Was George W. Bush a Deserter? No. Just AWOL
Now that Peter Jennings has asked the question, I am curious: Was
George W. Bush a deserter? The answer appears to be, "Clearly, no." He
just lost interest in flying planes for the Air National Guard in
early 1972, went AWOL for extraordinarily long lengths of time, and
bet (correctly) that the Pentagon would not come after the son of a
prominent Texas Republican politician.

There are also overtones in the files that the Texas Air National
Guard was very glad to see the back of George W. Bush.


uggabugga: ...27 May '68: Sworn in. After 6 weeks of basic airman
training, received a commission as a second lieutenant by means of a
'special appointment' by the commanding officer of his squadron, with
the approval of a panel of three senior officers. (Normally required
eight full semesters of college ROTC courses or eighteen months of
military service or completion of Air Force officer training school.
Texas National Guard historian said that he "never heard of that"
except for flight surgeons.) Assigned to flight school. (Normally
reserved to pilots graduating from ROTC training or Air Force officer
training.) 'Fast tracked' into the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron,
a standby runway alert component of the 143rd Group. (Over those on
the existing pilot applicant waiting list.) Trained to fly the
missile-equipped supersonic F-102 Delta Dart jet interceptor fighter.
Racked up approximately 300 hours of training flight time in the
F-102....

Year 3. Jul '70: Earned his wings.... Jun '70-May '71. Credited with
46 days of flight duty.


Year 4. Jun '71-May '72. Credited with only 22 flight duty days. (14
days short of the minimum 36 days owed the Guard for that year). Apr
'72: Flew for the last time in the cockpit of an F-102. (All the
overseas and stateside military services began subjecting a small
random sample in their ranks to substance abuse testing for alcohol
and drugs.)

Year 5.... 24 May '72: Requested in writing a six-month transfer to an
inactive postal Reserve unit in Alabama. (If Bush had been temporarily
transferred there, he would not have continued flying until he
returned to Texas, because the Alabama unit had no airplanes.) 31 May
'72: Transfer request was denied by National Guard Bureau
headquarters. (Bush should have returned to his base in Houston and
continued with his flying duties. Instead, he remained in Alabama
until late in the fall.) Either: 1st Lt. Bush took his mandatory
annual flight physical for pilots and failed it for some as-yet
undisclosed reason, or he refused to present himself in the first
place to an Air Force Flight Surgeon, who were readily available in
almost every state. (Release of Bush's military service record would
resolve issue.)


1 Aug '72: Suspended and grounded from flying duty on verbal order of
the TX 147th Group's Commanding Officer for "his failure to accomplish
annual medical examination."... Expensively trained pilots are not
casually suspended. There is normally a Flight Inquiry Board. If one
had been convened, its three senior officer members would have
documented why such a severe action was justified in relation to the
country's military objectives at the time.... There is no evidence now
in the public domain that a Flight Inquiry Board was convened to deal
with Bush's official reclassification to a non-flying, grounded
status....

5 Sep '72: Ordered to start serving three months in an active but
non-flying administrative Guard unit, the 187th Tactical
Reconnaissance Group in Montgomery, Alabama, for four certain duty
days in October and November.... Oct/Nov '72: No official notation in
his service record that Bush ever showed up for this assigned duty in
Montgomery, Alabama. Bush: "I was there on temporary assignment and
fulfilled my weekends at one period of time. I made up some missed
weekends. I can't remember what I did, but I wasn't flying because
they didn't have the same airplanes. I fulfilled my obligations."...
General William Turnipseed and Lt. Col. Kenneth Lott, who commanded
the Montgomery, Alabama, base at the time said that Bush never
appeared. "To my knowledge, he never showed up," Turnipseed said.


Nov '72-Fall '73: Returned home to Houston Texas. Did not report in
person for non-flying duty to his parent Texas 111th Squadron during
this whole time.

Year 6. May '73: Ordered to attend nine certain duty days in person
during Summer Camp at Ellington AFB between May 22 and June 7. 1st Lt.
Bush did not do so. 22 May '73-30 Jul '73: Bush was credited with 35
"gratuitous" inactive Air Force Reserve points -- in other words,
non-attendance inactive Reserve credit time. No one in the Texas Air
Guard at the time has stepped forward to say they saw Bush in person
on a single day between May 22 and July 30, 1973. 1 Oct '73:
Prematurely discharged with honors from the Texas Air Guard... without
a single... service day for his fifth and sixth years of service....
26 May '74: Scheduled discharge. Nov '74: Final inactive Reserve
discharge with honors.

It sounds to me like the Texas Air National Guard thought he was much
more trouble than he was worth as a pilot, seized on his failure to
report for his physical to ground him (remarkably quickly). And once
he was no longer on flight status, really didn't care at all whether
they saw him or not.