Did Bush serve?

[StefanS]

From Guardsman...
    By Richard Cohen
    Washington Post


    Tuesday 10 February 2004


    During the Vietnam War, I was what filmmaker Michael Moore would call a "deserter." Along with President Bush and countless other young men, I joined the National Guard, did my six months of active duty (basic training, etc.) and then returned to my home unit, where I eventually dropped from sight. In the end, just like President Bush, I got an honorable discharge. But unlike President Bush, I have just told the truth about my service. He hasn't.


    At least I don't think so. Nothing about Bush during that period -- not his drinking, not his partying -- suggests that he was a consistently conscientious member of the Texas or Alabama Air National Guard. As it happens, there are no records to show that Bush reported for duty during the summer and fall of 1972. Nonetheless, Bush insists he was where he was supposed to be -- "Otherwise I wouldn't have been honorably discharged," Bush told Tim Russert. Please, sir, don't make me laugh.


    It is sort of amazing that every four or eight years, Vietnam -- that long-ago war -- rears up from seemingly nowhere and comes to figure in the national political debate. In 1988 Dan Quayle had to answer for his National Guard service. In 1992 Bill Clinton had to grapple with the question of how he avoided the Vietnam-era draft. Now George Bush, who faced this question the last time out, has to face it again. The reason is that this time he is likely to compete against a genuine war hero. John Kerry did not duck the war.


    But George Bush did. He did so by joining the National Guard. Bush now wants to drape the Vietnam-era Guard with the bloodied flag of today's Iraq-serving Guard -- "I wouldn't denigrate service to the Guard," Bush warned during his interview with Russert -- but the fact remained that back then the Guard was where you went if you did not want to fight. That was the case with me. I opposed the war in Vietnam and had no desire to fight it. Bush, on the other hand, says he supported the war -- as long, it seems, as someone else fought it.


    It hardly matters what Bush did or did not do back in 1972. He is not the man now he was then -- that by his own admission. In the same way, it did not matter that Clinton ducked the draft, because, really, just about everyone I knew at the time was doing something similar. All that really matters is how one accounts for what one did. Do you tell the truth (which Clinton did not)? Or do you do what I think Bush has been doing, which is making his National Guard service into something it was not? In his case, it was a rich kid's way around the draft.


    In my case, it was something similar -- although (darn!) I was not rich. I was, though, lucky enough to get into a National Guard unit in the nick of time, about a day before I was drafted. I did my basic and advanced training (combat engineer) and returned to my unit. I was supposed to attend weekly drills and summer camp, but I found them inconvenient. I "moved" to California and then "moved" back to New York, establishing a confusing paper trail that led, really, nowhere. For two years or so, I played a perfectly legal form of hooky. To show you what a mess the Guard was at the time, I even got paid for all the meetings I missed.


    In the end, I wound up in the Army Reserve. I was assigned to units for which I had no training -- tank repairman, for instance. In some units, we sat around with nothing to do and in one we took turns delivering antiwar lectures. The National Guard and the Reserves were something of a joke. Everyone knew it. Books have been written about it. Maybe things changed dramatically by 1972, two years after I got my discharge, but I kind of doubt it.


    I have no shame about my service, but I know it for what it was -- hardly the Charge of the Light Brigade. When Bush attempts to drape the flag of today's Guard over the one he was in so long ago, when he warns his critics to remember that "there are a lot of really fine people who have served in the National Guard and who are serving in the National Guard today in Iraq," then he is doing now what he was doing then: hiding behind the ones who were really doing the fighting. It's about time he grew up.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A27178-2004Feb9?language=printer

Did he serve or didn't he?

 

[digitalwanderer]

He served his own interests.

 

[Silent_One]

Yes, "He-Served-In-The-National-Guard" just like Richard Cohen served in the National Guard. The article speaks for itself. What's your point? That Bush "grows up"?

 

[digitalwanderer]

What's your point? That Bush "grows up"?

I think his point is that Bush should grow up.

 

[RussSchultz]

The Air National Guard unit actually saw combat, unlike the other national guard units.

Apparently when Bush signed up, his unit was doing rotations in Vietnam.

Needless, I think the national guard experience that the author experienced is a little bit less than the national guard experience that a fighter pilot, even a poor one(if you'd like to believe thats what Bush was), would experience.

Cohen's jibes at current national guard units aren't going to win any hearts either. Its obviously apparent that it's not partying and sitting around drinking beer like he did back then.

 

[John Reynolds]

Cohen's jibes at current national guard units aren't going to win any hearts either. Its obviously apparent that it's not partying and sitting around drinking beer like he did back then.

Heh, I remember telling my 1st sgt. that someone should write a book on the fraud, waste, and abuse I saw in the OANG unit I served in from '85 to '94. Each weekend was pretty much just that, sitting around drinking coffee, BSing with each other, and taking long lunches. I remember watching the civil engineering guys install a large, colored TV in every single room in my office's building because the unit had to spend their budgeted money or see that budget possibly reduced the next year. So after that we sat around drinking coffee, BSing with each other, took long lunches, and watched TV all day. U.S. taxpayers' money hard at work.

 

[martrox]

I normally don't reply to this kind of stuff. However, this time I will..... The whole point of this is not "did he server", rather, as the quote "head of the free world" actually tell the truth.

This question is no differant then the "proof" of weapons of mass destruction. Was that "the truth"?

So, is the President of the United States an honest person or a self serving liar? This is the real question you have to ask yourself.......

 

[digitalwanderer]

So, is the President of the United States an honest person or a self serving liar? This is the real question you have to ask yourself.......

Oh! OH!!! I know this one!!!

He's a self-serving liar, isn't he? :|

Am I right, do I win? 8)

 

[Natoma]

Cohen's jibes at current national guard units aren't going to win any hearts either. Its obviously apparent that it's not partying and sitting around drinking beer like he did back then.

Did I miss something? I could have sworn he was taking jabs at the National Guard during his time, not the National Guard of today which is taking tours of duty in Iraq.

 

[Natoma]

The poll question is a little erroneous. Bush did serve in the Guard. The question is, what was his motive for going to the guard, and was he there when he says he is.

 

[kyleb]

we need a "partially" option.

 

[Sazar]

we also need a "who cares" option...

this means as much as bush' mba...

 

[epicstruggle]

we also need a "who cares" option...

this means as much as bush' mba...

Id also like to know what bush and kerry were doing during the korean war. Its long been known as the forgotten war, but i think it matters alot to many people. Was kerry a bully in school(he was 7)? Did he beat up kids who supported the war?? Did bush skip pre-k and go straight to kindergarden (he was 4)?? Im sure it will matter alot what people did so long ago.

later,
epic

 

[Ty]

Im sure it will matter alot what people did so long ago.

Uh, you just created a topic that wonders if Kerry really threw his medals away. That happened (or didn't happen) "long ago" as well. Two different standards here? What matters more? Fabricating about throwing a medal away (one he earned as a hero) or going AWOL during military service?

 

[horvendile]

These kinds of things creeping into - and taking over - political discussions is one of my main reasons for not being too keen on the focus shift in the Swedish election system from voting on parties to voting on persons (well, still parties, but on persons representing parties). I can see the principle but I don't quite like the practical results.

 

[epicstruggle]

Im sure it will matter alot what people did so long ago.

Uh, you just created a topic that wonders if Kerry really threw his medals away. That happened (or didn't happen) "long ago" as well. Two different standards here? What matters more? Fabricating about throwing a medal away (one he earned as a hero) or going AWOL during military service?

God, we all need a lesson in sarcasm. Ty, the post above was a pure sarcastic comment.

later,
epic
ps. on a side note, if you bring up your past, then i guess its fair game. And kerry has been using his vietnam record to get elected. So i guess people can comment on it.

 

[London Geezer]

Where's the "who f'ing cares" button?

 

[epicstruggle]

Where's the "who f'ing cares" button?

ill second that.

 

[martrox]

Where's the "who f'ing cares" button?

Um....want to ask the families of those that have died in Iraq that?

 

[London Geezer]

Where's the "who f'ing cares" button?

Um....want to ask the families of those that have died in Iraq that?

Would that really change their opinion of Bush...? :|