Posted on 08/26/2004 9:59:08 AM PDT by Calusa
John Kerry has often implied that he volunteered for the military right after college. But Kerry petitioned his draft board for a student deferment. At Yale, Kerry's antiwar political views were well known. He . . . used his commencement address in 1966 to criticize the foreign policy of President Lyndon Johnson, especially with regard to Vietnam. When he approached his draft board for permission to study for a year in Paris, the draft board refused and Kerry decided to enlist in the Navy. . . . The top choice was the Navy Reserves where the duty commitment was shorter and a larger proportion of the period could be served stateside on inactive duty
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
bmp
Navy, Navy Reserve were interchangeable, medals, ribbons were interchangeable in those days. Warrior, anti-war communist supporter were also interchangeable.
I don't think this is a big deal. He went anyway and served his country. I would even cut him some slack that he opted out early and under suspicious circumstances. What is unsat is that he returned to his country and proceeded to trash his fellow countrymen and then run on his dubious war record 35 years later. If Kerry had never made a big deal about his service and not smeared his fellow sailors, marines, airmen, and soldiers, he would not be in this position now.
Thank you for posting this information.
I don't know of a current commissioning program where an officer does his initial training and goes into a reserve status of drills etc. (Navy & Marines). Usually you have to do at least 3 years of active duty.
That is to say, I don't if there was a program in late 60's that allowed for this.
It's two more distasteful straws on the camel's back.
I agree that they are distasteful, but I think most of the electorate would have given him a pass had he not come back and act like Che Guevarra/Benedict Arnold.
What a hypocrite! Excuse me now while I go and throw up.
I would agree that his decision to join was not dishonorable. Personally, I would even cut him some slack for becoming an anti-war protester after he got out. What I can't stomach, though, is that he spent the last 20 years in Congress opposing the military at every turn, offering aid and comfort to our enemies, and now he has the gall to try to sell himself as a military hero and a patriot.
I joined the US Coast Gaurd Reserve because I was the just about the last person drafted in this country (Nov 72). The US phase of the Vietnam War ended in my 3rd week of boot camp.
bttt
NO NO - many I argue with make the Guard issue a biggie . Now this neutralizes it.
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 Applied for and accepted to the Naval Reserves
8/19/66 Entered service as E-4 (enlisted)
fall 1966 went to Officer Candidate School
11/17/66 Assigned to Gridley when in OCS. Was assigned as Public Affairs Officer. Was Officer in Charge only when ship was in port (for shore leave, not moving)
12/16/66 Out of OCS
Most of the fitness reports in the released docs on his website are for his OCS classes and how articulate and multi language he was on the Gridley creating press releases.
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.
Kerry's just a slimeball.He's not even a Kerry.He just got royally pissed his group was activated and he wasn't allowed that deferment to study in france.He made up his mind to work the system and This Country was going to Pay!
Kerry is the one who has made the "volunteering" a point which needs to be considered, along with all the other subtleties of his claims.
He knows full well that today, there are millions of young adults out there who would equate "volunteer" with the heroic actions young men and women have taken since 9/11 (Pittman and others). He's using that bit of semantics to make it appear that he did the same: i. e., "I defended America as a young man...."
The fact is, for any of us old enough to remember the draft, that when Kerry went to his Draft Board and requested a deferment to go to Paris to study and was denied a deferment, he knew he was draft-eligible and would probably be in the Army. He "volunteered" as a way to choose his path, rather than be an enlisted member of the U. S. Army. Had his request not been denied, he would have been living it up in Paris, France!
Had he not made the word "volunteer" seem to be a mark of heroism in this 2004 campaign, then it could be overlooked as just the natural thing for a person to do in the 60's.
Since he has chosen to make it appear to be an heroic action of a devoted patriot reminiscent of the football player to truly "volunteered" to go to war after 9/11, then he needs to be called on that too.
Where was Kerry from 1/2/70 to 7/1/72 ? Can we say he was AWOL?
Kerry's record on funding the defense of our country is shameful as well. Its like McGovern - great past service but lousy ideas.
I can't download this. Nor can I get into World Net Daily. Is something going on??
There is an important fact left out. That being the fact that Kerry supported Lyndon Johnson for president in 1964. Particularly on Johnson's promise not to send; "Your sons to South East Asia" and on the Democrats accusing Barry Goldwater of being a "War Monger". All the time, Johnson was planning to send US troops into Vietnam, following his inauguration in 1965.
I don't feel sorry for the Democrats and their burden of Vietnam. Democrats have lied about Vietnam from the beginning and they're still lying about Vietnam now.
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