I'm sorry but that's just not responsive to my question. Nevertheless, I would suggest that any allegation of a Kerry "less than honorable" discharge is, at this point, no more than unproven supposition.
While I'm not certain just where this line of inquiry "dead-ended", I believe that its continued viability was terminated by the inability of 2 individuals to speak, with first person knowledge, due to Privacy Act restrictions. For a good overview or a starting point on where this last left off, see "Beldar's" "Rumor mill buzzing on Kerry's discharge status" on Oct 29, 2004.
I thought you wanted to research the issue, which is why I gave you the link. I spent hundreds of hours at the SBVPOWFT discussion forum in 2004, and I promise you that there is a great deal of factual information available to the seeker.
Of course it's unproven supposition, and "Hanoi" John could have cleared up everything had he simpily signed the 180, made it unredacted, available to everyone, and issued it to the National Records Archive in St. Louis, MO like everyone was asking him to do, instead of issuing a 180 to the Navy, available only to two friendly reporters. The simple fact that he had the chance to shut everyone up, and he chose to play his cards against his chest, causes me to believe that he's hiding something that would be damning to his cause.
It's a proven fact, by his own testimony before the Senate, that Hanoi John met secretly with the Viet Cong in France during the Vietnam war. For ANY citizen that was an illegal act. And for someone who's still in the Naval reserves, it goes against the UCMJ. Had Kerry already been given a DD214 at that time, or was he subject to the UCMJ? Hmm. I'd like to know, and Hanoi John doesn't want me to know.
Occam's razor indicates to me that he's either hiding a less than honorable DD214 or he's hiding the fact that he met with the enemy before he got a DD214.