Reporting for duty

Commonweal, Nov 5, 2004 by Jerome F. Downs

In his piece endorsing George W. Bush (October 8), Robert Royal notes, "Like his father, Bush is a thoroughly decent person." Really? A "thoroughly decent person" does not shirk his duty while serving in the National Guard. As a veteran of World War II, I can testify that when a person on flight status fails to take his required physical examination, as Bush the younger failed to do, he is grounded and assigned other duties. Having thus voluntarily disqualified himself for duty, Bush apparently did nothing for months. The polite word for this is "goldbricking," though soldiers tend to use a more vulgar term.

JEROME F. DOWNS

San Francisco, Calif.