NOTE: THIS ARTICLE IS BASED ON THE DATA USED IN Fraud: The Secrets of Bush’s Payroll Records
Revealed, and is part of The AWOL Project, an examination of
Bush’s military records within the context of the contemporaneous United States
Statutes, Department of Defense regulations, and Air Force Policies. Comments, suggestions and questions should
be directed to awol@glcq.com.
EXPOSED
BUSH’S
LIES ABOUT “MAKING UP” FOR THE TRAINING HE WAS SUPPOSED TO PERFORM
From
the Dallas
Morning News,
5/26/2000
The
proof that Bush and his spokespeople have been lying about “making up” the
required training is found in the “transaction data” at the bottom of Bush’s
quarterly payroll reports.
Transaction
Data Lines from Bush’s First Quarter 1973
Payroll Report…”
These
lines of data show what was on the punch cards that were used to enter data
into the payroll system. The
information includes not just the days for which Bush was paid for
training. When “substitute training”
was performed, the data reveals which month’s training was being “made
up.” (see Appendix
2: Understanding the Payroll Data.)
Bush
was required to attend a weekend of scheduled “Inactive Duty Training”
with his unit each month[3] Each weekend was broken up into 4 four-hour
training periods, called “Unit Training Assemblies” (UTAs). There were two UTAs (one in the morning, and
the second in the afternoon) on both Saturday and Sunday. [4].
Attendance
at each required UTA was tracked using the payroll system. When “substitute training” for a
missed UTA was performed, it was associated with a specific required UTA
period.
TABLE
1—Dates Training was Performed, and Credited Training Credited to Dates Training was Performed December, 1971 December 4 & 5 1971 January, 1972 January 8 & 9, 1972 February, 1972 February 9, 10, & 11, 1972* March, 1972 March 12, 14, & 15, 1972** April, 1972 April 15 & 16, 1972 May, 1972 NO TRAINING CREDITED June, 1972 NO TRAINING CREDITED July, 1972 NO TRAINING CREDITED August, 1972 NO TRAINING CREDITED September, 1972 NO TRAINING CREDITED October, 1972 October 28 & 29, 1972 November, 1972 November 11 & 12, 1972 December, 1972 November 13 & 14, 1972 January, 1973 January 4 & 5, 1973 February, 1973 January 6 & 8, 1973 March, 1973 January 9 & 10, 1973 April, 1973 April 7 & 8, 1973 May, 1973 May 19 & 20, 1973 June, 1973 June 23 & 24, 1973 July, 1973 July 21 & 22, 1973 August, 1973 July 16 & 17, 1973 September, 1973 July 18 & 19, 1973 *two periods of training on Feb 9, one period
on Feb 10 & 11 each *two periods of training on Mar 12, one period on Mar 14 & 15
each LEGEND GRAY
SHADED ROWS—No Training Credited YELLOW
SHADED ROWS—Substitute Training in Alabama GREEN
SHADED ROWS—Substitute Training in Texas WHITE
ROW—UTAs Performed on Date Scheduled
Table
1 represents all of the training credited toward mandatory monthly drills for
the period covered by the payroll documents released by the White House
(December 1971 through September 1973.)[5]
Each
day on which Bush received credit for performing UTAs or “substitute training”
that was credited toward UTAs is represented in Table 1, and is associated with
mandatory monthly training toward which it was credited.
For
instance, the entry for April 1972 shows that Bush was paid for training on
April 15 & 16, 1972 and that training was credited toward April 1972’s
mandatory training weekend. The entry
for December 1972 shows how Bush was paid for training on November 13 & 14
1972 that was credited toward December 1972’s mandatory training weekend.
The
Table shows conclusively that Bush never made up any of the training that he
failed to perform for five straight months, from May 1972 to September
1972.
Bush
was credited with some “substitute training” during his last year in the Texas
Air National Guard. But Bush also failed
to show up for any training at all for five out those last twelve months,
and all of the substitute training is credited toward those other five months
where Bush was not showing up.
(December 1972, and February, March, August and September, 1973)
It
should be noted that moving to Alabama did not relieve Bush of his obligations
to continue to train with his Texas Air National Guard (TXANG) unit, and that
it was Bush’s responsibility to inform his employer of his obligation to train
as a member of the Air National Guard.
Nor did the application for a transfer to the 9921st Air Reserve
Squadron relieve Bush of his responsibility to train with TXANG. That obligation remained in place until Bush
was discharged from the Air National Guard, and at no point was Bush ever
discharged during the period when he was not showing up for mandatory training
weekends.
For
years, George W. Bush has been lying about his “service” in the United States
Armed Forces, not just about making up for mandatory training that he missed,
but with regard to virtually everything having to do with the last third of his
six year statutorily mandated commitment.
The payroll data provides absolute and indisputable proof that Bush is
lying about his military records.
APPENDIX 1: MORE PROOF FROM THE PAYROLL RECORDS THAT BUSH NEVER MADE UP THE TRAINING
The
second quarter 1973 report (covering April-June, 1973) was produced in July
1973 or later, and corresponds to the fourth quarter of fiscal year
1972-73. The “current fiscal year” (CUR FY) was FY 1972-73, and the
“previous fiscal year” (PR FY) was FY 1971-72.
For
each period of UTA training (or substitute training), Guardsman would receive
one “point”, and Guardsmen received four “points” total for each UTA
weekend. Each quarter that a Guardsman
participated in all of his mandatory monthly UTA weekends, he would receive
twelve points.
The
payroll report shows that Bush was only credited with only four “points” in
the fourth quarter (April-June) of the “previous fiscal year” (July 1, 1971
to June 30, 1972). This shows that Bush
never made up two months worth of mandatory training in the fourth quarter of
FY 1971-72.
The
payroll records also show that Bush was credited with no points at all for the first
quarter (July-September) of the “current fiscal year” (July 1, 1972 to June 30,
1973). This means that Bush never
showed up for his mandatory training, and never made up those missed mandatory
training periods.
(Note: For a complete explanation of other aspects
of the Payroll Reports, see Understanding Points and Payroll Record PART I PAYROLL RECORDS. )
At
the bottom of most of the payroll records that were released is a section that
contains lines of difficult to understand data, that upon examination, turns
out to be the data that was entered via punch cards into the payroll system
itself. These lines of data reveal
that Bush never showed up, or made up, for five straight months of mandatory
training weekends.
Transaction Data Lines from Bush’s First Quarter 1973
Payroll Report…”
There
are a number of different line formats within this section of the payroll
reports, one of which corresponds to the Unit Training Assemblies (UTAs) held
one weekend a month and any “substitute training” performed instead of that
mandatory training.
“Top line” of Transaction
Data from Bush’s First Quarter 1973 Payroll Report 731011310104N2011320104N1011410105N2011420105NN
Between
the “73” and the final “N” are found four distinct 11 character groupings of
data, each of which corresponds to a one of the four scheduled UTAs in a
specific month. Table A1 shows how this
data is broken down in this fashion
TABLE A1: Breakdown of UTA Transaction Data Lines 73 1011310104N 2011320104N 1011410105N 2011420105N N Year First
UTA Second
UTA Third
UTA Fourth
UTA Duty type
Each of these four UTA sections can be further broken down, into two main sections, corresponding to the date and time of the scheduled UTA, and the date and time when the UTA training or “substitute training” was done. (At the end of each section is a letter “N”, which (presumably) indicates that this training was not eligible for the flight status pay differential available to ANG members who were on flight status.)
TABLE A2: Breakdown of “First UTA” section from
Table A1 SCHEDULED UTA DATA TRAINING PERFORMED DATA Flight
pay designator PERIOD MONTH DAY PERIOD MONTH DAY 1 01 13 1 01 04 N AM drill January 13th AM drill January 4th No
flight pay
Table A2 shows how the data is broken down into these sections, and how the data in those sections can be further broken down to correspond to the time of the drill (“1”=morning training, “2”=afternoon training), the month of the scheduled/performed training, and the day of the scheduled/performed training.
The
data in Table A2 can be translated as “George Bush was scheduled to show up in
Texas on the morning of January 13, to train with his unit, but instead
performed “substitute training” on the
morning of January 4.”
[1] Wayne Slater, Records of Bush’s Ala. Military Duty Can’t Be Found, Dallas Morning News, 5/26/2000
[2] FactCheck.org Bush a Military Deserter? Calm Down Michael, 1/23/2004 (modified 2/11/2004).
[3] According to Dr. Lawrence Korb (Assistant Secretary of
Defense for Manpower, Reserve Affairs, Installations and Logistics during the
Reagan administration) who examined the payroll records, based on those records
in fiscal year 1973 Bush failed to meet his training requirements as
established in law and Air Force policy. Dr Korb also noted,
however, that Bush had accumulated more than the required number of training
credits in fiscal year 1972. Under Air Force regulations training credits
earned in one fiscal year could not be applied toward training requirements in
a subsequent fiscal year. However, Dr.
Korb stressed that as a practical matter, Guardsmen would on rare occasions be
granted permission by their commanders to accumulate Active Duty training
credits in advance in one fiscal year, and apply them to training requirements
for the next fiscal year. Dr. Korb also stated that advance
permission was required to accumulate these credits in order for this “informal
exception” to the policy and procedures of the Air Force to be permitted.
All of the points credited to Bush for training in fiscal year 1972 were earned prior to April 17, 1972. According to every biographical account of this year in Bush’s life, he was not offered the position with the Blount campaign until May of 1972. Thus, it is clear that even Dr. Korb’s “informal exception” to the laws and policies governing Bush’s training requirements was not applicable to the issues that arise from his payroll records.
[4] For a detailed explanation of Bush’s requirements as a member of the Air Nation Guard, see BUSH'S ATTENDANCE OBLIGATIONS AS A MEMBER OF THE US MILITARY
[5] The payroll records themselves run from the First Quarter of 1972 through the Fourth Quarter of 1973. December 1971 UTA training was not credited/paid until the First Quarter of 1972
