exas Governor George W. Bush insisted yesterday that he fulfilled his military obligation and disputed parts of a Boston Globe report that there is no evidence that he appeared for duty for a year just before his 1973 discharge from the Texas Air National Guard.
''I did the duty necessary ... That's why I was honorably discharged,'' Bush told reporters traveling on his campaign plane to Ohio, according to the Associated Press.
Bush, who was assigned to a Houston Air National Guard base from 1968 to 1973, acknowledged, however, that he fulfilled his Guard duties at irregular intervals.
The Globe report, based upon extensive records of his service and interviews with former Guard officials, disclosed that Bush, who was a fighter pilot, ceased flying in April 1972 - 18 months before his discharge in October, 1973.
In May 1972, the Globe found, Bush moved to Alabama to work in a political campaign. But there is no record that he ever appeared for duty at the Alabama Guard unit where he was slated for duty. The unit's commander at the time, retired General William Turnipseed, said Bush did not appear for duty there.
''I read the comments from the guy who said he doesn't remember me being there, but I remember being there,'' Bush said of Turnipseed's remarks, the AP reported.
Bush's records contain no evidence that he did any Guard duty in Alabama. In May 1973, seven months after he returned to Houston, two of Bush's commanding officers, one of them a friend, wrote that Bush had not ''been observed'' at his Houston unit during the previous 12 months.
Just after that report, the records show numerous instances of Bush pulling Guard duty. In May, June, and July 1973, Bush spent 36 days on Guard duty. He was discharged soon thereafter to attend Harvard Business School.
The Texas Air Guard's former personnel officer, retired Colonel Albert Lloyd Jr., told the Globe that the records suggested to him that Bush was summoned to do the intensive duty near the end of his service after his superiors discovered he had not been attending drills.
