Posted on 08/21/2004 2:53:44 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
I do not doubt the sincerity of James Rassman.
However, my own experience and review of such part of the record as is available for review convinces me that Mr. Rassman is right about then Lieutenant John Kerry pulling him out of the water but wrong about Kerry heroically saving his life.
I was an Operations Officer for 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment during the first Gulf War.
I was on active duty U.S. Marine Corps Officer for over a decade.
I have watched how men behave under fire.
snip……………………….
Here are my findings:
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(Excerpt) Read more at michnews.com ...
The chocolate chip cookie line by Rassman is an embellishment (oops, I mean LIE,) made by the Kerry yarn weavers to give credibility to the 'we were blasted by the mine' story.
Thanks so much for posting this. I too have printed it to keep with the book Unfit for Command.
Bump!
Yes I see that now that I read it.
Sounds bad, he was running away from the fight, returned when there was no fight.
Hey, thanks! This clears up so many discrepancies in the reports out about this incident. Which boat was Rassman actually on......why did he fall off.......who wrote up the citation.....etc.
The lack of bullet holes as well as bullet wounds is especially telling.
One last comment about the Patriot who wrote this article: Rush asked a pro-Kerry caller the other day---"What medals did George HW Bush and Bob Dole win for their heroic actions in WW2?" The caller said he didn't know. Rush said "EXACTLY!"
Isn't Rassman on Kerry's payroll? Hmmmmmm.
This is a major bump!
Way out, sure, but even a Green Beret must have learned what his weapons sound like when they are lit off.
I was never in combat, but I did own an AR-15 and an AK-47 once, and I fired them together many times, and there is a different sound when the round goes off.
The sounds this Green Beret heard, he would have learned by then what sound was what weapon.
So, since NONE of the stories tell of his distinction between sounds, which is what a combat vet would use to defend his actions and thoughts at that moment, the sounds he heard, not just his emotions; I am unsure of his story being true.
Also, the return trip to base, when all the swift boats would have completed the rescue, Rassmussan would have been talking with the guys on the boat and learned from them it was just a mine, not RPG fire.
Once back at the base, the off load of the wounded and the debriefing, the comments on there just being a mine or weapons fire from the shore would have been a topic of discussion between crew members, what happened, who did what, who wet their pants, who spit at the VC the hardest, who hit their target with their weapon when they returned fire.
On boat disabled.
All the boats milling around.
Picking up men in the water.
The CANAL was 75 meters wide. That means the furthest from the bank you could be is 110 feet.
No bullet holes?
NO wounded or killed?
All while under "intense automatic weapons and sniper fire"?
Right.
Heard a caller claim that SOP when a boat is hit, is for the other boats to blanket the shores, protecting themselves and
the guys in the water, with fire until the source is determined - mine, RPG, etc - just in case.
And no dount stores for hundreds of miles to explain such bad shooting.
Right, so I think that Rassman is telling the truth, it is just that the fire he heard in the fog of battle was ours.
"Why James Rassman Is Honestly Mistaken About John Kerry Saving His Life And John Kerry Is Shame..., "
I do not believe RASSMANN, because he never stated how he ended up in the water!!!!
I heard that exchange. I wonder if the caller got it.
Your points are interesting because they remind us how tramatic events become locked in our memory.
I believe Rassman feels he "owes" Kerry and Kerry is going to collect.
I agree with you about the "honestly believes" opinion on Rassman's account of crediting Kerry with saving his life.
He's been given the benefit of the doubt by a public which thought of him as an "average sailor" in Viet Nam who became a policeman. But we now know he was a Green Beret for goodness sakes! He may have been the only guy in the water even capable of diving to the bottom for long periods of time to avoid the "firefight".
And he (as a well-trained warrior) also would have seen subsequently that there was no evidence of that firefight.
So why did he write up that citation for valor?
Good find. Mr. Holcomb presents a reasonable synthesis of facts based on multiple sources. Cool how he presents it in terms of JAGMAN investigation findings of fact, and opinions (Rassman believes what he thought he witnessed, Kerry probably embellished.) I'd still like to know why Kerry's boat ran.
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