Nu2salt, last time on this Bush military issue and then we will have to agree to disagree. Here is my position:
--George Bush received an honorable discharge on time, when he was supposed to receive it without any presidential amnesties (unlike Kerry which I am going to prove in my next post).
--George Bush undoubtably got help getting into the pilot program in the Air National Guard. But that is not a "cushy job". He flew the same equivalent Air Force fighters that Vietnam vets flew. In fact, he and his unit were available for assignment in Thailand to fly fighter/interceptor missions over North Vietnam. Nothing cushy about that.
--George Bush was on active duty for at least two years. Logically, it takes at least that time to be combat qualified which he was. That is probably equal to or greater than the active duty time Kerry served. Bush then served two years or more in the active reserve flying every week so he was in the active reserve but Kerry wasn't, he bailed out of the Navy early to found the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Bush then was on inactive reserve status for his fifth and sixth year, just like I was, just like every reservist is whether it be the Navy, Air Force, Marines or Army. His position was taken by an Air Force pilot wishing to stay in the active Air Force Reserve just as my job was taken by an Army Reserve Officer wanting to stay in the active reserves. I explained this a few days ago in another post.
So Bush did his duty and got an honorable discharge on time and has released his military records.
John Kerry got our early, got at best a general discharge but it may have been dishonorable, threw his medals away, protested the war, discriminated against all Vietnam Vets by calling them "war criminals", met with the enemy, and had to beg for an honorable discharge from President Carter under his amnesty program.
Why Kerry would make his military record the center piece of his presidential strategy is totally beyond me. It was insane. The only answer is that he and his advisors felt that the american public was so stupid that they would never figure it out and with the war on terror raging who would question his service and it would be a great smoke-screen to hide his horrendous Senate record. But the truth has come out and he doesn't have the answers. In fact, none of us do yet because Kerry refuses to release his military records.