Bush dismisses report he skipped Air National Guard service

By Kevin Flower/CNN

May 24, 2000
Web posted at: 9:46 a.m. EDT (1346 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Texas Gov. George W. Bush on Tuesday dismissed a newspaper report suggesting he had not fulfilled his Texas Air National Guard service.

"I spent my time and I went to the Guard. It's just not true. I did the duty necessary...any allegations other than that are simply not true," Bush said.

An article in Tuesday's Boston Globe reports a one-year gap in Bush 's service record with the Texas Air National Guard, with no record of any drill activity from May 1972 to April 1973. Attendance at regular drills was a requirement of part-time Air National Guard members.

Bush joined the Air National Air Guard as a pilot in 1968 and served the first four years of his service based in Houston. In 1972, he moved to Alabama to work on the U.S. Senate campaign of Winton M. Blount, where he said he fulfilled his guard service locally on weekends. Upon leaving the campaign, Bush moved back to Houston where he completed the remainder of his six-year Air National Guard commitment.

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."

Bush acknowledged that he was granted special permission to fulfill part of his Guard service in Alabama and that he was also given an early release to attend Harvard Business School, but denied that it was due to any favoritism because of his father's prominence.