Here's more from Moore!

Two Democratic senators today called on Gov. George W. Bush to release his full military record to resolve doubts raised by a newspaper about whether he reported for required drills when he was in the Air National Guard in 1972 and 1973.

But a review of records by The New York Times indicated that some of those concerns may be unfounded. Documents reviewed by The Times showed that Mr. Bush served in at least 9 of the 17 months in question... On Sept. 5, 1972, Mr. Bush asked his Texas Air National Guard superiors for assignment to the 187th Tactical Recon Group in Montgomery "for the months of September, October and November." Capt. Kenneth K. Lott, chief of the personnel branch of the 187th Tactical Recon Group, told the Texas commanders that training in September had already occurred but that more training was scheduled for Oct. 7 and 8 and Nov. 4 and 5.

But Mr. Bartlett said Mr. Bush did not serve on those dates because he was involved in the Senate campaign, but he made up those dates later.

Colonel Turnipseed, who retired as a general, said in an interview that regulations allowed Guard members to miss duty as long as it was made up within the same quarter.

Mr. Bartlett pointed to a document in Mr. Bush's military records that showed credit for four days of duty ending Nov. 29 and for eight days ending Dec. 14, 1972, and, after he moved back to Houston, on dates in January, April and May. The May dates correlated with orders sent to Mr. Bush at his Houston apartment on April 23, 1973, in which Sgt. Billy B. Lamar told Mr. Bush to report for active duty on May 1-3 and May 8-10.

Another document showed that Mr. Bush served at various times from May 29, 1973, through July 30, 1973, a period of time questioned by The Globe.

After the 1972 election, Bush returned to Houston, whereupon he should have reported for duty with his unit at Ellington Air Force Base. But in May of 1973, his superiors there reported that they were unable to conduct his yearly evaluation because "Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of this report. A civilian occupation made it necessary for him to move to Montgomery, Alabama. He cleared this base on 15 May 1972 and has been performing equivalent training in a non-flying status with the 187 Tac Recon Gp, Dannelly ANG Base, Alabama." Which he wasn't.

Finally, there is the question of whether Bush ever completed his obligations to the Guard before being discharged. In 2000, his campaign claimed that he crammed in 36 days of duty with his Houston unit during his last three months. The only evidence his team could provide, however, was a torn page listing drills performed -- with no dates and without Bush's name. But given that Bush's official records show no service whatsoever between May of 1972 and his discharge in October of 1973 (by which time he was attending Harvard Business School), one cannot conclude that there is any evidence that he satisfied the obligations of his service.

In his annual evaluation report, Bush's two supervising officers, Lieutenant Colonel William D. Harris Jr. and Lieutenant Colonel Jerry B. Killian, made it clear that Bush had "not been observed at" his Texas unit "during the period of report" -- the twelve month period from May 1972 through the end of April 1973.

In the comments section of this evaluation report Lieutenant Colonel Harris notes that Bush had "cleared this base on 15 May 1972, and has been performing equivalent training in a non flying role with the 187th Tac Recon Gp at Dannelly ANG Base, Alabama" (the Air National Guard Tactical Reconnaissance Group at Dannelly Air Force Base near Montgomery, Alabama).

This was incorrect. Bush didn't apply for duty at Dannelly Air Force Base until September 1972. From May until September he was in limbo, his temporary orders having been rejected. And when his orders to appear at Dannelly came through he still didn't appear. Although his instructions clearly directed Bush to report to Lieutenant Colonel William Turnipseed on the dates of "7-8 October 0730-1600, and 4-5 November 0730-1600," he never did. In interviews conducted with the Boston Globe earlier this year, both General Turnipseed and his former administration officer, Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Lott, said that Bush never put in an appearance.

Bush campaign aides claim, according to a report in the New York Times, that Bush in fact served a single day -- November 29,1972 -- with the Alabama unit. If this is so it means that for a period of six weeks Lieutenant George W. Bush ignored direct instructions from headquarters to report for duty. But it looks even worse for Lieutenant Bush if the memory of Turnipseed and Lott are correct and Bush never reported at all.

I have received a number of e-mails regarding the story that GWB was AWOL for a period of months during the Vietnam War. The story, which I believed to be mainly true, is in fact false. George W. Bush did not "go AWOL" during his time in the service.

George magazine published an article entitled "The Real Military Record of George W. Bush: Not Heroic, but Not AWOL, Either". I have included that article in the section discussing Bush's military record.

I also received a very detailed e-mail from a Navy instructor in California, who asked to remain nameless:

Unnamed Navy instructor wrote:

All the cited documents so far are an assortment of standard form letters that are found in many reserve pilots records. The "smoking gun" AWOL proof cite is actually a standard report evaluation of ANG members that have transferred during an evaluation period. Each command is required to submit an evaluation record even if the member is no longer there to keep a constant an unbroken line of evaluation. The "smoking gun" terminology of "Not observed at this station" is the exact proper wording found in any members record of evaluation during a transfer which oddly the previous cited documents actually prove was the case. This is the standard evaluation extension language used in almost all military records. For the Navy the block is listed with "Not Observed" for the Army it lists "not present for evaluation". The flight suspension letter is also a commonplace form letter suspending flying till an annual physical exam is completed.

This other "smoking gun" is such a common occurrence especially in the ANG that there are other people than George Bush listed on it using the same exact terminology.

Further investigating the documents finds that the AWOL claim is merely wishful thinking by some who simply misunderstand what the military documents say or don't know how common they really are in many service members records.

As you pointed out in your investigation in the final months of George Bush's ANG reserve commitment "when Bush decided to go to business school at Harvard in the fall of 1973, he requested and got an honorable discharge--eight months before his service was scheduled to end." The military does not and cannot by regulation, issue an Honorable Discharge to anyone that has been AWOL or otherwise seriously reprimanded as the resume tries to claim.

You can find reference citation on the Resume' claimed cites of AWOL at Bureau of Naval Personnel under the Uniform Regulations Manual and PERSNET as well the manpower regulations and report evaluation procedures.

My thanks to the e-mailers who set me straight on this matter!

Sorry, PDiddie ... it seems to work fine for me, on several different machines, 2 different ISPs, and various browsers. Its about a 1.1MB PDF file, which dissects and debunks, point-by-point, that "GWB Resume" thing that's been floating around. A couple of pages are devoted to the claims regarding GWB's service record. I'll try to email you a direct link.

The only substance the AWOL story has is the fascination it continues to hold for the credulous Bush-Bashers more committed to agenda than to accuracy.

As I read the facts, sufficient points for contractualy satisfied separation from the obligation were accrued. 50 points were required, 50 points were accomplished. Had those points not been verified and tallied, individually, by scores of clerks, an Honorable Discharge would not have been possible, regardless whether months early or upon full satisfaction of the time component of the obligation. .

Quote:

"The importance of showing up and doing the job."

-- George W. Bush, when asked what he learned during his time in the Texas Air National Guard

There's a large controversy over George Bush's last two years of service, and the Bush campaign offered a lot of explaining and one piece of paper to account for the most egregious lapse of service records: his 1972-73 year. But while the 1972-73 and 73-74 Statements for Points Earned do show that Bush racked up the points necessary for his honorable discharge, they also expose the haphazard way that Bush did so. In fact, they reveal the exact blunt truth of how Bush described his chief lesson from the TANG.

There are two copies of 1st Lt. George Bush's SPE for the years 1972-73, the main year in question concerning Bush's military service. Both copies exhibit the same damage, but the one used by George Magazine in their exoneration of Bush's record has some handwriting explaining the page that doesn't appear on the one found at AWOLBush.com. Here's links to both:

The unaltered SPE

George Magazine's altered but more legible SPE

For an example of a complete Statement of Points Earned, check out Bush's 1973-1974 record.

By this reckoning:

Just as the George Magazine article states, Bush had enough retirement points to maintain his Guardsman status honorably, just like he accumulated enough electoral votes to become President.

But from 26 May 72 until 28 Nov 72, Bush blew off his Guard duty to work in Winston Blount's failed Senatorial campaign. He applied for one transfer to an Kansas unit and moved before the transfer was approved (it wasn't). In September, Bush applied again for an Alabama unit and was ordered to report for duty in October. He didn't.

He also blew off his piloting license. He missed his physical, because of his own admission that he no longer "intended" to fly, this despite the years of training at government expense. Do Guardsmen get to decide unilaterally what they will and will not do in the Guard? Bush was allowed this sovereignty.

But not forever. By my reading of his record, Bush got some form of talking-to in November. He showed up for some makeup days somewhere. But all was not well in Lt. Bush's life. That Christmas, he took an underage Marvin out drinking and challenged his dad to settle their differences "mano a mano." When he sobered up from that one, he got back into a routine of attendance, getting the points he needed for the quarter.

But when Bush wandered away from regular attendance again, somebody lit a fire under his posterior. On 73 April 23, Bush was ordered to attend ACDUTRA beginning 73 May 22. He also crunched six more days of active duty into the month of 73 May, with four more inactive duty points for good measure. Further, from his 73-74 SPE, you can see George putting PAID to his Guard service. Late May, June and July are a flurry of active duty points. Finally, the last point was on record, and the last hour was served. Bush had in two months accumulated enough points to apply for an early release to attend Harvard Business School. He got it.

But he didn't even come back to sign the paper for his transfer to a non-attendance-required Denver Guard unit. The Guard tacked on an extra six months as a final door prize for Bush. But it was probably unnoticed. By that time, Lt. Bush was at Harvard, applying the lesson he'd learned at the Texas Air National Guard.

NOVAK: See, the problem -- the problem is one of -- one of -- one of George Bush's supporters told me off the record -- I mean, not for quotation -- that the problem that the president has is he was drinking beer in Alabama when this guy (John Kerry) was -- was fighting in the war....That's a problem!