You may be right, that it was 9/11 that compelled Kerry to change his tactics and play the veteran/hero card. My experience with Kerry, however, is that his planning is self-centered, arrogant, but also long-range. That was my reason for thinking he had possibly planned the Vietnam ploy from the beginning.
I could be wrong. But regardless of when Kerry went for this ploy, the result is the same. He has stepped out onto very thin ice. And now he must run as fast as possible across that thin ice, hoping to reach the safety of shore before he falls in a drowns.
Kerry is committed to a disastrous course of action. And as of now, he has no recovery. He's too far committed to go back. And the "little people" he's stepped on along the way, are not about to let him get away with it.
John / Billybob
My point exactly, he had a long term goal to achieve the Presidency and was working towards it by avoiding the old veteran questions, allowing the media to point out Bush's service as questionable without bringing up his except to note that he served. Then, after 9/11, he needed a new focus, not on his "service" in the Senate and his visions for the future but as a war expert; someone who's actually tasted the cordite and has the medals to prove it.
Of course, you actually know him while I'm just speculating, and, as you say, the result is the same. Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you. Again, congrats on the grandchild and regards.