WASHINGTON — Before he was president, before he was governor, before he was an oilman or ran a professional baseball team, or was widely known as the drifting and carousing son of a famous father, George Walker Bush flew airplanes. He earned his pilot wings lifting F-102 interceptor jets off of a Texas Air National Guard tarmac in Houston.
Today, he is commander in chief in Washington and has sent U.S. troops to fight and die in Afghanistan and Iraq. Today, he has declared war against terrorists and, in speeches and highly publicized visits with the troops, has made that endeavor his battle cry for reelection.
Now, however, the 2004 presidential campaign has taken a detour, back 30 years to the Vietnam era. And the president faces new doubts about an old but nagging question: What did he do during that war?
The issue has been intensified by the likelihood that Bush will face a Democratic candidate who was a genuine war hero, who came home from a real war as a highly decorated Navy swift-boat commander in Vietnam and who has effectively used his military experience as an asset in building his political career.
In the long run, this election may be fought over what course the war on terror should take. But in recent weeks, Bush has found himself being measured against the military record of Democratic front-runner Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, amid sharper questioning about the president's service record.
Most immediately, the issue returned in the form of suggestions by Democrats that Bush shirked his obligations during a period from 1972 to 1973 when he was attached to the Alabama National Guard.
Beyond that narrow question lies the larger issue of whether Bush received preferential treatment when he was admitted to the Texas Guard and received a commission as a second lieutenant at a time when the Guard nationwide had 100,000 names on waiting lists and officer commissions were not given lightly.
The White House and Bush loyalists, as well as many of his fellow guardsmen, say he served with distinction. They say he gave nearly six years of his young life to combat readiness -- winning promotions and keeping himself prepared for call-up duty in Vietnam, if needed.
"He served honorably and he fulfilled all of his requirements," said retired Lt. Col. Albert C. Lloyd Jr., his personnel director in the Texas Air National Guard.
