[brotherStefan]

At , one can view Bush and Kerry documents. Scroll down through the list of Kerry documents (they're listed alphabetically) to the one that's described as "Service Record (PDF) Prepared Jan. 25, 1985". The last entry on this document is dated 16 February 1973 and states "Discharged for U.S. Naval Reserve". I've also seen another version of this document where the 16 February 1973 entry has been replaced with a 16 February 1978 entry that reads "Honorably Discharged for U.S. Naval Reserve". FWIW, I think President Carter's amnesty was offered in 1977.

[brotherStefan]

Ack! The link to the Kerry document didn't appear. Trying again...

http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/lit/election2004/docs.html

[christie]

Actually, I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out that document. If you look carefully, the 1973 could be a 1978. The "3" does not look like the other 3, but has a bit of a space so it doesn't look like an "8".

I'm rather confused, but the consensus has been 1978.

The honorable discharge looks like a form and only his name and the date are typed in.

After Rathergate, I sure don't want to assume these are real.

Unless Kerry signs Standard Form 180 and someone can examine certified copies or the originals, I wouldn't trust any form on his site. We've all been using the forms on Kerry's web site as our source, but I've never trusted them.

On the other hand, I've never seen any form with the date of 2001, so I think that is hogwash.