(KERRY)Vietnam Stance Irks Veterans

AJC.com ^ | January 29, 2004 | Terry Garlock

[Wings-n-Wind]

Not for commercial use. Posted for education and discussion purposes only, under the fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright law.

([The author] was a Cobra helicopter pilot in Vietnam. He received the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Distinguished Flying Cross. )

Now that U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is claiming the veteran vote based on his war record, both sides of that story should be told.

To appreciate the dark side of Kerry's war record, you should know a few things about Vietnam veterans.

The public and the press make a mistake when they divide us into decorated veterans like Kerry and then all the others.

We like to think of ourselves as brothers --- those who fought the enemy directly in combat and those who provided vital support in protected areas that were in many cases exposed to attack.

Even today, when two Vietnam veterans meet for the first time, they might say, "Welcome home, brother!" because many were never welcomed home. They met the cold shoulder of an ungrateful nation on their return.

Those of us whose job was combat feel an even deeper sense of brotherhood. We learned to trust our brothers on the ground, on the water and in the air to do the right things to protect one another, a bond that cannot be fully explained in words.

We quietly feared dying in battle, but there was something we feared even more. We knew if we should panic under fire and fail to do our job, we might lose our brothers' trust or we might lose their lives, and this we feared more than anything.

Like Kerry, I have a couple of medals, but who has what medal among combat veterans doesn't make a dime's worth of difference between us. What matters is that we are, for the rest of our life, brothers who kept faith with one another in a miserable war.

A young Kerry, however, broke faith with his brothers when he returned to the United States. With the financial aid of Jane Fonda, he led highly visible protests against the war. He wrote a book that many considered to be pro-Hanoi, titled "The New Soldier." The cover photo of his book depicted veterans in a mismatch of military uniforms mocking the legendary image of Marines raising the American flag atop Mount Suribachi in the 1945 battle for Iwo Jima, holding the American flag upside down.

Kerry publicly supported Hanoi's position to use our POWs as a bargaining chip in negotiations for a peace agreement. Kerry threw what appeared to be his medals over a fence in front of the Capitol building in protest, on camera of course, but was caught in his lie years later when his medals turned up displayed on his office wall.

Many good and decent people opposed the Vietnam War. Many of us who fought it hated it, too. I know I did.

But like Fonda's infamous visit to Hanoi in 1972, Kerry's public actions encouraged our enemy at a time they were killing America's sons. Decades after the war was done, interviews with our former enemy's leaders confirmed that public protests in the United States, like Kerry's, played a significant role in their strategy.

Many of us wonder which of our brothers who died young would be alive today had people like Fonda and Kerry objected to the war in a more suitable way.

Now that it serves his ambition to be president, Kerry reminds the public of his war record daily. But the dark side of that record is not being told. Many Vietnam veterans have taken notice, and many of us will vigorously oppose Kerry's election to any office.

[caisson71]

You're correct about a 'bum will always be a bum'. IMO, the press has been looking for a way to apologize to us VN veterans for their traitorous acts and they have apparently found the ideal means by which to do it - by supporting a decorated VietNam vet and anti-war protestor with some distinction. They again miss the point and will not succeed.

[chesty_puller]

Hey Coop, toss me on your ping list...please.

[Coop]

Hey Chesty! I really don't have one for vets, just kind of go off the cuff. I'll try to remember you in the future, though. Semper Fi!

[beckysueb]

I heard Fatso Kennedy in an interview this morning pumping up Kerry for going back after a drowning person. This coming from Kennedy! Hey Fatso can we say Chappaquiddick

[cookcounty]

" I was only a Vietnam-era veteran who spent four years state-side as an AF fighter jet crew chief, "

--I was drafted, went through medic's training -----and got sent to Germany!

You, me and W: in Michael Moore's eyes, three Deserters!!!---

[river rat]

"We quietly feared dying in battle, but there was something we feared even more. We knew if we should panic under fire and fail to do our job, we might lose our brothers' trust or we might lose their lives, and this we feared more than anything.

These words stand out as the most convincing, that the author "was there"... Semper Fi

[beelzepug]

"But the dark side of that record is not being told."

It will be.

[Muleteam1]

I personally think the USDA has overlooked Michael Moore in their tracking of Mad Cow in the U.S. But to say that Michael Moore is a mad cow, at the least, gives him credit for having a brain with holes in it.

Muleteam1

[GailA]

hanoi john

[bert]

Here's the deal. Kerry went to Vietnam and did his duty and then some. He learned however that his kind was unworthy of association with the political class in Massachuttes.

He wanted a political life. He threw away his metals and changed his coat. That is Kerry is a peacenik turncoat.

Now that politics demand otherwise he has turned the coat again. No longer a complete peace monger he wants to show off his heroship.

He has no moral base. Like Bill Clinton, there is no there there. The core is vacuum. The turned coat like the Emperor's new clothes is transparent.

[GailA]

Hubby did his tour in the Air Force during Nam on Santa Rosa Island, and Okinawa as A & E for the MACE Missile.

[kabar]

Once Kerry's Vietnam record is examined more closely, quite a different picture will emerge. He only served four months in Vietnam as a Swift boat CO (Dec - March) and initiated a request to leave Vietnam a scant four days after receiving his third "wound." The approval was granted because of an administrative rule that permitted thrice-wounded personnel to request reassignment. Three very minor wounds in four months plus a Silver Star and Bronze Star for separate actions. Makes one wonder. He was also given an early out to run for Congress.

[WaterDragon]

A good man speaks out and informs the rest of us.

Thanks for posting this article, WnW.

[larryjohnson]

I am more than irked. I am seething! It is too bad that other Senators who are VietNam Veterans have given a pass to...
"john fonda kerry"

[Texas Jack]

Click On The Picture

[CIBvet]

Hey Jack, the link's broke.

[RippleFire]

bump

[ChadGore]

Kerry = Captain Capitulation

[AgThorn]

Terry L. Garlock of Peachtree City was a Cobra helicopter pilot in Vietnam.

File John Kerry, who headed a veterans' group opposed to the Vietnam War, receives support from a gallery of peace demonstrators and tourists as he testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971. Forum: • Were John Kerry's protests against the Vietnam War inappropriate?

[Dan from Michigan]

Check your local library. I have a copy of The New Soldier.