Stay safe !
Posted on 09/09/2004 7:55:59 AM PDT by pabianice
On a previous thread the author makes excellent points about the anachronism error in the "memos" the Liberals have recently "discovered" regarding George Bush's alleged "desertion" and "dereliction of duty" while in the Texas ANG.
A look at these memos shows another problem. A big problem. To understand it, you have to understand a bit about the military. In official documents of any kind, proper rank abbreviations are strictly enforced, to the point that, if they are incorrect, the document has to be destroyed and rewritten. A document forwarded with incorrect acronyms is returned for resubmittal.
The "memos" the Liberal Gang has "discovered," showing Bush to have been a shirker, all carry a consistent incorrect abbreviation for his rank. The only acceptable abbreviation for a USAF or ANG first lieutenant is "1LT." I have also seen, rarely, it written "1/LT," although this is the exception. All the "recently discovered" memos about Bush say "1stLt." While I am Navy and not Air Force, to the best of my knowledge, this is not allowed, let alone a mispunctuated memo addressed to Bush as "1stLt.3244754FG."
I am willing to bet a week's pay that these memos are forgeries.
Interesting. Can any military Freepers corroborate?
A timeline history of the IBM Typewriter with old ads to show what the machines looked like. Click on the thumbnail to see an enlargement of that ad.
http://www.etypewriters.com/history.htm
Ping
Quite true.
There are a couple of threads like this going, Howlin is trying to get all the info consolidated in one place. Could you repost your info here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1210702/posts?q=1&&page=301
Also, AM, how can we best get these threads consolidated, so we don't miss some great investigative reporting from FReepers? Thanks!
Done.
Ping
It's not too early to go with this. Get it to the entire blogosphere, the New Media will follow, and CBS will take a major slam.
Don't suppose you could just tell us if the variable spacing statement is true or not?
Yep when I address a letter to my daughter it's 2DLT NOT 2nd Lt.
Almost forgot. The third "Bush Memo" is also misspelled. The correct abbreviation for lieutenant colonel on any ANG document is "LtCol," not "Lt. Colonel." Any LtCol would know better than to misspell his own rank.
<p.
These "documents" reek of fraud.
bttt
It seems there would be a finite number of typewriters used within the unit that authored the memos. Since typewriters have a unique signature, why not see if the memos correlate with any of the other documents done by this unit?
It shouldn't be too hard to establish given the volumes of paperwork generated by the military at the time.
After 20 years in the Army I can testify to the fact that rank abbreviations was/is a sore point in all military correspondence. I've never, never seen it abbreviated 1stLt. except by journalists in the press.
In official documents of any kind, proper rank abbreviations are strictly enforced, to the point that, if they are incorrect, the document has to be destroyed and rewritten
Thank you.
These memos are in tru-type fonts. Not only are the forgeries, they are obvious forgeries. There is no way CBS could be so stupid that they do not know what they have.
Stay safe !
Here is a good link that shows official military rank abbreviations:
http://www.army.mil/soldiers/styleguide/styleguide4.html
I don't think we can make too much about the use of abbreviations, etc. Remember, these are personal memos to the file. I write them all the time in my work within the US government. It's so that when someone accuses me of not knowing about, or dealing with, a situation, I can pull out my file and show them my thoughts at the time. Since they are for personal files, it's reasonable that they would not be on letterhead, and not follow strict military memo guidance.
In any event, I think the memos, if real, are harmless.
.
Private, E-1: PVT
Private, E-2: PV2
Private First Class, E-3: PFC
Specialist (Old Spec4): Spec; (SP4)
Sergeant, E-5: SGT
Staff Sergeant, E-6: SSG
Sergeant First Class, E-7: SFC
Master Sergeant, E-8: MSG
First Sergeant, E-8: 1SG
Sergeant Major, E-9: SGM
Command Sergeant Major, E-9: CSM
Second Lieutenant, 0-1: 2LT
First Lieutenant, 0-2: 1LT
Captain, 0-3: CPT
Major, 0-4: MAJ
Lieutenant Colonel, 0-5: LTC
Colonel, 0-6: COL
Brigadier General, 0-7: BG
Major General, 0-8: MG
Lieutenant General, 0-9: LTG
General, 0-10: GEN
You're saying that a senior officer would mis-abbreviate his own rank ("Lt. Colonel") on an important document that he himself typed. Sorry. I don't buy it.
The IBM Selectric which we used extensively in the early 1980's was a daisy whell device which did not use proportional spacing to the best of my knowledge. I don't think it was even technically possible at that time, much less a decade earlier in the early 1970's. Also, I was a training sergeant and buncked with the company clerk. It is true that rank abbreviations were done exactly one way and 1LT is correct for first louie.
You're wrong on this one. Proper use of rank abbreviations is so ingrained that even in personal notes proper usage would be utilized, particularly if the person writing the memo has served many years in the military. I've been retired for 16 years and still use proper abbreviations.
Irrational hate can be very blinding.
Thanks! I'm having trouble "finding" it all myself!
I believe I was the one who first broached the subject of proportional spacing in an earlier thread. However, I've since backed off because it's been pointed out to me that there were several models of composing machines available in 1972 that were capable of proportional spacing.
There are so few military veterans working in journalism that they don't even "know what they don't know." What I mean is that they could easily fall for a forgery because they don't recognize details like rank abbreviations and other minutea that the military takes VERY seriously.
The networks wouldn't need to retain so many military consultants if they'd just hire a few of their journalists from the military instead of continuing to hire exclusively from the J-schools.
When you are really horny for something, you don't notice a fake until the doll blows up in your face.
http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/lookup/encyclopedia/ib/IBM_Golfball.html
This has the background on the IBM Seletric. However, judging from the other things that are wrong about these memos and the clearly forged signature, I think it is safe to say that these are bogus documents.
Guys this memo will go no where because bush didnt make his service an issue. If you drag it all out you keep it in the news like the swiftys did. Be smart. People dont care with Bush, they care about kerry lying about his record because he ran on it.
The Kerry Kamp's Nuance Team is already working on the spin:
"These documents were planted by Bush operatives to trick us.
They took advantage of our gross incompetence and blind
lust for dirt on Bush.
It's just so unfair."
_______________
In other news, although already off the Kerry team,
Sandy Berger was fired again for bungling an archival
document insertion mission.
> Guys this memo will go no where because bush didnt
> make his service an issue.
Which is why the content is irrelevant.
If these are fakes, what else from the Kerry Kamp is fake?
If fakes, the public needs to know about the near-criminal
negligence (or deliberate malice) of CBS.
And just how did the fakes get into the archives? Berger?
Look to the office and look to the clerk typist. Also, what was correct about 40 years ago could change slightly. I started my career with the Navy BuPers years ago on the top floor with no ceiling just pipes running across the ceiling. The majority of the floor was covered with file cabinets and reams of paper. Even though the Navy didn't have that type of rank, I did see paperwork with 1st LT (also 1st Lieutenant), etc. Typists (GS 1 or 2) could add anything and if the supervisor wasn't looking it would pass. The old saying was things were the right way, the wrong way and the government way.
My husband said the same thing about the abbreviations. The web of deceit will spin itself into one big heap of crap.
Bush will not make a big thing of this and get mad and be bitter and angry, which would keep it in the news, he'll go on about his business campaigning.
OTH, if CBS has forgeries then the onus goes on CBS. Are they forgeries? Where'd they get them? Did they or someone who works for them create them? This goes to the believability of CBS not Bush.
1stLt is a USMC abbreviation. 1LT is a USAF/ANG thang. This smells.
Great point....
These abbreviations are second nature. A new butter bar might mess it up, but not an LTC.
On Bush's request for discharge of 5Sep73 and 6Sep73, which has been out there previously and is clearly not a forgery, he is identified under his signature as "1st Lt".
http://users.cis.net/coldfeet/doc27.gif
I posted on another thread that the print style and font of these new CBS memos do not look at all like the other contemporaneous documents from that same time frame.
It is not just the proportional font, but also the strange use of superscripts.
See he "111th" on parts of the May 4 72 memo, where in the letterhead area it is standard sized type but a true superscript later (smaller and raised) on the same document under item number 2.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
