Answering Kerry’s questions

The recent actions by the swift boat veterans have triggered a vicious reaction by the Kerry campaign against the service of President Bush in the Air National Guard. To be candid, the Bush campaign has done a poor job in countering the attacks, thereby aiding their longevity.

While Mr. Bush has only offered praise for John Kerry’s service to the country, Mr. Kerry has personally questioned Mr. Bush’s dedicated service and specifically slandered all of those who have served in the Guard, equating it with fleeing to Canada.

The Kerry campaign has posted these “Unanswered Questions” on its Web site since April, providing sustenance to the anti-Bush pundits and Web dialogs.

While the allegations against Mr. Bush are numerous, let’s limit ourselves to these questions because they have Mr. Kerry’s imprimatur.

1. Mr. Bush used special treatment to jump ahead of 150 applicants into the Guard. Further, he used influence to get a direct commission rather than go to Officer Candidate School.

There may have been 150 or more applicants for all positions in Mr. Bush’s unit. For pilot slots, however, the pool was much smaller, probably never more than 10, because of the stringent physical and educational criteria. It is possible that some influence was applied at the margins, like who got which of two yearly slots first, but that’s life. It is ironic that the media is hypocritically worked up on this fact of life, given William McGowan’s study on the nepotism for the children of media biggies in their own profession.

Also, political influence did not get Mr. Bush a special direct commission to lieutenant. The direct commission was the normal procedure for those selected for a pilot slot. Every pilot candidate got one. I did, too. It was contingent upon completion of the year-long pilot training. If you washed out, you reverted to enlisted status. And once you were in pilot training, all the political influence in the world wouldn’t make those instructors pass a guy who couldn’t hack it.

2. Col. Albert Lloyd, Texas Guard personnel officer, said a report on Mr. Bush’s Alabama service should have been filed.

3. Why hasn’t Mr. Bush proved he showed up in Alabama?

With due respect to Col. Lloyd, who might be shocked by this, that’s not really the way it worked with pilots. Operations, the flying part of a Guard organization, works out many deals with other units on an informal basis. Mr. Bush’s “pulling drills” in Alabama would be an agreement between units’ Operations people.

There may be a letter to authorize the out-of-state drills, as Mr. Bush had, but no formal transfer to the other unit, hence no other paperwork. In Alabama someone would be delegated to verify attendance, using a Form 105 punch card. These would be sent back to Texas for pay and then destroyed after a few years. Three witnesses have verified Mr. Bush’s presence in Alabama: a dentist, a flight surgeon and a safety officer, William Calhoun. As a commander, I had probably 10 “visitors” from other units whose Form 105s I signed, but I never wrote any other reports. My visitors worked in a 6x10 plans office. Nobody saw them. If they didn’t show up, I usually didn’t care.

4. Why did Mr. Bush miss his medical examination in 1972?

5. Why was there no investigation?

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