As much as I abhor John Kerry and all he stands for, I have to date seen nothing to indicate that he has received a dishonorable discharge. I have personally never heard of one issued without benefit of a general court martial, which would be in the public record.
If someone has any documentation to the effect that Kerry has received any discharge other than honorable, I would like very much to see it. Until then, I put this in the same category as the missing explosive story...
Truthfulness and accuracy are irrelevant. It's the seriousness of the accusation that merits a response...
I agree that Kerry would not have received a dishonorable without a GCM. However, the Navy has a little known procedure for "bottom blowing" nonperforming officers. It is in some OPNAVINST whose number I do not have at hand but could look up.
Basically, they convene a board of 3 officers, 1 CAPT others the others CDR or above and 1 must be from the officers warfare community (e.g. Airedales can't decide on bubble-heads alone).
They hear the facts and can get rid of an officer for such things as "Failure to maintain standards of decorum." They can assign a Honorable, General under honorable conditions and General other than honorable conditions discharge. The proceedings are not public and not disclosed on DD-214N.
However, if the decision was appealed to the Board for Correction of Naval Records or some other board the paperwork would exist in the file.
This would account for the discharge cover letter that references a "board of officers," the date of the discharge and the fact that he will absolutely not release 100+ pages of his file.
"If someone has any documentation to the effect that Kerry has received any discharge other than honorable, I would like very much to see it. Until then, I put this in the same category as the missing explosive story..."Sanity! Yes, I would like to believe this about him but wanting it does not make it true. We have rightly roasted the media, UN, DNC about poorly reported, fabricated stories, lets not be party to the same witch hunt.