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Interesting.

Seriously, are you saying that he's not released his original DD214...or whatever the Navy gave at that time that was similar?

Has no one seen a discharge from circa 1973-74?

There is no there there. All of this baseless conjecture on whether Kerry received a less than honorable discharge or was pardoned by Carter is nonsense. We have official Navy records that say the opposite.

Kerry received an honorable discharge. His progression through the Reserve system was normal. He was released into the inactive reserves on Jan 3, 1970 with no drill requirement, only the requirement to keep the Navy informed of his whereabouts. He was transferred on July 1, 1972 into the Standby Reserves, inactive and received his honorable discharge on Feb 16, 1978.

As a former naval officer who resigned his commission in 1972 and was released from active duty, I had a similar experience. I was transferred into the Standby Reserves and then received my honorable discharge on Feb 16, 1978. A Navy board convenes at least annually to decide who to drop from the Standby Reserves. Kerry and I happened to have been transferred into the Standby Reserves in the same year, hence the same date for our honorable discharges.