Kerry’s Brief Brotherhood

National Review online ^ | August 16, 2004 | Byron York

[Ramonan]

Kerry’s Brief Brotherhood The truth behind a sensational rumor about Kerry’s “band of brothers.” In the last few days, there's been a new accusation floating around the Internet about John Kerry's Vietnam record. It involves speculation that David Alston, one of the "band of brothers" who served on board Kerry's Swift Boat, did not actually serve with Kerry at all. If such a story were true, it would be sensational news, given that Alston has made extensive public statements, including a speech at the Democratic National Convention, about his time with Kerry. The only problem is, it's not true. Alston did indeed serve under Kerry.

That description sounds precisely like the incident on January 29, 1969 in which Alston was wounded. But Lt. Peck, and not Kerry, was in command of PCF-94 that day. according to the Globe, "the campaign summarize[d] action that took place on Jan. 29, 1969, this way: 'While Kerry's boat and another (PCF-72) were probing a canal along the river, Kerry's boat came under heavy fire and was hit by a B-40 rocket in the cabin area. One member of Kerry's crew Forward Gunner David Alston suffered shrapnel wounds in his head....'" The campaign website also listed two other incidents that took place prior to January 29 as having occurred under Kerry's leadership.

Peck, who would later sign a letter to Kerry written by the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, protested. "Those are definitely mine," he told the Globe. "There is no doubt about it." The campaign later removed the January 29 reference from the website

[Ramonan]

Another "inconsistency" with Kerry's hero story.

[Chieftain]

Help end the FRAUD of Kerry.

Click the logo to donate to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

[Red Badger]

Apparently, Kerry's Real Band of Brothers were the VC and NVA....

[gunnygail]

SS TitaniKerry heading to Davy Jones' Locker...where it belongs.

[stockpirate]

>>>>it appears that while Alston was in fact on board PCF-94 when Kerry was in command, his total time of service under Kerry was quite brief — perhaps as little as seven days. According to records of Kerry's service posted on his campaign's website, it appears the two men were in actual combat together on two of those days.<<<<

Served maybe 7 days with Kerry and maybe 2 days in combat!!!

I can see why Kerry is on vacation this week while the book comes out.

[Red Badger]

You can discern someone's character in five minutes, much less a week.....

[Tribune7]

Kerry's a liar.

It's not a matter of seeing combat, it's a matter of telling the truth. If Kerry was honest about his military experience -- and if he didn't lie during his campaign against the Vietnam War -- I doubt there would be any veterans seriously opposing him.

[Prost1]

"Alston spoke only briefly with National Review Online, saying all interviews must be approved by the Kerry campaign."

Why would he need approval? Does he have a signed contract? Is there money in the pipeline for him?

[genghis]

lets see
who has covered this story?
nydaily news
pittsburg post gazzette
seatle times intelligencer
wsj
foxnews
washington times
us news and wr
and a host of columnists.
Slowly but surely it is purculatoing to the top and if all goes right will completely blow him out of the race.
We will see

[stockpirate]

I would have to totally disagree with you.

You may think you can discern someone's character in a week, but that is not reality.

There are people with certain types of personality disorders that you can hide from you who they are for months or years even.

[Steven W.]

Whatever the exact dates, Hurley confirmed that Alston was not on board PCF-94 on February 28, 1969, the day Kerry earned a Silver Star for an engagement in which he beached his Swift Boat and chased down and killed a Viet Cong guerilla armed with a rocket launcher. That suggests that Alston, who was wounded on January 29, was indeed away for at least a month. Short was manning the guns on February 28 and received the Navy Commendation Medal for his work.

Alston is now a proven liar for he has previously made numerous statements, to ABC News, DNC, etc., indicating he was there that day and now admits he was NOT.

[Grampa Dave]

Interesting re the removal of data from Kerry's website.

"That description sounds precisely like the incident on January 29, 1969 in which Alston was wounded. But Lt. Peck, and not Kerry, was in command of PCF-94 that day. according to the Globe, "the campaign summarize[d] action that took place on Jan. 29, 1969, this way: 'While Kerry's boat and another (PCF-72) were probing a canal along the river, Kerry's boat came under heavy fire and was hit by a B-40 rocket in the cabin area. One member of Kerry's crew Forward Gunner David Alston suffered shrapnel wounds in his head....'" The campaign website also listed two other incidents that took place prior to January 29 as having occurred under Kerry's leadership.

"Peck, who would later sign a letter to Kerry written by the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, protested. "Those are definitely mine," he told the Globe. "There is no doubt about it." The campaign later removed the January 29 reference from the website."

[stockpirate]

This means that if Alston served only in the beginning on Kerry's boat than alston was in Cambodia too on Christmas.

[stockpirate]

Did you see where Bill O'Rielly said it is "WRONG" to attack sKerry on his Vietnam service?

[Steven W.]

Here is a good synopsis of what has now been confirmed by Byron York here regarding the lies of Kerry and Alston via PowerLine:

Even assuming that what Alston told York is true, the following conclusions are now indisputable:
1) Kerry falsely claimed to have been in command of PCF-94 prior to January 30,1969, and has claimed credit for engagements that were fought when he was not aboard. Prior to January 30, the boat was commanded by Ted Peck, and Kerry stopped lying about his pre-January 30 involvement only when Peck complained.
2) Kerry has falsely claimed to have been in command of PCF-94 when Alston was wounded, which was on January 29.
3) Alston has falsely claimed to have been present for the engagement on February 28, 1969, when Kerry beached his boat to pursue a fleeing Viet Cong--the engagement for which Kerry was awarded the Silver Star.
Clearly, Kerry and Alston have collaborated in an effort to deceive the American people. That conclusion doesn't hinge on whether Alston served a week or, at the most, two weeks under Kerry, although the story is obviously more dramatic if Alston never served under Kerry at all.
The ultimate question, I guess, is why Kerry went to the trouble of lying so consistently about his service record. Why did he have to claim credit for engagements fought by Ted Peck? Why did he have to claim that he carried out secret missions in Cambodia, which led to his disillusionment with the American government? The real issue, I think, is not Kerry's veracity. It is his mental health.

Now ABC is shown to be complete & total suck-ups to the Kerry campaign. Jake Tapper is nor ever has been a "reporter" - he is a hack who merely sucks up whatever spin the tongue of Kerry campaign thrusts down his throat & ABC / Nightline is now proven to not only be a tool of the Kerry campaign but the furthest from objective one could be.

[hgro]

O'Reilly is a dunce and only one Dimocrat clown at a time can run for president.

[YaYa123]

We can always count on Byron York to get it right. He does fine work. I can't keep track of all the lies, but the most interesting thing to me in this column is:

"Alston spoke only briefly with National Review Online, saying all interviews must be approved by the Kerry campaign"

[JustaCowgirl]

If February is now out of the picture with regard to Alston serving on Kerry's boat (and it looks like it is), that leaves only March 1 - March 13th when action on PCF94 that included Alston could have taken place. (At least I believe that there was no action from Mar. 14th until Mar. 17th when Kerry left.)

An African-American in the 5-man crew would stand out more than other crewmembers, because there were not that many African-Americans serving on the Swift Boats-- possibly no others on the Swift Boat crews of Coastal Division 11? It seems that crewmembers of the other Swift Boats participating in the March 13th action should remember whether there was an African-American on board during that action. In particular, Van O'Dell, who was on one of the other boats on March 13th, should remember whether Alston was there or not.

At any rate, Alston's failure to release his records is very telling, as is Kerry's failure to do so. There HAS to be a reason why those records are being held back, when the records could serve to support their stories (if they were true).

[Dog]

Pead post 15..

[Dog]

Read post 15..