Posted on 08/26/2004 8:45:04 AM PDT by krom
"I commanded a naval gunboat patrolling the Mekong Delta. Then when I came home after two tours of duty, I decided that the same sense of service demanded something more of me." - John Kerry, A Call to Service, page 3.
You have to understand the man's mind. He never fully understood military jargon or the military ethics of conduct. Remember that he did not know the difference between medals and ribbons? Any (Normal) service man or woman would know the difference in 6 months of service unless they are complete dunder heads.
What he probably meant to say was that he had two ASSIGNMENTS during his tour of service...... ya think?
He's probably counting the weeks he spent in at sea off the Gulf of Tonkin with a carrier support group.
His First Cruise (not tour) was on the USS Gridly, as an Ensign. Gridly did visit Vietnam as a port of call. Kerry was volunteered for and was reassigned to SB. While in Coranado for training, the SB tatics were changed from coastal and harbor patrol to intediction SEALORDS.
This is from Brinkley's book, Tour of Duty.
You don't get to decide that. The government decided what missions qualified as Vietnam combat missions, and they included the Gridley.
I am trying to pin down Kerry's comments that he ws in Viet Nam when he heard that Martin Luther King was murdered.
"He did not serve 2 duties, his service of the USS Gridley was training, and never saw combat, nor entered into Vietnam. He is such a liar."
He may be a liar, but if the USS Gridley did support missions at the Gulf of Tonkin, then he was officially in theater.
The military decides what constitutes a Vietnam tour, not anyone else. This won't wash.
You are forgetting his illegal top-secret missions deep into the heart of Cambodia in 1968, when he was personally ordered by President Nixon (before Nixon was pres) to fight the Khmer Rouge (before it came into existance), kill babies, and assassinate Marlon Brando.
His first Vietnam "tour of duty" was a couple of weeks far off the coast of Vietnam and he never even came ashore.
Who'dve thought Gilligan was in the Swift Boats?
Here is a thread about the two tours. Just posted.
"He did not serve 2 duties, his service of the USS Gridley was training, and never saw combat, nor entered into Vietnam."
check with some of your fellow FReepers whose tour of duty was the same as Kerry's on the Gridley. Try TonkinGulf 68-69.
He may well have been training in Vietnam. I'm not exactly sure. But I thought that MLK was assassinated on April 4, 1968, which means that Kerry would likely have been in the Gulf of Tonkin and technically in Vietnam.
Let's not tear down thousands of vets so we can badmouth Kerry.
Training isn't a tour of duty, it's training. What I don't understand is why a guy who served four months on a patrol boat thinks it makes him qualified to be Commander and Chief. I didn't serve in Vietnam, my brother did two tours, but I did retire after twenty-four years and it doesn't make me qualified to be President. Kerry is a traitor; as much as Benidict Arnold was but he certainly wasn't a hero. Reaching over the side of boat to pull a guy out of the water doesn't make one a hero ro shooting a kid in the back doesn't either. My brother had a miserable struggle when he returned because of people like Kerry.
"Let's not tear down thousands of vets so we can badmouth Kerry."
Spoil-sport!!!
Yeah, I know.
The three things that everybody needs to know are: (1) Kerry used his Ivy League network to game the system so he could go home early, (2) once he got home he falsely accused our soldiers in the field of committing atrocities and (3) he met with America's enemies on foreign soil - while he was still technically in the military, yet.
That's all.
great points. i just joined the reserves so i'll be learning all the technicalities asap.
i'm very glad the vets are finally getting a good shot back at those who protested against them. i think kerry's implosion is going to be so fun to watch. the payback is well overdue.
It's just that he lies so much we expect everything he says to be a lie or a blatant pander.
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