Political reporters need lesson in military lingo

Retired Texas Air National Guard Lt. Col. Bill Burkett may, in fact, be the source of the CBS memos supporting what we already knew -- that young George W. Bush used family connections to game the system during his Vietnam-era military service. However, this paragraph from a Washington Post article on the subject is simply laughable, and is indicative of the disconnect between military culture and some of the reporters covering it:

"The CBS documents include several phrases that crop up in Web logs signed by Burkett, including 'run interference,' and references to a pilot's 'billet.' Former Air National Guard officers have pointed out that 'billet' is an Army expression, not an Air Force one. Burkett has also used the expression 'cover your six,' a military variant of the vulgar abbreviation 'CYA,' which appears in one of the CBS documents."

The article contends that this points to Burkett as the source. After four years at the Air Force Academy and eight years as an Air Force officer, I can tell you that "run interference," "cover your six," "CYA," and even "billet" are terms any Air Force officer might use. While "slot" is probably used more often than "billet" in the Air Force, "billet" is certainly part of the vocabulary; moreover, the Guard tends to be more joint than the active-duty force, and therefore it's perfectly reasonable that a genuine Air National Guard memo would include the term. All this analysis really suggests is that the memo was, in fact, written by an Airman, which could equally support its authenticity. Let's try to do a little better next time, Washington Post!