AUSTIN, Texas — After a thorough search of military records, the George W. Bush presidential campaign has failed to find any documents proving he reported for duty during an eight-month stint in Alabama with the Texas Air National Guard.
But a spokesman expressed confidence Saturday that inquiries will turn up former guardsmen who can corroborate the story.
"He specifically recalls pulling duty in Alabama," spokesman Dan Bartlett said of Bush.
Bartlett said Bush showed up "several" times while in Alabama, where he transferred from his Houston guard unit in 1972 to work for the unsuccessful Senate campaign of Republican Winton Blount, a friend of Bush's father.
Bartlett said the governor could not recall specifically how many times he reported for duty during his months in Alabama.
After leaving Alabama in December 1972, Bush returned to Ellington Air Force Base near Houston, where made up missed time in order to complete his obligation, said Bartlett.
Bush served as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard from May 1968 to October 1973, primarily flying F-102 fighter-interceptors.
The focus on Bush's service in the guard — and the transfer to work on the Alabama political campaign — has raised questions over whether he received preferential treatment during the Vietnam War.
Both Bush and his father, who was then a U.S. representative from Houston, have denied that the younger Bush received special treatment.
Bartlett said Saturday that he reviewed a 200-page packet of documents last week from the National Guard's records repository in Denver. He said they largely duplicated documents the campaign already had obtained from Texas National Guard headquarters.
"What it shows is that Governor Bush met his annual requirements in order to fulfill his military obligation but doesn't show the portion of the training that took place in Alabama," he said.
While Bush was in Alabama, "most of his work was paperwork related," said Bartlett.
Campaigning Friday in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Bush was asked about his 1972 service in that state.
"I was there on a temporary assignment and fulfilled my weekends at one period of time," he said. "I made up some missed weekends."
"I can't remember what I did, but I wasn't flying because they didn't have the same airplanes. I fulfilled my obligations."
Bartlett said efforts are being made to find people who recall Bush reporting for duty in Alabama.
"Obviously, inquiries are being made," he said. "People will call and we will field those calls and talk to them. But trying to find people who served 30 years ago naturally poses a problem."
In May, retired Gen.William Turnipseed, the former commander of the Alabama guard unit, said Bush did not report to him, although the young airman was required to do so. His orders, dated Sept.15, 1972, said: "Lieutenant Bush should report to Lt. Col. William Turnipseed, DCO, to perform equivalent training."
"To my knowledge, he never showed up," Turnipseed said last month.
Bartlett said Bush recalls seeing then-Col. Turnipseed. The campaign aide suggested that because Bush was not a pilot, his commander might not remember him.
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