Facts:
Bush served for 5.5 years in the TANG. 4 years of those were on active duty, because you don’t learn to fly planes one weekend a month.
Only the last year (1973) is in dispute, when he was on inactive duty and was living in Alabama.
National Guard rules:
Remember the “one weekend a month” ads? Well, its not every month. Its really 28 days/year you have to show up when you’re on inactive duty. You can do it in batches.
If you’re in a different state while on inactive duty, you can show up at the local NG place and do your service there. They won’t have “extra” planes for you to fly, though. This rule makes sense if you think about it, people in the NG have day jobs.
Add all these up, and basically, his last year, Bush did his minimum number of days he had to do early in the year, and then didn’t have to show up after that. His time in Alabama mostly involved sitting around being bored, because a fighter pilot without a plane is like lips on a chicken.
The Texas Air National Guard discharged him early, basically because all the National Guard units were stuffed with people.
So this is just election year FUBAR.
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