During the Vietnam War, Bush received a safe assignment thanks to his father's influence; the 5 years, 4 months and 5 days period of service noted on the document below is very misleading as  he was  generally too drunk, scared or unfit to perform his duties or else absent without official leave - ostensibly involved with political campaigns  and other activities completely unrelated to his military obligations. Bush supported the Vietnam War, but - being a coward and a hypocrite - was not willing to make a personal contribution. On one document, he quite literally ticked the box which asked if he was unwilling to serve overseas. Bush got into the Air National Guard training programme when there was a 500-person waiting list. His 'training' consisted of a few weeks at a basic 6 week Airman-level course. He was allowed to take a week off and excused from most of the chores and disciplines imposed on his classmates.  He barely passed the pilot qualifications, yet was preferred to 150 better-qualified candidates. Bush became the first and only member of the Air National Guard to be commissioned during the Vietnam War without any form of officer training.

When he started his own political career, Bush's bogus military background was not publicly exposed because some of his opponents feared to draw attention to the fact that they had also provided their own offspring with posts far from the firing lines.