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Possibly.

The bits and pieces Kerry has released show he was discharged in 1978, twelve years after he incurred his initail six year obligation. His page also claims that he was selected for LT (O-3) before 1972, which is likely since at that time it was one year of active duty from ENS to LTJG and two more years from LTJG to LT.

However... had he been passed-over twice for LT, regs require a discharge no later than the end of the fiscal year in which the second pass-over occurs. For LT, that would have been 1971 (four years after commissioning in 1967).

A discharge in 1978 makes sense only if he failed his second look for LCDR in 1976, assuming he had stayed in the IRR all that time. Having failed for LCDR twice, he would have been discharged no later than 1977.

I also remember seeing a second officers' discharge for him dated after 1978. The record he has presented makes no sense, as noted elsewhere.

Thanks. If you're right (and I have no reason to doubt it) that he was selected for O-3 before '72, then it would be a second passover for O-4 (LCDR). Should have happened in FY'77, but conceivable due to bureaucracy his file missed the FY'77 promotion board and got into the FY'78 board, or that he was nonselected by the FY'77 board and it wasn't until '78 that the Navy got the paperwork done.

I agree there are other inconsistencies, and persistent rumors of a less than full Honorable Discharge, but the Sherlock Holmes in me says we must eliminate all other possibilities, and this is a fairly plausible one.