[luvbach1]

I read recently that Kerry chose the swift boats for them being the least risky combat assignment in Vietnam. However, I must say I don't know why anyone would have thought that.

[america-rules]

"I read recently that Kerry chose the swift boats for them being the least risky combat assignment in Vietnam. However, I must say I don't know why anyone would have thought that."

No, he asked to be on a ship because he thought he would serve off the coast. The Gov't had a little test with the swift boats and he was forced to go on one !

[musicman]

They were considered one of the least risky, but on another FR thread, I read where their "misson" was changed to the "More risky" aspect, shortly after kerry had decided he wanted to "drive" one.

[swilhelm73]

I read recently that Kerry chose the swift boats for them being the least risky combat assignment in Vietnam. However, I must say I don't know why anyone would have thought that.

At the time they weren't being used to patrol rivers in hostile territory, IIRC

[Tamzee]

I read recently that Kerry chose the swift boats for them being the least risky combat assignment in Vietnam. However, I must say I don't know why anyone would have thought that.

Because when he first requested swift boat assignment, they were still only patrolling the coast.

Boston Globe, 6/16/2003: ........"I didn't really want to get involved in the war," Kerry said in a little-noticed contribution to a book of Vietnam reminiscences published in 1986. "When I signed up for the swift boats, they had very little to do with the war. They were engaged in coastal patrolling and that's what I thought I was going to be doing."

[GailA]

They were at the time he did, but as in any war it was subject to change as the war heated up. It's probably the same reason he choose the Navy over the other branches too.