Am I way off base?
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I don't think that Assman is confused at all. I think he's drinking the Kerry Kool-aid. Probably promised a good job if Kerry's elected.
You must understand, that is enemy fire from kerry's perspective.
So we have the account from all the other SBV's who remained at the scene versus the Rassman in/under-the-water view and that from Kerry who wasn't even there! The only believable quote from Kerry would be "I decided to put him in the water before I decided to take him back out."
I'll try to find a source for Rassman being under the water.
I thought presidential candidates weren't supposed to use surrogates to discuss Kerry's experiences in VietNam.
You know when you have been under fire.
A mine sets off one big loud boom.
It cannot possibly be confused with small arms fire, mortars, RPGs, or anything else. There probably was a lot of metal screeching and banging, but no one would confuse that with being under fire.
Sounds to me like this was a single mine in the river, left there by the VC, with no VC on the banks to shoot at the boats.
Caveat: I was in the Army, not the Navy, in Vietnam in 1968-69, but I've been in some firefights.
Rassman was not 'blown out of Kerry's boat'.
When the #3 boat hit an underwater mine, Kerry was startled and his reaction was to hit the throttle and turn around.
Rassman simply fell into the water, since he had been sitting on the stern, as they patrolled the canal in the company of the other boats.
I personally have no sympathy for Rassman, regardless what he thought at the time. If he's been fooled for over 35 years that's his problem. I'm sure Kerry has BIG plans for him. Maybe movie royalties by Kerry's friends in the movie industry? Cabinet position? Who knows?
Like, why was he on that boat?
How did he alone manage to "fall" off a 50' boat?
What SF unit was he assigned to?
What was his assigned job?
Why was he on that boat?
Was he the only SF/CIA/Spook on the boat that day?
Who paid the bar tab when he and Kerry went to the club?
How many times did he go on Kerry's boat?
Just for starters......
If you are new to fightfights, all sounds appear "dangerous", even outgoing rifle fire, especially rounds possing nearby or overhead. It takes a while, or some special excercises (like being fired "near to" by your own team in a field excercise" when you have nothing better to do) before you really start to distinguish incoming, "near", and "aimed" rounds. Depending upon Rassman's previous experience in firefights he would or would not be able to tell if the fire was incoming and if it was "directed" at himself.
A really experienced man (several fights) can literally "feel" the aiming of a weapon at himnself, even before the enemy pulls the trigger.
That's been my thinking for some time
As for Rassman what Rassman really saw?? .. Who knows .. his story seems to keep changing
Now he's saying he was the only man in the water
Most likely Rassman "The Remington Ranger",(That is what military clerks called themselves),is the one that actually wrote and typed the citations. See below.
This from:
VIETNAM SPECIAL FORCES/ AND SPECIAL OPERATIONS OTHER VIETNAM VETERANS EX-POWS-KIA/MIA FAMILIES AND FRIENDS AND THE VIETNAMESE COMMUNITY AGAINST KERRY
http://www.vnsfvetakerry.com/
http://www.vnsfvetakerry.com/jim_rassmann.htm
A CQ reader who wishes to remain anonymous sent this over to me this morning. The reader claims that he had Special Forces experience in Viet Nam and has this to say about Rassman:
There are a lot of angles to the Kerry saga. I doubt anyone gets to every question, but some are compelling to me. The question that goes begging today is why was Rassman there at all?
I don't believe SF will take an official position on this, so I'll post what I have heard. I have never bad mouthed fellow SFers before, but I do have these comments from some sources I trust.
Rassman was reportedly the Asst S-1, which means he was the assistant admininistrative officer. Not exactly a key sought after job for an SF officer LOL. In fact I don't recall knowing of any official Asst S-1 officer slots in the field. Jobs like that are created to keep idiots off the teams.
He was supposedly in charge of awards and decorations (A&D) in a field unit. SF didn't issue many, so it was hardly a taxing assignment. The man doing that job at SF HQ RVN was a Sergeant. Giving it to an officer in a field unit as a primary duty is beyond unusual.
He was probably AWOL when he was with Kerry. At best someone may have said, OK go, just to get him out of the way.
My comments and speculation.
If Rassman was an A&D clerk, his knowledge of how to get awards approved was probably very interesting to Kerry. Since reports indicate he wrote the citation for Kerry's SS, I believe this speculation is well-founded.
And how does an SF LT fall out of a 50' boat? I have been through days and weeks of small boat training and drills, we never had anyone fall out.
Rassman says he was under fire. Anytime anyone was shooting within 50 yds of me I always assumed I was the target until I could prove otherwise. Rassman could not do that while in the drink. I will take the word of the other boat crews that there was no enemy fire at all. They had the best view to assess the situation. My mind keeps going back to Rassman's A&D job. He knew if there was no enemy fire there would be no award citations.
This entire operation smells bad to me. Kerry was in command he gets credit for everything his unit did and everything it failed to do. The Swiftvets are getting heavy pressure and questioning. I would like to see a reporter question Rassman in detail.
To me, the Bronze Star story is really the least of Kerry's problems. However, if the official after-action reports ever come out from the other teams there that day, it may prove rather embarrassing for Rassman, regardless of how many times he can say Spaeth Communications and John McCain in a 1500-word essay. And that's really the crux of the matter: we need to see the entire file on John Kerry to determine who's telling the truth. Is it John Kerry and a handful of people, or over 200 combat veterans who were also there and saw him in action?
Until John Kerry releases his complete military records, the credibility of the Swiftvets will continue to grow. As long as Kerry keeps answering their well-documented allegations with nothing but intimidation tactics, his credibility will be completely suspect. Jim Rassman cannot save John Kerry from himself.
Posted by Captain Ed at 09:56 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/
All Freepers check out the new swift boat ad.
If this doesn't move you, I'm questioning your patriotism.
http://humaneventsonline.com.edgesuite.net/unfit_video2.html