Perry colleagues remember solid pilot and airman

In interviews with half a dozen men who served with Perry 35 years ago, a picture emerges of Perry as a good pilot, a competent and safety-conscious airman and a magnetic personality who often invited his comrades on hunting trips near his hometown of Paint Creek in West Texas and who could be the life of the party on the unit 's many overseas deployments. But the picture is in some ways incomplete: Perry and his campaign have so far refused to release any of the governor 's military records, including evaluations he received during his Air Force career, which spanned 1972 to 1977. And Perry 's military years have largely gone unexplored by Texas or national media outlets. Except for rare interviews on the subject and brief references in his two books, little more than a general narrative has become part of the public record. (Excerpt) Read more at statesman.com …