Bush releases his military records
WASHINGTON -- After days of hesitation, the White House last night made public what it said were all of President Bush's military records. But the records seemed to add virtually no new information about Bush's stint in the Texas Air National Guard that concluded with a final year of sporadic duty and an early return in 1973 to civilian life.
An initial review of the more than 300 pages found no additional documentation about why Bush went months without attending required drills while he was living in Montgomery, Ala., and at his home base in Houston between May 1972 and May 1973.
The documents also do not clear up another mystery about Bush's military service: why then First Lieutenant Bush, a fighter-interceptor pilot, did not take his required annual flight physical examination in mid-1972. On Aug. 1, 1972, he was suspended from flight status for not taking the physical, and never flew again.
The records made public last night add little to the more than 160 pages of Bush's military records that the Globe obtained four years ago.
Although Bush promised last Sunday during a broadcast interview to release all his military records, his aides by midweek had backed away from that pledge. Yesterday, White House officials told reporters, Bush made the decision to make everything public.
Dan Bartlett, White House communications director, referring to days of contentious questioning during White House briefings this week, said Bush "sees the silliness that's going on in the briefing room. He's like, `Put it out.' There's this wrong impression that there was something in there to hide."
Bush, he said, is "proud of his service, proud of his duty in the National Guard. He met his requirements and was honorably discharged. This obviously demonstrates that."
In addition to the release of service records, a group of White House reporters were allowed to look through Bush's military medical records. The records did not seem to show anything unusual.
The records made public last night paint a clear portrait of the start and middle of Bush's five years as a guardsman. When he joined in May 1968, fresh out of Yale University, Bush applied for flight school, saying he had a goal of "making flying a lifetime pursuit."
The day he joined, four years before the period when his attendance became irregular, he also signed a statement signifying that he understood the consequences of not measuring up to Guard requirements: "I understand that I may be ordered to active duty for a period not to exceed 24 months for unsatisfactory participation."
The documents also contain accolades for Bush from his superiors during the two years of regular flying he did with his unit in Houston before he stopped flying. "Lt. Bush is a dynamic outstanding young officer. . . a tenacious competitor and an aggressive pilot," Lieutenant Colonel Jerry B. Killian, his commander and friend, wrote when Bush was promoted to first lieutenant in November 1970. "He is mature beyond his age and experience level."
But the newly released records add no new information to the murkier conclusion to Bush's Guard service, the final 18 months when he had ceased flying and went more than five months at one point without attending a drill.
Earlier this week, two retired National Guard generals told the Globe that it was almost unheard of for a military aviator to miss an annual flight physical. And the Globe reported that Guard regulations would have required an investigation of Bush's failure to take the physical.
But the new records contain no hint of any such inquiry.
Bartlett told reporters that Bush did not have to take the exam in mid-1972 because he had moved temporarily to Alabama and was going to perform his duty in nonflying status.
Some of the documents are unredacted versions of records previously made public. One contains a notation, long since reported, that Bush was arrested for disorderly conduct for a Yale fraternity prank. And they note that as a teenager, Bush had two speeding tickets and two citations for "negligent collisions," an apparent reference to automobile accidents.
Earlier this week, new documents became public containing evidence that Bush attended about 25 days of Guard training between May 27, 1972, and May 26, 1973. For eight of those 12 months, he performed no duty at all. And he did a flurry of drills, 11 days, in May 1973 after receiving special orders to report for them.
The White House said the 25 days were sufficient to fulfill his obligation for retirement credit. But he fell two weeks shy of the minimum number of annual training days expected of guardsmen. Soon after, Bush left the Guard to attend Harvard Business School. His official discharge date was Oct. 1, 1973 -- 14 months before his military commitment would normally have concluded.
Last night, according to the Associated Press, Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Debra DeShong said "each revelation of material from the Bush White House has raised more questions than it has answered. It remains to be seen if these newest documents will provide any answers."
The president's lackadaisical approach in the latter portion of his National Guard service was first reported in May 2000 by the Globe, which obtained more than 160 pages of Bush's military records. Those records contained no evidence that Bush appeared for Air National Guard duty between April 16, 1972, and May 1, 1973. Moreover, the records contained a May 2, 1973, statement by two of his superiors at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston that they could not do his annual rating because he had not been observed at the base for the previous 12 months.
The apparent gap in Bush's attendance occurred during a period when he received permission from his superiors to move temporarily to Alabama in May 1972 to work on a Republican US Senate campaign. The records showed that Bush was scheduled for just two weekend drills, in September and October 1972, with an Air Guard unit in Montgomery. But the unit's commander said in interviews in 2000 that Bush never appeared at his unit.
Last month, questions about Bush's service resurfaced after documentary filmmaker Michael Moore castigated him as a military "deserter." Soon after, Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe charged that Bush had been "absent without leave" after the government had invested at least a quarter of a million dollars to train him as a fighter pilot.
In an interview Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Bush sought to quell the controversy over the missed months of his Guard service, saying he was willing to make his entire military personnel file public.
Earlier this week, the White House then released payroll and other documents showing Bush had done periodic service in Alabama and Houston during the year in question, and made public a statement by a Texas Air Guard personnel specialist who said showed that Bush had a "satisfactory year" for retirement purposes and had fulfilled his commitment with the Guard.
On Wednesday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that Bush's opponents were "trolling for trash," then presided over a combative news conference where he backed away from Bush's nationally televised pledge to release his full National Guard record.
On Thursday, the political risks of the controversy were accentuated when major news organizations reported the accusations of retired Lieutenant Colonel Bill Burkett, who said he witnessed high-ranking Guard officials, working at the behest of then-governor Bush's top aides, purge the Bush file of embarrassing documents. But the Globe reported that a corroborating witness, former chief warrant officer George O. Conn, said the central elements of Burkett's accusations were false.
The White House earlier this week also released a document saying that Bush showed up at the Alabama Guard base for a dental exam in January 1973.
And the White House made available to reporters a retired Guard lieutenant colonel, John Calhoun, who said Bush appeared for frequent drills at the Alabama unit in 1972. But Bush's records do not support Calhoun's claim. And numerous other members of the Alabama Guard unit told reporters this week that they did not recall Bush appearing at the unit.
Globe reporters Michael Rezendes and Francie Latour contributed to this report. Material from the Associated Press also was used. 