Posted on 09/19/2004 8:38:35 PM PDT by grace522
Thanks for the ping!
Actually Kerry doesn't do the releasing .. he just has to sign a form which says the military CAN RELEASE THE STUFF TO WHOEVER asks for it.
I was the NCOIC for "Project 100" (somehwere :-) -- USMC) started immediately following the Paris Accords in 1973.
Medical discharge, hardship discharge, and forced early out discharges, etc., etc., all fell under the umbrella of "General Discharge" under Honorable Conditions. (Memory is shot, but this is how I remember it and I'm sure I'll be corrected if wrong)
General discharge was/is also open for reassessment following a prescribed number of years later through petition to a Naval review board for conversion to "Honorable".
With that said, sKerry could have parlayed his Purple Hearts into a self requested Medical Discharge and recieved it without a hitch, but only AFTER 1973.
It would be very interesting to see sKerry's first discharge certificate! (That would be dated 6 years following his enlistment, back then)
The rumor was that in the Navy you were safe from the jungle. It was claimed that a lot of people joined the Navy to stay out of the Army. I don't really agree with that. Give me the jungle any day to working on a flight deck of an aircraft carrier.
I would also suspect, if you took a percentage of the total number of people who went to Vietnam that died and compared it against the total number of pilots who flew F102A's and the number who died, my guess is that a higher percentage of F102A pilots died even in peace time. I have seen some data on that and it seems that a full 20% of the F102A's manufactured were operational write offs.
"I am also now an active duty Fighter Pilot in the New Jersey Air National Guard"
Thank You for your service to our country.
<< The rumor was that in the Navy you were safe from the jungle. >>
That was Kerry's belief.
As for me, I'm a pilot -- and never really understood either Water OR Earth People!
Per Adua Ad Astra -- B A
how come he has a honorable discharge certificate on his website? Dated 1978?
"how come he has a honorable discharge certificate on his website? Dated 1978?"
===
He does? I didn't know. But then why did he need another one in 2001?
I thought the only one public is from 2001.
You are absolutely right about a general discharge. You can receive a general discharge without facing a court martial just for a unsat or pt failure. Uou have to wait until the end of you enlistment contract to appeal it and get it upgraded which is easy to do. Although you generally will not get a general unless its your first contract, if you unsat in your second or third you are generally only barred from re-enlistment but still eligable for a honorable discharge.
>> But where does this 2001 date come from?
> From the DD215 ...
Ok, I see the 2001-03-12 date, but that to me just looks
like the date the form was executed (which is consistent
with it being a FEB 2000 edition form).
I read this just as Kerry preening his awards, but I'm
willing to be mistaken.
I couldn't find the actual data, but I found a DD 214 on his website, which says on page 2, that "no discharge certificate issued at time of separation".
WHY is that?
http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/DD214.pdf
http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/Honorable_Discharge_From_Reserve.pdf
What is missing though is an actual dd214, only a dd215. If we can get his actual dd214, not the one releasing him from basic or active duty but the one releasing him from all service it would answer alot of questions. I have a feeling that in fact he was oth or even a dishonrable, although the latter is unlikely without serving time(which may have happened)
he was being released from active duty and back into the reserves. no need to rank the type of seperation when that happens.
That is what we need to find out. Again, there is a reason Kerry won't sign form 180.....a very good reason.
This is what I remember as well. I recall that the General Discharge (the term "Convenience of the Government" was also used) was an Administrative Discharge - as opposed to one that could be meted out by a Courts Martial. Folks who couldn't hack boot camp were given these discharges, but were told that they could appeal the discharge after X years and get it upgraded.
This is the only scenario I can envision as some like a Bad Conduct Discharge or Dishonorable Discharge would, like a Felony conviction, prevent someone from voting, owning weapons, etc.
I dont understand how everything worked back then, but Kerry's honorable discharge certificate is dated 1978. He enlisted in 1968, thats a ten year difference. OK he received a dd214 from training, and one from active duty(presumably from vietnam service) those encompass appx 3 years of service. Which is a normal enlistmenet period for today, I do not know about the vietnam era. But I have never heard about a ten year initial enlistment, even for a officer generally its 8 years which means assuming it was an 8 year enlistment there was a period of 2 years before he receive an honorable discharge, that just does not smell right. He should have received one immediately at the end of his initial contract period.
ps. I forgot to mention he should have received a dd214 at the end of his initial enlistment also, which is why this smells funny.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.