"... why would a bright, talented Yale student volunteer to serve in Vietnam?"
It's hard to get past this piece of propaganda, for one thing. Kerry attempted to obtain, and was denied, a student deferment to study in France. He then joined the Naval Reserves. I am unaware that he, at any time, volunteered for duty in Viet Nam. At the time he was assigned to PCF's, they were doing postal patrol, not going up river. When he started getting shot at, he was out of there as fast as some scratches would allow. He came back and trashed the reputations of every fighting man in the military. He saw military service not as "service", but as an "opportunity" to advance his political ambitions. Had the war been popular, I believe we would have seen quite a different JFK. Where am I wrong?
seriesly, you are right. the article has its time line screwed up.
"So John Kerry headed off to Vietnam full of patriotic fervor, certain that he was doing the right thing for his country and for himself....
The Tet offensive in 1968. Johnson on TV saying "I shall not seek, and will not accept your nomination, for another term as president." The combat death of a close friend, Richard Pershing. Realities that began to turn Kerry's sense of duty topsy-turvy."
While he may have applied to do a Vietnam photo tour before Tet or Pershing's death, if they were what changed his mind in Feb/March 68, he would not have been heading to Vietnam duty in November 68 "full of patriotic fervor, certain that he was doing the right thing for his country and for himself"