Bush fulfilled his commitment

[really-looney]

When AWOL joined the Texas Air National Guard he signed up for a six year hitch. Why so long, because the American Tax Payer (Its your money) spent a lot of money to train him to fly an obsolete aircraft ensuring that he would not have to go to Viet Nam.

When the White House says, "He fulfilled his commitment" they are not telling the truth. It is pretty simple 6 year commitment, 5.5 years of service.

He did not complete his service. Additionally he did not fulfill his commitment to keep up his flight status after we spent all that money to train him.

How many people got to drop out of the Guard with our completing their total time.

How many Senators grandsons and Congressman's sons got that treatment, I can think of only one.

[DenverDem]

1. The pertinent question is "Why was he grounded?"

Refused to take physical/drug test. Why?

[Bandit]

5. Refused a direct order to take a flight physical.

It wasn't a choice he could just choose to ignore. It was a Mandatory Physical

[Festivito]

10. The 'grounded' document has not been mentioned lately.

Not on DU either. Certainly not on news programs.

Was the document showing that Bush had not flown and would be grounded, not allowed to fly, along with W's friend Bath coincidentally, debunked? The document noted that the required medical was not taken for both buddies. This was supposedly the first time the Bush medical would include DRUG TESTING.

[bryant69]

2. Well

I have to say, there's only one who's currently in the spotlight, but I would be surprised if other children of the rich and powerful enjoyed a similar privilege.

Not that i'm justifying it; I think this issue points to the inherent inequalities that exist in our cultures.

Bryant
Check it out--> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[DenverDem]

8. That makes it OK then.

Nothing to see here, move along.

[bryant69]

9. I guess you missed my point

Do you think it's ok if someone weasles out of their national guard duty if they aren't running for President on the Republican Ticket?

I don't. And like I said, I think this points to a system that protects George W. Bush and people like him, while screwing a lot of others.

[DenverDem]

11. I guess you missed my point.

To say that all rich kids got the kind of absurd favoritism that AWOL got diminishes the ridiculous level of privilege he enjoyed. War is a poor man's burden. War is a scam to redistribute a nation's wealth to the rich. Rich kids don't fight wars unless they volunteer like Kerry. But the unbelievably sweet ride that worthless george got is reserved for the power elite. The outrage over this issue should have masses storming the gates of the White House.

[Qanisqineq]

3. The only way my husband got out

of the National Guard was by going back to the regular Army. But he was going to be called back to active duty anyway (due to Iraq war).

If you want to get out, you have to have a powerful daddy.

[zbdent]

4. I think it's funnier that they are pointing out that he got paid

as proof.

When I heard that, I kept thinking about those "phantom employees" that accountants at firms keep "issuing large checks" to, and yet, nobody remembers them.

Remember the guy in "Shawshank Redemption" that Tim Robbins' character set up?

[NNN0LHI]

6. Here is what the Air National Guard says about it

http://www.ang.af.mil/history/Forging.asp

<snip>Vietnam revealed a negative aspect of relying on reservists. For largely domestic political reasons, President Johnson chose not to mobilize most of the nation's reserve forces. The 1968 callups were only token affairs. Johnson's decision to avoid a major reserve mobilization was opposed by the senior leadership of both the active duty military establishment and the reserve forces, but to no avail. The Reserves and the Guard acquired reputations as draft havens for relatively affluent young white men. Military leaders questioned the wisdom of depending on reserve forces that might not be available except in dire emergencies.

Race had emerged as another major issue with flowering of the American civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. For over a decade after the active duty military establishment had begun to integrate its ranks during the Korean War, the National Guard had remained an almost exclusively white organization. Discrimination varied, but ten states with large black populations and understaffed Guard units still had no black Guardsmen in their ranks as late as 1961. Secretary of Defense McNamara had tried to encourage voluntary integration in the early 1960s, with little success. The NGB had disputed his legal authority to force integration while the Guard was under state control. It had also argued that integration would be political suicide for some governors and would hurt the military capabilities of their units.

[cosmicdot]

7. but, but that was then ... and 911 happened ...

and, life changed after 40 and he got Billy Graham to Born him Again ... and and and ... arghhhhhh ...

when I was college c. 1968-->
we were divided back then ... the Vietnam War ... civil right movements (gee ... both still going on ... seems reflective of the progress which seems to be anchored and obstructed ... since RFK died)

I know the Bush-types who were my counter-parts on campus ...

he's such a smirk ... he embodies that "mindset" ... the considered
pro-Administration types ... readers of the Administration-issued school paper, not the easy accessible alternative press ... he's their poster boy, and deserves full-effect of the what goes around syndrome