According to the official records of the Department of the Navy, I’m a deserter. Or possibly a drug addict. I learned this several years ago when I applied to get my final two months of my G.I. Bill benefits, and received a letter saying that I could not have them because I was discharged by the Marines under “other than honorable” conditions.
That came as quite a shock, because not only was I not discharged that way, I’ve never been discharged at all — I’ve been in the Marine Reserve continuously for 13 years (as of today, come to think of it!) But somewhere in the administrative bowels of the military, there is a record in a database saying that I was “administratively separated” from the Marines in 1997. That’s the kind of discharge they give you when you commit an infraction and they don’t want to bother with the expense of a trial. It’s most often used if you don’t show up for training, or if you test positive for illegal drugs. I’ve tried several times to correct this, because it bothers me that some computer is questioning my character.
I have also had an unusual training history, according to the Marine Corps’ online information system. It says that I went to boot camp in 1994, but that I attended basic infantry school and radio school in 1991. It’s unusual to be in the Marine Corps for three years before learning to be a Marine, but according to this Web site, that’s what happened to me.
So when I hear corpulent gasbag Michael Moore talk about President Bush being a “deserter” because there is no record of him showing up for training in 1972-73, I take it with a grain of salt. Moore’s assumption is that military records are never wrong, which is laughable to anyone who has actually been in the military.
Funny how Moore’s crowd thinks of military men as murderous buffoons when it comes to warfare, but they think the same people keep meticulous, impeccable records of routine matters. They’ve got it exactly backwards: our Department of Defense is superb at fighting. It’s the administrative part that never works quite like it ought.
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First getting turned down for an ASP job, then noticing Nordic women were beautiful, and now accusations of drug addiction and desertion. Eric, what’s going on with you? If you need help, you should know that I am a certified psycho-analyst and my fee is quite reasonable (and I take PayPal). Just in case you want some help…
Anybody that thinks that military records are never wrong deserves to have their salary handled by the military disbursing system. “What do you mean I have no paycheck today?”\
As a Chief I had to spend time helping people that worked for me get their personnel and pay records fixed, that is when personnel hadn’t been lost.
What’s even more strange about the payroll system is when nothing changes, but you still don’t get paid: you’re the same rank, you’re still showing up for duty, you have the same checking account, but somehow it still gets screwed up.
I remember my own encounter with military efficiency. I was in the Navy, just finished “A” school (training in my field), and was waiting for an assignment to wonderful, sunny Spain.
The Air Force claims I didn’t have an AIDS test, which Spain required. “Look again, I took it in Boot Camp.” “Not there, they said.” SIGH. So, I spend four months waiting around, if by waiting you mean buffing floors, polishing brass at some Air Force base in the middle of nowhere.
When I finally ship out, I look through my medical records. On top, the new test. On the last page… the original test I took in Boot Camp.
Maybe military intelligence is an oxymoron.
You might see if you Congresscritter can help get it straightened out.
Obviusly, it was one or more of the many other Eric Johnsons. George Bush is probably a pretty common name too. I don’t know if he was in when service numbers were different than social security numbers but that’s another source of error.
Even with SSN there is human error. When I went to book camp a guy in my sister company had the identical name including middle. From the same city and the only difference was our last two SSN digits.
We both ended up going to Memphis for school and continually had our records confused with each other.
This one made me laugh, Eric. I have similiar stories about my own service in the Navy. There is a reason why the enlisted came up with terms like FUBAR…
Not only does the SSN not help, but G.W. Bush’s records wouldn’t indicate whether he was at any training period. (He says he did miss several weekend drills, but that was authorized by his command, and he made up the missed drills later. Such arrangements are entirely routine.)
Attendance is kept on a roster separate from the individuals’ service record book. The roster is passed to a higher command for pay and official recordkeeping. Therefore, President Bush’s records wouldn’t say anything about the period 1972-73, or any other period. If someone was negligent in marking attendance — and this might shock some of you, but that does happen — then there would be no record that he showed up at all.
Would you please go smack the living s*** out of Paul Begala, Eric. Cause every chance he gets he mentions this idiotic awol charge. Although, to give him some credit, Begala never goes so far as to erroneously call it “desertion.”
It helps to remember that the Democrats hold to fascist ideology where there is no such thing as objective truth. So Moore isn’t ‘lying’ per se, he is simply trying to exercise his part of the group Will to Power.