bumpity! bumpity! bumpity!
Posted on 08/01/2004 8:07:26 AM PDT by BulletBobCo
It has been indicated by Democratic talking heads that the Vietnam military record comparison will come up again during the campaign. From open sources and my own experiences, I have developed the following comparison of the military records of President Bush and John "Fonda" Kerry.
As an aviator, a former Guardsman, a two tour Vietnam Veteran, and a Retired Army officer, I would like to know more about Senator Kerry's record. All I know is what he and his supporters say, and what is on his web site, which is incomplete. Unless he opens both his military and FBI files, all I can believe is what I know from open sources on the net, which are reflected in my comments below.
The Bush Record:
Issue: "Jumping" 500 other applicants for the TX National guard. While there may have been 500 on waiting lists, how many were willing to take more than two years out of their lives to go on active duty to undergo training on a sophisticated aircraft (F-102). There was one big exception to abusive use of the Guard to avoid the draft, and that was for those who wanted to fly, as pilots or crewmembers. Because of the training required, signing up for this duty meant up to 2+ years of active duty for training alone, plus a high probability of mobilization.
Bush's service: The mission of the 147th Fighter Group and its subordinate 111th FIS, Texas ANG, and the airplane it possessed, the F-102, was air defense. It was focused on defending the continental United States from Soviet nuclear bombers. LT. Bush did "strip alerts" in support of this mission.
Excusal from unit: 111th records of 1970-72 and any other ANG squadron indicate pilots excused for career obligations and conflicts. The Bush excusal in 1972 was further facilitated by a change in the unit's mission, from an operational fighter squadron to a training squadron with a new airplane, the F-101. Lt. Bush was advised he did not have the experience to train as an instructor in the F-101. Additionally, The US drawdown in Vietnam due to "Vietnamization" which began in 1970 returned many more experienced pilots competing for a limited number of seats. This resulted in a March 1972 DOD policy for all services which stated that pilots not in an authorized flying position were prohibited from flying. As I was in the TRADOC aviation division at this time, I remember this well.
As for abandoning his assignment, this is untrue. Lt. Bush was excused for a period to take employment in Florida for a congressman and later in Alabama for a Senate campaign. Excusals for employment were common then and are now in the Air Guard, as pilots frequently are in career transitions, and most commanders are flexible in letting their charges take care of career affairs. I had one such period in 1961, when my career took me away from my unit. I was placed on inactive status, and performed additional drills when I returned to have a good year.
Issue: Bush "barely" had a good year in 1973. A good year is a good year. This is a gratuitous criticism. He made up any drills needed at the end of his year.
Flight physical: Lt. Bush did not disobey lawful orders to report for a physical, as none would be given. Pilots are scheduled for their annual flight physicals in their birth month during that month's weekend drill assembly the only time the clinic is open. In the Reserves, it is not uncommon to miss this deadline by a month or so for a variety of reasons. Since Lt Bush was in a prohibitive flying status, and probably realized that his flying days were over, it is conceivable that a physical was not considered a "blue chip" item. The result would have been an administrative action "grounding" him from flying status until he completed a physical. Many active duty pilots in a prohibited status routinely miss annual flight physicals. Also, the formal drug testing program was not instituted by the Air Force until the 1980s and is done randomly by lot, not as a special part of a flight physical, when one easily could abstain from drug use because of its date certain.
In short, Lt. Bush's service was more than honorable -- it was noble and courageous in light of what he might have been called upon to do -- "scramble" to intercept an incoming bomber with fighter escort.
Kerry: On the other hand...
We don't know much about Kerry's record, do we? Unlike the president, he has not made his entire file public; we only have his word and that of his supporters as to his "war hero" status. He should be called upon to open both his military records and his FBI file.
As a battalion adjutant in Vietnam, and the senior awards and decoration officer in the battalion, I know a bit about how awards evolve.
Kerry's Purple Hearts (PH): Kerry had been wounded three times and received three Purple Hearts. Asked about the severity of the wounds, Kerry said that one of them cost him about two days of service, and that the other two did not interrupt his duty. "Walking wounded," as Kerry put it. A shrapnel wound in his left arm gave Kerry pain for years. Kerry declined a request from the Globe to sign a waiver authorizing the release of military documents that are covered under the Privacy Act and that might shed more light on the extent of the treatment Kerry needed as a result of the wounds. (The Boston Globe June 6, 2003).
Quote from the criteria for award of the Purple Heart:
"...the wound for which the award is made must have required treatment by a medical officer and records of medical treatment for wounds or injuries received in action must have been made a matter of official record."
Who treated Lt. Kerry's wounds, and who made them a matter of record? According to Dr. Louis Letson, who treated Kerry’s first "wound" in December 1968, he treated the "wound" with a Band-Aid. Dr. Letson further states that some of Kerry s crew confided to him that they had not received any fire that night, but that the "wound" was probably the result of a fragment ricocheting from a mortar round that Kerry had fired when it struck some rocks. Dr. Letson further related that Kerry had told them "he would be the next JFK from Massachusetts.”
For a PH to be awarded, it has to be a matter of record that the injury was the "result of hostile action" (IRHA). On two occasions resulting from hostile action ( 1, lacerations resulting from a helicopter being forced down by hostile fire and 2, a piece of Plexiglas in my neck from a bullet penetrating the helicopter), I was treated in a field medic environment, and the wound was not recorded. I could have done so, but declined. On the third occasion, I was wounded along with several others in a mortar attack and taken to a field hospital where my medical records were annotated with IRHA. I only discovered that I was awarded the PH when I received the orders for it.
Navy instruction, titled 1300.39, says that a Naval officer who requires hospitalization on two separate occasions, or who receives three wounds "regardless of the nature of the wounds," can ask a superior officer to request a reassignment. The instruction makes clear the reassignment is not automatic. It says that the reassignment "will be determined after consideration of his physical classification for duty and on an individual basis." Because Kerry's wounds were not considered serious, his reassignment appears to have been made on an individual basis. Moreover, the instruction makes clear that Kerry could have asked that any reassignment be waived. The bottom line is that Kerry could have remained but he chose to seek an early transfer.
Bottom line: How did those PH get recorded and awarded? (Can you say, "Get out of Dodge"?)
Kerry's Silver Star action: While Senator Kerry has not made the official citation available, research by folks who claim to know give the following version of the action:
When Kerry's Patrol Craft Fast 94 received a B-40 rocket shot from shore, he hot-dogged his craft beaching it in the center of the enemy position. To his surprise, an enemy soldier sprang up from a hole not ten feet from Patrol Craft 94 and fled.
The boat's machine gunner hit and wounded the fleeing Viet Cong as he darted behind a hootch. The twin .50s gunner fired at the Viet Cong. He said he "laid 50 rounds" into the hootch before Kerry leaped from the boat and dashed in to administer a "coup de grace" to the wounded Viet Cong. Kerry returned with the B-40 rocket and launcher.
First, any one hit by a .50 caliber round is not likely to be a threat. According to my understanding of the Rules of War, killing a wounded enemy is a war crime. Also, how did the recommendation make it up the chain of command? My suspicion is that Kerry put himself in for it. In any case, from my experience, this action is not only NOT worthy of a Silver Star, but is more appropriate to a court-martial. IMHO, it was nothing more than his attempt to turn Patrol Craft 94 into his personal "PT-109" for future political capital, as alluded to by his crew to Dr. Letson.
In any case, Kerry's post-war activity is to be condemned as it put soldiers in combat at further risk, lengthened the war, and subverted US objectives in the Vietnam Conflict. After returning home, he quit the Navy early and changed the color of his politics to become a leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Kerry wasted no time organizing opposition in the United States against the efforts of his former buddies still ducking communist bullets back in Vietnam, cementing his liberal credentials for future political pursuits.
Kerry participated in the so-called Winter Soldier Investigation where his fellow protesters accused his fellow GIs of war crimes. (For the record, the chain of command punished any and all atrocities severely, contradictory to Kerry's assertions).
Kerry's later betrayal of American prisoners of war, his blatant disrespect for the families of our missing in action, Vietnam veterans, his continued lack of support for our soldiers in the War on Terror, his support for communist Vietnam and his waffling over the issue of use of force in Iraq proves he is a self promoting candidate who cannot be relied on to protect the best interests of the United States.
In fact, as a two-tour veteran of Vietnam and a retired Army officer, I consider him to be a traitor. He wiped out any "attaboys" he may have had from his Naval service by all the "aw shits" since.
Besides, the only military record we should be considering is the outstanding performance of President Bush as our Commander-in-Chief.
Chuck Hoskinson LTC, USArmy, Retired RVN 66-67, 70-71 CT ARNG 60-63 Army Aviator/Mideast FAO Awarded LM, DFC, BSM/2OLC, PH, AM"V", + numerous awards for meritorious service
bumpity! bumpity! bumpity!
bump to the top
It's interesting that people gloss over the details and forget the context of the times. I'm sure there were 500 or more people waiting to get into the TNG but that none of them had the qualifications to be a pilot (4 year degree, vision, etc.). If he was using pull, why not get a billet in logistics or administration?
Here is another contrast I like and maybe someone can fill in the missing number. When Kerry joined the Navy, the TOTAL count of Navy KIA was THREE. What was the death rate from training accidents for a pilot candidate?
Thanks for the ping and the excellent posts.
This is what Sean Hannity and Ed Gillespie should be talking about, but isn't. No more "John Kerry was a war hero" crap!
Excellent find, thanks for posting. This article clarifies even more some of the "fuzziness" that the press has created about Bush's service.
It's going into my files - and to those of my friends.
Veterany postavili pod somnenie geroizm Johna Kerry (Veterans cast doubt on John Kerry's heroism)
Thanks for the ping, please keep me in.
While suturing a laceration on the hand of a 70-year-old Massachusetts farmer (whose hand had been caught in a fence while working), a doctor and the old man were talking about Senator John Kerry possibly being in the White House one day.
The old farmer said, "Well, ya know, Kerry is a 'post turtle'."
Not knowing what the old man meant, the doctor asked him what a post turtle was.
The old man said, "When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle."
The old man saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain, "You know he didn't get there by himself, he doesn't belong there, he can't get anything done while he's up there, and you just want to help the poor stupid %*%* get down."
BTTT!!!!!!
Get the military info out there then his record in the senate ect. What we need is to keep Kerry off-balance, to make him to explain his views on everything, go after his weakness and allow him to portray HIMSELF as the dishonest twit he really is.
I have been wondering about his actual service/combat patrol time also. Anyone else that can shed some light on this?
I agree totally with your post. Ever since Kerry has been campaining on his "war record" I have believed that his Purple Hearts and the Silver Star were bogus awards that he had initiated himself. I am glad that others believ this too.
Let's not forget Kerry's being AWOL from the US Senate much of the time!!!
As a former naval officer and Vietnam veteran, I offer the following observations on Kerry's Purple Hearts:
Kerry's first PH seems very questionable since it was not due to hostile fire and his superior, LCDR Hibbard, refused to approve it. When Kerry was transferred to another unit, it was approved mysteriously.
Kerry's first PH was approved on Feb 28, 1969 by USNAVSUPACT, Saigon on Feb 28 for injuries received on Dec 2, 1968; his second PH was approved on March 5 for injuries received on Feb 20; and the third PH was approved on 17 April for injuries received on March 13.
It took almost 3 months to process the first PH, two weeks for the second one; and a little over a month for the third. This chronology bears out Hibbard's story.
It is interesting to note that COMCOSRON ONE requested Kerry's reassignment to CONUS based on 3 PHs on March 17, four days after his last PH injury on March 13. Kerry departed March 26, even before the official approval of April 17 was issued. To say that it is remarkable that someone could suffer injuries warranting 3 PHs in a little over 3 months and never be hospitalized is an understatement. It just doesn't pass the smell test.
This information comes from the released official records, so stamped, by Kerry.
That's said to be a faked photo. Kerry wasn't there.
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