[Polybius]

Sorry to sound naive, but since sKerry had all of his "medals", wouldn't that automatically ensure an honorable discharge?

Kerry does have an Honorable Discharge.........dated 1978.........during the Carter Administration.

Kerry's obligated service would have been completed and he would have been eligible for an Honorable Discharge in December 1972.

Why the six year delay?

What's going on here?

The very plausible explanation is that Kerry received a less than honorable discharge that was "upgraded" during the Carter Amnesty program.

See the links in my Post 55.

[Callahan]

That's the theory. I'm surprised that somebody at the Pentagon hasn't tracked down Kerry's records and leaked them.

Hey, they did it to Linda Tripp.

[Mike Fieschko]

Kerry's obligated service would have been completed and he would have been eligible for an Honorable Discharge in December 1972.

If Kerry had been enlisted, you might be right that he would have been discharged in 1972.

On other threads discussing Kerry's discharge, freepers who were officers have repeatedly stated that an officer's obligation only terminates if the branch decides to end it or the officer resigns his commission.

And the branch ending it can be because of neutral reasons (strength adjustment, for example).

Use search for threads with "Kerry discharge", and you'll see that this ground has been gone over many times.