<< On 18 Feb. 1966 John Kerry signed a 6 year enlistment contract with the Navy .. >>
Nope.
He di no such thing.
Kerry's hitch was with the Naval Reserve.
The Navy's version of the [EG] Texas Air National Guard the Kerrorist Gang so disdains.
The Reserve is part of the US Navy and his unit was activated....to his dismay.
When you sign up, you are a commisioned officer regardless of active duty or reserve status. You are still subject to the provisions of the USMJ. I don't know how it was in the Navy, but in the Army during the 60's and 70's, most officers on active duty were reservest who had graduated from ROTC or OCS.
There are lots of things to fault Kerry about but having a Reserve commission is not one of them.
Officers who have graduated from civilian colleges and get their commissions through ROTC or Officer Candidate School (OCS) get Reserve commissions. Service Academy graduates get Regular commissions.
After commissioning, it is off to active duty for a few years where every officer is the same regardless of whether he has a Reserve or Regular commission.
Since, as a percentage of the total officer corps, Academy graduates are in a small minority, most junior officers that bled and died in World War II, Korea and Vietnam had Reserve commissions.
Colin Powell got his commission through ROTC and Bob Dole got his commission through OCS.