Honorable Discharge?

The rightwingers' defense of Bush's shirking his national guard duty boils down to the eternally repeated mantra, "But he was honorably discharged." Well, the fact of the matter is, an honorable discharge is pretty much the standard exit for just about everyone who enters military service whether it's active duty, the reserves, or a cushy champagne guard unit like Bush snuck his way into. As a matter of fact some pretty famous guard "vets" went AWOL and still got an honorable discharge.

"Current U.S. Representative Bobby Rush, a Democrat from Illinois, served in the army through the mid-1960s, becoming progressively more involved with radical antiwar groups. In 1968, after Martin Luther King's assassination, he went AWOL from his unit to help found the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers. Weeks later, he was honorably discharged."

"John Allen Muhammad, convicted last November for his participation in the D.C. sniper shootings, served in the Louisiana National Guard from 1978-1985, where he faced two summary courts-martial. In 1983, he was charged with striking an officer, stealing a tape measure, and going AWOL. Sentenced to seven days in the brig, he received an honorable discharge in 1985."

Thanks to the folks at The New Republic.