[kimosabe31]

Is Kerry leading a Walter Mitty existence ??

[yhwhsman]

claim the enemy soldier had been lightly hit by .50 caliber fire

Archy, is it possible to be lightly hit with a 50 cal?

[nopardons]

bttt

[DoughtyOne]

From Kerry's service, to his service record, to his testimony, to his marriage and other events in his life, it appears to me that this guy was dead set on running for public office. Bill Clinton is the only guy I've seen with more drive at such an early age, to become a high level government official.

Has Kerry worked an honest days labor in his life, or has he sucked at the government teat his whole life like Bubba. Yeah, I know, Bubba held a job down for a couple of years.

[Travis McGee]

IMHO, Kerry went to the Swift boats purely to choreograph a "JFK moment," to use it to run for higher office.

His rabid insistance on getting that first "scratch" Purple Heart tells me he was already planning on getting his "three and go home" Purple Hearts. Otherwise, why bother hassling commanding officers for that bogus first one?

And the Silver Star episode just stinks to high heaven, it sounds as fake as LBJ's bogus WW2 medal.

I think "the fix was in" all the way from the US Capitol (Uncle Teddy, JFK#1's baby brother) to Zumwalt to his CO's. What rewards were THEY given, for playing a role in this charade?

I have read elsewhere that after Kerry sea-lawyered his way out of VN after his 3 "scratch" Purple Hearts, his remaining crew were reassigned to safe shore duty positions, instead of being reassigned to more combat. Is this true? Was it part of a quid pro quo?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[smonk]

index

[SAMWolf]

Good read and it brings up a lot of questions that I've been wondering about about. Sure sounds like someone was getting his ticket punched. Must have had high placed friends in Washington, you think?

[XHogPilot]

Kerry claims in the same interview with CNN's Karl that be had a SEAL disarm the B-40 and that he had brought it home and still has it.

Unlicensed possession of a B-40 is a federal felony. Unless the B-40 has been registered AND de-militarized in precise accordance with Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives directives, Sen. Kerry is probably in felonious violation of The Gun Control Act of 1968 and The National Firearms Act of 1934. Specifically;

• Title 18, Chapt 44, SubSec922(a)(4) Illegal Transportation of a Destructive Device
• Title 26, Chapt 53, SubSec5861(d) Possession and Transfer of an Unregistered Destructive Device

If the destructive device is nonfunctional and registered as a DEWAT (deactivated war trophy), federal paperwork still must be filed and approved before possessing the device. Again, not having the explosive rocket grenade, or simply removing parts or hammering a B-40 would not exclude it from a "destructive device" definition. The government actions at Waco and Ruby Ridge were in direct response to violations of the previously mentioned federal laws.

[R. Scott]

…claim the enemy soldier had been lightly hit by .50 caliber fire…

Ain’t no such thing - hydro shock makes sure of it.

[Warrior Nurse]

My father earned a Silver Star in Korea(see my profile for the citation) I have the after action report for that particular battle and there were over 1800 enemy KIA and very few enemy wounded. Awards like the Medal of Honor, Navy or Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star are earned and there is not a shadow of a doubt about this.

[dalebert]

bump

[lainde]

bump!

[righthand man]

bttt

[kabar]

After reviewing Kerry's service records, as released by him, I cannot believe the media has not picked up on the John Lehman connection. It should set off all kinds of alarm bells, especially considering the current flap over whether he threw his medals away or not.

A very curious question arises over Kerry's multiple Silver (3) and Bronze (2) star citations. Two of the five were signed by John Lehman who was Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan Administration 5 Feb 1981 - 10 Apr 1987. There are three Silver Star citations supplied by Kerry. One was signed by ADM Zumwalt, one by ADM Hyland, and one by Secretary Lehman. The Bronze Star citations were signed by Zumwalt and Lehman. Specifically,

Zumwalt: ADM Zumwalt served as Commander, US Naval Forces Vietnam from Sep 1968-May 1970. The Silver Star citation is more than likely the original citation taken from the award submission. Normally, as part of the nomination form, the nominator must provide a synopsis of the award (citation) that can fit on a single page suitable for framing with the certificate. Zumwalt's citation covered two pages. I suspect that Zumwalt forwarded the award to CINCPAC, ADM Hyland, for the final signature, including the citation. It is worth noting that the requirement to go to CINCPAC applied only to the Silver Star, hence only the Zumwalt and Lehman citations for the Bronze Star, i.e., Zumwalt as the final approving authority and Lehman for the replacement/reissue.

Hyland: CINCPAC probably edited the Zumwalt Silver Star citation to make it fit on to one page and to clean it up a bit to fit the existing format. ADM Hyland was CINCPAC 30 Nov 1967 - 05 Dec 1970

Lehman: Except for the last sentence, the Silver Star citation is the same as Hyland's. What makes this curious is that Secretary Lehman signed the citation at least over 12 and up to 18 years after the events occurred. Kerry served in Vietnam from November 1968 to April 1969. I doubt, in any event, that the final approval authority for Silver Stars had to go to SECNAV for approval. We also have photographic evidence that Kerry had the Silver Star medal pinned on in 1969. Kerry also acknowledges that he received them. My take is that Kerry requested replacement medals and due to the fact that Kerry was no longer an active duty service member, administrative requirements mandated that SECNAV's office had to approve the issue of the replacements once it was verified from official records that Kerry had actually earned them.

The bottom line is that Kerry probably did throw away his medals and then requested replacements in the 1980s. Someone needs to raise this issue with Kerry, i.e., why did Secretary Lehman sign duplicate Bronze and Silver Star citations at least 12 years after you left Vietnam? Kerry needs to release all of his military records including the nomination forms, which will give us the chronology and the approval chain of command.

Kerry's latest reaction on Good Morning America fits his MO. He wants it both ways. When he discovered that throwing away your medals was politically a negative, he came up with the story about his ribbons and someone else's medals. Kerry realized that he couldn't walk away from the story entirely, especially since he has the medals displayed prominently in his office. However, the fly in the ointment is that we now have the citations, released by him, signed by Lehman. If he indeed requested replacement medals, he has a real problem, i.e., he was telling the truth initially, lied in the 80s, and is lying now.

I recognize that confronting Kerry on his military service is fraught with problems politically, but I believe there are plenty of inconsistencies that need to be made public. His antiwar activities and associations (Fonda, Ramsey Clark, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, et. al) also need to be exposed fully. The fact that Kerry was a member of the inactive Naval Reserves (1970-2) subject to involuntary recall and could meet with the Communist Vietnamese in Paris (per his sworn Congressional testimony) while our forces were engaged in hostilities is disgraceful. Kerry is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief.

Kerry is frozen in a time warp when it comes to his service in Vietnam. His preoccupation with his medals borders on being an obsession. If you check Kerry's released military records, you will notice that Kerry amended his DD214 with a DD215. Among other things, Kerry burnishes his Vietnam Service medal by adding four bronze service stars to reflect various campaigns. This was done in March 2001!!! Why anyone would go through that effort to make some meaningless changes is beyond me. Hundreds of thousands of veterans, including myself, could do it, but beyond self-gratification and ego, what is the point?

[bimbo]

I do not understand why people allow Kerry to place the focus on his few month in Vietnam, conveniently ignoring his more than 30 years of anti-war, anti-American activities since …
I’d also like to ask his crewmembers who selflessly supported Kerry’s hero fantasies, how they felt about his anti-American activities with Fonda and the VVAW when he arrived back in the world.

[joesnuffy]

"We were in a small canal and normally we would have tried to exit, but Mr. Kerry ordered us to charge," Short said. "While I shot high, he and Tommy Bellodeau charged under me, right at the guy, and we routed them. That's why Mr. Kerry won the Silver Star."

I was in that AO my whole tour... and in that area at that time...we were working off PBRs with the Mobile Riverine Force...and I dont ever recall seeing any Swift Boats in "Small Canals"....heck PBRs barely fit up small canals...

Beachind a Swift boat.....in a small canal?

[Just mythoughts]

Another "block" in tearing down the JFKerry "hero" wall.

[jslade]

Thank you bttt.

[yawningotter]

Perhaps Adm. Zumwalt and the others were killing two birds with one stone when they approved Kerry's silver star. Not only did they have their morale boosting poster boy, they made it easier to ship a growing problem out of their hair. Something like "This Kerry is a loose cannon, but he has friends, so we will give him a few medals and let him go home a hero so we won't have to put up with him anymore."

[PhilDragoo]