"These kinds of attacks have no place in politics, and everyone should condemn
them," McClellan said.
Bush spent most of his time in the Guard based near Houston, but in May 1972 he
received a three-month assignment in Alabama so he could work on a political
campaign.
While serving as political director of the Senate campaign of Winton "Red"
Blount, a family friend, he was ordered to report for duty at the 187th
Tactical Recon Unit in Montgomery, Ala. The 187th did not fly F-102s, so Bush
did not go to the base as a pilot. After missing a required physical exam and
being out of the cockpit so long, he lost his flight credentials in Alabama.
Retired Gen. William Turnipseed, a commander at the base, said during the 2000
campaign he never saw Bush appear for duty. Bush, however, says he remembers
meeting Turnipseed and performing drills at the base.
Bush's campaign staff searched for records that would show he was actually
there, but concluded none of those records survived.
Bush said in his autobiography that he and a friend, Fred Bailey, tried to join
a program called Palace Alert that rotated National Guard pilots into Vietnam.
Hey the one about him wanting to go to Vietnam is as funny as him talking about
being a fiscal conservative.
A colonel told them only a few more pilots would go and "Fred and I had not
logged enough hours to participate," Bush wrote.
Doing Insurance business in the Garden State
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