Quoted: I have been in the guard. People leave the guard "without permission" all the time. Even officers. It becomes an issue if their unit deploys. I don't believe that Bush's unit was called up during his absence. Being an officer in the guard is fucking hard. You don't just give up one weekend a month, two weeks a year. It is usually 2 or 3 two week deployments a year and 2 or 3 weekends a month. Air National Guard pilots did deploy to Vietnam, but more to the point, he did serve. To equate him with a draft-dodger is an insult to members of the national guard. I am the first one to mention that Teddy Kennedy served (as an enlisted). But don't equate draft dodgers to people who took the oath.
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I agree completely. If I came across as suggesting they were equal, then that was unintended.
If his unit was called up, that would be different. But to miss some weekend drills really isn't a big deal. You don't show up, you don't get paid. That is about it. And since he was a pilot, weekend drill consisted of flying jets on the government paycheck. A pretty good deal actually.
You know I was just joshing you, sort of.
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I wasn't sure - sorry if I over-reacted
But I gained a lot of respect for the National Guard after being active for 9 years. Being in the guard is a lot harder than many give credit for.
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I do agree - but his service didn't seem to be too hard. Apparently a large part of his service involved working on some politicans Senate election campaign in Alabama. Sounds less hard
A deferment is one thing. But to fake medical injury (like Kemp and Dean) or lying about ROTC (like Clinton) is a hell of a lot different than joining the guard.
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On that we are in complete agreement. My POS brother faked a medical condition to get out of the draft in Denmark. Still makes me angry to this day!
As for his dad pullilng strings, no surprise there. Being a pilot is tough. But his Yale degree probably would have gotten him in anyway. A lot of pilots I know personally had to get waivors from various sources to get their flying slots. I wish I could have gotten one.
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Apparently there was quite a waiting list. Here's one thing I found from teh Washington Post:
... Bush joined the National Guard 12 days before his student deferment would have expired, and that in spite of his low score on the pilot's aptitude test (25, the lowest score allowed), and in spite of the waiting list that some kids spent years on, Bush was sworn in as an airman the day he applied. Indeed, so giddy was Bush's commander, Col. Walter B. "Buck" Staudt, that he later staged a special ceremony so he could have his picture taken giving Bush the oath, instead of the captain who actually had sworn Bush in.
That kind of stuff irritates the hell out of me. I know it happens, and it happened to me in the military, when I lost my platoon to some guy who wanted to be in my regiment and had connections out the wazoo!
I'm probably just overly sensitive to people who get a free ride in the military because of family conenctions - because I've been the one who got the short end of the stick!