Posted on 02/29/2004 1:14:18 PM PST by Maria S
I am a Vietnam veteran and retired Marine. I served as a rifle company commander in Vietnam in 1966, 1967 and 1968, and I know I can speak for the majority of the Marines with whom I served.
Most of these guys are now in their 50s and well integrated into all walks of society. Most also spent complete 13-month tours in Vietnam unless they came home on stretchers or in caskets. And many did.
Presidential candidate John Kerry's service in Vietnam is not the issue. It is his anti-war activities after he came home that, to this day, sticks in the craw of most Vietnam vets - at least the ones I know. While exercising the free speech that so many Americans have fought and died for, he was at worst duped or just terribly insensitive; at best, he was bashing his fellow servicemen while many were still dying in the rice paddies of Vietnam.
At Kerry's request, he was released from active duty early and then joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 23, 1971, Kerry claimed he had been told by returning servicemen that they had "raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Ghengis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam. . . . "
Later it turned out that many of the so-called Vietnam veterans who had provided Kerry this information had not even served in Vietnam while others had not even served in the military at all. Certainly there were atrocities committed in Vietnam and every other war, but most of the guilty were tried and punished.
So Kerry, in exercising his free speech, shot a dagger through the heart of every Vietnam veteran, and that is what we, after all these years, are still mad as hell about. It is not his military service that is in question; it is his terrible judgment.
Recently, I heard a Democrat say, ". . . (P)ersonally, I don't much like Kerry, but I don't doubt what he did in Vietnam. . . ." He obviously was referring to Kerry's honorable and heroic service. I, too, do not doubt what Kerry did while in Vietnam. But can we separate John Kerry the war hero from John Kerry the Vietnam Veterans Against the War protester? In other words, can we mention one without mentioning the other? Well, let's look at it this way. If we had a hero in our local fire department who left that service and became an arsonist, would we refer to this person as a hero or an arsonist or both?
Benedict Arnold was first a hero, then a traitor. How do we remember him now?
John Kerry, who made a dramatic public splash with his anti-war stand, now wraps himself in his Vietnam veteran status.
At each Kerry personal appearance there are several men wearing ball caps with some sort of military logos. Who are these men? One interviewed on TV a few nights ago identified himself as a former member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and a pal of Kerry. These are the guys whom Kerry likes to call his "Band of Brothers."
He is dreaming if he thinks the majority of Vietnam veterans will support him for president.
Some will and many won't. Here's one who won't.
John Regal lives in Canyon. He retired from the Marine Corps with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Kerry's Bandit Brothers
I agree. But who dares to say that "the emperor has no clothes"? The GOP can't attack him on his record, nor can his Dem rivals.
The best anyone can do is point out his anti-war activities after he came back.
Booty Bandits most likely!
It may seem a silly question but does one have to actually be a Vietnam veteran in order to belong to that outfit. After all, we are talking about lefty Dems here. Deception and false sounding names are their forte'.
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