WASHINGTON, DC—In a move intended to dispel criticism over his Vietnam-era military record, President Bush announced Monday that he will spend the weekend at the Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, TX, to make up his missed National Guard service....

"I had to cancel dozens of appointments with cabinet members, congressional leaders, and foreign dignitaries," Bush said. "All that stuff’s going to have to wait, since this 30-year-old story is apparently a pressing national concern, or something." ....

At a press conference Monday afternoon, a reporter asked White House press secretary Scott McClellan why Bush wasn’t making up his time in Alabama, where critics say he failed to report for drills during the entire time he was working on a family friend’s U.S. Senate campaign.

"Well, the president is familiar with the base in Texas, so he chose to do his service there," McClellan said....