Kerry's Bronze Star: Did he perform "adequately?"

vanity | Little Ray

[Little Ray]

I am going to bend over backwards to be fair to Kerry.

Five PCFs, 3, 23, 43, 51 and 94 (Kerry), were proceeding down river and came to a fishing weir, a bunch of nets strung across the middle of the river. PCFs 3 and 94 were sent ahead and passed to the left and right of the nets, near the bank. As it passed the weir, PCF-3 was damaged by a mine.

Given the situation (restricted waters) and the possiblilty of ambush and / or another mine (I would have had one!), wouldn't hitting the the throttles be the right thing to do? Hit the throttles to get clear of the net and any mines or ambushers, then whip around and head back weir to cover and render aid to PCF-3. The other boats moved in to cover the damaged PCF-3. They were not in restricted waters or as close to shore as PCF-94 and were already pointed in the right direction.

That seems to be what Kerry did. I guess it depend on how far he ran before turning around. Does anybody know?

Mind you, it isn't worthy of a Bronze Star. If that is the way it happened, then Kerry merely did his duty in a somewhat mediocre fashion. Picking up the Rassmann was not heroic, just repairing an "oops." But, aside from the medal-hunting on Kerry's part, he may not have done anything wrong.

[Little Ray]

Am I out of line here, or does this make some sense?

[Boundless]

> I am going to bend over backwards to be fair to Kerry.

The Dems are looking at old photos of Bush, and trying to
find an angle on his ribbons. They will not be "fair".

A complete examination of Kerry's entire collection of
awards is in order. There are apparently 5 medals and
11 ribbons. The Kerry site is silent on the ribbons,
and it sounds like at least one ribbon has problems.

[trebb]

According to those that were there, he didn't show up on the scene again until they had everything wrapped up and were turning their attention to the man he lost overboard. A hundred yards or so might be prudent, but it seems he actually left the entire scene, then had the balls to pursue a medal for his cowardice...

[Little Ray]

I guess that is the clincher. If ran for a long way without returning to support PCF-3 (and the diagram sort of indicates that with a little "discontinuity" mark) and the rest of the flotilla, then he failed in his duty. He bugged out on his comrades.

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

I believe sKerry scooted downstream at flank speed for about 5 km.

[Mach9]

Wait, wait! Isn't that Carl Cameron of Fox to the left of Dale Sandusky?

What's going on here? Sure it COULD make sense IF it weren't hypothetical. Even if it were demonstrably true--what the heck was Kerry doing detatched from the rest of the outfit in the first place? Wouldn't he have been bound to return to the scene to check damages? Even in this scenario, he doesn't return to help the victimized boat--he goes back for a missing passenger. C'mon . . .

[Little Ray]

A few hundred yards would be one thing - .50 cals shoot a long way. But 5 km is something else entirely. I'm not sure how fast PCFs were, but that sounds like he ran for 4-6 minutes - an eternity in an ambush.

I formulated this just looking at the diagram. The WP did Kerry a favor by not saying how far and how long he ran. If they said he ran for 5 klicks before rushing back to support the other Swifts, it looks real bad.

[ProudVet77]

The thing that is actually most damaging about this incident is the Jengiss was in tactical command of the 5 boats. He abondonded his role and his men. His obligation was to the greater good of the flotilla.

[freddiedavis]

bump to support SWIFTVETS and GEORGE W. BUSH... http://www.swiftvets.com/

[ProudVet77]

Just occurred to me that this incident was Kerry's last patrol. Perhaps his running away anger his peers enough to toss him out. He weakened the flotilla by taking 1/4 of it's firepower when he ran away.

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

Kerry claims that he was under fire for the entire 5-km dash--both out and back in. The Swifties have pointed out that this is the length of a large Civil War battlefield, and it would take an entire battalian of VC lining the bank of the river to keep the boat under fire the entire distance.

One must ask why the other three intact boats quickly rallied around the stricken PCF-3? The Swifties have said they did so because it was swift boat doctrine. I'm sure they had an innate desire to rescue and protect their team mates, too.

Kerry fled while good men bled. He fled the scene of this ambush, jeopardizing the lives of his team mates and endangering the life of a passenger (Rassmann) by dumping him into the drink when he firewalled the throttle. He fled Vietnam 8 months early leaving his team mates to carry on the fight. Shortly after his arrival home, he fled the Naval Reserve by getting out of his commitment early. He then fled the realm of decency by betraying his fellow veterans and thereby prolonging the war they were winning. In his role of Senator he has fled the realm of patriotism by consistently supporting unAmerican positions, endangering are military and intelligence services, warming up to Communists, and, in turn, jeopardizing our very existence. Now, in addition to these low-life traits he has exhibited throughout his adult life, we find that he's a serial liar. Kerry has never performed adequately in America's benefit.

[ravinson]

Kerry apparently reported that a mine went off near his boat, but Thurlow says the only enemy weapon that went off there was the mine that damaged Pees' boat and injured his crew. It sounds like Kerry made up the "second mine" story to (a) explain why Rassmann fell into the water and Kerry fled the scene and (b) collect a purple heart for the minor shrapnel wounds he received when blowing up the rice stocks earlier in the day.

Kerry has used Rassmann as his primary witness on the presence of enemy fire while he was being rescued, but Rassmann has admitted that he was diving to the bottom of the water to avoid being hit by other swift boats and any enemy fire, and when he surfaced he was not likely to be in a position or state of mind to tell whether the bullets were outgoing or incoming. The Kerry people have shielded the other guys on Kerry's boat from reporters and all they seem to have said on his behalf are general statements like Sandusky's "the decisions that he made saved our lives".

I don't have a big problem with anything Kerry did in the heat of battle, but the way he papered over his mistakes and inflated his injuries and heroism is really disgusting. The guy was obviously there for the sole purpose of building his resume for a run for Congress and other offices. He apparently spent almost all of his free time typing, tape recording, and filming a fictional account of his expolits. He's been a megalomanianical opportunist his entire adult life.