Why James Rassman Is Honestly Mistaken About John Kerry Saving His Life And John Kerry Is Shame...

Michnews.com ^ | August 21, 2004 | Grant K. Holcomb

[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:

.................

[TigersEye]

Hear about the whole incident as told by Steve Gardner, a swiftie who was there in Kerry's boat. Take the link and find the interview of 8/5/04 Steve Gardner down a little on the right on the page. It's streaming audio. It's pure dynamite.

Steve Gardner (viet nam veteran)

[chainsaw]

Mr. Rassman is right about then Lieutenant John Kerry pulling him out of the water but wrong about Kerry heroically saving his life.

Does Rassman know how to swim???

[Zman516]

From the testimony of the other Swift Boat OIC's, Rassmann was at the STERN of Kerry's boat, and fell overboard when Kerry took off at full throttle. The other Swift Boats opened up on the shores with suppressing fire; SOP in a situation like that. So three twin-.50's at full song would easily be mistaken for a two-way firefight to Rassmann, who was submerged.

No one argues that Kerry returned and pulled Rassmann out of the water, but Kerry wrote up his version of the story (for the medal) to imply that all other boats fled, and only HE was courageous enough to go back and rescue Rassmann under withering enemy fire. A total load of bullocks.

Kerry is a lying sack of S___.

[GarySpFc]

This is EXACTLY the analysis of the incident I arrived at after examining all the quotes.

[arasina]

Superb article! Two things that stood out:

The closer the date of the statements to the Democratic National Convention (DNC), the more embellished and divergent Kerry's and Rassman's statements became as compared to older first hand observations.

20.) An act of heroism is defined as going "above and beyond the call of duty". It was Kerry's duty to pick up Rassman when he fell out of Kerry's boat, not an act of heroism. Kerry could have been charged for dereliction of duty if he had not done so. If the U.S. Navy higher chain of command knew that there was no enemy weapons fire, the medal would not have been awarded.

[GoodGrief]

{What made him suspect to me was his "NEED" to prefaces his adoration upon JFKerry for "SAVING" him was that he was a "volvo" Republican. That was day one of his appearance in "saving" a sinking JFKerry campaign. WHAT difference did it make what "political" party he was, "IF" what he was claiming were true.}

But what I'd like to know is why did he write the citation at the time? Was it cover for having been ineffective (to say the least) during the incident as the only real warrior in the group?

And once reminded of this charade years later he thought "What the heck? Milk it!"

Is that it?

[TigersEye]

Here is the thread where I heard about the Steve Gardner interview. It is about a subsequent inteview that was live. No streaming audio of it at that time, 8/18/04.

Wow! This is an amazing interview. Everyone needs to listen to this.
18 posted on 08/18/2004 7:51:38 PM EDT by Jim Robinson

[over3Owithabrain]

I don't trust Rassmann either. The timing of him showing up to help Kerry is very suspicious. The story of how they reunited is lame. And his "I'm a Republican" mantra is too obvious. He knew Kerry was a liberal Democrat for 35 years, why would he suddenly change party/political preferences? The guy is full of it and likely on a prearranged payroll deal.

[over3Owithabrain]

Another thing - and I say this with all due respect to my FReeper friends who have seen combat, unlike me. Being a veteran doesn't mean you automatically make a better candidate, or know more, or are a foreign-policy expert. It didn't help McGovern or Dole. Why should it help Kerry anyway, even if all his BS were true?

[NavySEAL F-16]

Powerful. Thank you for posting.

[Zman516]

Does anyone doubt that Hanoi John, Mr. megabucks, has "enhanced" Rassmann's memory?

[NavySEAL F-16]

Kerry and Rassmann hadn't seen each other since the "rescue" 35 years before and Kerry couldn't even remember Jim's last name.

Rassmann just happened to read Kerry's book in a bookstore, by Brinkley early this year (I think February). Saw his rescue told. Called Hurley and Hurley arranged that fateful Iowa reunion!

[TexasCowboy]

Nonsense!

This is a nice try by Holcomb to exonerate a Green Beret, but the fact is that Rassman is lying his ass off!
He'd have to be a tone deaf idiot not to recognize twin .50s firing from a few feet away!

Sorry, I ain't buyin'.

[keats5]

I find it interesting that Kerry's star witness, by his own admission, established that he was under water during most of this incident. During the entire time in question, he hid underwater to avoid being seen and only came up for short breaths, until Kerry pulled him from the water.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I find it interesting that Kerry's star witness, by his own admission, established that he was under water during most of this incident.

How convenient.

[brazzaville]

Good morning.
Combine the roar of the suppresive fire from the boats that didn't flee with the roar of the damaged boat's racing engine (one engine was at full throttle, the other out of action) and the fact that Rassmann had just experienced a large explosion nearby and a rapid immersion in muddy water and you can see that Rassmann would have been too disoriented to know anything for sure. All he knew was that john kerry helped him get out of the water.

Michael Frazier

[opbuzz]

...I figured this part out already Chieftain. I figure when the boat hit the mine to other boats started firing at the shore to give their brothers in arms cover. This is the firing Rassman heard. When the units realized they were taking no return fire they stopped firing and Kerry returned to pick up the last guy in the water.


An old friend, and Medal of Honor recipient named Doug Miller told me a similar story of his young days.

He was on his 1st patrol with the "Bummer", A former Marine now Special Forces guy. The Bummer had point, Doug was to the rear of the column. A couple shots were fired and everyone immediately dove off the trail and opened fire. Doug said he didn't see anyone so he shot the sht out of a tree until the firing stopped. As they got up, they saw the Bummer in the village standing over two VC. The two shots were from the Bummer.

There was no combat or taking of rounds, but everyone assumed there was an responded.

Doug eventually was involved in much more intense combat.

You can google Franklin Douglas Miller.

He died of cancer a couple years ago, around Gainesville if I recall correctly.

[freedumb2003]

>i>And no dount stores for hundreds of miles to explain such bad shooting.

Maybe the enemy troops were these guys:

[Bob]

Hear about the whole incident as told by Steve Gardner, a swiftie who was there in Kerry's boat. Take the link and find the interview of 8/5/04 Steve Gardner down a little on the right on the page. It's streaming audio. It's pure dynamite.

Whoa. Something's not right here.

Gardner was on PCF-44, kerry's first boat. This incident occurred when kerry was OIC on PCF-94, his second boat. This is the first indication that I've ever seen linking Gardner to the Rassman/Bronze Star incident.

Time for some more digging on my part.

[TigersEye]

Both Gardner and Kerry served on more than one boat. I may have given the impression that Gardner was on Kerry's boat during the Rassman rescue incident. I don't know that one way or the other. Listen to the streaming audio, Gardner may have said what boat he was on. He did say he was there though.

Sorry for any confusion I caused.