XPost: alt.politics.bush, alt.politics.usa.republican, alt.politics.democrats.d   
   XPost: talk.politics.misc   
   From: FranzKafka@Oceania.WhiteHouse.GOV   
      
   Short answer:  Granddad is U.S. senator, Daddy a Congressman.   
      
   ---------------------------------------------------------   
      
   BOSTON   
      
   President George W. Bush's August 1972 suspension from flight status in the   
   Texas Air National Guard, triggered by his failure to take a required   
   annual flight physical, should have prompted an investigation by his   
   commander, a written acknowledgment by Bush and perhaps a written report to   
   senior Air Force officials, according to Air Force regulations then in   
   effect.   
      
   Bush, who was a fighter-interceptor pilot assigned to the Texas Air   
   National Guard, did not fly after April 1972, just before the missed   
   physical and 30 months before his flight commitment ended. He also did not   
   attend National Guard training for several months that year and was   
   permitted to cut short his military commitment in 1973.   
      
   For a second day in a row, the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan,   
   declined to answer questions Wednesday about Bush's failure to take the   
   physical, and McClellan appeared to retreat from Bush's promise Sunday to   
   make public all of his military records. Asked at a midday press briefing   
   if all of Bush's records would be released, McClellan said, "We'd have to   
   see if there is any new information in that." Erin Healy, assistant White   
   House press secretary, said later than the White House did not have records   
   about the flight physical.   
      
   "At this point, we've shared everything we have," Healy said.   
      
   A spokesman for the National Guard Bureau said that if there were records   
   about any inquiry into Bush's flight status, they were most likely in his   
   personnel file, stored at a military records facility in Colorado.   
      
   Brigadier General David McGinnis, a former top aide to the assistant   
   secretary of defense for reserve affairs, said that Bush's failure to   
   remain on flying status amounted to a violation of the signed pledge by   
   Bush that he would fly for at least five years after he completed flight   
   school in November 1969.   
      
   "Failure to take your flight physical is like a failure to show up for   
   duty," McGinnis said in an interview. "It is an obligation you can't blow   
   off."   
      
   Bush joined the Texas Air Guard in May 1968 after intercession by friends   
   of his father, who was then a congressman from Houston. He was quickly   
   commissioned, spent a year in flight school in Georgia and then six months   
   learning to fly an F-102 fighter-interceptor at Ellington Air Force Base in   
   Houston. From June 1970 until April 1972, he flew frequently, and his last   
   flight physical was in May 1971.   
      
   In April 1972, just before his next physical was due, Bush moved   
   temporarily to Alabama to work on a U.S. Senate race and was given   
   permission to attend Guard drills at a Montgomery Air Guard base. But he   
   did not appear for his May 1972 physical. It is unclear whether Bush's   
   commander, Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian, ordered an inquiry, as   
   required. Bush's biography describes Killian as a friend as well as   
   commander. Bush performed no duty at all until late October 1972, newly   
   public Guard records show.   
      
   The new questions about Bush's service arose a day after the White House   
   disclosed attendance and payroll records that appeared to show that Bush   
   sporadically attended Guard drills from May 1972 to May 1973.   
      
   Major General Paul Weaver Jr., who retired in 2002 as the Pentagon's   
   director of the Air National Guard, said that if there was evidence that   
   Bush's interest in the Guard had waned, it would have been acceptable for   
   Bush's commanders to "cut their losses" and grant him an early release   
   rather than retain a Guard pilot who could no longer fly. Many active-duty   
   pilots with combat experience were eager then to fly in Guard units, he   
   said in an interview.   
      
   .   
   "At this point, we've shared everything we have," Healy said.   
   .   
   A spokesman for the National Guard Bureau said that if there were records   
   about any inquiry into Bush's flight status, they were most likely in his   
   personnel file, stored at a military records facility in Colorado.   
   .   
   Brigadier General David McGinnis, a former top aide to the assistant   
   secretary of defense for reserve affairs, said that Bush's failure to   
   remain on flying status amounted to a violation of the signed pledge by   
   Bush that he would fly for at least five years after he completed flight   
   school in November 1969.   
   .   
   "Failure to take your flight physical is like a failure to show up for   
   duty," McGinnis said in an interview. "It is an obligation you can't blow   
   off."   
   .   
   Bush joined the Texas Air Guard in May 1968 after intercession by friends   
   of his father, who was then a congressman from Houston. He was quickly   
   commissioned, spent a year in flight school in Georgia and then six months   
   learning to fly an F-102 fighter-interceptor at Ellington Air Force Base in   
   Houston. From June 1970 until April 1972, he flew frequently, and his last   
   flight physical was in May 1971.   
   .   
   In April 1972, just before his next physical was due, Bush moved   
   temporarily to Alabama to work on a U.S. Senate race and was given   
   permission to attend Guard drills at a Montgomery Air Guard base. But he   
   did not appear for his May 1972 physical. It is unclear whether Bush's   
   commander, Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian, ordered an inquiry, as   
   required. Bush's biography describes Killian as a friend as well as   
   commander. Bush performed no duty at all until late October 1972, newly   
   public Guard records show.   
   .   
   The new questions about Bush's service arose a day after the White House   
   disclosed attendance and payroll records that appeared to show that Bush   
   sporadically attended Guard drills from May 1972 to May 1973.   
   .   
   Major General Paul Weaver Jr., who retired in 2002 as the Pentagon's   
   director of the Air National Guard, said that if there was evidence that   
   Bush's interest in the Guard had waned, it would have been acceptable for   
   Bush's commanders to "cut their losses" and grant him an early release   
   rather than retain a Guard pilot who could no longer fly. Many active-duty   
   pilots with combat experience were eager then to fly in Guard units, he   
   said in an interview.   
      
    http://www.iht.com/articles/129416.html   
      
      
      
      
   --   
      
   The world is too dangerous to live in---not because of the people   
   who do evil, but because of the people who sit and let it happen."   
      
   --- attributed to Albert Einstein   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)