ILLEGAL DRUGS MAY EXPLAIN GAP IN BUSH'S GUARD RECORD

Editor, the Tribune: Regarding the stories surrounding President George W.
Bush and his missing year of Guard duty, there is another angle that needs
investigation.

I served in the Army in 1971-72. My last assignment was at Fort Bragg,
N.C., with the 82nd Airborne. Back then, Bragg was one of the bases Vietnam
vets returned to, spending 30 days filling out paperwork so they could
muster out and go home.

Trouble was, more than a few of the returning 'Nam vets had picked up a
nasty heroin habit in Southeast Asia and brought the habit home. At Bragg,
the law of supply and demand kicked in, and soon heroin was readily
available at Fort Bragg and the surrounding area.

The Army brass realized it had a serious problem on its hands: namely,
discharging heroin-addicted soldiers back into civilian life. So, to help
combat this plague, around 1971, they instituted random urinalysis drug
testing for all personnel.

If a common grunt could be pulled in for a drug screen, wouldn't a jet
pilot be required to submit urine for drug testing during his flight physical?

By our Warrior King's own admission, in his younger days he used cocaine
and marijuana.

Perhaps that is why he failed to show up for his last year of Guard duty
and missed his flight physical. His handlers knew it would be easier to
obfuscate the records for an AWOL soldier rather than try to explain why
his urine showed illegal drug use.

Greg Bacon

[Address deleted]