Bush Photographed wearing Air Force Award he Never Won

[ianbergman]

The Raw Story is reporting on yet another blemish on the President's military record.

A closer examination of a photograph included in President George W. Bush?s Air Force records, released by the White House earlier this year, shows then-Second Lieutenant Bush wearing an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award which he never earned.

full story found here

I don't see this as being a big public issue, but it's just another one of those "oh" things. I'm not a serviceman, but this can't go over well with general military etiquette, can it?

EDIT: Update is now available with the information that this photo is on display in the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum. Link

 

[Todd33]

Is this real? Can I get one too, I didn't serve either...

 

[Jhhnn]

Ouch! If true, this could hurt Bush badly. Wearing ribbons you haven't earned is a very big deal with Vets, rightfully so...

Of course, it seems unlikely that the "Liberal Media" will repeat it quite so often as the SBVfT smears....

 

[mastertech01]

Unit citations dont mean jack anyway. Many soldiers wear unit citations their units won during WWI, WWII, and other wars.

 

[conjur]

Will the Swiftboat liars soon start defending Bush?

 

[1EZduzit]

I saw that a while back and was going to post it, but lost the link and couldn/t find it

That's a different link. The one I had also showed that photograph and another with with his father and he didn't have the ribbon in question on.

LOL, since there free, they should be handing those out at the RNC>

 

[outriding]

I remember seeing about a year ago on "Mail Call" where gunny was talking about the different types of medals and he said it is actually againts the law to where a medal that you did not deserve. Now I cant remember what medal / medals he was talking about but does anyone know if this medal is illegal to wear if you did not earn it?

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: outriding
I remember seeing about a year ago on "Mail Call" where gunny was talking about the different types of medals and he said it is actually againts the law to where a medal that you did not deserve. Now I cant remember what medal / medals he was talking about but does anyone know if this medal is illegal to wear if you did not earn it?

Not sure but remember the case of that Admiral (I believe it was an Admiral) that was found to be wearing medals and awards he did not earn and he later committed suicide?

 

[Infohawk]

LOL the swiftboat liar O'Brian (or whatever his name is) is probably going to come out and say he serviced Bush in his plane while he was earning the award even though the records show him to be in a swamp in Nam.

This is great. It's only fair attention is shifting towards Bush now.

My only worry is that Kerry will wuss out and say, "don't question Bush's service because it's not right" like when he was a chump and denounced the moveon.com ad against Bush and Bush didn't denounce the swiftliars ad against Kerry.

Thoughts on what Kerry will do?

 

[ianbergman]

Originally posted by: outriding
I remember seeing about a year ago on "Mail Call" where gunny was talking about the different types of medals and he said it is actually againts the law to where a medal that you did not deserve. Now I cant remember what medal / medals he was talking about but does anyone know if this medal is illegal to wear if you did not earn it?

I haven't seen an answer to this, so I emailed the story author, but my guess is that the statute of limitations would have long run out. That would be a fun scandal though.

 

[PELarson]

Originally posted by: conjur

Originally posted by: outriding
I remember seeing about a year ago on "Mail Call" where gunny was talking about the different types of medals and he said it is actually againts the law to where a medal that you did not deserve. Now I cant remember what medal / medals he was talking about but does anyone know if this medal is illegal to wear if you did not earn it?

Not sure but remember the case of that Admiral (I believe it was an Admiral) that was found to be wearing medals and awards he did not earn and he later committed suicide?

Admiral Boorda

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: Infohawk
LOL the swiftboat liar O'Brian (or whatever his name is) is probably going to come out and say he serviced Bush in his plane while he was earning the award even though the records show him to be in a swamp in Nam.

This is great. It's only fair attention is shifting towards Bush now.

My only worry is that Kerry will wuss out and say, "don't question Bush's service because it's not right" like when he was a chump and denounced the moveon.com ad against Bush and Bush didn't denounce the swiftliars ad against Kerry.

Thoughts on what Kerry will do?

Kerry needs to get McAuliffe out of the director's chair sooner than will happen. The guy is ineffective in leading the Democratic Party. Was listening to him on the Michael Medved show today and everything out of his mouth was a generality or pure rhetoric. The guy has to be smarter than that. It was embarrassing.


Oh....thanks, PELarson.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: conjur

Originally posted by: outriding
I remember seeing about a year ago on "Mail Call" where gunny was talking about the different types of medals and he said it is actually againts the law to where a medal that you did not deserve. Now I cant remember what medal / medals he was talking about but does anyone know if this medal is illegal to wear if you did not earn it?

Not sure but remember the case of that Admiral (I believe it was an Admiral) that was found to be wearing medals and awards he did not earn and he later committed suicide?

He was actually the Navy Chief of Staff. He was, I believe, wearing a combat V (for valor) on his Vietnam campaign medal that he wasn't entitled to wear. I imagine there were other factors in his suicide as well, but that was the immediate triggering event, or so it appeared.

To answer outriding's question, yes, it is illegal to wear a military decoration you are not entitled to. Under Art 134, UCMJ, this offense can be punished by a maximum sentence of a Bad-Conduct Discharge (or, for a commissioned officer, Dismissal), forfeiture of all pay and allowances, reduction to E-1 (for enlisted only; officers can't be reduced), and confinement for 6 months.

I am in any way implying President Bush committed this offense.

The statute of limitations under the UCMJ is 5 years, for non-capital offenses like this.

 

[Infohawk]

Conjur, do you think this is big? Or do you think it will fiizzle out and not be a factor?

 

[yankeesfan]

It's a unit citation. Everyone in the unit wears it. This is a non-story.

 

[Infohawk]

yankeesfan, isn't the point that the unit hadn't been cited at the time of the photo?

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: Infohawk
Conjur, do you think this is big? Or do you think it will fiizzle out and not be a factor?

Bush has managed to become the teflon-puppet President.

Rove is an evil genius.

This will be a non-issue in the press.

 

[mastertech01]

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: conjur

Originally posted by: outriding
I remember seeing about a year ago on "Mail Call" where gunny was talking about the different types of medals and he said it is actually againts the law to where a medal that you did not deserve. Now I cant remember what medal / medals he was talking about but does anyone know if this medal is illegal to wear if you did not earn it?

Not sure but remember the case of that Admiral (I believe it was an Admiral) that was found to be wearing medals and awards he did not earn and he later committed suicide?

He was actually the Navy Chief of Staff. He was, I believe, wearing a combat V (for valor) on his Vietnam campaign medal that he wasn't entitled to wear. I imagine there were other factors in his suicide as well, but that was the immediate triggering event, or so it appeared.

To answer outriding's question, yes, it is illegal to wear a military decoration you are not entitled to. Under Art 134, UCMJ, this offense can be punished by a maximum sentence of a Bad-Conduct Discharge (or, for a commissioned officer, Dismissal), forfeiture of all pay and allowances, reduction to E-1 (for enlisted only; officers can't be reduced), and confinement for 6 months.

I am in any way implying President Bush committed this offense.

The statute of limitations under the UCMJ is 5 years, for non-capital offenses like this.

Its not that easy.. he would have had to meet all these qualifiers..

Elements.

(1) That the accused wore a certain insignia, decoration, badge, ribbon, device, or lapel button upon the accused?s uniform or civilian clothing;

(2) That the accused was not authorized to wear the item;

(3) That the wearing was wrongful; and

(4) That, under the circumstances, the conduct of the accused was to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces or was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.

 

[Train]

He was only a second Lt AFTER he was done? (2nd Lt is the lowest officer rank, usually you get 1st Lt nearly automatic within your first 6months/year if you keep your nose clean) Either he was a troublemaker that never got promoted or I'm questioning the actual date of the picture.

Unit citations are pretty lame though, they are even below what we call "Firewatch ribbons"

Also, didnt he finish his duty in the Alabama unit? perhaps that unit got the award.

Not uncommon for people to be mistaken about what they are SUPPOSED to be wearing, General Hagee, the Commadant of the Marine Corps (highest ranking Marine there is) messed his up just last year, turned out that he was wearing 3 awards he didnt have documentation for, and then there were other awards that he HAD earned that he wasnt wearing. CNN Article:"Incoming top Marine removes awards" -Jan 2003

But if caught intentionally wearing awards you didnt get, yes the penalty can be pretty bad. I'm not sure what the punishment for this would be (ask DonVito, im pretty sure he's JAG), probably a slap on the wrist for this one, but if you were to try and wear something like a Navy Cross, Medal of Honor, Silver star, Purple heart, etc, you can get charged with "Impersonating a war hero", which, IIRC, carries a fine up to $250,000 and 15 years in Prison. But thats civilian law, as for UCMJ, I dont know.

Check out this dumbass
and then this one really pisses me off:

Fake Marine sentenced to eight months in prison
A Houston man who posed as a highly decorated war hero was sentenced Friday to eight months in federal prison.
Paul Alan White, 47, had pleaded guilty in December to unlawfully wearing the Marine Corps uniform of a chief warrant officer 3 and a Navy Cross, Silver Star, Purple Heart and Vietnam Service ribbon. In January, he pleaded guilty to altering military discharge papers.
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake sentenced White to six months each for wearing the uniform and medals and to eight months for altering the military document, with the sentences to run concurrently.
White must also serve one year of under supervision upon his release, undergo mental health counseling and pay $6,000 in fines.

As my old Senior Drill Instructor used to say "You can't fake the funk"

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: ianbergman
The Raw Story is reporting on yet another blemish on the President's military record.

A closer examination of a photograph included in President George W. Bush?s Air Force records, released by the White House earlier this year, shows then-Second Lieutenant Bush wearing an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award which he never earned.

full story found here

I don't see this as being a big public issue, but it's just another one of those "oh" things. I'm not a serviceman, but this can't go over well with general military etiquette, can it?

It is a unit award. It is awarded to the unit, not the person. Mark this down as a non-issue.

 

[Infohawk]

Originally posted by: charrison

It is a unit award. It is awarded to the unit, not the person. Mark this down as a non-issue.

I believe the issue is the timing... You don't read any of the posts above you do you?

 

[Todd33]

Originally posted by: Infohawk

Originally posted by: charrison

It is a unit award. It is awarded to the unit, not the person. Mark this down as a non-issue.

I believe the issue is the timing... You don't read any of the posts above you do you?

No, he normally does not click and read the links. Like many here.

The Air Force Historical Research Service Organization confirmed that the 147th Fighter Intercept Group and the 111th Fighter Intercept Squadron received an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award for the time period of 1965-1966, two years before Bush joined the service.

More importantly, however, the above photograph had to have been taken some time between his qualifying as a pilot?since he is wearing his pilots? wings?on November 26, 1969 and his promotion to First Lieutenant on November 7, 1970, since he is listed as a Second Lieutenant (see photograph below).

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: Infohawk

Originally posted by: charrison

It is a unit award. It is awarded to the unit, not the person. Mark this down as a non-issue.

I believe the issue is the timing... You don't read any of the posts above you do you?

It is assigned to the unit, not the person.

YOu should read mastertechs post from above, you might learn something.

 

[Infohawk]

Originally posted by: charrison

It is assigned to the unit, not the person.

YOu should read mastertechs post from above, you might learn something.

I did read it. :roll: Just because something isn't illegal doesn't make it right.

Again, there's a timing issue that needs to be explained. Wanna refer me to another person's post or do you want to be a big boy and post for yourself?

 

[yankeesfan]

hmm...well, a very reputable source I must say. "Liberal News with an Edge." Also, what inspiration would he have for this?