http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=9259

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This is the only place that you will get the full and true story of

President Bush’s Air National Guard service. There are no UNANSWERED

questions. There are no missing records. He did not miss any meetings. The

truth is known. You can find everything in this article, in other

publications but none of the others are complete. You have to put them all

together to get the full story. It is a shame that our national "objective"

media refuse to do their job and put the whole story together.

First, in answer to the charge that Bush was AWOL or missed meetings,

George Bush was NEVER assigned to the Alabama Guard. This is a myth promoted

by the "objective" media. Here is what really happened. Here is what the

head of the Alabama Guard said.

Turnipseed states Bush was never ordered to report to the Alabama Air

National Guard. He points out that Bush never transferred from the Texas Air

National Guard to the Alabama Air National Guard. He remained in the Texas

Guard during his stay in Alabama. This was confirmed by the Texas Guard. And

Turnipseed added that Bush was never under his command or any other officer

in the Alabama Guard.

Turnipseed added that Bush was informed of the drill schedule of the Alabama

Guard as a courtesy so he could get credit for drills while in Alabama for

his service record in the Texas Guard. There was no compulsory attendance.

This was also confirmed by the Texas Guard.

This was reported in the Chicago Sun-Times and has never been picked

up by any other news organization. Turnipseed then also added.

For Bush to be "AWOL" or "away without leave," he would have had to have

been assigned to a unit and under its command.

For the liberals reading this, go back and read it again. You see,

Bush did NOT miss any meetings. The whole argument is nonsense. He got

permission from his commanding officer to go to Alabama and attend meetings

as a courtesy so he could attend when he could. Another part of this attack

is that no one saw Bush at the meetings he did attend. It was reported that

Turnipseed never saw Bush. Read what was reported about that.

Turnipseed reversed gear after retired Lt. Col. John "Bill" Calhoun went

public to say that not only did he remember Bush in Alabama, but that it was

Turnipseed himself that introduced the two. Oops. And really...the media is

completely asleep at the switch on this one. How many people that you saw a

few times do you remember from 30 years ago?

Why didn’t fellow pilots see Bush in Alabama? The planes being flown

by the Alabama Guard were not the same as the F102 that Bush was trained on.

Why would pilots see him if he was not flying? That is why Lt. Col. Calhoun

came forward to say that was Bush was in his office for study and drill

time. Remember he was not assigned to the unit, he did NOT have to be there.

The following is from a letter by Col. William Campenni Ret. published

in the Washington Times.

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 2œœ

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.

Here is some information that the "objective" media avoids telling

you. John Kerry joined the Navy Reserve, he did not JOIN the Navy. The

Reserve was just like the National Guard. Kerry did NOT know he would be

sent to Vietnam.

George Bush joined the Guard for a SIX-year term. If you are drafted,

you only have to serve TWO years. Bush probably did not need to pull strings

to get into a jet fighter unit. Jets required a greater time commitment than

normal Guard postings. Pilots from the unit that he joined were being sent

to Vietnam. All the publications that have researched this have concluded

that there is NO evidence that he used any influence to get into the Guard.

The liberal publications will say that there is no evidence, but it is still

suspicious. That is a good journalistic standard? So, do you get it, Bush

joined a unit that at the time was serving in Vietnam.

The following is research from aerospaceweb.org ........

Nevertheless, we have established that the F-102 was serving in combat in

Vietnam at the time Bush enlisted to become an F-102 pilot. In fact, pilots

from the 147th FIG of the Texas ANG were routinely rotated to Vietnam for

combat duty under a program called "Palace Alert" from 1968 to 1970. Palace

Alert was an Air Force program that sent qualified F-102 pilots from the ANG

to bases in Europe or southeast Asia for periods of three to six months for

frontline duty. Fred Bradley, a friend of Bush's who was also serving in the

Texas ANG, reported that he and Bush inquired about participating in the

Palace Alert program. However, the two were told by a superior, MAJ Maurice

Udell, that they were not yet qualified since they were still in training

and did not have the 500 hours of flight experience required. Furthermore,

ANG veteran COL William Campenni, who was a fellow pilot in the 111th FIS at

the time, told the Washington Times that Palace Alert was winding down and

not accepting new applicants.

As he was completing training and being certified as a qualified F-102

pilot, Bush's squadron was a likely candidate to be rotated to Vietnam.

However, the F-102 was built for a type of air combat that wasn't seen

during that conflict, and the plane was withdrawn from southeast Asia in

December 1969. The F-102 was instead returned to its primary role of

providing air defense for the United States. In addition, the mission of

Ellington AFB, where Bush was stationed, was also changing from air defense

alert to training all F-102 pilots in the US for Air National Guard duty.

Lt. Bush remained in the ANG as a certified F-102 pilot who participated in

frequent drills and alerts through April of 1972. ... By this time, the

147th Fighter Wing was also beginning to transition from the F-102 to the

F-101F, an updated version of the F-101B used primarily for air defense

patrols. Furthermore, the war in Vietnam was nearing its end and the US was

withdrawing its forces from the theater. Air Force personnel returning to

the US created a glut of active-duty pilots, and there were not enough

aircraft available to accommodate all of the qualified USAF and ANG pilots.

Since USAF personnel had priority for the billets available, many of the Air

National Guard pilots whose enlistments were nearly complete requested early

release. The ANG was eager to fulfill these requests because there was not

enough time to retrain F-102 pilots to operate new aircraft before their

enlistments were up anyway. Bush was one of those forced out by the

transition, and he was honorably discharged as a first lieutenant in October

1973, eight months before his six-year enlistment was complete. Bush had

approximately 600 flight hours by the time he completed his military

service.

The folks at aerospaceweb concluded.........

While Bush did not see combat in Vietnam, it is also obvious he was not

seeking a way to avoid the risk of being sent to Vietnam. At the time he was

training to be an F102 pilot, ANG units and that aircraft type were based in

Vietnam.

In conclusion, there is no evidence Bush got special treatment to join

the Guard. He did NOT miss any meetings, he was not assigned to the Alabama

Guard. The reason the so called "objective" media holds on to this myth is

that it lets them keep asking, where was Bush? The issue of his being

grounded is also answered because he would no longer be flying since his

plane was obsolete and he did not have enough Guard time left to train in a

new jet. You don’t need to report for a physical if you are not flying. Duh!

Kerry joined the Navy Reserve and did not expect to go to Vietnam.

When Kerry did go to Vietnam the swift boats were not during river patrols.

They were doing coastal patrols and were not in much danger. That is when he

volunteered to join the Swiftee’s. The assignment of those boats was changed

after he was accepted for the duty. Surprise, he got action and the rest is

disputed history.

The information in this article was published in "George Magazine",

"New York Times", "Washington Times", "Chicago Sun-Times", "Washington Post"

and aerospaceweb.org.

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The best explanation I've seen so far.

- Bob