Hidden in plain sight?

Salon.com has an article about the hunt for Bush's Air National Guard service records. Great. We'd like to see all of them too. But in the story, we read: (emphasis added)

The missing month of July is important because that is when Bush skipped his flight physical and lost his clearance to fly fighter jets. He was scheduled to show up in Texas for a checkup no later than his birthday, July 6. Spokesman Bartlett has said that Bush did not report for his physical because he had made a decision he was "no longer flying" and because he was doing his duty in Alabama in a "non-flying capacity." Even a cursory examination of pay records for July 1972 would show whether that is true.

Really? A guardsman can decide for himself that he's no longer flying?

Again, while finding out what happened in Alabama is helpful (and getting the Board of Inquiry report would be even better) isn't it enough that Bush took it upon himself to decide how not to serve?

posted by Quiddity at 7/14/2004 10:01:00 PM