"Stephen Harding" wrote in message
...
ArtKramr wrote:

"I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well-placed managed
to
wangle slots in the Army Reserve and National Guard units." -- Colin Powell,
My
American Journey, 1995

You seem to be merging two different questions.

Powell stating the "wangling" of Reserve/Guard slots during
the Vietnam War, and whether GWB was hiding in the Guard
for this purpose or not.

From what I've heard, Powell was correct about the practice,
but I'm not at all certain that just because GWB was the son
of a "powerful and well-placed" person, that this was the
case for him.

Given his background and personal integrity, I'm not at all
certain Dad would have cooperated in such a move. Certainly
no evidence that I'm aware of that this was the case.

The Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives calls a highly placed official
in the Texas ANG and the application of a son of a Congressman possessing only
marginal aptitudes miraculously rises to the top of the lengthy waiting list.
It did not require that overt contact be made with the Speaker, either in
writing, in person or by phone. The Speaker only needed to know that there was
an application pending in order to make certain that the right result ensued.
It's not that it happened only to Bush....the same treatment was afforded to the
sons of Gov. Connelly and other notables.

But it did in fact happen, and it happened only because of who Bush was related
to and not because of anything else.

George Z.

SMH