The controversy surrounding President Bush's Air National Guard service has not gone unnoticed here in the panhandle where hundreds of troops have just returned home from war in Iraq.

George W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard is especially relevant to the panhandle considering the 500 or so returning troops home from Iraq just two days ago, but opinions vary on the specifics of that service.

"It sounds to me like political rhetoric, he accepted an option that was open to everyone," says 1st Sgt. Thomas Sasser, Ret. Florida Nat'l Guard

Retired Florida Guardsman Thomas Sasser says George W. Bush couldn't have become a pilot on influence alone. Further, he says it's unlikely that our present-day commander-in-chief skipped out on his duties 30 years ago.

"If he went AWOL, there should have been charges brought against him and as far as I know there never were. How do they know?"

Jake Yeatman sees things differently. Yeatman is himself a war veteran serving under the National Guard in Desert Storm, but he's not the first Yeatman to go to war.

"This is my father’s. Three terms in Vietnam. This is what we stand for is this country and if he's a dodger, then he has no business representing this country," says Jake Yeatman

Nancy Peal is not in the military, but she still has strong feelings on the subject. Dirty politics or not, peal and others say they are not as interested in the latest allegations against bush as they are with the economy and other issues.