According to this article, it is fairly obvious that the President really didn't honor his commitment -- to the tune of at least 24 absences which were not made up within the regulation time frame. I know what happens to me if I don't show up for work for 24 days, and I know what would happen to most GI's who disappeared for 24 days during Vietnam...
Documents prove that Bush ignored his commitment to the United States military
By Paul Lukasiak
Online Journal Contributing Writer
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March 4, 2004—On Tuesday, February 10, the White House released copies of George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard "retirement points" and payroll records from the years 1972 and 1973. During the daily press briefing that day, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan asserted no less than 12 times that the documents that were released showed that "the president [sic] fulfilled his duties.".
This is simply false. The criteria McClellan used had nothing to do with "fulfillment" of Bush's duty. And the documents demonstrate that Bush failed to do his duty under the laws and regulations of the United State and its Air Force during the last third of his six-year term.
The documents also demonstrate that, even under McClellan's incorrect criteria, Bush failed to do his duty during his last full year of service.
Bush's Real Obligation and His Failure to "Do His Duty"
Under Air Force regulations at that time, Bush (as a member of the Texas Air National Guard) had a six-year "Military Service Obligation" (MSO) to the "Ready Reserve" of the US Air Force. Those regulations defined "satisfactory participation" as 48 periods of Inactive Duty training, and 15 days of Active Duty training, each fiscal year. (The fiscal year during the period in question ran from July 1-June 30.) Only four absences from Inactive Duty Training were allowed. If there were more than four absences, the airman was deemed to have "failed to satisfactorily participate."
These Air Force Reserve requirements were based on both federal statutes (which defined required training as 48 assemblies for "drill and instruction" and 15 days of "training at encampment, maneuvers, outside target practice or other exercises") as well as the extant Code of Federal Regulations. Up to 10 percent of scheduled training periods and drills could be missed as "unexcused absences." But an "excused absence" was defined only as an absence that was due to "sickness, injury, or some other circumstances beyond the individuals control and . . . the training is made up by performance of equivalent drills or training period—all other situations are considered unexcused absences." (emphasis added) Failure to meet these standards was defined as "unsatisfactory participation."
Air Force Reserve regulations at that time prescribed that "excused absences" had to be made up either 15 days before a scheduled training period, or 30 days after a scheduled training period.
In other words, at the time that Bush was a member of the Texas Air National Guard and the United States Air Force Ready Reserve, he was absolutely required to attend at least 44 "Inactive Duty Training Periods." In FY 1972-73, Bush was credited with only 36 such training periods and thus had at least 12 "unexcused absences." In FY 1973-74, Bush was credited with only 12 such training periods in the 10 months and 26 days remaining in his six-year military service obligation. Because of the limits on making up missed training periods, Bush would have had, at minimum, 24 unexcused absences during FY 1973-74.
Thus under federal statutory law, federal regulations, and Air Force regulations, Bush was guilty of unsatisfactory participation during his last two years of service in the United States military.
Under the regulations at that time, this "failure" should have resulted in Bush being reported to Air Reserve Personnel Center (ARPC), and ordered to Active Duty for up to 24 months.
A Note About the "Lloyd Memo"
The White House based its claim that Bush had "fulfilled his duty" on a memo written for the 2000 Bush campaign by Albert Lloyd, a retired Air Force Personnel Specialist. Lloyd based his claim that Bush had "satisfactory years for both 72-73 and 73-74 which proves he completed his military obligation in a satisfactory manner" on the completely erroneous premise that Bush's "military obligation" was based solely on whether or not Bush got credit within the Air Force retirement system for a year's worth of service. Lloyd completely ignored the requirements set down by US statutory law, the Federal Code of Regulation, and the Air Force's own regulations in drawing his conclusions in a display that can only be characterized as the effects of advanced senility or partisan hackmanship.
Simply put, whether one qualifies for a "good year" in the retirement system is completely irrelevant within the Air Force Reserve system to whether those who, like Bush, had an outstanding military service obligation and Ready Reserve obligation managed to fulfill those obligation. This was especially true for those whom the Air Force had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars training to be pilots.
Ironically, the documents themselves demonstrate that, even under the Lloyd standard, Bush would have failed to have fulfilled his military obligation. According to the documents, Bush was placed on "Inactive Status" effective September 15, which made him ineligible for "gratuitous membership points" which were only awarded to those who had "Active Status." Bush required all 15 available "gratuitous points" in order to get to 50 points—-and being placed on "Inactive" status denied him the full 15 points.
See the documents that are contained in a printable version of this article in .pdf format.