I understand that Bush was re-assigned to a Disciplinary Squadron in Denver after he skipped out on drills and such with the TX Air Guard.

As a former National Guardsman -- and one who was activated with his unit for the Vietnam Conflict (and whose NG unit served at Chu Lai, Vietnam) -- I don't know many Guardsmen who condone what GWB did. Connections or not, politics or not, 'twasn't in either the spirit or the letter of his oath or his enlistment. And I don't care WHO your daddy is.

As for being AWOL or desertion during wartime -- during the Vietnam Conflict the US was no more at war than it is now. ONLY Congress can declare war, and it hasn't done so since 1941.