Hey everyone, Bush and I have something in common! Maybe I should go to Yale or Harvard. I mean, everyone else who knows about the drug and smut operation is.
1/ In 1972, George W. Bush stopped flying, skipped his required flight physical, and got grounded. His Texas Guard unit later wrote that he hadn't been "observed" there for a full year. He still got an honorable discharge, 8 months early. Never charged with anything.
2/ How AWOL works: for troops on federal duty, it's UCMJ Article 86, unauthorized absence. Gone 30+ days? Up to a dishonorable discharge and a year of confinement, more if you're caught instead of coming back on your own.
3/ Guard members on state duty aren't under the UCMJ. Missed drills mostly mean paperwork: 9+ unexcused absences in 12 months make you an "unsatisfactory participant," which can mean discharge or, in Bush's era, orders to active duty. His commanders did neither.
4/ Is AWOL a felony? The military doesn't use that word. Civilian law calls crimes punishable by over a year felonies, so a long AWOL that ends in arrest can count as felony-level. Most cases never see a court-martial. Desertion (the intent never to return) is the serious one.
This post was written by http://perplexity.ai using the deep research mode. "MOST CASES NEVER SEE A COURT-MARTIAL." Now every federal agent and every informant on the East Coast STFU!