the Air Force Times weighs in

[sisyphusshrugged]

an "erratic" "Irrational" George Bush jumped the waiting list and then blew off his service

John F. Kerry’s service in Vietnam and his postwar testimonials have been targeted all summer by Republican-funded critics and veterans groups Ñ so much so that for several months they have obscured George W. Bush’s much-criticized Vietnam-era service in the National Guard. A renewed interest in Bush’s service raised by a critical CBS News report exploded in controversy over whether some recently unearthed Bush documents were actually forgeries.

From most accounts, Bush appears to have received preferential treatment to get into the Air National Guard and avoid the draft after he graduated from Yale University in 1968. He was initially regarded as a good pilot, but his performance faded over his final two years in the Guard and he was suspended from flight status. He did not fly for the remaining 18 months he served in the Guard, though he was obligated to do so.

And for significant chunks of time, Bush did not report for duty at all. His superiors took no action, and he was honorably discharged in 1973, six months before he should have been.

In a 2002 interview with USA Today, Dean Roome, a former fighter pilot who lived with Bush in the early 1970s, said Bush was a model officer during the first part of his career. But overall, he said, Bush’s Air Guard career was erratic Ñ the first three years solid, the last two troubled.

“You wonder if you know who George Bush is,” Roome said. “I think he digressed after a while. In the first half, he was gung-ho. Where George failed was to fulfill his obligation as a pilot. It was an irrational time in his life.”

Comments

[dabroots.livejournal.com]

Thanks greatly for that link. The quote from Colin Powell's book is especially telling, I think.

[springheel-jack.livejournal.com]

The Nation's analysis that he wasn't just lazy and unaccountable at that time in his life sounds more plausible - it was the Nation's guess that he had an accelerating drinking problem that marred the last half of his service.

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

An excellent link, from a reputable source. Thank you!