George P. Bush, a nephew of President Bush who was a hit on the campaign trail, has been accepted in the Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer and has begun the process of being commissioned for eight years of service.

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Bush, 30, said in a telephone interview from his office at a real estate development firm in Fort Worth, Texas, that he was moved to join the service in part when he attended the rainy commissioning in October of the aircraft carrier named for his grandfather -- the USS George H.W. Bush.

"My grandfather's my hero, and what really sold me on the ultimate decision was having the chance to see the CVN-77 be commissioned under his name," he said. "That was pretty moving, and I had a chance to meet some Navy admirals, as well. I had a chance to talk to them briefly about the opportunity, and I was won over."

George Prescott Bush, the oldest son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, said the death of Pat Tillman, the NFL player and Army Ranger who was killed in Afghanistan in 2004 in what was later determined to be a friendly-fire incident, "was a wake-up call for me." He said he even "looked into active duty" and had somber conversations with his wife about the possibility.

Bush said he had not intended to announce his plans. "Honestly, I'm kind of a little disappointed that the word got out," he said. "I was hoping to keep this as confidential as possible. I'm not doing it for political purposes or anything along those lines. I'm just doing it because I've been inspired by the friends of mine that have served, either through the JAG (military law) program or through the Reserves. I thought this was a small way that I could get involved."

Bush, who said he plans to "stay out of 2008," is a leader of the Maverick PAC, which was formed by young Texas donors to the Bush-Cheney campaign. The group has a series of meetings scheduled with the Republican presidential candidates.

Bush expects to receive his commission in a month or two. He will go to officer candidate school in Rhode Island, then intelligence school in Virginia Beach. The commitment involves two weeks of annual training. He can volunteer for active duty or be deployed after he finishes his intelligence certification, which takes about two years.

He'll have to run a mile and a half in 13 minutes, which he said he can do now, but he's trying to get down to the 10 minutes and 30 seconds required for SEALs and special operations. He's also a golfer and weightlifter.

Bush is chief operating officer and part owner of his firm, which provides equity capital to developers, most of whom are involved in specialty shopping centers with high-end tenants such as Starbucks.

Though he was raised in Florida, Bush settled in Texas after graduating from Rice University and the University of Texas Law School. He is a member of the board of directors of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce and the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and is involved with the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Bush attends a small Catholic parish in downtown Fort Worth.

Bush was known as "George P." during his frequent travels on his uncle's plane during the 2000 campaign. He drew shrieks from the ladies and was compared to John F. Kennedy Jr. when he spoke at the Republican National Convention. During the 2004 campaign, he was a clerk for a federal judge; the Hatch Act prevented him from getting involved until the final months, when he had a heavy schedule of appearances in swing states with large Hispanic populations, including Florida, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.

Bush wouldn't talk about any political plans of his own, but friends say they believe the family may soon be in store for another gubernatorial campaign.