need help, please. one of my little trolls is insisting that *boy actually

[niyad]

got an honourable discharge from the national guard. is there proof to the contrary? of course, she thinks he completed his service, too.

<<<<<<13348.3 in reply to 13348.1

Under our military record Bush is not a Draft Dodger. In his records he served and had a honorable discharge. >>>>>>>>>



thanks in advance.

[NMDemDist2]

1. he did, but......

http://mediamatters.org/items/200409080010

Far from being a mark of exemplar service, the honorable discharge is better thought of as a standard severance, something every soldier receives unless there's significant evidence of misconduct and a commanding officer eager to brave the paperwork, panels, and disciplinary hearings required to send the soldier home with anything less. Like any number of other officers, Bush could have ducked out of his service for months and still received an honorable discharge.

Going missing from military service and then squeaking out with an honorable discharge has a rich history among politicians. Current U.S. Representative Bobby Rush, a Democrat from Illinois, served in the army through the mid-1960s, becoming progressively more involved with radical antiwar groups. In 1968, after Martin Luther King's assassination, he went AWOL from his unit to help found the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers. Weeks later, he was honorably discharged.

In 1999, a Texas sheriff up for reelection saw his candidacy unravel after local newspapers reported that, despite a subsequent honorable discharge, he'd skipped out on Army service for several months in 1976 to "patch things up with his ex-wife."

<...>

A few years ago, a guest columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ruminated on going AWOL from his unit routinely with a "case of beer" to drink himself "into oblivion." "I don't know how, but I did manage to get an honorable discharge."

[Hepburn]

6. Here.....try these....

...hope it helps.

DESERTER

THE STORY OF GEORGE W. BUSH AFTER HE QUIT THE TEXAS AIR NATIONAL GUARD

SUMMARY

An examination of the Bush military files within the context of US Statutory Law, Department of Defense regulations, and Air Force policies and procedures of that era lead to a single conclusion: George W. Bush was considered a deserter by the United States Air Force.

After Bush quit TXANG, he still had nine months of his six-year military commitment left to serve. As a result, Bush became a member of the Air Force Reserves and was transferred to the authority of the Air Reserve Personnel Center (ARPC) in Denver, Colorado. Because this was supposed to be a temporary assignment, ARPC had to review Bush’s records to determine where he should ultimately be assigned. That examination would have led to three conclusions: That Bush had “failed to satisfactorily participate” as defined by United States law and Air Force policy, that TXANG could not account for Bush’s actions for an entire year, and that Bush’s medical records were not up to date. Regardless of what actions ARPC contemplated when reviewing Bush’s records, all options required that Bush be certified as physically fit to serve, or as unfit to serve. ARPC thus had to order Bush to get a physical examination, for which Bush did not show up. ARPC then designated Bush as AWOL and a “non-locatee” (i.e. a deserter) who had failed to satisfactorily participate in TXANG, and certified him for immediate induction through his local draft board. Once the Houston draft board got wind of the situation, strings were pulled; and documents were generated which directly contradict Air Force policy, and which were inconsistent with the rest of the records released by the White House.

http://www.glcq.com/bush_at_arpc1.htm

And an honorary discharge does NOT indicate honorable service:

CNN's Blitzer continued to rely on irrelevant honorable discharge to suggest Bush didn't skip out on Guard duty

In fact, as MMFA has noted, many people have received honorable discharges despite dishonorable service, including Washington, DC-area sniper John Allen Muhammad, who was charged with striking an officer, stealing a tape measure, and going AWOL, then sentenced to seven days in the brig -- and still received an honorable discharge from the Louisiana National Guard.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200409110001

[LoZoccolo]

2. He is technically right.

However, most people who missed drill duty as frequently as he did and refused to take a physical probably would not have gotten one, evidence of special favor given to Bush*.

http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/02/05/national_guard/index.html

[uppityperson]

3. So did Stephen Green (Abeer, Hadeel, Fakhriya and Qassim mass murders/etc)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_D._Green

Steven Dale Green (born May 2, 1985) is a former Private First Class in the United States Army who is charged with raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl named Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi and murdering her and three of her family members in the village of Mahmudiyah while on active duty in Iraq.

Green graduated from Infantry Training Brigade and was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky. According to a military spokesperson and a criminal complaint filed in connection with the charges, Green was honorably discharged from the military "due to an antisocial personality disorder but before the military was aware of the incident."

[gratuitous]

4. He may have gotten the honorable discharge

But his records do not show that he served, either in Alabama or Texas after they started drug testing. Capt. Bush simply disappears from the record, and despite a $10,000 reward offered by Garry Trudeau, no one has ever come forward to say that they saw Bush at a Guard weekend in Alabama after he asked for a transfer there to work on a campaign.

[Monkeyman]

5. Drug Testing started for the Air Guard in 1972

Now he was out working for the Republican party instead of pulling duty. If this was any other member of the Military Article 15 should of been given. Loss of pay and rank

[trof]

12. Here's what would have happened to me:

By air force and guard regs if I had failed to show for a flight physical I would have been immediately grounded and had to face an evaluation board of superior officers to "show cause".
If I didn't have a satisfactory reason, and still refused to maintain my qualifications, I was subject to loss of commission and drafting into army.
Private No-Class.
Next stop: Viet Nam.

[thingfisher]

7. So Dan Rather was pilloried

on a technicality?

Will our history books one day reflect what really happened?

[catzies]

9. Yes

and no.

[trof]

11. NOT "Capt. Bush". 1st Lt. Bush and that is VERY telling.

I'm a former ALANG pilot, 1963-1971.
If you kept your nose clean you automatically progressed from 2nd Lt. to Captain by the time your hitch was up.

The fact that he was "mustered out" as a 1st. Lt. is even more proof that he didn't complete his obligation.

[niyad]

8. much thanks to all of you--I know I can always count on DU for the correct info!

[Auntie Bush]

10. Daddy helped him this time too. He needs to thank Daddy again. n/t