About Kerry's Purple Hearts And Reassignment

Boston Globe ^ | 6/16/2003 | Michael Kranish

[Travis McGee]

One of the worst whores I've ever seen.

When it suited him, he was trashing "Amerika" and palling around with Hanoi Jane, while POWs were being tortured.

Now he brags about "I'm a combat veteran" in every other sentence.

If he was so ashamed of VietNam then, why's he brag about it nonstop now?

Then there is his habit of marrying lonely millionairesses....just a gigolo.

[onyx]

Thank you for that, Travis. We must continue to remind voters that he was delighted to pal around with Hanoi Jane while POW's were being tortured.

Damn him. He's a disgrace and he's dangerous.

[river rat]

One must be careful when discussing the merits of PHs and the difference between bravery and exercising good sense...
I have never met any group of men any braver that those men that fought from PBRs.
One Navy enlisted PBR crew member, remains a close friend to this day..
The VC and NVA feared and hated them, and would go to great lengths to attempt to kill them by any means..

I don't begrudge any man - wounded three times, wishing to invoke the "Return to the World" clause..
I had never heard of that "clause"....and a lot of men would still be alive if they had known and invoked the clause..

It's the definition of a Purple Heart level "wound" that requires some scrutiny...
That definition varied a great deal, between branches and even units within the same branch..

Our Gunny defined a "wound" - as one that required more attention than could be properly provided by our Corpsman..
In other words, in HIS mind - you were not wounded unless you had to be conveyed to Field Hospital or choppered out to the fleet hospital or beyond.
Anything less than that was considered a "wake up call" and you were lucky...

Kerry just doesn't pass the smell test..
For one so proud of his service - yet opposed to our being there - and then working against those warriors STILL there --- just doesn't calculate..
It seems Kerry was getting his Political Card Punched - in Vietnam - and left as soon as he has the necessary "punches".. Just as many Officers in some branches..did the same.


Semper Fi

[river rat]

Squantos,

Have you gotten any straight skinny on what was behind the huge arms dump explosion in Iraq last week?.

Accident or Intentional?

Semper Fi

[Squantos]

Nothing at all......sounds to me like a ADR op (ammo destruct request) where one man was in the crater priming in and the ones they found were departing the scene as something went south. Could'a been Army engineers or any service EOD team. Haven't heard anything offical .

SLB or Archy may have better data......

Stay Safe !

[archy]

IF a guy walks into a convenient store wearing a PH and a BZ and holds the place up does that make him a criminal with serious character flaws or are we just suppose to say "he is a hero" and give him a pass.

Medal Of Honor recipient Dwight Johnson from the 69th Armor was in the process of holding up a Detroit-area liquor store when he was shot dead on the evening of 30 April 1971; four years later North Vietnamese tanks would roll into Saigon and the last helicopter to leave the American Embassy took flight. His is one of the saddest of stories, which in no way lessens the raw courage of his actions that got him the Medal, not a few minutes impulsive act but most of an hour's worth, including the portion during which he hunted down one of the North Vietnamese attackers and beat him to death with an M3 grease gun, not a bad little 9-pound blunt instrument.

Neither does his previous valour in any way excuse or justify his later criminal activity, but it is most certainly a story without a happy ending, and if ever anyone deserved a happier one, it was Spec 5 Dwight Johnson.

[Hon]

"Kerry's three Purple Hearts resulted in his missing two days of service for one of them and missing zero days of service for the other two."

So Kerry says. His commanding officer is quoted by thte Boston Globe as saying his three wounds didn't cost him ANY duty days. ZERO.

[Hon]

"I think the reason the military has a three PHs and you're out policy is that - especially in Kerry's case - the mental effects of getting wounded three times may impair a commander's ability to accomplish the mission, or a soldier's ability to "walk point" and carry out orders effectively."

If that were the case it would be automatic--it isn't. If that were the case you wouldn't have to put in for it. You do. If that were the case you wouldn't be able to waive re-assignment. You can.

If that were the case you'd be sent home, not reassigned.

[My Dog Likes Me]

Let me put it this way.

I'm sure that in the last ten years you have read a newspaper article along these lines, "After 50 Years, WW II Vet Finally Gets Purple Heart." My point is that these old vets never forgot what happened, even if their wound wasn't reported at the time.

I'm sure that whenever the weather gets really cold in Boston, John Kerry's body tells him exactly where it was violated by hot metal over 30 years ago.

[Hon]

"IF a guy walks into a convenient store wearing a PH and a BZ and holds the place up does that make him a criminal with serious character flaws or are we just suppose to say "he is a hero" and give him a pass."

Yep. As I've mentioned, Timothy McVeigh had a Bronze Star with a V for valor.

[Hon]

"I'm sure that whenever the weather gets really cold in Boston, John Kerry's body tells him exactly where it was violated by hot metal over 30 years ago."

Yeah, it must've been murder for him to be out playing ice hockey up in New Hampshire for the crowds last week. And it must have killed him to be out windsurfing. The guy is a wreck. LOL

BTW, why you suppose he won't let the Boston Globe or any other media outlet see the records of his treatment for his wounds?

This fact is mentioned in the Boston Globe piece. They were curious about their severity as well.

[FranklinsTower]

I posted this quote on another thread but I believe it bears repeating here.

"KERRY IS A FAIR WEATHER WAR HERO."

I think it fits him like a glove.

[Hon]

"Most folks with scratches did NOT put in for PHs, and did not get them. I am referring to Kerrey-like wound requiring no hospitalization and no lost duty.
OTOH, if you were looking for a quick ticket out, you would catalog each and every scratch."

Yep. Notice he put in for reassignment just a day or two after his third wound.

[archy]

One must be careful when discussing the merits of PHs and the difference between bravery and exercising good sense...

I have never met any group of men any braver that those men that fought from PBRs.

One Navy enlisted PBR crew member, remains a close friend to this day..

The VC and NVA feared and hated them, and would go to great lengths to attempt to kill them by any means..

It's my understanding that Kerry was in PCF Swift boats, not the smaller PBRs, though there were certainly come particularly courageous individuals in the Swifts and Nasti boats of the *brownwater* navy as well- as to whether or not he was one of them, then, I'll leave to those who knew him then [1968 and '69] to debate; the jury's not in either way so far as I'm concerned.

But I'd certainly doubt the good sense of any individual who gets himself or those under him repeatedly wounded or injured in combat, and I'd have some real hard questions about the sort of judgement such a person might have had either way back then, or 40 years after the fact. Some leadership positions most certainly do not call for the impulsive valour that might be praiseworthy in a junior officer or enlisted man- cool deliberation and rational thought would be more of a requirement.

[Natural Law]

Purple Hearts were handed out in an attempt to improve morale. When I was there we had a mess sargeant win a purple heart for "shell fragments in left eye". He got an egg shell fragment under his eye lid while preparing breakfast in the enlisted mens mess at Can Tho, an Army Air Base 90 miles south of Saigon!.

[Hon]

"Whatever the case, I don't view this topic of discussion to be fruitful for the Bush cause."

I'm not particularly interested in advancing the Bush cause in this case. I'm just curious about what the truth is here.

You're not living up to your name.

[Texasforever]

Kerry quit as soon as he had mirrored Kennedy's record. He won his silver star by beaching his boat and chasing down a guy that had already been downed by 50-caliber machine gun fire. He put his entire crew in danger by beaching and making his boat a sitting duck in the midst of a general rocket attack. He should have been court-martialed.

[My Dog Likes Me]

Good point about the hockey game Hon! Forgot about that one, I did. He must have been in great pain.

Let's make a deal. Kerry will release his military medical records when Rush releases his civilian medical records.

Please, my fellow Freepers, take off your blinders and look around! There is enough hypocrisy on all sides to fill the Hoover Dam.

[river rat]

I appreciate the correction and clarification...PCF vs PBR.
I suspect the difference between weight of gonads, required to crew either platform is minimal....
Meek men didn't serve in either craft..
(However, they were lousy traders :), and we took advantage of that in a shameless manner)

Your suspicions about Kerry are well founded in my opinion..
The man just hammers too much on his own drum....as though there was nothing else in his life that he is so proud of, and at the same time made a career out of protesting the effort...

His self declarations about his service and being a "patriot" -- just don't pass the smell test, when scrutinized against his political career positions on both side of most issues - but mostly Leftist where the rubber meets the road.

Semper Fi

[truth_seeker]

"You're not living up to your name."

Let me clarify.

There is much here, along the line of finding a way to discredit Kerry's service. That he got purple hearts for "scratches" and got out early.

I meant to convey I don't find pursuit of attempts to discredit him, to be fruitful for Bush.

If that somehow seems to you that I'm being untruthful, then you are reading something into my comments, not intended by me.

As a Vietnam era vet myself, I remember well those years.

On balance, I believe Kerry comes out ahead of Bush's stateside Nat. Guard record, and therefore would advise steering clear of pissing matches with a guy who served in the line of fire.

I would advise Bush to direct his surrogates to avoid such efforts. It can only backfire, in my opinion.