An Analysis of the Newly Released November 8, 1974 Resignation Document

More than seven and a half months after the White House claimed that it had released all of the documents found in George W. Bush’s military records, a new document has emerged as a result of a lawsuit filed by the Associated Press. This document is Bush’s request to resign from APRC(ISLRS), and is dated November 8^th, 1974. Bush explains that he no longer wants to be part of ISLRS, because of “inadequate time to fulfill possible future commitments.”

What Bush is actually saying here is

I don’t care how much of a threat the United States is under, I don’t care how much the Air Force needs experienced officers and pilots, I might be too busy doing something else, and I can’t be bothered coming to the defense of my country

When Bush enlisted the Texas Air National Guard (TXANG), he incurred a six year Military Service Obligation (MSO). Bush soon became a commissioned officer, and under Air Force policy, if a commissioned officer like Bush[1] did not sign up for more time in the Guard or Reserves, he was “transferred” to APRC(ISLRS), the Inactive Status List Reserve Section (ISLRS) under the authority of the Air Reserve Personnel Center (ARPC) in Denver Colorado.

ARPC(ISLRS) was literally a “paper unit”, it was called the “Inactive Status List Reserve Section” because all it merely a list of names of experienced officers who were effectively finished with their military service. Officers would stay on the list for three years, at which point they would receive a final discharge. But absolutely nothing was required of those on the list; they were not required to train at all.

ISLRS had far more in common with the “Retired Reserves” than with what people consider the “Reserves”. As with those in the “Retired Reserves”, if there was an extreme national security emergency and if the Air Force needed all of the experienced officers and pilots it could get its hands on as soon as possible, the Air Force could “call up” these experienced officers and pilots in both ISLRS and the “Retired Reserves.”

But the Air Force could only do this if it was authorized by an Act of Congress; in other words, mobilization of the ISLRS was something that would only be done under the most extreme threats imaginable.

(This is a completely different kind of mobilization of the Guard and Reserves than what is now happening thanks to the occupation of Iraq. These are mobilizations of the “Ready Reserves” done under the authority provided to the President of the United States in the US Statutes. Even the call up of the Individual Ready Reserves that is now ongoing is a call-up of the Ready Reserves done under Presidential authority; although often erroneously called the “Inactive Ready Reserves”, these Reservists remained in an “active status” and subject of mobilization by the President, unlike the “inactive status” people who are “assigned” to ISLRS.)

But George W. Bush wanted to make sure that he would not be called to defend the nation even under the direst national security threat that the United States would face. Despite the fact that the US Government had kept him out of Vietnam, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars training him to be a pilot, allowed him to blow off his commitment to serve as a pilot, and allowed him to abandon the Texas Air National Guard entirely well short of his six year Military Service Obligation, George W. Bush decided that, if pilots were desperately needed by the US Armed Forces to do the job they were trained to do, he would not be on the list of pilots that Congress could make available to the Air Force.

And what was Bush’s reason for not wanting to be available to defend the USA if things really got bad? He might have “future commitment” and helping America defend herself might not leave him enough time to fulfill those commitments. Two and a half years after Bush had decided to take a temporary job in Alabama and blow off the promises made and obligations incurred when he signed up to be a pilot, Bush suddenly finds himself in a position where possible “future commitment” make it impossible for him to stay on a list of people whose training and experience would be vital if there was a serious national security emergency.