Posted on 08/27/2004 11:02:48 AM PDT by Conan the Librarian
Kerry's recklessness disrupted Vietnam missions, former commander says
Former commander weighs in as part of group claiming Democratic candidate embellished war record.
Larry Peterson
A Savannah man in charge of some of John Kerry's boat patrols during the Vietnam War says the young Navy officer's reckless conduct sometimes disrupted missions.
"I had a lot of trouble getting him to follow orders," said Tom Wright, who - like Kerry - served on 50-foot Swift Boats that prowled rivers, looked for trouble and often found it.
Wright is in the thick of the ongoing mudfest over whether the Democratic presidential candidate embellished his war record.
After the Swift boat commander repeatedly balked at his instructions, Wright said, he persuaded a higher-up to transfer Kerry to another unit.
"I wasn't going to take dysfunction," Wright said. "... You're not going to reduce the safety of the rest of your people for something like that."
Wright is a member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which says two of Kerry's three Purple Hearts were for accidentally self-inflicted wounds not suffered under hostile fire.
The group also disputes Kerry's contention that he was sent on an illegal foray into Cambodia, a mission the future U.S. senator later said convinced him the government was lying about the war.
Following its pattern concerning the other charges, Kerry's campaign offered only a general response to Wright's contentions.
"This account," said spokesman Anthony Coley, "is different from Kerry's crewmates and the evaluation from his commanders, who said he was 'unsurpassed' and 'one of the top few.'"
Coley repeated the campaign's demand that President Bush condemn the Swiftvets "smear campaign."
"This is a front group for the Bush campaign," Coley said "They are proven liars. The American people want an honest debate about health care costs, jobs and the economy - not smears."
Coley also said "official U.S. Navy records" - the accuracy of which the Swift Boat veterans group challenges - "prove their charges false."
Lastly, Coley cited news reports that the Swift Boat veterans group "funded by Bush donors and longtime Republican donors."
Despite those responses, experts such as Emory University political scientist Merle Black say the flap has put Kerry on the defensive.
"It's a big deal," Black said, "because Kerry has made his war record the centerpiece of his campaign."
It's the campaign that has refocused Wright - who moved to Savannah after he retired from the Navy in 1987 - on Kerry.
In Vietnam, Wright said, he was typically in charge of patrol missions including three to six Swift Boats, including "four or five" in late 1968 and early 1969 involving boats commanded by Kerry.
Wright said Kerry refused to coordinate the fire of his .50 caliber machine guns with the actions of other boats on the same patrol.
Wright added that the standard procedure was for a boat commander who saw suspicious activity to radio him and say he might have to fire.
He said he would shift the boats ahead of that vessel so that they could provide supporting fire and maneuver others so they could cover it from behind.
"That's good," he said. "That's the way you run it. ... It works."
But it didn't work that way with Kerry, he said.
"I'd be running along," Wright said. "All of a sudden this boat slows down and shoots. ... I've got a boat I think is in trouble and everybody is focusing on him instead of getting the crossing fire protecting the flank. ... So instead of having a good mission, I've got an obstruction.
"I tried a couple times to get him to do it the way he was supposed to do it. And I just couldn't talk to him. He'd say, 'Oh, my radio wasn't working.' Or, 'Oh, I didn't see that.' "
After Kerry left Vietnam, Wright said he and fellow officers forgot about him until he joined actress-activist Jane Fonda in denouncing the war and accusing Americans of atrocities.
"That really bothered a lot of us," he said.
Wright, a marine consultant and a former manager at the Intermarine boat yard, said he's not a Republican activist. He acknowledges having given campaign money to U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Georgia, and U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia, but not to Bush.
Wright, 61, said he kept in touch with fellow Swift Boat veterans via a Web site. Some of them recruited him earlier this year to join the anti-Kerry group.
Wright acknowledged that Kerry's war record doesn't matter much in Georgia, since Bush is expected to carry the state easily.
But he said advertisements about the veterans group's charges have been airing in Ohio, Wisconsin and other battleground states.
Wright said he's confused by the response of the Kerry campaign, which has tried - with little success - to keep the ads off the air.
Indeed, Kerry spokesman Coley pressed Bush to intervene.
"This is George Bush's moment of truth to step up and denounce these ads," Coley said. " ... We don't want to hear his empty rhetoric about veterans. We want him hear these three words: 'Stop those ads.' Anything less is unacceptable."
Wright said such "strident and determined" demands don't help Kerry.
"If I were a Kerry strategist," he said, "I think I would ignore it. If it were ignored, no one would talk about it."
Charles Bullock, a professor of political science at the University of Georgia, disagrees.
Bullock said the vagueness of Kerry's responses leave him vulnerable.
"I think he needs to sit down with someone like (talk show host) Larry King and go over all this stuff point by point," he said. "There's a saying that a charge unanswered is a charge proven. ... I think Kerry has some more answering to do."
"I wasn't going to take dysfunction," Wright said. "... You're not going to reduce the safety of the rest of your people for something like that."
Bout says it all right there.
Its amazing this story is still growing day by day. Kerry's got to feel like he is in a nightmare version of "Groundhog Day" at this point.
And I suspect there is much more to come in the next sixty days or so.
Love your name.
Q: Conan, what is best in life?
A: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to the Dewey Decimal System!
<|:)~
His 4 month tour of duty is going on and on and..
Kerry's got to feel like he is in a nightmare version of "Groundhog Day" at this point.
"His 4 month tour of duty is going on and on and.."
Yep, and its due to his own arrogance. All he had to do was second the Presidents call for ALL 527's to stop.
but, Kerry being Kerry, he just couldn't bring himself to do the honorable thing.....a tendency that dates back to about 1971 from what I can tell......
Kerry also claims that he did not want to go upriver unless helicopters were standing at the ready to support them in case they came under fire.
This from a young officer who was only there a total of 4 months. And Kerry is proud of these attitudes! Add to that his complaining how awful it was to be sent on a supposed secret mission into Cambodia.
Oddly enough, the swiftboat vets claim Kerry did a lot of anti-war trash talking to his peers, but never had the guts to complain to his superiors. Either way, I don't see how Kerry even remotely distinguished himself as a combat officer.
Wouldn't follow orders.......so typical of the jerk off.
Has anyone out there ever heard of someone getting that many combat medals in a four month tour such as Kerry did?
The hands of 55,000 dead guys are reaching out of the grave to pull him in.
Steve Gardner, the gunner on Kerry's first boat for 2 and a half months, echos the same sentiments as Mr. Wright about Kerry being a poor leader, reckless, not following orders.
boy- i don't think this was the news ketchup boy was hoping for>
The nightmare continues!
bump TO SUPPORT THE NEW SWIFT VETS AD AND GEORGE BUSH... http://swift2.he.net/~swift2/gardner2.mpg
It was posted. See more discussion at these links:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1199267/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1198783/posts
The jerk couldn't run on his 20 yrs in senate...now that stuck way too much...so the only thingy was NAM...oh please....our Vietnam Vets are cooking him real good ;o), wonder when he'll be done!!!
IMPLOSION OF CAMPAIGN...going going gone...and done with.
HELLO President Bush real glad to see in office again for the next 4 years ;o)!!!
I promise I did search for this before I posted...sorry about that!
You really don't think that the Flipper pulled a fast one, do you?
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