Lt. Kerry was more than likely the type of corner-cutting finagler that wasn't uncommon to the armed forces, both officer and enlisted, during the days of mandatory military service.
First, we know that he engineers a transfer to what he thinks is going to be just a routine small-boat coastal patrol operation. You can imagine his chagrin when he found out their mission had been changed to an aggressive reconnaissance in force stance shortly after he made the move. Not quite the assignement he'd been looking forward to.
Secondly, we know that he was a bit of a "stockade lawyer," who carried around a copy of the rules of engagement in his hip pocket and, according to his own statements, wasn't adverse to waiving them around under his senior officers' faces on occasion. Kerry knew the rules, chapter and verse ... no doubt about it. So he probably knew about the "three wounds" ticket home thing too.
Thirdly, Kerry was probably the one who wrote up the initial recommendations that he be awarded the medals he eventually earned and submitted those documents himself as part of his after action paperwork.
Fourth, Kerry has stipulated that at least two of his wounds were "superficial," requiring no hospitalization time and that a third wound only cost him two days of "off duty" time.
Fifth, Kerry has refused to waive his Privacy Act rights and authorize the release of the medical records that were part of his military service. If he's so proud that he earned those records, he certainly shouldn't mind the public disclosure. After all, that disclosure can only bolster his status and the war hero image he's trying to project, right?
Source: http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnkerry.com/ Kerry graduated from Yale University in 1966.
Like John F. Kennedy (who served on a World War II patrol boat, PT 109), Kerry sought to do the same. He enlisted in the Navy and became an officer.
After training, Kerry volunteered for Vietnam. He served a relatively uneventful six months, far removed from combat, from December 1967 to June 1968, in the electrical department aboard the USS Gridley, a guided-missile frigate that supported aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
His ship returned to its Long Beach, Calif., port on June 6, 1968. Five months later, Kerry went back to Vietnam, securing an assignment as "swift boat" skipper. Kerry commanded his first swift boat, No. 44, from December 1968 through January 1969. He received no medals while serving on this craft.
While in command of Swift Boat 44, Kerry and crew operated without prudence in a Free Fire Zone, carelessly firing at targets of opportunity racking up a number of enemy kills and some civilians. His body count included-- a woman, her baby, a 12 year-old boy, an elderly man and several South Vietnamese soldiers.
"It is one of those terrible things, and I'll never forget, ever, the sight of that child," Kerry later said about the dead baby. "But there was nothing that anybody could have done about it. It was the only instance of that happening."
Kerry said he was appalled that the Navy's ''free fire zone'' policy in Vietnam put civilians at such high risk.
Kerry experienced his first intense combat action on Dec. 2, 1968. He was slightly wounded on his arm, earning his first Purple Heart.
In late January 1969, Kerry joined a five-man crew on swift boat No. 94 completing 18 missions over 48 days, almost all of them in the Mekong Delta.
Kerry earned his second Purple Heart after sustaining a minor shrapnel wound in his left thigh on Feb. 20, 1969.
February 28, 1969:
When Kerry's Patrol Craft Fast 94 received a B-40 rocket shot from shore, he hot dogged his craft beaching it in the center of the enemy position. To his surprise, an enemy soldier sprang up from a hole not ten feet from Patrol Craft 94 and fled
The boat's machine gunner hit and wounded the fleeing Viet Cong as he darted behind a hootch. The twin .50s gunner fired at the Viet Cong. He said he "laid 50 rounds" into the hootch before Kerry leaped from the boat and dashed in to administer a "coup de grace" to the wounded Viet Cong. Kerry returned with the B-40 rocket and launcher.
Kerry was given a Silver Star for his actions.
40 posted on 02/11/2004 6:43:44 PM EST by RottiBiz