The Wingmen Assert the Following:

2. Bush did not need, nor did he receive family intervention to gain admission to the ANG.
An athlete with a degree from Yale, Bush was physically and intellectually qualified for ANG pilot duty. In enlistment tests he scored 95% in “officer quality,” 50% in “navigator” aptitude and 25% in “pilot” aptitude. ANG Commander Col. Walter B. Staudt also interviewed Bush in person. Bush’s critics have accused him of having “jumped ahead” of 150 applicants on a “waiting list” to join the ANG. Such an accusation is incorrect. In any ANG group, maintenance and administrative personnel made up the bulk of the unit and, as applicants, made up the bulk of any “waiting list.” According to Lt. Col. Campenni, “There may have been 150 or more applicants for all positions in Lt. Bush's unit. For pilot slots, however, the pool was much smaller, probably never more than 10, because of the stringent physical and educational criteria.” In his autobiography, Bush cited another unique requirement of the pilot slots, "There were several openings, I was told, because many people who wanted to go into the Guard were unwilling to spend the almost two years of full-time duty required for pilot training."

Bush’s opponents claim that he received special preference in his admission to the Guard. They base their assertions on Ben Barnes’ now-discredited account. In August 2004, Barnes, who was the Texas Lt. Governor when Bush applied to the Guard, alleged, “I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard ... and I'm not necessarily proud of that, but I did it.” Barnes alleged that Sidney Adger, a businessman and friend of the Bush family, had asked him to throw in a good word with Col. Staudt, the ANG commander.

Barnes’ daughter, Amy Barnes Stites, claims her father is lying. She told the Mark Davis radio show on WBAP in Dallas, “This came out in 2000 and I asked him [her father] then, at the time, if he [helped get Bush into the Guard]. He said: “No, absolutely not. I did not do that.” Amy Barnes Stites continued, “I love my father very much, but he's doing this for purely political reasons. He is a big Kerry fund-raiser and he is writing a book also. And [the Bush story] is what he's leading the book off with.” When asked, if her father had lied to the American people, she said, “Yes, I do. I absolutely do. And I think he's doing it for purely political, opportunistic reasons – trying to get John Kerry elected and trying to make Bush look like the bad person.”

George W. Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, did, in one way, impact his son’s admittance to the Guard. He inspired his son to serve his country and to seek the wings of a military aviator. Capt. Frank Twait, one of the pilots who trained George W. Bush to fly, shared the following vignette. “The day he graduated, Lt. Bush came in to bid me farewell, and I asked him what he planned to do with his life. I'll never forget his words: ‘Sir, I'd like to be just like my dad. I admire that man so much.’ “Hot damn,” I thought, “isn't that what every dad in the world would love to hear?”