"Bush to Release Military Pay Records" while Globe/W.Post/ask questions [View All]

[papau]

A bit of Background -http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&ncid=536&e=2&u=/ap/20040210/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_military_records -Bush to Release Military Pay Records -By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent notes that Bush is releasing info to boster his NOT AWOL claim - including the annual retirement point summaries that were released in 2000 but do not show why points were given) and now pay records to show that Bush served. The showed up for duty while assigned to Guard units in Alabama question, and the easily answered why early out (it was not uncommon to ok this post VietNam) are discussed in the op-ed columns below:


As the Boston Globe's Robinson reports, the new points document shows that "Bush received credit for attending Air National Guard drills in the fall of 1972 and spring of 1973 -- a period when his commanders have said he did not appear for duty at bases in Montgomery, Ala., and Houston."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/02/10/bush_credited_for_guard_drills/

Bush credited for Guard drills But time frame leaves questions
By Walter V. Robinson, Globe Staff, 2/10/2004

<snip>One of the documents lists nine service periods of 2 to 3 days each and records the points Bush earned toward his service retirement benefit. The other is a summary of his service in the 12 months beginning May 1972, and lists the same number of service points earned.

<snip>But the documents seem unlikely to resolve questions about whether Bush shirked his duty during his tour as a fighter-interceptor pilot for the Texas Air Guard during the Vietnam War. That is because some of the dates on the service list fell during a period in the fall of 1972 when Bush was reassigned to a guard unit in Alabama. The commander of the Alabama unit has said Bush did not appear for duty at his assigned unit there.

Bartlett said the Guard drills Bush is listed as attending in January and April 1973 were probably conducted at Bush's home base in Houston. But on May 2, 1973, Bush's two commanders at Ellington Air Force Base wrote that they could not evaluate his performance for the prior 12 months because he had not been there. Two other Bush superiors said in interviews four years ago that they do not believe Bush ever returned to his Houston base from Alabama.

<snip>
...The torn copy listed the number of training days, but showed neither service dates nor Bush's name -- both were in the torn-away portion. But Bush's Social Security number was visible on one copy obtained by the Globe.....The second document ..is Bush's personnel record card for the period of May 27, 1972, to May 26, 1973. As is the case with Guard members, Bush, the card shows, was generally given 2 points for each day of weekend training...But this card, unlike those for the other years of Bush's service, does not itemize Bush's individual day of service; it gives only a total. The personnel record card also indicates that Bush was on flying status, even though he never flew for his unit after April 1972.

<snip> ...Bartlett said he could not explain why Fertig's group (Democrats.com) had access to more documents than the White House.

Fertig called for an independent investigation. Noting that the new documents are contradicted by other public documents, and statements by Bush's Guard superiors, Fertig said the public has a right to know whether Bush received credit for duty he did not perform.<snip>

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From the Washington Post's Romano:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26843-2004Feb9.html

Defense Dept. Seeks Bush's Guard File By Lois Romano
Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, February 10, 2004; Page A07


<snip>
At issue is a 12-month period, commencing in May 1972, when Bush moved to Alabama to work on a senatorial campaign. He received permission to transfer to an Alabama unit and was instructed to report to duty there. There is no definitive evidence in his file that he reported to the Alabama unit to perform drills; Bush has said he did report and perform drills.

Bush's personnel records also are vague on what he did in the Texas Guard after returning to Houston after the Senate election he worked on. The first date in the records for 1973 is May 29, when they indicate he attended drills. The records show he attended drills at least 18 times between May 29 and July 30.

In his annual evaluation, covering the period of May 1972 to April 1973, Lt. Col. William D. Harris wrote that he could not evaluate Bush because "he has not been observed" in Houston. Bush left the Guard in October 1973 to attend Harvard Business School.

<snip>

According to military experts familiar with National Guard records, there are two documents that could indicate whether Bush reported for drills during that year. One is an annual summary of his points, the quantitative measure of his service. The summary includes each date he reported for a drill and how many points he received toward his annual requirement.

His official personnel record, obtained by The Post in 2000, does not include a summary of service for the time in Alabama. There is a sheet, where the name has been torn off, that includes dates for that period, but there is no way to confirm it refers to Bush because his Social Security number has been redacted. Also, no one who served in Bush's Alabama unit at that time has come forward, despite years of publicity on the subject. The brigadier general Bush was to report to in Alabama has said he has no recollection of Bush's doing so.

The other documents that should still be available are Bush's payroll records, which would show what drills Bush was compensated for during that period. Officials said yesterday that the DOD in Washington would review the master copy of Bush's payroll records, which have been stored on microfiche for 30 years at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service in Denver. <snip>

From Salon's Boehlert on military records that the President has not released http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/02/10/guard/index_np.html

Bush's records: Still AWOL
President Bush told Tim Russert all his military records were made public in 2000, but there's no evidence to support his statement.

By Eric Boehlert


<snip>"Bush's medical military records, for instance, have never been released to the general public. Nor have any disciplinary reviews, pay stubs, tax records, or personal letters, which would help determine his exact whereabouts in 1972-73."<snip>


From WP's Richard Cohen:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27178-2004Feb9.html

From Guardsman . . . By Richard Cohen
Tuesday, February 10, 2004; Page A23


During the Vietnam War, I was what filmmaker Michael Moore would call a "deserter." Along with President Bush and countless other young men, I joined the National Guard, did my six months of active duty (basic training, etc.) and then returned to my home unit, where I eventually dropped from sight. In the end, just like President Bush, I got an honorable discharge. But unlike President Bush, I have just told the truth about my service. He hasn't.

At least I don't think so. Nothing about Bush during that period -- not his drinking, not his partying -- suggests that he was a consistently conscientious member of the Texas or Alabama Air National Guard. As it happens, there are no records to show that Bush reported for duty during the summer and fall of 1972. Nonetheless, Bush insists he was where he was supposed to be -- "Otherwise I wouldn't have been honorably discharged," Bush told Tim Russert. Please, sir, don't make me laugh. <snip>

I have no shame about my service, but I know it for what it was -- hardly the Charge of the Light Brigade. When Bush attempts to drape the flag of today's Guard over the one he was in so long ago, when he warns his critics to remember that "there are a lot of really fine people who have served in the National Guard and who are serving in the National Guard today in Iraq," then he is doing now what he was doing then: hiding behind the ones who were really doing the fighting. It's about time he grew up.