Posted on 08/21/2004 12:24:37 PM PDT by Pikamax
December 1968: Kerry takes command of swift boat unit PCF-44, and experiences first intense combat. On the night of Dec. 2, Kerry and two others set out on boat looking for Viet Cong and engage in a firefight. Kerry is slightly wounded on left arm, qualifies for first Purple Heart.
Dec. 24, 1968: Kerry is involved in combat in waters off Cambodia during Christmas Eve truce of 1968. Kerry ordered crew to open fire, silencing machine gun barrage aimed at them. -------------------
January 1970: Kerry requests discharge. He is honorably discharged, and later joins Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
Sources: Military records provided by the Kerry campaign, Associated Press stories.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
John Kerry Served in the U.S. Navy and is a Combat Veteran of the Vietnam War: John Kerry first learned the importance of national service from his father who volunteered for the Army Air Corps in World Ward II. Kerry volunteered for the United States Navy after college and served from 1966 through 1970 rising to the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade. Afterwards, Kerry continued his military service in the United States Naval Reserves through 1978.
He wasnt discharged until 1978
I just posted another examination here
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1196369/posts
THIS KERRY SERVICE TIMELINE from the Associated Press in the Boston Globe says Kerry was honorably discharged in 1970, and then joined the anti-war movement:
January 1970: Kerry requests discharge. He is honorably discharged, and later joins Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
But that's wrong:
Kerry was transfered to the Naval Reserves in 1970, and Honorably Discharged in 1978. There was no two year service gap, despite the impression given by his press releases.
But not all of his press releases. In fact, it's made quite clear in this July release from the Kerry campaign:
Kerry volunteered for the United States Navy after college and served from 1966 through 1970 rising to the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade. Afterwards, Kerry continued his military service in the United States Naval Reserves through 1978.
(Same here, too: "John Kerry Enlisted in the U.S. Navy; November 1968 through March 1969, Served in Vietnam; 1970-1978, Served in U.S. Navy Reserves.") In other words, when Kerry was protesting the war and holding private meetings with North Vietnamese and Viet Cong representatives in Paris, he was still a Naval officer in the reserves. The folks at AP and the Globe might not think that matters, but they ought to report this so that people can make up their own minds -- and they ought to get it right. Especially when the correct information is right on the Kerry website, and when their fellow journalists are accusing blogs of sloppiness. . . .
UPDATE: Reader Larry Ferguson emails: "Maybe the official US Navy document on John Kerry's website listing Kerry's service dates in the Navy (including the reserve) does not rise to Tom Oliphant's level of verification for use in journalism."
Heh.
You don't get discharged until you are out of the reserves. So he was in until 1978.
I downloaded the documents on Kerry's website to get a handle on the dates and number of days between the events. Not all docs had a fully legible date. Here's the results and some observations. If someone could add the dates of his antiwar testimony, it could be very telling.
Kerry's Chronology
2/18/66 Enlisted
8/19/66 Entered
11/17/66 Assigned to Gridley
12/16/66 Out of OCS
7/17/67 Awarded Natl svc medal.
10/31/68 Report date to Cam ranh bay for Swift boat duty
11/17/68 Reported for Swift boat duty
12/2/68 First Kerry wound
12/3/68 Sick call report
12/6/68 Begin Task Force SB 115
2/20/69 Second Kerry wound
2/28/69 PH #1 application for action Dec 2, 68
2/28/69 Action for Silver Star, beached boat, shot one VC
3/5/69 PH #2 application for action Feb 20, 69
3/13/69 Action leading to Bronze Star, Rassman rescue, injured arm. Self reported.
3/13/69 Third Kerry wound
3/17/69 Thrice wounded request
3/20/69 Left Saigon
3/31/69 End Task Force SB 115
4/7/69 PH #3 application for action Mar 13, 69
6/24/69 Travel to New Orleans
8/1/69 Travel to Goose Bay, Greenland, etc.
8/1/69 Award PH#1
8/12/69 Award PH#2
8/12/69 Award PH#3
8/21/69 Travel to Balboa, Canal Zone
11/24/69 Request for early release from Active Duty
1/1/70 Promote to Lieutenant
1/2/70 Released from active duty-Xfr to active reserve
7/1/72 XFr to Standby Reserve
2/16/78 Discharged
All dates are from the records that are posted on Kerry's website. Accuracy of dates may vary due to marginal legibility of the documents.
PH#1 Action to Application = 88 days
Application to Award = 153 days
PH#2 Action to Application = 13 days
Application to Award = 148 days
PH#3 Action to Application = 25 days Action to thrice wounded application = 4 days
Application to Award = 128 days
NOTES:
1. His anti-war testimony days need to be added. He was still under service oath.
2. It took him 88 days to figure out how to get the first PH.
3. He filed the thrice wounded application 4 days after the third wound and did not apply for the PH until 21 days later, at which time he was gone.
Wow, "World Ward II" is on the Kerry website. Is the site run by 5th graders, one wonders? Out of a sense of decency for his own dad, at least he should get the name of the war that his dad fought in correct...
His testimony before the Fulbright committe was in April '71 I think. He would have still been in active reserve.
Tell The Globe they're wrong & why it matters.
https://bostonglobe.com/newsroom/Editorial-Opinion/letterstoeditor.stm
I'm sure that the intent of the phrase is to make it sound as Kerry was in Cambodia, but we know that he was in the river in Vietnam, at least 50 miles from Cambodia.
If so, can he be still charged for giving aids and comfort to the enemies by his behavior while in uniform?
LOL, this gets funnier every day!
FWIW - An Thoi where CD11 was located "off the coast" of Cambodia. It's the island off Kampot on your map.
So if spend Christmas Eve there, they were probably haing a party.
Well yes. here's where the kerryfusion lies: during Feb/Mar 69 Kerry commandered PCF-94 based at An Thoi on the island at the south of your map (the green area on map below), but during Dec68/Jan 69 he commading PCF-44 at Cat Lo (the red area)
Just to add to the confusion Kerry was at An Thoi early December 68, but they got rid of him after one week (Kerry doesn't like to talk about this period)
As Kerry has admitted in Tour of Duty, he was ordered against his will to Coastal Division 11 in An Thoi in December 1968...
Kerry’s time at An Thoi was short. Within a week, Kerry and the crew of PCF 44 were on their way to the less hazardous CosDiv 13, at Cat Lo. Kerry has tried to make it appear that he was disappointed at being so quickly reassigned from An Thoi.
How the he!! does he get away with trashing the military when he is still a part of it? Something is real wrong with this picture!
He joint VVAW during his military service, and therfore committed Treason. He was NOT discharged until 1978.
I thought the Dec 2, 1968, PH was for a wound while on a 14 ft Whaler, not on a PCF-44, swift boat???
My browser must have truncated the part where Kerry is denied another deferment and faces being drafted. Lots of guys enlisted. Kerry was no different. All deserve our respect. It doesn't make Kerry a hero, though.
"As graduation approached, Kerry knew that he had three choices: be drafted, seek a deferment for graduate school, or join up and position himself to become an officer. "It was clear to me that I was going to be at risk,"' Kerry recalled. "My draft board . . . said, 'Look, the likelihood is you are probably going to be drafted.'" [End excerpt]
http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061503.shtml
His legacy wrought Lynndie England.
"Kerry initially hoped to continue his service at a relatively safe distance from most fighting, securing an assignment as 'swift boat' skipper. While the 50-foot swift boats cruised the Vietnamese coast a little closer to the action than the Gridley had come, they were still considered relatively safe.
"'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.'
"But two weeks after he arrived in Vietnam, the swift boat mission changed. . . . " [End excerpt]
http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061603.shtml
Again, respect for all who served no matter what capacity -- but Kerry did not have the military's only "hero" MOS (military occupation).
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