Kerry's Reserve Service in Perspective

Vanity | 2004-09-08 | Boundless

[Boundless]

Despite Clinton's advice to drop the Vietnam
topic, Kerry and his subordinates continue to
hammer away at GW's ANG service. They need
to drop this, because a comparison of Bush and
Kerry on this topic is not flattering to Kerry.

This is what one voter has learned from digging
around a bit on this issue. Please check this over
and contribute corrections and suggestions.

Bush	Kerry
Not available in WW-II, college deferments began during the Korea War, along with deferments for other situations. The Selective Service even admitted during the Vietnam War that this was intentional, in an infamous document titled "Channeling".
At onset of senior year, Bush apparently decided not to apply for post-grad deferment. Presumably, Bush was considering his alternatives from that point.	At end of senior year, Kerry applied for post-grad deferment to study in Paris. It was denied. This didn't leave Kerry much time before a draft notice could be expected to arrive.
Reserve enlistments were often seen as a way to avoid being cannon fodder in Vietnam, and the "safer" billets were consequently often hard to get. We'll get back to which was "safer".
Bush has been accused of needing "pull" to get the ANG slot. There is no evidence to support this, but the legacy press isn't letting go of it.	The same press anxious to find a Bush story on this has made zero effort to discover if Kerry needed "help" to get into the USNR.
Bush enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard, 147th Fighter Interceptor Group, in May of his senior year.	Kerry enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve, "Inactive Duty" in Feb of his senior year. Note - not the USN. The USNR. Both Bush and Kerry were reservists.
What did the two candidates sign up for, exactly?
The ANG 147th flew the F-102A, and only the F-102A. Bush could expect that if he made the grade, flying one is what he'd be doing.	Kerry: "I didn't really want to get involved in the war,". Kerry's enlistment contract doesn't indicate his likely assignment upon call-up. Did he expect a deep-water billet far from the shooting?
Signing up for pilot training in any service placed the enlistee at risk of going in harm's way.	Kerry, by the way, was already a pilot in college, and has said that he specifically avoided becoming a military pilot so as to not tarnish his love of flying.
The F-102A was being used in combat in Vietnam when Bush enlisted. My guess is that he had no reason to assume he'd spend his entire ANG career stateside. In addition to the risks during bomber escort, F-102A's were even used for an experimental ground-attack mission, firing their heat-seeking missiles at VC campfires. Apart from that, just flying F-102A was dangerous. The plane had a horrible safety record, with losses higher than for the later AV-8 Harrier. Possibly more F-102A pilots were lost due to accidents than were lost in combat in other contemporary a/c types. Several pilots in Bush' ANG unit were killed by this airplane.	Kerry found himself serving in the deep-water Navy, on the USS Gridley. Although this ship was once briefly off the coast of Vietnam, it was never "in" Vietnam, and Kerry never went ashore during what he calls one of his two "tours" of Vietnam. Kerry evidently learned of Swift Boats during his Gridley service. PCFs were the closest thing the Navy had that was comparable to the PT Boats of WW-II. Did Kerry see this as part of his Destiny to be JFK-II? Anyway, here's Kerry on PCF's: "When I signed up for the swift boats, they had very little to do with the war. They were engaged in coastal patrolling and that's what I thought I was going to be doing." When Kerry applied for transfer, PCFs were doing "Market Time" coastal interdiction operations. By the time he completed his training, Zumwalt had expanded their scope to "SEALORD" ops, dangerous draw-fire up-river missions. Did Kerry have second thoughts about PCFs? There is an unconfirmed report that Kerry was 17 days late in reporting as ordered to Vietnam. His complaining about the SEALORD missions is recorded by the SBVFT.
Past this point, numerous other sources are covering the respective stories.
Bush signed up for hazardous service that turned out to be a bit less hazardous than he had reason to expect. The details of Bush's ANG service, after earning his wings, is beyond the scope of this article.	Kerry signed up for service that turned out to be more hazardous than he appears to have intended. How Kerry managed to have such a short "tour" of Vietnam, and his actions and documentation there, are beyond the scope of this article.
Q: Cheney?	A: Edwards

[Boundless]

Yes, a "tour" is at least a full year.
Unless Kerry was a tourist, he did not serve two "tours" of Vietnam.
He may have served one non-VN tour on the Gridley,
but we can only count two tours if we include
the period of his service to North Vietnam.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

E-Mail this story AND links to the media today.

John Kerry directly contributed to the lies of the anti war movement AND caused deaths and injuries
to US Military serving in Vietnam AND
directly caused deaths from injuries at home AND countless suicides because of his false testimony.

John Kerry is not fit to be elected dog catcher let alone President of the United States.
ANYONE who votes for Kerry AFTER knowing this data
is guilty of covering up John Kerry's war crimes!

John Kerry, director of the Vietnam Veterans against the War,
testified before special session the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
April 22, 1971

KERRY GAVE TESTIMONY BASED UPON FALSE INFORMATION
THAT KERRY KNEW AHEAD OF TIME TO BE FALSE!



September 6, 2004 -- **BREAKING** In Yesterday's Lies: Steve Pitkin and the Winter Soldiers, Scott Swett tells the story of a former VVAW member and participant in the Winter Soldier Investigation who states that John Kerry and others pressured him to give false testimony about American atrocities in Vietnam. After more than 33 years, Pitkin is the first Winter Soldier "witness" to file a legal affadavit regarding that event...

My name is Steve Pitkin, age 20, from Baltimore. I served with the 9th Division from May of '69 until I was airvaced in July of '69. I'll testify about the beating of civilians and enemy personnel, destruction of villages, indiscriminate use of artillery, the general racism and the attitude of the American GI toward the Vietnamese. I will also talk about some of the problems of the GIs toward one another and the hassle with officers.

-- Steve Pitkin, Winter Soldier Investigation, February 1, 1971.

E-Mail and/or fax these url's to EVERYONE ASAP! Kerry MUST be exposed NOW!
PUT PRESSURE ON THE MEDIA TO COVER THIS BEFORE NOV 2nd

Steve Pitkin Story

http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/staticpages/index.php?page=YesterdaysLies1

Steve Pitkin Affadavit, August 31, 2004

http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/staticpages/index.php?page=PitkinAff

Steve Pitkin DD-214

http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/graphics/PitkinDD214.jpg

Steve Pitkin WSI testimony

http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/staticpages/index.php?page=PitkinWSI

Steve Pitkin WSI video clips -- February 1, 1971 (4:16, 1.6MB)

http://www.wintersoldier.com/video/pitkin2.wmv

John F. Kerry
Timeline of a traitor.
Click Here

http://www.archive-news.net/Kerry/JK_timeline.html

Guide to Local Media
Locate media in your zip code, gives you links to YOUR local media with phone, e-mail etc info.

Free Internet Fax Service
Free E-Mail to Fax from your computer, just fill in form on page , they do the rest.
Make sure you enter fax # like this 12025551212 (no spaces or -)

Is the number you want them to SEND FREE FAX covered?

Complete list of areas they SEND FREE FAXES to

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

GRIDLEY Crew members (67-68) say Kerry exaggerated in TOUR OF DUTY

"...John Kerry and I were shipmates in the guided missile cruiser USS
Gridley (CG-21) in 1967 and 1968. He served as First Lieutenant, the
officer in charge of the deck division, and I was Executive Officer,
or second in command..."

"...But there is also no doubt in my mind that his anti-war
activities while our troops were still fighting, dying and being
tortured in filthy Vietnam prisons were despicable.

For that reason, even aside from his anti-defense voting record in
the Senate, he is one ex-shipmate that I could never support as
commander-in-chief of the armed forces."

J. F. Kelly, Jr.

USS Gridley (CG-21) Executive Officer in 1967 and 1968.

GRIDLEY Website page on John Kerry

http://home.nycap.rr.com/pwcarter/the%20kerry%20page.html

Other crew members speak about John Kerry

(Looks like Kerry's shipmates, who did serve with him,
say he lied and told whoopers about his time on the GRIDLEY.

Remember these are not Swift Boat Vets,

BUT Kerry's crewmates who served with him on the GRIDLEY)

Examples follow:

"As everyone must surely know by now, John F. Kerry came on board
GRIDLEY as a boot Ensign when we returned from our 1967 Westpac
Cruise. He remained on GRIDLEY through the 1968 cruise. Politics
aside, shipmates of the time who have read TOUR OF DUTY, the
authorized campaign biography, will have something to say about the
chapter on GRIDLEY. "



1. Kerry never talked about his time on GRIDLEY. He says on page
74 that it is because “nothing much of note” happened while
he was
onboard. He uses words like monotony and tedious, when, despite
being a boot ensign he was given every opportunity for responsibility
by Captain Slifer and Commander Kelly (XO). He came aboard
designated for Electrical Officer (80100), a grunt position in the
Engineering Department and spent four months in that position. He
was assigned duty as First Lieutenant, as Commander Kelly recalls,
because of his knowledge of seamanship and his experiences with small
boats and sailing. Besides being responsible for the decks of the
ship, the First Lieutenant is also responsible for the ship’s
small
boats. He also was assigned collateral duties as Public Affairs
Officer. Despite all the responsibilities he was given, he gives the
impression that serving on GRIDLEY was somehow beneath him. He
certainly had less of an opportunity to collect “gongs” there.

2. Page 78 – “motivate 400 swabbies” – The First
Lieutenant is
responsible only for the personnel of 1st Division, not the entire
crew. 1st Division had a roster of about 30 in 1968. To the extent
that other divisions had responsibility for deck space, their
officers would have been responsible for motivating them.

3. Page 87 has Kerry “shuttling sailors and provisions”
between
GRIDLEY and KITTY HAWK in a small motor whaleboat out in the Gulf of
Tonkin. The regular method of travel between the two ships was via
helo. That is how I went over to the KITTY HAWK. If such an event
did occur, it would have been unusual and hardly a shuttle.

4. Later on page 87 Kerry talks about Olongapo in the Philippines.
He talks about bloated corpses floating in the river and starving
women with babies dying of malnutrition. Now Olongapo was a wild and
wooly town that existed solely for the entertainment of the US Navy,
but in over three years of calling there, I never saw a single
instance of either thing happening. Kerry uncovered this in his
first visit. If this was from his letters home then he was certainly
writing for dramatic effect. Balderdash.

5. The trip to Danang – GRIDLEY went into Danang for briefings
before going to Northern SAR. This section is so full of hyperbole
that the urge to giggle is almost uncontrollable. “The panic and
pressure onboard GRIDLEY, strapping on a .45, wondering if I would
have to use it, B-52’s howling overhead”. A B-52 over Danang
would
have been so high that only contrails would have been visible, cloud
cover permitting. David Simons confirmed my recollection that during
our brief stay in Danang Harbor, the sky was overcast to the point of
being ominous.

More seriously, no one can remember John Kerry going ashore. I was
part of the shore party that went to Monkey Mountain. We were taken
in a screened in truck (to protect against grenades being tossed in)
and made to unload our .45’s. The driver said that he did not
want
us newbies to shoot anyone by accident.

Neither Commander Kelly nor LCDR Rueckert (Kerry’s immediate
boss)
can recall approving a trip ashore for Ensign Kerry. The author uses
remarks of David Simons IC2 as a lead in to the Danang section. I
spoke to David and he has no personal knowledge of Kerry going ashore
at all. He did talk to a researcher and made some generic remarks
about Danang but had never discussed Danang with Kerry. He recalls
arguing with the researcher because he tried to put the
words “cowboy” in his mouth, which ended up in the book.

There is no mystery about the “gruesome site of a pile of dead
VC.”
We saw no sign of anything like this. However, our escort to Monkey
Mountain did tell us how the VC bodies were stacked up on the
LZ’s
after the TET Offensive, which had been several months before.
Ensign Kerry would have been told this story by members of the shore
party.

If, indeed, he got to the pier, because he was in charge of the
motor whaleboat, it certainly would not have been within his purview
to wander Danang, eating dog meat and drinking beer in a bar (under
arms). It also seems amazing that he had all these observations on
Vietnam in such a brief visit.

6. In command – Again with the hyperbole. Kerry makes much
about
being “in charge” of the ship after the Captain and XO. The
OOD is
in charge of the operation of the ship during his four hour watch but
hardly in charge of the ship. Kerry qualified almost immediately as
OOD(P), in port OOD but that is a given. For much of his time
onboard he would have been Junior Officer of the Deck when underway.
Although his fitness report as of 22 March says "he is qualified as
OOD(I) now" (Independent steaming – with no ships or land
anywhere
near) , only OOD(P) is listed under duties. His Fitness Report from
July 1968 lists two months as OOD(I) which would mean he qualified
after leaving the war zone.

[Travis McGee]

Ping

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"I will not have my commitment to defending this country questioned
by those who refused to serve when they had had a chance"
Kerry at a campaign stop in Ohio on 09/03/04

Edwards turned 18 in 1971.
Cheney turned 18 in 1958

John Edwards COULD have served during Vietnam BUT didn't.
Instead he went to college from '70-'74
He enrolled at Clemson University
but dropped out in his first year,
after a football scholarship fell through

http://www.johnedwards2004.com/john_edwards.asp

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

I'm on Kerry like a dim on a welfare check.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Ammo supply! PING

[Mr Ramsbotham]

If I'm not mistaken, Kerry was still in the reserves (inactive status) when he trashed the U.S. government and went to Paris to illegally confer with his country's enemies during a time of armed conflict. That's pretty much all I'd ever need to know.

[kidd]

This is very good.

[sauropod]

Good summary.

[cookcounty]

The Gridley tied up for 48 hours in Camh Ranh Bay. Kerry himself (not just his supporters) boasts that this was a "tour of duty."

Question: If a C141 pilot flew cargo into Vietnam every Tuesday for a year, would Kerry call that "52 tours of duty?" ......would the NY Times call it "52 tours of duty by a sissy?"

[Radix]

I have had to endure this A$$hole from my state for a long while. Most of the things coming up in the news recently concerning this bogus war hero are not really surprises to me.

Kerry is now and always has been an opportunistic scumbag of the highest order. I am pleased that FReepers and others are bring these facts up concerning Senator Kerry.

Please continue, and let people everywhere know what a piece of crap John Kerry really is.

[aruanan]

BUMP!!!!

[Boundless]

> If I'm not mistaken, Kerry was still in the reserves
> (inactive status) when he trashed the U.S. government
> and went to Paris to illegally confer with his country's
> enemies during a time of armed conflict.

And if he wasn't, then there are some very interesting
additional discharge papers (possibly dishonorable)
that we have yet to see.

But yes, I need to add this as another "beyond the scope"
topic in the table.

The legacy press has dug up records on how well Bush
made up his bunk bed in the barracks, and discovered
the Lost Ark of Indiana Jones in the archives, put is
actively pretending not to notice the stinking piles
of fascinating suppressed Kerry records.

[Boundless]

> The Gridley tied up for 48 hours in Camh Ranh Bay.

Roger that. I'll note for next edition.

Any evidence that Kerry even went ashore?

[Americanwolf]

Great info tonk!

Thanks for the hard work will spread this far and wide. :)

[Verginius Rufus]

Bush is the same age as Clinton and two and a half years younger than Kerry. It was while Bush and Clinton were undergraduates that the Selective Service stopped allowing deferments for graduate school (not sure of the exact year), which is why Clinton sought refuge in the University of Arkansas ROTC program. Bush would have known that no deferments for graduate school were available.

[Calpernia]

He wasn't JUST in Paris conferring. Kerry was a signer of the“People’s Peace Treaty.” A “people’s” declaration to end the war, drawnup in communist East Germany. It included nine points, all of which were taken from VietCong peace proposals at the Paris peace talks as conditionsfor ending the war


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1209454/posts?page=59#59

[BreitbartSentMe]

I found this tidbit really interesting

"Kerry, by the way, was already a pilot in college, and has said that he specifically avoided becoming a military pilot so as to not tarnish his love of flying."

What's the source for this? Heaven forbid you use some of your god-given talent to serve your country.....

[Calpernia]

>>>which is why Clinton sought refuge in the University of Arkansas ROTC program.

According to Col. Holmes, he NEVER entered ROTC.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1209454/posts?page=29#29

Thank you for setting the record straight Col Holmes!

On December 12th, 1969 Bill Clinton travels to Norway where he meets with various peace organizations. He later travels on to Moscow on December 31, 1969 and stays for a week. One should remember that Moscow was still supplying North Vietnam with missiles that were used to shoot down American planes along with technicians and military advisors. Some of these advisors participated in the interrogation of American POW's.

Colonel Eugene Holmes a highly decorated officer of the United States Army, who survived the Bataan Death March and three and a half years of imprisonment as a POW during the Second World War, wrote the following notarized letter on September 7, 1992.



Col. Holmes Notarized Statement
As Entered in Congressional Record (Page: H5551) 7/30/93

September 7, 1992. Memorandum for Record:

Subject: Bill Clinton and the University of Arkansas ROTC Program:

There have been many unanswered questions as to the circumstances surrounding Bill Clinton's involvement with the ROTC department at the University of Arkansas. Prior to this time I have not felt the necessity for discussing the details. The reason I have not done so before is that my poor physical health (a consequence of participation in the Bataan Death March and the subsequent three and a half years interment in Japanese POW camps) has precluded me from getting into what I felt was unnecessary involvement. However, present polls show that there is the imminent danger to our country of a draft dodger becoming Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States. While it is true, as Mr. Clinton has stated, that there were many others who avoided serving their country in the Vietnam war, they are not aspiring to be the President of the United States.

The tremendous implications of the possibility of his becoming Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces compels me now to comment on the facts concerning Mr. Clinton's evasion of the draft. This account would not have been imperative had Bill Clinton been completely honest with the American public concerning this matter. But as Mr. Clinton replied on a news conference this evening (September 5, 1992) after being asked another particular about his dodging the draft,

"Almost everyone concerned with these incidents are dead. I have no more comments to make".
Since I may be the only person living who can give a first hand account of what actually transpired, I am obligated by my love for my country and my sense of duty to divulge what actually happened and make it a matter of record.

Bill Clinton came to see me at my home in 1969 to discuss his desire to enroll in the ROTC program at the University of Arkansas. We engaged in an extensive, approximately two (2) hour interview. At no time during this long conversation about his desire to join the program did he inform me of his involvement, participation and actually organizing protests against the United States involvement in South East Asia. He was shrewd enough to realize that had I been aware of his activities, he would not have been accepted into the ROTC program as a potential officer in the United States Army.

The next day I began to receive phone calls regarding Bill Clinton's draft status. I was informed by the draft board that it was of interest to Senator Fullbright's office that Bill Clinton, a Rhodes Scholar, should be admitted to the ROTC program. I received several such calls. The general message conveyed by the draft board to me was that Senator Fullbright's office was putting pressure on them and that they needed my help. I then made the necessary arrangements to enroll Mr. Clinton into the ROTC program at the University of Arkansas.

I was not "saving" him from serving his country, as he erroneously thanked me for in his letter from England (dated December 3, 1969). I was making it possible for a Rhodes Scholar to serve in the military as an officer. In retrospect I see that Mr. Clinton had no intention of following through with his agreement to join the Army ROTC program at the University of Arkansas or to attend the University of Arkansas Law School. I had explained to him the necessity of enrolling at the University of Arkansas as a student in order to be eligible to take the ROTC program at the University. He never enrolled at the University of Arkansas, but instead enrolled at Yale after attending Oxford. I believe that he purposely deceived me, using the possibility of joining the ROTC as a ploy to work with the draft board to delay his induction and get a new draft classification.

The December 3rd letter written to me by Mr. Clinton, and subsequently taken from the files by Lt. Col. Clint Jones, my executive officer, was placed into the ROTC files so that a record would be available in case the applicant should again petition to enter the ROTC program. The information in that letter alone would have restricted Bill Clinton from ever qualifying to be an officer in the United States Military. Even more significant was his lack of veracity in purposefully defrauding the military by deceiving me, both in concealing his anti-military activities overseas and his counterfeit intentions for later military service. These actions cause me to question both his patriotism and his integrity. When I consider the caliber, the bravery, and the patriotism of the fine young soldiers whose deaths I have witnessed, and others whose funerals I have attended.... When I reflect on not only the willingness but eagerness that so many of them displayed in their earnest desire to defend and serve their country, it is untenable and incomprehensible to me that a man who was not merely unwilling to serve his country, but actually protested against its military, should ever be in the position of Commander-in-Chief of our armed Forces.

I write this declaration not only for the living and future generations, but for those who fought and died for our country. If space and time permitted I would include the names of the ones I knew and fought with, and along with them I would mention my brother Bob, who was killed during World War II and is buried in Cambridge, England (at the age of 23, about the age Bill Clinton was when he was over in England protesting the war). I have agonized over whether or not to submit this statement to the American people. But, I realize that even though I served my country by being in the military for over 32 years, and having gone through the ordeal of months of combat under the worst of conditions followed by years of imprisonment by the Japanese, it is not enough. I'm writing these comments to let everyone know that I love my country more than I do my own personal security and well-being. I will go to my grave loving these United States of America and the liberty for which so many men have fought and died. Because of my poor physical condition this will be my final statement. I will make no further comments to any of the media regarding this issue.

Eugene Holmes

Colonel, U.S.A., Ret.

September 1992



It is quite apparent to myself that Bill Clinton was a "Draft Dodger" and freely associated with known enemies of the United States.

As I have previously indicated, Bill Clinton went to the extreme and used everything available to him to avoid the draft. During those War Years, many college students used any means possible including demonstrations and the burning of their draft cards to stay out of the military. If everyone had put as much time and effort into serving their Country and doing their duty, perhaps there would have been a different outcome. Too many people concentrated on their own personal well being as individuals, instead of working for the good of our Country.