Honorably Discharging a Bush Defense

From MTP:

Russert: The Boston Globe and the Associated Press have gone through some of the records and said there’s no evidence that you reported to duty in Alabama during the summer and fall of 1972.

President Bush: Yeah, they’re — they're just wrong. There may be no evidence, but I did report; otherwise, I wouldn't have been honorably discharged. In other words, you don't just say "I did something" without there being verification. Military doesn't work that way. I got an honorable discharge, and I did show up in Alabama.

There's nothing particularly noteworthy about this exchange; Bush's defense has always been, essentially, "I got an honorable discharge, therefore I didn't do anything wrong."

But is that what an honorable discharge means?

It looks like we have an answer:

Current U.S. Representative Bobby Rush, a Democrat from Illinois, served in the army through the mid-1960s, becoming progressively more involved with radical antiwar groups. In 1968, after Martin Luther King's assassination, he went AWOL from his unit to help found the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers. Weeks later, he was honorably discharged.

In 1999, a Texas sheriff up for reelection saw his candidacy unravel after local newspapers reported that, despite a subsequent honorable discharge, he'd skipped out on Army service for several months in 1976 to "patch things up with his ex-wife." (He lost badly in a primary shortly after the revelations broke.)

...

A few years ago, a guest columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ruminated on going AWOL from his unit routinely with a "case of beer" to drink himself "into oblivion." "I don't know how, but I did manage to get an honorable discharge."

Huh. Interesting. Oh, I almost forgot the best example:

John Allen Muhammad, convicted last November for his participation in the D.C. sniper shootings, served in the Louisiana National Guard from 1978-1985, where he faced two summary courts-martial. In 1983, he was charged with striking an officer, stealing a tape measure, and going AWOL. Sentenced to seven days in the brig, he received an honorable discharge in 1985.

To be clear: I'm certain that the vast majority of Guard Members who recieve honorable discharges never went AWOL, never struck an officer, never stole a tape measure, and didn't wander off routinely with a case of beer to drink themselves into oblivion. I'm sure they showed up when they were supposed to, did what they were supposed to, and generally behaved ... well, "honorably."

That may all be true of George W. Bush as well. But it's quite clear that his "honorable discharge" doesn't mean that it is true.

I think it's well past time to put the "I did report; otherwise, I wouldn't have been honorably discharged" bit to rest.

Comments

[CatM]

This is so true! There was the Washington Post writer who said he skipped a lot of weekends and still got paid AND was honorably discharged! An honorable discharge means a lot less than the Bush administration wants people to think.