posted on Jul, 9 2004 @ 01:14 PM
After Yale, Bush successfully dodged the draft by volunteering for a six-year hitch in the Texas Air National Guard. This required some serious
string-pulling, but the Bushes had lots of friends in high places. Evidently hoping to avoid winding up in Southeast Asia, on his application George
checked the box labeled do not volunteer under the heading "overseas assignment."
Bush was immediately accepted into the Guard, where he got promoted in record time. He was also fast-tracked into the 111th Fighter Interceptor
Squadron, which involved skipping over a waiting list full of qualified applicants. And then for four years he did as little work as possible, just
the minimum required to remain in the unit, which was based in Houston.
Then in May 1972, with two years left on his enlistment, George headed off to Alabama and requested reassignment to an inactive postal unit there.
This request was a little odd for an Air National Guardsman, seeing that the outfit had no airplanes. Bush's request was denied. But for some reason
he decided to stick around Alabama for a few months and didn't return to his Houston post until he was required to receive an annual physical.
Then, for some reason, Bush was grounded by his commander for "his failure to accomplish annual medical examination." Either he never showed up, or
he flunked it. We don't know for certain because his military records are sealed, and can only be made public with the subject's assent. Bush has
never chosen to make them available.
The most plausible theory is that George ran into a problem with the compulsory drug testing. If he did show up for the physical, maybe he flunked the
urinalysis. If he didn't show up, maybe it was out of fear of what the drug test would reveal. Whatever the reason, Bush never flew again. And he
still had another two years to go on his enlistment. So he just sat around. In fact it's unclear exactly what, if anything, he did during those two
remaining years. The only thing we know for sure: whatever it was involved neither flying planes nor getting shipped off to Vietnam.
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How Bush Beat the Draft
[edit on 9-7-2004 by Sauron]