Before the president delivered remarks on the war on terror in the National Guard Building in DC, Bush received a nice bronze gift.
Presidents are often memorialized in their most famous moments — George Washington crossing the Delaware, Theodore Roosevelt at San Juan Hill.
Now President Bush’s time in the Texas Air National Guard has been immortalized in bronze. The National Guard Association of the United States yesterday unveiled a bust of a young Lt. George W. Bush.
Now, if only Bush’s time in the Texas Air National Guard deserved to be immortalized in bronze, the bust might have been more appropriate.
A review of the regulations governing Bush’s Guard service during the Vietnam War shows that the White House used an inappropriate — and less stringent — Air Force standard in determining that he had fulfilled his duty. Because Bush signed a six-year “military service obligation,” he was required to attend at least 44 inactive-duty training drills each fiscal year beginning July 1. But Bush’s own records show that he fell short of that requirement, attending only 36 drills in the 1972-73 period, and only 12 in the 1973-74 period. The White House has said that Bush’s service should be calculated using 12-month periods beginning on his induction date in May 1968. Using this time frame, however, Bush still fails the Air Force obligation standard.
Moreover, White House officials say, Bush should be judged on whether he attended enough drills to count toward retirement. They say he accumulated sufficient points under this grading system. Yet, even using their method, which some military experts say is incorrect, U.S. News ‘s analysis shows that Bush once again fell short. His military records reveal that he failed to attend enough active-duty training and weekend drills to gain the 50 points necessary to count his final year toward retirement.
The U.S. News analysis also showed that during the final two years of his obligation, Bush did not comply with Air Force regulations that impose a time limit on making up missed drills. What’s more, he apparently never made up five months of drills he missed in 1972, contrary to assertions by the administration.
According the WaPo account of yesterday’s event, after receiving the bust, the president “seemed no more eager to talk about [his Guard service] yesterday than he did in his 2004 reelection campaign” and “offered virtually no comment on the bust at all.” Sore subject?