Posted on 08/21/2004 2:08:47 PM PDT by nwrep
In this interview titled "An Angry War Veteran", John Kerry admitted to the NYT reporter that he enlisted in the Swift Boats to avoid the war in Vietnam, since the boats were only used for patrol duty:
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..That first trip to Vietnam piqued his curiosity, - "I wanted to go back and see for myself what was going on, but I didn't really want to get involved in the war." So late in 1968 he volunteered for an assignment on "swift boats" - the short, fast aluminum craft that were then used for patrol duty off the coast of Vietnam.
Two weeks before he arrived in Vietnam as a swift boat commander, he said, "they changed the policy on the used of the boats - decided to send them up the river to prove to the Vietcong that they didn't own the waters."
The river missions involved shooting at sampans and at huts along the banks and suddenly, Mr. Kerry recalls, "we said, 'hey, wait a minute - we don't know who these people are'. So we started to beach our boats to go to ashore and find out what we had been shooting at."
It also says, "Neither jail nor self-exile appealed to him, he said" and said he had doubts but that he "believed strongly in the code of service to one's country" and enlisted in the Navy.
In an intense three months of combat following that Christmas Eve battle, Kerry often would go beyond his Navy orders and beach his boat, in one case chasing and killing a teenage Viet Cong enemy who wore only a loin cloth and carried a rocket launcher. Kerry's aggressiveness in combat caused a commanding officer to wonder whether he should be given a medal or court-martialed.
From F-102, Vietnam & George W. Bush I was shocked to read this:
Even in peacetime conditions, F-102 pilots risked their lives on every flight. Only highly-qualified pilot candidates were accepted for Delta Dagger training because it was such a challenging aircraft to fly and left little room for mistakes. According to the Air Force Safety Center, the lifetime Class A accident rate for the F-102 was 13.69 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours, much higher than the average for today's combat aircraft. For example, the F-16 has an accident rate of 4.14, the F-15 is at 2.47, the F-117 at 4.07, the S-3 at 2.6, and the F-18 at 4.9. Even the Marine Corps' AV-8B, regarded as the most dangerous aircraft in US service today, has a lifetime accident rate of only 11.44 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours. The F-102 claimed the lives of many pilots, including a number stationed at Ellington during Bush's tenure.
Of the 875 F-102A production models that entered service, 259 were lost in accidents that killed 70 Air Force and ANG pilots.
re: Bush & the F-102A
> doesn't sound like Dubya was lookin' for an easy gig!
Indeed, but don't expect the White House or the RNC to
tout this. It's up to the grass roots to educate themselves,
and spread the word (including to the alternative press).
bookmark bump
BTTT
Kinda Ironic. Bush joined a unit which was in line to be deployed, but which it turned out actually wasn't deployed. Kerry volunteered for a goup he didn't expect to be deployed, but it was.
Bush volunteered to fly the most dangerous aircraft, while Kerry tried to find the safest boat, and then only when he couldn't go to France. Sweet.
That article that was liked above, from aerospace.org is AWESOME, and provides some great rebuttals to the typical liberal spin on the President's service in the ANG.
Later read.
that's another one across (if not into) the bow of the good ship Kerry...
I'll check out the rest later. And thanks. That info about how dangerous those planes were is something. He could have found a safer job behind a desk.
http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061503.shtml
... 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.' I said, `If I'm going to be drafted, I'd like to have responsibility and be an officer.' ''
At the same time, Kerry was losing interest in academics and was ready for adventure. ``I cut classes,'' Kerry said. ``I didn't do much. I spent a lot of time learning to fly.''
Kerry also had political ambitions -- and was aware of how much military service had served John Kennedy's career. ``John would clearly say, `If I could make my dream come true, it would be running for president of the United States,' '' recalled William Stanberry, Kerry's debate team partner for three years. ``It was not a casual interest. It was a serious, stated interest. His lifetime ambition was to be in political office.'' ...
Who was the reporter ..??
Oops! Looks like Kerry put his big foot in it again. This just keeps getting better.
Guess these are the same aluminum boats that took enemy fire for 5000 yards while Rassman was being fished out of the water.
Why were there no other casualties (other than the men who were on the #3 boat), and no damage reported to the other boats? Hmm?
There is a difference between avoiding war and avoiding combat.
HELP !!!!
Can any freepers answer a question for me ????
On an earlier thread, IIRC, it stated that the Swift Boats weren't REALLY MADE to be a "beached craft".
It went on to say that once the boat was "beached", and taken off the flat surface of the water, any shore that made the boats' bow,(the front) higher than the stern (the back ) affected the MAIN defense of the Swift Boats, the fixed mounted, but 360 degree, 50 cal.
machine gun, by limiting or (depending on the severity of the angle) rendering almost useless the ability to defend itself with it's proper 360 degree flat surface capabilities.
Therefore, beaching the craft was not considered SOP, unless in an extreme situation, or one that the ship's "commander" could deem as an almost 100% "safe manuver".
IIRC,(again),didn't one of the kerry "incidents" invole his beaching of the Swift Boat craft, resulting in the 50 cal becoming almost ineffective, and it's reduced capacity resulted in what could have been an almost disasterous situation for the rest of kerrys' crew??
I even think SV Steve Gardiner(sp?)was the gunner operating the 50 cal on kerrys' boat when it happened.........help please??? Thanks!
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