (one year), survival training (two weeks) and combat crew training for his aircraft (six to nine months), followed by local checkout (up to three more months) before he was even deemed combat-ready. Because the draft was just two years, you sure weren’t getting out of duty being an Air Guard pilot. If the unit to which you were going back was an F-100, you were mobilized for Vietnam. Avoiding service? Yeah, tell that to those guys. > The Bush critics do not comprehend the dangers of fighter aviation at any time or place, in Vietnam or at home, when they say other such pilots were risking their lives or even dying while Lt. Bush was in Texas. Our Texas ANG unit lost several planes right there in Houston during Lt. Bush’s tenure, with fatalities. Just strapping on one of those obsolescing F-102s was risking one’s life. > … > Well, as for abandoning his assignment, this is untrue. Lt. Bush was excused for a period to take employment in Florida for a congressman and later in Alabama for a Senate campaign. > Excusals for employment were common then and are now in the Air Guard, as pilots frequently are in career transitions, and most commanders (as I later was) are flexible in letting their charges take care of career affairs until they return or transfer to another unit near their new employment. Sometimes they will transfer temporarily to another unit to keep them on the active list until they can return home. The receiving unit often has little use for a transitory member, especially in a high-skills category like a pilot, because those slots usually are filled and, if not filled, would require extensive conversion training of up to six months, an unlikely option for a temporary hire. > As a commander, I would put such “visitors” in some minor administrative post until they went back home. There even were a few instances when I was unaware that they were on my roster because the paperwork often lagged. Today, I can’t even recall their names. If a Lt. Bush came into my unit to “pull drills” for a couple of months, I wouldn’t be too involved with him because I would have a lot more important things on my table keeping the unit combat ready. > … > While most of America was sleeping and Mr. Kerry was playing antiwar games with Hanoi Jane Fonda, we were answering 3 a.m. scrambles for who knows what inbound threat over the Canadian subarctic, the cold North Atlantic and the shark-filled Gulf of Mexico. We were the pathfinders in showing that the Guard and Reserves could become reliable members of the first team in the total force, so proudly evidenced today in Afghanistan and Iraq. > It didn’t happen by accident. It happened because back at the nadir of Guard fortunes in the early '70s, a lot of volunteer guardsman showed they were ready and able to accept the responsibilities of soldier and citizen — then and now. Lt. Bush was a kid whose congressman father encouraged him to serve in the Air National Guard. We served proudly in the Guard. Would that Mr. Kerry encourage his children and the children of his colleague senators and congressmen to serve now in the Guard. > In the fighter-pilot world, we have a phrase we use when things are starting to get out of hand and it’s time to stop and reset before disaster strikes. We say, “Knock it off.” So, Mr. Kerry and your friends who want to slander the Guard: Knock it off. > > ``` > COL. WILLIAM CAMPENNI (retired) > U.S. Air Force/Air National Guard > Herndon, Va.5 > > ``` There’s more, including rebuttals of the bogus charge that Bush skipped his medical because he was doing drugs. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/35 "2004-02-12T02:07:12Z")
Sam: Interesting cite, although the gratuitous swipe at Kerry makes me question the guy’s impartiality. Did you read the NewsHour transcript I cited in the post to your thread? I think the two retired Generals’ analysis has some considerable weight. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/36 "2004-02-12T02:17:52Z")
And how, precisely, does that have anything whatsoever to do with whether the Honorable Right Leftenant Bush reported for duty in Alabama? Can you ever please just address that bloody point? Or are you just going to keep playing the misdirection game? ---
**Author:** ![eponymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e0b2c6/32.png) [@eponymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eponymous)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/37 "2004-02-12T03:06:09Z")
**Sam** and others, You might want to check [this](http://counterspin.blogspot.com/2004_02_08_counterspin_archive.html#107653413484616038) out: Excerpt - "…One of those on-guard outfits was the Pennsylvania Air National Guard’s 146th Fighter Squadron, an air defense unit based at Pittsburgh International Airport. Just out of graduate school, Campenni was a 32-year-old captain in the 146th, flying the F-102 Delta Dagger, the world’s first supersonic all-weather jet interceptor, and “sitting alert” on Nov. 11, 1972." Comment by Hesiod - “Now, did he attend graduate school in 1971-1972? And if so, how the hell would he know what George W. Bush was doing in the TANG? Or in Alabama, for that matter? Especially since he was stationed in freaking PITTSBURGH!” ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/38 "2004-02-12T03:24:44Z")
[Dribble:](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&e=4&u=/ap/20040212/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_military_records) > [@](#): > > The White House late Wednesday released a copy of a dental evaluation President Bush had in the National Guard in Alabama during the Vietnam War to rebut suggestions from Democrats who have questioned whether the president ever showed up for duty there. > … > A copy of the dental examination done on Jan. 6, 1973, documents the president serving at Dannelly Air National Guard Base in Alabama > … > The White House obtained the dental record, along with other medical records it did not release, from the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, Colo. > … > The Associated Press contacted more than a dozen people who were members of the Montgomery-based 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in 1972. All were quick to point out that the unit had as many as 800 members and Bush was not yet famous. So Bush was at Dannelly once, to get his teeth cleaned. What’s the problem with releasing the rest of these records as promised? ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/39 "2004-02-12T03:47:22Z")
Pointing out facts to **Sam Stone** is a waste of bytes. He’s so desperate to prove his “War president” (Duhbyas own words) is truly a military man rather than a military slacker, any story goes. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601/40 "2004-02-12T04:11:22Z")
I didn’t say that he wasn’t a ‘military slacker’. My opinion on that matter is close to John Mace’s. But you guys go farther, claiming he’s a deserter or was AWOL. You need to provide evidence for that, and “Gee, no one remembers seeing him” doesn’t stack up against the word of the guard’s personnel officer and Bush’s honorable discharge. And the personal slams are not appreciated. You don’t need to pop into threads to tell other people about me. They can figure it out for themselves. So cut it out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-releases-bushs-guard-records/228601.md?page=3)