Kerry titles his book "Tour of Duty" for his service in Vietnam. He also claims that he had TWO tours of duty in Vietnam (because of his time on the USS Gridley).
John Kerry was in Vietnam (for 4 months) and yes he was on the deep-water coast of Vietnam on the USS Gridley (for a few weeks), but he did not serve a tour in Vietnam.
A Tour in the Nam was 12 months, one year, 365 days, one trip around the sun. Guys would count down the days until their time was up. It was a big deal. When you only had a few weeks to go until your 12 months was up, you were "SHORT", going home soon. When you broke 100 days you were a “Double Digit”. A “Single Digit” Vet (less than 10 days to go) could be found in his hooch packing.
This issue is important for this reason. John Kerry knows that he didn't serve a Tour, let alone TWO Tours, in Vietnam yet he brazenly reports that he did.
One might argue 'Well, the time that Kerry spent in Nam was HIS tour, so what is the big deal"?
If that is your argument then Kerry should have named his book "My Time in Nam" or something. Not give the impression that he spent a tour in Nam. AND, there is NO excuse for his claim for TWO TOURS in Nam. It is John Kerry spinning the truth to make himself something that he is not.
As far as Unfit for Command is concerned, I have read it. The Swifties could care less if John Kerry got medals, their issue is the same as what I explained above (and the fact that Kerry smeared their good name with his lies) and that is that Kerry diverts from the truth to make himself into something that he is not so much, that he cannot be trusted.
Kerry embellished his After Action Reports to get medals that he didn’t deserve. He fabricated accusations when he came back from Vietnam when he spoke before the Senate Intelligence Committee when he said that his fellow Vietnam Veterans committed atrocities. He has never provided any proof that his accusations were true, and in fact now admits that his accusations were “over the top”. Over the top? They were untrue! And his falsifications harmed POW’s, their families, and Vietnam Veterans in general.
POW’s who were in North Vietnam prison camps when Kerry was telling his fabricated stories to the Senate and the American public to bolster his political ambitions were tortured and threatened to be placed on trial as “War Criminals”. POW’s were told by their captors “You will never go home” because of Kerry’s fabrications. Kerry’s untrue accusations are unforgivable.
General Vo Nguyen Gaip , the Commanding officer of the North Vietnamese Military and Bui Tin who served on the General Staff of the North Vietnam Army and received the unconditional surrender of South Vietnam on April 30, 1975 both claim that North Vietnam was poised to negotiate a surrender because of the Communist’s military failures during the 1968 Tet Offensive and thereafter. But because of the Anti-War movement in America (led by Jane Fonda and John Kerry) they felt that the Demonstrations “gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses."
America was kicking the Communist’s butt in every battle. General Westmoreland had the Communist’s number and was winning the war. America’s pullout of Vietnam was due to Kerry and his group of Demonstrators. Kerry’s ant-war activities played a very significant part in causing America to lose the war in Vietnam.
Because of John Kerry and others like him there are more names on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D. C. than there otherwise would have been. There was also the slaughter of 3.5 million South Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians when America pulled out that is significantly attributable to John Kerry and his now admittedly “over the top” accusations. John Kerry has blood dripping from his untrue accusations.
When I returned home to Los Angeles from Vietnam in 1971 my head was spinning as I walked through the Terminal at LAX, thinking about the culture of war that I had just left while looking around at the opulence in America. When I stepped outside onto the sidewalk a group of “Longhairs” walked by and one of them spat on me while the others called me a “Baby Killer”. I feel that the treatment that I received, and have lived with for the past 33 years, was due to John Kerry and his lies.
John Kerry does not have the moral integrity, honesty, or judgment to be the Commander-In-Chief of the world’s most powerful military. John Kerry IS, unfit for command.
Vietnam Veteran
Mekong Delta 1970-1971
The Steyn piece is so great (hard for him to outdo himself, but he did), that I copied and saved it. Then I read your post and saved that too. I remember Kerry's testimony. It was devastating to hear that "our guys" were doing such things. It shook me to my roots. I never had anything but respect for those in the military, but I had the impression that something so horrible was going on that it had turned our boys into what to me was unrecognizable. All that anguish, and it was untrue. What Kerry did is not forgivable.
And most important was 'Uncle' Walter Conkrite with the biggest stab in the back by declaring on the CBS Evening News the Vietnam War was lost and it was time to get out.
During the 1971 debate on the Dick Cavett Show, John O'Neill asked Kerry how many of his "eyewitnesses" had backed-up their Winter Soldier "testimony" with affidavits. After Kerry's fumbling and stumbling the answer became clear....NONE. Therefore, these testimonials were no more than "stories". I believe Unfit For Command is backed-up by more than 60 affidavits!
Thank you for your insight into scary Kerry AND, most importantly, YOUR service to our country. Thank you!
I think the tour question is related to the way the approval for the bronze combat stars were assigned. A "tour" in Vietnam was one year but the stars you could pin on your ribbon was determined by when you were there. So you could be there for a short time and have two stars, or a longer time and have only one. I was there on USS Wainwright in 68-69 and were allowed to have two bronze stars (not ever shot at so no silver) on our service medal, even though we were on station (off and on) over a six month period (eight month deployment). So were there for two combat "tours" even though we were not there for a year, an actual time/duration "tour".
http://www.johnkerry.com/about/john_kerry/service_timeline.html
Timeline of J Kerry's Naval service.
> John Kerry knows that he didn't serve a Tour,
> let alone TWO Tours, in Vietnam ...
"Tour of Duty"
The fiction begins with the title.
Or: that title can only be truthful if Kerry was a tourist.
Use either of these lines when people bring up the book,
and let them ask you what you mean.
Kerry cannot count tours any better than he can count his words.
Hey, boat rider:
That is a wonderfully written essay you posted. It spells out the dishonesty of the "two tours" claim, among other well-stated things. Please do your best to get it into wider circulation. Many a blog would gladly publish it. It would help no small bit if you were willing to sign it with your actual name. Any Freepers able to help Rider with that?
Come what may, great job, and thank you.
I can sit on a dime and hang my legs over the edge.
OUTSTANDING post!!!!
This is most distressing that you were treated so unjustly. Please accept my thanks for your brave service in Vietnam.
Bump! Great post thanks!
**A Tour in the Nam was 12 months, one year, 365 days,**
OK, thanks for the clarification. Kerry is going nuts!
Thst's the best explanation of this I've ever read or heard. Thank you for that and for your service.
Thank you for your service sir. And for your well stated case against Hanoi John. John Kerry has nobody to blame but himself. It's long past the time the chickens came home to roost.
May this be the year that our Vietnam veterans are FINALLY welcomed home.
Actually I think it should be "Kerry's Semester Abroad"
Let's see if Tom Bwokaw asks, "Senator Kerry, is the shrapnel in your butt made in America or China?"