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Those are questions that nearly every American male born in the 1940s or '50s has had to answer at some point, but they retain the greatest moral force for those who seek public office -- particularly for those few who seek to become the nation's commander in chief. Like many of the personal issues that have come to dominate debate in this era of tabloid journalism -- from youthful drug "experimentation" to marital infidelity -- the examination of Vietnam-era draft dodging is all too often an occasion for sanctimony, lying and hypocrisy.

The case of George W. Bush appears to be no exception. According to the exhaustively researched investigation published on July 4 by the Los Angeles Times, young Bush was jumped over a long waiting list of applicants to the Texas Air National Guard in 1968. Bush was about to graduate from Yale and lose his student deferment, and he obviously had no overwhelming urge to fight in the bloody jungle that his father -- then a Republican congressman -- would later blast Bill Clinton for avoiding.

Not only did George W. receive a coveted berth in the Air Guard when others didn't, he also was awarded an officer's commission despite his lack of any visible qualifications or experience. (He even wangled an unusual transfer to Alabama so that he could work in a Republican campaign.)

By all accounts, he performed admirably in the Air Guard, winning his wings as a fighter pilot while displaying courage, leadership and determination. But he was never in any jeopardy of being sent to Indochina, a point made by Sen. John McCain with a cutting quip. As a Vietnam prisoner of war, said McCain, he drew solace from the knowledge that George W. Bush was keeping the shores of Texas safe from enemy invasion.

Bush's campaign spokesman claims, against a compilation of devastating evidence, that the Republican front-runner got no special preference because he happened to be the son of a prominent and wealthy congressman. So does the elderly Air Guard official who approved Bush's induction and commission. Yet it is clear that George W. Bush was treated with far more consideration than thousands of other young men who wanted to join the National Guard in the late '60s.

Next page | The Republican chicken-hawk syndrome