http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/...bushguard.cnn/
Bush dismisses report he skipped Air National Guard service
"Responding to the Globe's report that his Alabama base commander had no recollection of Bush ever showing for drills, the governor said "I pulled duty in Alabama and I read the comments and the guy said he didn't remember me. That's 27 years ago, but I remember being there."
Asked about his Air National Guard attendance record, Bush told reporters it was "spotty attendance but I did the duty necessary... I did the time that was required in the Guard."
http://archive.salon.com/politics200...0/05/24/guard/
Though Bush promised to continue his service while stationed in that state, there is no evidence that he ever showed up for Alabama Guard duty. "Had he reported in, I would have had some recall, and I do not," said retired Gen. William Turnipseed, who commanded the Alabama unit at the time Bush claims to have served. "I had been in Texas, done my flight training there. If we had a first lieutenant from Texas, I would have remembered."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...¬Found=true
Records of Bush's Ala. Military Duty Can't Be Found
"In May, retired Gen. William Turnipseed, the former commander of the Alabama Guard unit, said Bush did not report to him, although the young airman was required to do so. His orders, dated Sept. 15, 1972, said: "Lieutenant Bush should report to Lt. Col. William Turnipseed, DCO, to perform equivalent training."
This one's dated May 31, 2003
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0531-03.htm
"Mr. Bush learned to fly in the National Guard at a taxpayer expense of $1 million, then proceeded to become absent without leave — also known as AWOL — for which many service personnel have received jail sentences. Mr. Bush's official biography shows that he served as a pilot with the Texas Guard from 1968 to 1973. Mr. Bush did not go to Vietnam. According to Mr. Gallagher's and other published reports, Mr. Bush went to weekend meetings at the Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Ellington Field in Houston from June 1970 until April 1972. Then a funny thing happened.
Mr. Bush went to Alabama to work on the U.S. Senate campaign of one of his father's friends. He continued serving in the National Guard, he says. That may be a lie. It wouldn't be his first and it certainly won't be his last. The records of the Montgomery unit he claims to have joined do not show that he ever served there. His annual effectiveness report, signed by two superiors, said he had not been observed at the unit to which he was assigned."
http://www.thenation.com/capitalgame...?bid=3&pid=633
"More curious, the records showed Bush had not reported for Guard duty during a long stretch of that period. Had the future commander-in-chief been AWOL?
In May 1972, with two years to go on his six-year commitment to the Guard, Bush moved to Alabama to work on a Senate campaign. He asked if he could do his Guard duty there. This son-of-a-congressman and fighter pilot won permission to do "equivalent training" at a unit that had no aircraft and no pilots. The national Air Reserve office then disallowed this transfer. For months, Bush did nothing for the Guard. In September 1972, he won permission to train with a unit in Montgomery. But the commander of the unit and his administrative officer told the Boston Globe that they had no recollection of Bush ever reporting for duty. And when Bush returned to Texas after the November election, he did not return to his unit for months, according to his military records. His annual performance report, dated May 2, 1973, noted he had "not been observed at this unit" for the past year. In May, June and July of that year, he did pull 36 days of duty."
How do you fly at a unit with no pilots and no planes?