Posted on 10/17/2004 11:26:05 AM PDT by Polybius
Until now, it has been the conventional wisdom of former military Freepers, including myself, that any misconduct committed by John Kerry while a civilian in an inactive duty status while still a member of the U.S. Naval Reserves would have had no impact on his discharge status.
I, along with others, believed that, after release from active duty but while still a member of the Naval Reserve, Kerry could only have been held accountable for misconduct while on active duty for training or for previous misconduct committed prior to his release from active duty.
Well, we have all been proven wrong.
On 4 September 2004, I wrote and posted an essay documenting how the John Kerry Official web page had succeeded in deceiving the news media into believing that John Kerry had been honorably discharged prior to joining Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
Kerry Deceives News Media About His Navy Discharge on JohnKerry.com
The fact of the matter is that John Kerry still had Ready Reserve and Inactive Reserve obligated service after his January 1970 release from active duty date and was not even eligible for discharge until 16 December 1972.
The Honorable Discharge Kerry received, however, was dated 16 February 1978, during the Carter Administration.
Today, I received Post 155 on that thread from Freeper rolling_stone which included a link to Secretary of the Navy Instruction SECNAVINST 5420.174C whose subject is: Review at the Level of the Navy Department of Discharges from the Naval Service.
Section 9-1 of SECNAVINST 5420.174C has an extremely important piece of information:
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d. The following applies to applicants who received less than fully honorable administrative discharges because of their civilian misconduct while in an inactive duty status in a reserve component and who were discharged or had their discharge reviewed on or after April 20, 1971: the NDRB shall either re characterize the discharge to Honorable without any additional proceedings or additional proceedings shall be conducted in accordance with the Courts Order of December 3, 1981, in Wood v. Secretary of Defense to determine whether proper grounds exist for the issuance of a less than honorable discharge, taking into account that:
(1) An other than honorable (formerly undesirable) discharge for an inactive duty reservist can only be based upon civilian misconduct found to have affected directly the performance of military duties;
(2) A general discharge for an inactive duty reservist can only be based upon civilian misconduct found to have had an adverse impact on the overall effectiveness of the military, including military morale and efficiency.
**************************************
There it is, Freepers and all you lurking bloggers and journalists.
Kerry could have received a general discharge as an inactive duty reservist based upon civilian misconduct found to have had an adverse impact on the overall effectiveness of the military, including military morale and efficiency.
Kerry could have received an other than honorable (formerly undesirable) discharge as an inactive duty reservist based upon civilian misconduct found to have affected directly the performance of military duties;.
Thank you to rolling_stone for finding SECNAVINST 5420.174C.
bump
This is why the Kerry campaign had the media focus so much on Bush being "AWOL" and a "deserter" etc. Very smart of them.
Attn Mr Koppel: "You've been had, Ted"
There's a website for all SECNAV Instructions, but it only provides the current versions of instructions. Someone would have to have 174A or B in hard copy, I would guess.
Wrong. It was conventional wisdom here on FR that he was not subject to the UCMJ while in civilian status. His discharge status is a different sort of administrative proceding.
Why the six year delay?
I have posted this on a couple of previous threads in the last few months but will do so again.
First: The actual Navy Honorable Discharge Certificate issued at the time when all duty including reserve obligation was completed was a DD256N. The DD214 is a form issued at the time of separation from active duty.
Second:
On the Kerry website is a copy of a letter notifying him of his honorable discharge. It refers toTitle 10, U.S.Code Section 1163 and says that a board of officers was convened pursuant to that statute to determine whether a reservist should be kept in the reserves. There is a DOD regulation that explains how this works. It is at 32 CFR section 100.5. At the beginning it states:
(a) Unsatisfactory participation in the Ready Reserve.
...
(3) When a member of the Selected Reserve is identified as an unsatisfactory participant and considered a possible candidate for involuntary transfer to the IRR or for discharge, a board of officers shall be convened, as required by 10 U.S.C. 1063 to consider the circumstances and recommend appropriate action.
Since this statute (10 USC 1063) is referenced in the honorable discharge letter one must assume that this regulation as it existed in 1978 was the one under which the discharge was granted. In other words he was discharged for being an unsatisfactory participant in the reserve.
Here is a link to the regulation:
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2002/julqtr/pdf/32cfr100.5.pdf
Freepers on a roll with research today ping
Cough it up, guys.
FYI
let's say all of these things prove to be true, and documented...
obviously Kerry knows all about it. what do you think he has prepared to defend himself? he's got to have something up his sleeve.
But, again, even with more mendacity, Kerry lying every day about "integrity" while being dishonest about his background, there may be evidence available. If Kerry was pardoned by Carter, some public record must exist in the Office of the Pardon Attorney, Dept. of Justice, Washington (see DoJ site for details) and should be available in the public reading room or by FOIA request. Alas, no one in the left wing media would think of asking.
Congressman Billybob
The Kerry discharge story has only recently been developing "legs" with the Mainstream Media.
It seems to me that this new development is a smoking gun in that story and merits a place in Breaking News so that lurking journalists may know of it.
If it hasn't been suggested already, Thomas Lipscomb (sp?) at the NY Sun might be interested to see this.
Prairie
Hey, Johnny! Here's something else missing from your bogus "Navy Record."
BTTT!!!!!!!
Hmmm... One of my neighbors IS the Pardon Attorney at the Department of Justice. I'll have to ask about the public availability of such records...
dvwjr
I believe it's the same with the Navy.
This isn't clear as it should be. Was Kerry a senator BEFORE he received an 'honorable' discharge? Or was his dishcharge (other than honorable) reviewed and upgraded along with the re-issue of his citations in order to be eligible to be elected senator?
As soon as Kerry signs the form 180 to release ALL of his military records, we can dig up the necessary paperwork. Getting Kerry to come clean and sign it is the problem.
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