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.
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 have yet to receive my copy of Unfit For Command but the third excerpt was published in the Washington Times yesterday and it deals with this incident.
It's at:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040820-125031-5676r.htm
I found the last part, relating how Kerry left his boat to go with the injured from PCF-3 to get treated for his "wound" to be particularly interesting.