RE: [COUPERS-TECH] Re: Digest list: Ercoupe Technical Discussion (moderated)

Thu, 9 Sep 2004 07:06:42 -0700 

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Russell,

 

   Thank you from me for your service to this country. If this post is off topic then tuff Sh*t.

 

Kevin

 

 

From: Russell Whetton [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2004 9:56 AM
To: Ercoupe Technical Discussion
Subject: [COUPERS-TECH] Re: Digest list: Ercoupe Technical Discussion (moderated)

 

 
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Ed, thank you for your comments. I say "amen" to all you said. The political "garbage rakers" are doing their best to discredit an honorable man. I too am a veteran with 44 years years longevity. 2 years Navy and 42 years Army.


Doc Whetton


COL MSC RET

Ercoupe Technical Discussion <[email protected]> wrote:


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Message list: 

1. [COUPERS-TECH] RE: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Accusations about Bush Guard service

Messages: 

From: "Robert Q. Steinman, PhD" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "'Ed Burkhead'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"'Ednet'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"Talk" 
Reply-To: "Robert Q. Steinman, PhD" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [COUPERS-TECH] RE: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Accusations about Bush Guard service

Thanks what you wrote needed to be said. Do it any time!





Robert Q. Steinman, Ph.D.





-----Original Message-----

From: Ed Burkhead [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2004 7:12 PM

To: Ednet

Subject: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Accusations about Bush Guard
 service



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advice in this forum.]----







I m sending this not as a Bush partisan but as a retired Army Reservist

who s tired of the never-been-in-the-reserves press trashing Bush for

invalid reasons.



A major Kerry fundraiser, who was in the Alabama Guard 30 years ago is

showing up on an ad saying he never saw Bush showing up at his unit,

implying that Bush s documented service during that period is

fraudulent. Also, tonight is, once again, a TV network segment on

President Bush s last year of Guard service where it ll be discussed

whether he was AWOL, I m moved to describe some common practice from my

18 years in the Army Reserve.



In the Reserves, we understood that a soldier s civilian life sometimes

conflicted seriously with the part-time military duty. In order
 to

retain that soldier, we used provisions that allowed alternate service

and hoped the soldier could return to regular troop program unit duty in

the future.



We still owned the soldier, if it was necessary to activate the unit for

service. If the unit got activated, we d contact all the unit members

(even if we had to send the Federal Marshals). Then they would have

orders to come. Missing drills gave no relief from the active service

obligation, if called for the defense of the nation.



For example: If a soldier had to go to another state for a permanent

move or for part of a year, we knew that it could be unreasonable for

the soldier to be at monthly drills. By the rules, the soldier could

apply for permission to search for a unit in the other state and then

make the transfer, having missed some drills.



At least once, we had a person try to move to another
 state and fail to

make the move permanent, showing back up with us after half a year or

more. The soldier would then do a bunch of drills, back to back,

usually on week days for a couple of weeks, to make up the missed

drills. That kind of service wasn t as good as regular drills but it

could be as good as the supervising officer or NCO made it. Sometimes

it was a good thing for the Army, getting some work done that otherwise

couldn t have been accomplished.



As the supervising NCO of a couple of these, I can say  I never saw them

perform the duty. But it was normal that I wouldn t see the duty  I

did a weekend drill a month and if the soldier came in on weekdays, I

wouldn t see the performance. That s why the soldier had to report to

one of the full-time staff or drilling reserve supervisors for

assignment and supervision when performing alternate duty. That s why

the
 supervising staff person had to confirm that the duty was performed

before pay was authorized. Sometimes this service was performed at a

unit in the other state.



We had rare situations where the person missed most of a year s drills

and couldn t make them up, due to travel or whatever. Then the soldier

returned to regular service. If the soldier didn t perform the required

service, that year did not count as a  good year toward retirement.

Yet the person s overall service could still earn an honorable

discharge. (Please not this is NOT Bush s situation.)



As proof of whether the duty was performed, the Leave and Earnings

Statement, showing that the soldier was paid, was the effective proof of

service. In order to prove my 18 years of service to get my 20-year

letter and credit for my years of service, it was the stack of LES forms

I had to
 provide.



Apparently, Bush needed to be in a state other than Texas. Though he

didn t find a unit where he could fly fighters (and transfer

permanently), he HAS pay documents (the touchstone, remember), showing

that he did perform equivalent service at a unit in the other state.

Bush has signed the form releasing his entire military record.



The guy in the ad (the Kerry fundraiser) said he didn t see Bush perform

the duty. Where was the guy on the dates Bush performed the duty? What

part of the building did HE do HIS duty? (We had a big building where I

saw maybe 10 of the 40 people there on weekdays and 50 of the 250 on

weekends.)



Finally, Bush has NOT criticized Kerry s Vietnam service. During the

Republican convention, no speaker criticized Kerry s Vietnam service.

Several explicitly said they honored Kerry for his Vietnam service, then

they went on to
 criticize Kerry for his post-Vietnam judgment.



Those are my thoughts. Make your own decisions.



Ed Burkhead

http://edburkhead.com/

ed -at- edburkheadQQQ.com (change -at- and remove the QQQ)









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Dr. Russell Whetton
859 Washington Blvd.
Ogden, Utah 84404
801-393-8880
801-393-8881 fax

		
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