[Tribune7]

I just finished Unfit for Command. It has a chronology of Kerry's service. IIRC, it has him getting an honorable discharge in 1978.

[JoeGar]

I just finished Unfit for Command. It has a chronology of Kerry's service. IIRC, it has him getting an honorable discharge in 1978.

1978 is what Kerry's web site shows. Is it just coincidence that Jimmy Carter took office in 1977 and pardoned all draft dodgers that year?

[t2buckeye]

1978...The Carter years when amnesty was bestowed...I think there is something in the records to show that he had a dishonorable discharge, but it was changed or altered at THAT time..

[Mike Fieschko]

it has him getting an honorable discharge in 1978.

Not to come down hard on you, but we go through this every time this story surfaces.

Separation does not equal discharge.

Kerry was separated in 1978.

He was discharged in 2001.

Service members get DD214s when they are separated and when they are discharged.

Until someone shows that the 2001 discharge was not for strength adjustments (and there are documents out on the 'net indicating that it was for strength adjustments), I put this 'less-than-honorable' story in the 'nice, but likely not true' category.

Do people here know how an officer gets a less-than-honorable? If there was an Admiral's mast or court martial, do you think it'd have been hidden for two or three decades?