[colorado tanker]

I don't know Cowan. How did someone without a Navy rank serve in the swiftboats? Don't flame me, I'm just a groundpounder.

[Bahbah]

Rassmann was a Green Beret and he was on a navy boat.

[Klatuu]

I believe he was with the Marines. Possibly in some kind of special ops capacity. As such, he would have operated with all sorts of other units, including swiftboats.

[Merry]

Cowan did a wonderful job. He said every swift boat went out in groups. You always knew what was going on in the other boats. He said there was absolutely NO WAY Kerry was in Cambodia when he said he was there. He said the Viet Cong would have sunk the boat inside Cambodia and there would be an international incident. I thought the entire interview was very positive for the Swift Boat Vets.

[thucydides]

Cowan was a Marine Lt. Col. The Marines are a branch of the Navy.

[Prost1]

Here is a brief bio.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,60314,00.html

[timpad]

LTC Cowan is a retired Marine. If the Navy guys really need to shoot straight, they gotta have somebody around to show them how.

<ducking>

[SoCalPol]

How did someone without a Navy rank serve in the swiftboats? *

Lt. Col. Marines. Marines are known to work with the Navy.
Living in San Diego I see this all the time.

[Chieftain]

The Navy is OUR (Marine Corps) taxi service!

[conshack]

I don't know Cowan. How did someone without a Navy rank serve in the swiftboats? Don't flame me, I'm just a groundpounder.


The Air Force had boats similar to the Swiftboats at Cam Rahn Bay. Air Force SP's manned them. I spent 9 months at Cam Rahn in 1971 and some of my fellow SP's manned them. Hence, the Navy was not the only boat guys in Nam.