Posted on 08/01/2004 7:23:20 AM PDT by MVV
John Kerry's service in Vietnam lasted 4 months and 12 days, beginning in November 1968 when he reported to Cam Rahn Bay for a month of training. His abbreviated combat tour ended shortly after he requested a transfer out of Vietnam on March 17, 1969, citing Navy instruction 1300.39 permitting personnel with three Purple Hearts to request reassignment. So far as we are able to determine, Kerry was the only Swift sailor ever to leave Vietnam without completing the standard one-year tour of duty, other than those who were seriously wounded or killed.
It is clear that at least one of Kerry's Purple Heart awards was the result of his own negligence, not enemy fire, and that Kerry went to unusual lengths to obtain the award after being turned down by his own commanding officer.
John Kerry has long insisted that using the three-injury loophole to leave combat early was his own idea, but Kerry's fellow Swift officer Thomas Wright, who served on occasion as the OIC (Officer in Charge) of Kerry's boat group, contradicts that claim. Wright reports that he "had a lot of trouble getting Kerry to follow orders," and that those who worked with Kerry found him "oriented towards his personal, rather than unit goals and objectives." He therefore requested that Kerry be removed from his boat group. After John Kerry qualified for his third Purple Heart, Thomas Wright and two fellow officers informed him of the obscure regulation, and told him to go home. Wright concluded, "We knew how the system worked and we didn’t want him in Coastal Division 11."
Constructing a complete picture of Kerry's service is difficult due to gaps in the Naval records provided by the Kerry campaign. These gaps include missing and incomplete fitness reports, missing medical records and missing records related to his medal awards.
For this reason we call upon Senator Kerry to authorize complete access to all his military records by filing a standard Form 180, a simple two-page release form.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is in the process of researching John Kerry's time in Vietnam by conducting interviews with eyewitnesses to his activities, and we plan to add material to this section over the next several weeks as it becomes available. We will report the true circumstances of Kerry's medal awards and injuries, describe other controversial missions, and provide in-depth analysis of his fitness reports.
Kerry's Medals
1st Purple Heart: December 2, 1968
2nd Purple Heart: February 20, 1969
Silver Star: February 28, 1969
Bronze Star / 3rd Purple Heart: March 13, 1969
Other Missions
Sampan Incident: January 20, 1969.
Fitness Reports
Analysis of John Kerry's Fitness Reports
Right on!! I am sure that b!tch was there somewhere hiding behind the curtains.
Will DO!!!
How can Kerry be a fraud when he is a Vietnam Vet? I am also sick of him and his earning medals " the old-lying way". Him and his lying lover Teeth should take a long walk on a short pier.
Thanks for that pic....
The authors of this SBV site should regularly submit these articles and updates to major newspapers via letters to the editor.
Yeah, and do tell all the hard working Americans that struggle to keep the bills paid how they understand our daily struggle, coming from the mouths of billionaires!!! Makes me truly sick.
Better yet get on your local talk radio and educate others, even many in the 'choir' will not have the info FReepers are aware of. You will also educate some undecides that way too.
I agree. Thank god for the conservative voices on the radio: Rush, Sean & Dr. Savage!!!
Thanks for your service. It's overdue, and it isn't much, but this 20 year old is grateful for your sacrifice.
Of course not! He is living the real GOOD life with his "african american", he was living out of a suitcase before he hitched Mrs. John Heinz.
I just read the report on Kerry's first purple heart. Something very unusual stands out dramatically, at least to me. He had a shrapnel wound, even he admits that. If he was on a boat when he received a shrapnel wound how could that have come from the enemy on shore. The only way to receive a shrapnel wound on a boat is if some explosive round (RPG, Mortar round, etc) hits the boat. I am going to assume the enemy on shore was not launching mortar rounds at themselves, so if the shrapnel came from a round exploding on shore it had to come from what was being fired FROM the boat. A mortar round hitting the boat from shore would have done a whole lot more than scratch his arm. Seems obvious to me, but perhaps I am missing something.
A lot of us who were in Vietnam got scratches and cuts from fleks of shrapnel. A buddy of mine even had some in his back that didn't know about till he got x-ray'd back in the States. It never occured to any of us we should get a purple heart for that. Most of the time we had to be talked into going for a tetanus shot lest we become the butt of jokes. Kerry was the kind of Commanding officer we absolutely detested: self serving, out for his own glory, and didn't speak the language of men.
Thank you for the photo post, he was simple looking even back then, he was no "war hero". Give me a break!
God bless you and thank you for your service!
"I agree. Thank God for the conservative voices on the radio: Rush, Sean & Dr. Savage."
True, but when all is said and done, we still have Joe Wilson proven to be a liar, but facing no significant ramifications. We still have Richard Clarke, proven to be a liar, but he's allowed to slip away unscathed. We have Sandy Berger stealing documents related to 9/11, but that's fading and he'll get away with it. And we still have Michael Moore, able to manufacture preposterous lies and influence some in the process, and he gets away with it, facing just mild challenges from the right. We have Jamie Gorelick still on the 9/11 commission, because no one really took her on and made an issue out of it. And these are just the recent ones, preceded by dozens of others. Blatant treason, and allowed to get away with it.
Beautiful post Gail! Thanks.
I agree and perhaps they have and are being ignored by the liberal press! Of course they want Kerry to win and see our wonderful country go to hell in a handbasket, more news to report!
Frankly, the world would not have made much of John Kerry's record in Viet Nam, except he is the one who keeps bring it up.
His exploits are questionable, both in veracity and scope, when his orders were to patrol the assigned stretch of waterway, and NOT make assaults on land. His doubtful compliance with Naval regulations and chain of command most likely was the basis of his sudden removal from duty on the swift boats and reassignment to a ship far removed from enemy engagement.
In a word, he was not the kind of serviceman whose portrait and exploits are put on recruiting posters. In fact, he probably just missed being brought up on charges of insubordination and war crimes much like those attributed to Army Lt. William Calley at My Lai.
Without the draft, there is practically no chance whatsoever that John Kerry would have even served in any branch of the military. Undisciplined, with an indifferent scholastic record, and no well-honed technical expertise, he would have had a hard time completing boot camp for combat training. The military forces did have a program, dating back to the Second World War, of accepting college graduates into officer's training, where they filled such duty as quartermaster commander, or motor pool commander, or any of a number of slots commonly called "rear eschelon", the housekeeping and logistics duty within the military ranks. This is probably the best description of the back-door commission which was bestowed upon him.
I could see how he became LT JG. But he would have had a very difficult time of becoming Seaman First Class.
bump
This is exactly why I refer to Kerry as a FRAUD! He is a liar too, desperate to win, but Bush will rise above!
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