[jackbill]

In his first tour of duty he had a cushy job in a war zone aboard the U.S.S. Gridley which he cut short to volunteer for an even more dangerous assignment on a river combat boat.

More BS.

From:

http://navysite.de/cg/cg21.htm

GRIDLEY operated along the California coast until sailing for the Orient 18 November.She left Subic Bay 2 January 1967 for plane guard duty in the China Sea and the Gulf of Tonkin. After varied duties in the fighting zone, she sailed for Australia en route to the West Coast and arrived Long Beach 8 June to prepare for future action.

By my calculation, his first tour was five months and six days from Subic Bay to Long Beach. He did not "cut it short to volunteer for an even more dangerous assignment on a river combat boat." He went home with his boat.

As for "more dangerous assignment on a river combat boat", if you read the 7 part Boston Globe piece, you will find that when he volunteered for Swift Boat duty, those boats were used on the coast and the "river duty" didn't start until two weeks after he reported for duty.

Perhaps you should get your facts straight.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Yes - His tour was on the Gridley. As soon as they (the Gridley) got home and faced some nasty shipyard and refit time in Long Beach after their deployment, Kerry LEFT THE SHIP to go to easy training duty up in the Napa Valley.

He himself he left to get Swift boat duty because they WEREN'T in direct combat.

Like JFK, he wanted an independent command on his resume. Swift boat duty wasn't in river warfare until AFTER he got back to Nam. They were offshore doing Market Time interdiction, and had seen very, very little action for about two years.