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I was an Army prosecutor, and I think this is way off. First of all, the repealing of 10 USC 1162 and 1163 in 1994 would obviously have no impact on anything that happened in 1972. Whatever replaced them in 1994 is totally irrelevant. What's important is whether 1162 and 1163 were in effect in 1972.

Second of all, Kerry was promoted from LTJG to full LT on Jan. 1, 1970. He asked to be released to the inactive reserve two days later. He still held a reserve commission until being discharged in 1972, and would not have come up for promotion to LCDR for at least a few years. The 1972 DD214, the smoking gun, if you will, is conspicuously absent from Kerry's website.

Third, officers are all commissioned by the President, and thus officer separations are governed by explicit USC provisions -- but these provisions are codified and fleshed out in service regulations. I'd want to see the Navy reg on officer separations before I would consider any other federal law. Nothing here is inconsistent with a 1972 OTH anyway.

Finally, involuntary separations always result in a less than honorable discharge, either a general or an OTH.

Kerry was likely asked to resign in lieu of court-martial, discharged with an OTH, then spent six years fighting with the Board of Military Corrections and Appeals to get his discharge characterization changed, accounting for the 1978 honorable discharge that was in memo format rather than on a DD214.

"Kerry was likely asked to resign in lieu of court-martial, discharged with an OTH, then spent six years fighting with the Board of Military Corrections and Appeals to get his discharge characterization changed, accounting for the 1978 honorable discharge that was in memo format rather than on a DD214."
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Makes sense. And he would want to hide this at all costs...hence no form 180.

Finally, involuntary separations always result in a less than honorable discharge, either a general or an OTH.

This is simply not true. See the original post. The earlier equivalent provisions were posted in the thread. Substantively, they're the same on reservists being involuntarily separated honorably.

See my post #36. You don't receive a DD214 when being transferred from the Inactive Reserves into the Standby Reserves. You receive a DD214 when being released from active duty. Kerry received one DD214 in 1970 upon release froma active duty and one in Dec 1966 when he accepted a commission as as Ensign and being discharged as an OCUE2 on active duty.

Personally, I received my DD-214 when I was released from active duty in 1972. I received my HD in 1978 and there was no DD214.