AWOL Primer

If there are any journalists who, years later, have found all this Bush/AWOL stuff just too confusing to look into, you can go read David Neiwert who takes a look at the issues.
He concludes:

Though of course, we all remember how many critics of the mainstream right have referred to Clinton as a "draft dodger" -- which, like "deserter," is a term that refers specifically to acts of law-breaking. But then, I can't recall anyone demanding that George H.W. Bush or Bob Dole renounce the people who uttered those characterizations, either.

Indeed