'70s memos from Guard officials reveal Bush's efforts to transfer

One memo says that Bush 'made no attempt to meet his training certification.'
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
WASHINGTON -- When President Bush was a lieutenant in the Texas Air National Guard, an official complained that Bush was "talking to someone upstairs" in his bid for transfer to duty in Alabama to work on the campaign of a family friend, documents released late Wednesday by the White House show.
The unsigned memo on May 19, 1972, outlined a "phone call from Bush," who was discussing how to "get out of coming to drill now through November." Bush, who had trained to fly fighter jets for the Guard in Texas and served stateside during the Vietnam War, insisted on seeking a transfer to Alabama any way possible, the memo writer said, because he is "working on another campaign for his dad."
The late-night release of the memos added another layer of complexity and intrigue to the renewed examination of Bush's time in the National Guard in the Vietnam era, the war from more than 30 years ago that has taken an unexpectedly prominent role in this presidential campaign. Bush's challenger, Democrat John Kerry, has been forced to defend his combat service in Vietnam, where he received numerous awards for heroism.
The release of the documents comes seven months after the White House disclosed what it said was an exhaustive list of the president's National Guard records. The documents were released two hours after CBS News raised new questions during a prime-time broadcast about whether Bush was awarded a coveted slot out of favoritism.
Contents of memos
In the May 1972 memo, the author also said that Bush was told he would need written approval for a transfer.
A second memo, signed by Lt. Col. Jerry Killian on Aug. 1, 1972, showed that Bush was ordered suspended from flight status for failure to perform to Air Force and Guard standards and failure to meet an annual physical exam as required. Bush's transfer to an Air Reserve Squadron was recommended, but not allowed, this memo reported. Bush "has made no attempt to meet his training certification or flight physical," the colonel wrote. Bush wanted to transfer to a nonflying unit. Killian recommended that the unit fill Bush's slot with "a more seasoned pilot" from a list of Vietnam pilots who had rotated out.
Bush was told he would need a flight physical, the document shows. Bush replied that he would get that in Alabama.
"I'm having trouble running interference and doing my job," an unnamed official later wrote in a "memo to file" on Aug. 18, 1973, noting that Bush was not present for his pilot rating and as such he would not rate Bush.
"He has this campaign to do and other things that will follow and may not have the time," said the author of the August memo, titled CYA -- which could be military terminology for "Cover Your A--."
Ad questions service
In a related development, a new television ad by a Democratic-leaning group also questioned whether Bush fulfilled his obligations.
The shift of scrutiny from Kerry to Bush marked a pivot in a presidential campaign that has to a surprising degree been focused on Vietnam-era war records.
Former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, who acknowledged he helped secure Bush a coveted position in the Texas Air National Guard, said in a television interview that he regretted making "life or death" decisions based on a man's connections.
Democrats, meanwhile, seized on Pentagon records released this week suggesting that Bush may not have met his full obligations in the Guard. Party leaders accused the president of skirting his duty in a war but also lying about it.
"We didn't want to spend our time in this campaign talking about a war 35 years ago, but it's George Bush's activity 35 years ago that speaks to his credibility today," said Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe.
'AWOL in Alabama?"
A group called Texans for Truth, financed by the Democratic-leaning organization MoveOn.org, began airing ads in five battleground states Wednesday in which a retired lieutenant colonel in the Alabama Guard questioned whether Bush served in that state. The ad asks, "Was George W. Bush AWOL in Alabama?" before demanding: "Tell us whom you served with, Mr. President."
The group said it invested $110,000 in the initial advertising volley, giving it a small reach compared with the multimillion-dollar flood of other political ads. But like a similar ad aired last month by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the commercial has a far wider reach because of press coverage and the Internet.