Book reopens Kerry's war wounds ( New Book questions Kerry's Nam injuries, etc)

sunday times via theaustralian.news.com.au ^ | 02/23/04 | sunday times vis theaustralian.news.com.au

[Hon]

"Kerry was not badly wounded beyond that it took him out for 2 days."

Again, you post this as if it is fact. His Commanding Officer says he lost NO duty days.

"There were an awful lot of Purple Hearts -- from shrapnel, some of those might have been M-40 grenades," said Elliott, Kerry's commanding officer. "The Purple Hearts were coming down in boxes. Kerry, he had three Purple Hearts. None of them took him off duty."

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061603.shtml

Why are you doing this?

[xone]

'A wounded fanatic like those communists'. What are you, a screenwriter? The guy was wounded by .50 cal, had fired a one shot B40 rocket before he got shot, then Kerry beaches boat shoots commie 'up close and personal' in 'hand to hand' combat. What is next? Walks on water back to his boat? "I don't support Kerry." BS. By the way, there is plenty in Kerry's VN record to fire up real conservatives and lapsed repubs. Why should he get a pass? I forgot...you don't support Kerry.

[Cold Heat]

don't make fools of yourselves questioning his legit war record.

Destro, I agree that we should concentrate on his post war record, because that is what is relevant to the election. and, I have argued that we should not assist in spreading any dis-information.

We are just smarting from the rats (and Kerry initially) constant harping about Bush and his Air National Guard service.

The disconnect however, between what Kerry did in Nam and what he did after is glaring.

The guy is trying to morph himself into a war hero and it appears that he was but a opportunist for exactly this reason.

I hope that you can see what the anger is based on. And how it is relevant to the argument of his persona. If not his service.

The fact that all who served are heros, is not in question by this.

[Eva]

Thanks for posting this.

[Travis McGee]

His CO says he didn't miss a single day of duty. In the USMC, this was called a "scratch" and didn't rate being written up for a Purple Heart (unless one was a "sea lawyer" looking for an early out).

[Kozak]

Well, probably with "technical" advice from Hillary Clinton

The enemy of my enemy is my friend...
(BBBlleeeecchhh!)

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

Ya, know, that's THE one thing about this KERRY Campaign that I cannot figure out.

We know, and so do his Vietnam "Band of Brothers" in Vietnam, how KERRY came back to paint them and the rest of us Vietnam Veterans with the same brush as the Terrorist Enemy were were then fighting.

At what price paid to these Friends of KERRY, just to have free and unfetterd access to a possible future KERRY White House ala JFK's PT-109 Crew..?

.

[kabar]

For the record the USS Gridley was a DLG. Check out this site. It looks like some crew members are featuring Kerry's service on the ship.

http://home.nycap.rr.com/pwcarter/

[Travis McGee]

I don't disagree with your thoughts about serving "safely" out at sea.

But then by the same token, GWB should be given full credit for flying the dangerous F-102 "widow maker" supersonic interceptor in the other war going on, the "Cold War." Plenty of F-102 pilots died, just flying that jet. Anybody who flew interceptors in the USAF in that era knows you didn't have to fly over Viet Nam to risk your life. I think something like 20% of all the F-102s ever built....crashed. With a lot of pilots in them.

[deport]

I like my modifier 'up close and personal' over hand to hand combat. When you track down and are close enough to see the man you kill 'up close and personal' sounds about right to describe it.

---

The details of the event for which he was given the Silver Star make no sense at all. Supposedly, a B-40 (rocket propelled grenade) was fired at the boat and missed. Charlie jumps up with the launcher in his hand, the bow gunner knocks him down with the twin .50 (caliber machine guns), Kerry beaches the boat, jumps off, shoots Charlie, and retrieves the launcher. If true, he did everything wrong. (a) Standard procedure when you took rocket fire was to put your stern to the action and go (away) balls to the wall. A B-40 has the ballistic integrity of a Frisbee after about 25 yards, so you put 50 yards or so between you and the beach and begin raking it with your .50's. (b) Did you ever see anybody get knocked down with a .50 caliber round and get up? The guy was dead or dying. The rocket launcher was empty. There was no reason to go after him (except if you knew he was no danger to you - just flopping around in the dust during his last few seconds on earth, and you wanted some derring-do in your after-action report). And we didn't shoot wounded people. We had rules against that, too. (c) Kerry got off the boat. This was a major breach of standing procedures. Nobody on a boat crew ever got off a boat in a hot area. EVER! The reason was simple. If you had somebody on the beach your boat was defenseless. It couldn't run and it couldn't return fire. It was stupid and it put his crew in danger. He should have been relieved and reprimanded. I never heard of any boat crewman ever leaving a boat during or after a firefight.

Something is very fishy.

[Travis McGee]

I think Kerry's Silver Star belongs in the same case as LBJ's.

[cajun-jack]

because he is ashamed of them just like he is of his senate voting record...either of them is an albatross around his neck.

Besides, just who do you think you are to question the "real War Hero" in this drama, peasant??? /sarcasm/

[kabar]

Agree completely.

[Cold Heat]

The release of his record might clear this up. It might also make it worse.

I wonder, and so do we all.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Yep.

Then he had the nerve to ask for AN EARLY release from his nice and easy admiral's aide job back in the states to run for Congress!

(He not only abandoned his "buddies" back in Vietnam by leaving early (on an unwritten technicality" of three wounds!), but he then left active duty early in the middle of the war!)

Bush, when he asked for early separation (FROM THE RESERVES) was asking for early discharge when there was a glut of pilots, and AFTER the war was winding down. Kerry left in the middle, right after he had spent 5 months getting trained for a duty he filled only 90 days!

[xone]

'Something is very fishy.'
I'm thinking something is marine mammalian. Large and white. (Destro)
Deport, got same email have same feelings as I think you do.

[Cold Heat]

I read somewhere, that the silver was a upgrade from the initial bronze.

This also smells.

[arasina]

Anyone ever visited the Vietnam Veterans Against the War website? Read the arrogant words from one article---so condescending to patriotic Americans:

July 4, 2003. We are in the Gloucester, Massachusetts parade today. An unusual twelve-person contingent in a sea of patriotic gore. Hundreds of small, rippling American flags are waved by throngs of hardworking blue-collar residents joined by an endless stream of gaggling tourists. The beery, swaying crowds swell with pride and puffed-up courage. How many have seen real combat?

Every so often as we march down the boulevard, John, our fearless leader (who resigned his Marine Corps commission in '66), dispenses the peace sign with beatific calm. I stand on the right side of the VETERANS FOR PEACE banner we carry. Behind us, Paul, in real life an academic with high credentials, is dressed up as Ben Franklin and rings a stern bell, while behind him two VFP members grip an American flag burnished with the slogan REPEAL THE PATRIOT ACT. And behind them other people carry rigid signs stating all the losses gained since Lord Ashcroft usurped the Constitution and Bill of Rights. We walk slow and solemn like witches resurrected to remind the innocent of their dead.

. . .

For three solid miles we march in step behind a jolly float sponsoring the Armed Forces. The float is slow and cumbersome and plays sentimental music that the cheering crowds adore. They love the big color photos of flags and soldiers and swooping jets going round and round on a makeshift carousel. They gush and chant America! America! America! — not knowing we are next in line. And when they see us marching silent and erect they are momentarily dumbstruck. It is clear that deep, deep in the landscape of their beer-swept American psyches they too know something is not right. And they know that we know, and the irony makes us big.

The parade finishes at eight, and we are thirsty and tired after two hours of marching. It is time for food. It is time to relax. We have done our share and then some. The next day we learn that Veterans For Peace, with its dimestore placards made from string and sticks, was awarded third place for civic pride. It gives one hope that Mr. Ashcroft and his surly camp will soon be repealed. U.S. OUT OF AMERICA! Hip, hip. U.S. OUT OF THE USA!

Marc Levy is a Vietnam vet and a member of VVAW from Massachusetts.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Except that Kerry SHOULD NOT have ever left his boat in the middle of combat to go murder a wounded VC!

By leaving his post under fire that way, he put the lives of himself and his crew in immediate danger. they couldn't leave while he was ashore, and he couldn't operate his boat (he was OIC!) while he was ashore shooting a wounded VC.

(Which, by the way, IS a war crime! Yes, the only "war crime" Kerry could testify to in front of Congress was his own!)

[Hon]

"Then he had the nerve to ask for AN EARLY release from his nice and easy admiral's aide job back in the states to run for Congress!"

And he didn't run!