Former Alabama Guardsmen appears in political ad

[Judi Lynn]

Former Alabama Guardsmen appears in political ad
Retired lieutenant colonel says he never saw George W. Bush
Friday, September 10, 2004
By SALLIE OWEN
Capital Bureau
Bob Mintz, a 63-year-old commercial pilot originally from north Alabama, stars in one of the latest attack advertisements of the nation's bruising presidential race. In the ad, Mintz says he never saw George W. Bush in the months of 1972 and 1973, when the lieutenant from the Texas National Guard was temporarily assigned in Alabama. Mintz's story is interspersed with text messages, such as "Tell us whom you served with, Mr. President."
(snip)


Mintz said it was in 1969 that he began his 25-year stint as part of the Montgomery-based Alabama Air National Guard unit where Bush was assigned. At the time, it was the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group, and Mintz was part of its 160th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron.
(snip)

Bush had sought the temporary transfer to Alabama so he could work on the U.S. Senate campaign of Montgomery businessman Winton Blount. Mintz said that in 1972, he had just earned the rank of captain. During a drill session, someone told him a lieutenant from Texas would be joining the 187th. "They made the inference that he was someone of political influence," Mintz said Thursday.
(snip)

He said he heard Bush, then-governor of Texas, remark during his 2000 presidential campaign about serving in the 187th. "That's when I put the two together," Mintz said. "This had to be who they were talking about." He said there were no more than 30 pilots with the 187th at the time, and a newcomer would have stood out. Also, it was unusual for someone to get that sort of temporary reassignment, Mintz said.
(snip).

Most Guard members served one weekend a month, but pilots were required to come in more often to fly, he said. On average, pilots served 60-80 days a year, Mintz said.
(snip/...)

http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1094807841321530.xml

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Bob "Buck" Mintz in his Germantown, Tennessee den.

Published on Friday, February 13, 2004 by the Memphis Flyer
Bush a No-Show at Alabama Base, Says Memphian
FedEx Pilot Bob Mintz, backed up by a Carolina colleague, recalls no Dubya at Dannelly AFB in 1972

by Jackson Baker

MEMPHIS – Two members of the Air National Guard unit that President George W. Bush allegedly served with as a young Guard flyer in 1972 had been told to expect him and were on the lookout for him. He never showed, however; of that both Bob Mintz and Paul Bishop are certain. The question of Bush’s presence in 1972 at Dannelly Air National Guard base in Montgomery, Alabama – or the lack of it – has become an issue in the 2004 presidential campaign.

Recalls Memphian Mintz, now 62: “I remember that I heard someone was coming to drill with us from Texas. And it was implied that it was somebody with political influence. I was a young bachelor then. I was looking for somebody to prowl around with.” But, says Mintz, that “somebody” -- better known to the world now as the president of the United States -- never showed up at Dannelly in 1972. Nor in 1973, nor at any time that Mintz, a FedEx pilot now and an Eastern Airlines pilot then, when he was a reserve first lieutenant at Dannelly, can remember.

“And I was looking for him,” repeated Mintz, who said that he assumed that Bush “changed his mind and went somewhere else” to do his substitute drill. It was not “somewhere else,” however, but the 187th Air National Guard Tactical squadron at Dannelly to which the young Texas flyer had requested transfer from his regular Texas unit – the reason being Bush’s wish to work in Alabama on the ultimately unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign of family friend Winton "Red" Blount.
(snip)

“There’s no way we wouldn’t have noticed a strange rooster in the henhouse, especially since we were looking for him,” insists Mintz, who has pored over documents relating to the matter now making their way around the Internet. One of these is a piece of correspondence addressed to the 187th’s commanding officer, then Lt. Col. William Turnipseed, concerning Bush’s redeployment.
(snip/...)

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0213-09.htm

[Blue Gardener]

1. And GW was well known back then because of Poppy

From everything I've heard, because he was the son of Bush senior, this would make him stand out even more than the average person in the Guard. Thus, more memorable, and more likely that somwone would recall if he ever showed up in Alabama.

[0007]

2. Linda Allison once owner of the Midland Reporter sez

her husband helped get junior out of Houston to campaign in Alabama for a GOP candidate named Blount.

"George W. Bush's used his family connections to avoid military service in Vietnam and spend seven months in Alabama partying. He clearly skipped out on National Guard duty and avoided a mandatory drug test, while learning the politics of "dirty tricks.

Many of those who came into close contact with Bush say he liked to drink beer and Jim Beam whiskey, and to eat fist-fulls of peanuts, and Executive burgers, at the Cloverdale Grill. They also say he liked to sneak out back for a joint of marijuana or into the head for a line of cocaine. The newspapers that year are full of stories about the scourges of cocaine and heroin making their way into the U.S. from abroad in the early days of the so-called "war on drugs." Remember the French Connection?

Odom said the Guard probably spent a half a million dollars training Bush, then he wouldn't even take his flight exam and failed to check the box on the form making himself available for active duty. Later, Bush was transferred on paper to a Guard unit in Colorado prior to his early release to attend Harvard Business School.

"I see him out parading around as if he was some sort of a military hero, when the truth about the matter is, he used his father's prestige in the community to get into the Guard in the first place," Odom said. "And then he used it to get himself transferred to Alabama to work on a political campaign."

http://www.southerner.net/blog/awolbush.html

[argyl]

3. "Kerry campaign engaged in vicious mudslinging."PLease take the gloves

off and don't back down because of this type of hypocritical whining that is sure to be forthcoming from the Smirk camp.

[struggle4progress]

4. kick

:kick: