Why Bush stopped flying remains a mystery By Dave Moniz and Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY

The positive descriptions of Bush’s military service make his sudden decision to quit flying in the spring of 1972 — two years before his pilot commitment was up — all the more puzzling. …

* Bush was accepted into pilot school even though he scored in the 25th percentile on a standardized test. The test was given to all prospective pilots and there was no specific score that disqualified a candidate. In addition, Bush had two arrests for college pranks and four traffic offenses before applying for pilot training. Former and current military pilots say it was uncommon for an applicant to be approved for training with such a record.

* There is no record of a formal procedure called a “flying evaluation board,” which normally would have been convened once Bush stopped flying in April 1972.

* Bush’s records do not show he was given another job in the Air Guard once he quit flying. Pilots and Bush comrades say his records should reflect some type of new duties he was assigned. …

A contemporary of Bush, Dean Roome, a former Texas Air National Guard fighter pilot, was Bush’s roommate when they were flying in Houston. … During a telephone interview with USA TODAY in 2002, Roome described Bush’s career as mercurial; the first three years were outstanding, the final two troubled. “You wonder if you know who George Bush is,” Roome said.

“I think he digressed after awhile,” he said. “In the first half, he was gung-ho. … Where George failed was to fulfill his obligation as a pilot. It was an irrational time in his life.”

Contacted by e-mail last week, Roome pulled back from those comments.