Posted on 09/14/2004 2:20:26 AM PDT by NavVet
For more than 30 years, Kerry has portrayed a heroic version of a life and death struggle -- of staring down a suspected guerilla who was about to fire upon Kerry's swift boat. It was kill. Or be killed. At least, that's the version Kerry tells.
Eyewitnesses offer a far different account. They allege Kerry shot a wounded teenager retreating from battle.
Kerry has made public, hundreds of pages of official Navy documents to bolster his many claims. Conspicuous by its absence is the official after action report of what actually happened that day. The after action report written by John Kerry, himself.
In an exclusive, The Point has obtained this document from U.S. Navy archives (you can see it here). The pertinent section reads:
"PCF 94 beached in center of ambush in front of small path when Viet Cong sprung up from bunker 10 feet from unit. Man ran with weapon towards hootch. Forward M-60 machine gunner wounded man in leg. Officer-in-charge, LTjg Kerry, jumped ashore and gave pursuit while other units saturated area with fire and beached placing assault parties ashore. Kerry chased VC inland behind hootch and shot him while he fled -- capturing one B-40 rocket launcher with round in chamber."
So there you have it. The official record written by John Kerry supports what the critics have alleged rather than the John Wayne Kerry version the Massachusetts liberal has been telling.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscentral.tv ...
Ouch, this is going to leave a mark.
Just to add a touch to my last. I don't believe an AAR is part of an indivduals service jacket. It belongs to the "unit", and ultimately the USN. These are available via an FOI request. The SBVT have their hands on every record they could gather through FOI and it's these records that will cook Kerry.
Getting Kerry's records would be interesting and perhaps even humorous, but his records are not what the SBVTs case is based upon. They have plenty of ammo, and it will be used as needed.
The Beslan Terrorists must have read and been inspired by John Kerry's back shooting report.
This was sent to me in an email regarding Kerry's records. Subject: Kerry's Discharge
The enclosed brings up a new issue. I had noticed that his discharge
was dated in 2001 but didn't think much about it. The enclosed raises
some interesting aspects.
"Unlike McCain, Bush, and Gore, while Kerry has adamantly refused to
authorize the release of his military records. Most think it's because
of his phony battle medals. I think the real reason is below. He was
not granted an Honorable Discharge until March 2001, almost 30 years
after his ostensible service term had ended! This is very much out of
the ordinary, and highly suspect.
There are 5 classes of Discharge: Honorable, General, Other Than Honorable,
Bad Conduct, and Dishonorable. My guess is that he was Discharged in
the '70s, but not Honorably. He appealed this sometime while Clinton
was doing trouser-tricks in the Oval Office. Political pressure was
applied, and the Honorable Discharge was then granted. His file is
probably rife with reports of this, submissions and hearings on the
appeal, reports of his "giving aid and comfort" to the enemy, along
with protests that were filed with respect to his alleged valor under fire.
This will blow up in his face before October 15th.
Isn't this incident one of those that Kerry supposedly recreated for his camera? I've always wondered, if there was so much sniper fire at the time the incident occurred (as reported in Kerry's after-action reports), why Kerry put himself and his men in harms way, by going back to those known hot spots just to get a few feet of film. I've never been in the military, but I worked in a para-military government position, and my first responsibility as a Sergeant was the safety and security of the officers under my supervision.
Yeah, they figured if a U.S. Senator and Presidential Candidate can do it, so can they.
With all due respect, the three points above have been debunked repeatedly (seems like they're coming up in every Kerry thread this week). You need to carefully inspect the original docs at johnkerry.com or the election section on Findlaw.
1) Kerry's enlistment contract calls for reserve duty of 48 drills OR 17 days active OR whatever other service the Navy deems suitable.
2) The UCMJ does not apply to reserve personnel except when performing their reserve activities.
3) Kerry's discharge papers are dated 1978. Where does this 2001 date come from?
Because I could type, when I got home from Vietnam in 1971 I was assigned to the Ft Riley post where servicemen were awaiting discharges other than Honorable, which is the term for any discharge below the Honorable level. Most men who got less then honorable discharges got them because they were offered an opportunity to accept a certain level of punishment or accept an Undesirable Discharge, which was the most common and it had the added caveat of "FOR THE GOOD OF THE SERVICE". If they had clean Vietnam service under their belt they would usually get a General Discharge (under Honorable Conditions), which meant they kept their veterans benefits. On rare occasions, in which there was violence or serious criminal behavior they would get Bad Conduct discharges. Honorable Discharges are extremely rare, inspite of the fact that term gets thrown around a lot. About 99 percent of the discharges were based on drug use.
It is highly unlikely Kerry got a less than Honorable discharge. He was an officer and for him to get a bad discharge would have required a Courts Martial and some egregious conduct. Had he been given a bad discharge based on his anti war activities there would have been a Courts Martial and considering his profile at the time it would have been highly publicized. The only situation I can imagine that would have left him with a less than honorable discharge is if he was being threatened with a Courts Martial and was offered a General Discharge as an escape. I have to believe he would have loved being the martyr and would have turned the entire affair into a platform.
I have a feeling that you are correct.
Thank you for clarifying that...I will make sure this information is relayed to my friend. Gee, I dont want to be another Dan Blather!
Hey John, you better put some ice on that.
IMHO they recreated the incidents on Phu Quoc Island, which is where An Thoi is. An Thoi was where CD11 was headquartered. Most PCF missions were from an LST in the Cua Song Bai Hap or from An Thoi. There was no way a LtJG would take a PCF out from the LST for a joy ride to take pictures.
Besides, I consider him a coward. He took those films in a totally safe area and Phu Quoc Island was the only place available to him.
http://www.thegantelope.com/html/KV2.htm
Thanks for that info. I particularly like the link to The Hitchhiker's Guide to
John Kerry's Vietnam Service. What a great title for a book.
Unless the wounded teenager was running backwards, then John Fn Kerry shot the kid in the back!
And for this he got a medal? Not for heroic!
OUCH!!! THAT'S GONNA LEAVE A MARK!
Thanks for the map pointers.
Since you've looked into it so carefully, wondering if you know where PCF patrols operated from Sa Dec. Would they have been down to Long Xuyen, Chau Phu, and Chau Doc? Or were those places patrolled later (after Kerry left) as Slingshot progressed into March/April 1969?
I haven't memorized Kerry's short VN history, but it looks like the majority of his tenure was at An Thoi/Ha Tien and further south near Ca Mau.
An aside: It's kind of weird that in a mere 4 months he was in Cam Ranh, Cat Lo, Sa Dec, An Thoi, and Ca Mau.
I wish Kerry would sign the 180 and clear up all the speculation. There must be something in his records he does not want the voters to see...I am waiting for a October surprise.
Check this out!!
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