Here is a link to Google News for Kerry's Navy Discharge As of this post there are 39 hits
Posted on 10/13/2004 12:54:03 AM PDT by politicket
Edited on 10/13/2004 1:07:27 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Excerpt:
Mystery Surrounds Kerry's Navy Discharge
BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB - Special to the Sun
October 13, 2004
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/3107
An official Navy document on Senator Kerry's campaign Web site listed as Mr. Kerry's "Honorable Discharge from the Reserves" opens a door on a well kept secret about his military service.
The document is a form cover letter in the name of the Carter administration's secretary of the Navy, W. Graham Claytor. It describes Mr. Kerry's discharge as being subsequent to the review of "a board of officers." This in it self is unusual. There is nothing about an ordinary honorable discharge action in the Navy that requires a review by a board of officers.
According to the secretary of the Navy's document, the "authority of reference" this board was using in considering Mr. Kerry's record was "Title 10, U.S. Code Section 1162 and 1163. "This section refers to the grounds for involuntary separation from the service. What was being reviewed, then, was Mr. Kerry's involuntary separation from the service. And it couldn't have been an honorable discharge, or there would have been no point in any review at all. The review was likely held to improve Mr. Kerry's status of discharge from a less than honorable discharge to an honorable discharge.
A Kerry campaign spokesman, David Wade, was asked whether Mr. Kerry had ever been a victim of an attempt to deny him an honorable discharge. There has been no response to that inquiry.
The document is dated February 16, 1978. But Mr. Kerry's military commitment began with his six-year enlistment contract with the Navy on February 18, 1966. His commitment should have terminated in 1972. It is highly unlikely that either the man who at that time was a Vietnam Veterans Against the War leader, John Kerry, requested or the Navy accepted an additional six year reserve commitment. And the Claytor document indicates proceedings to reverse a less than honorable discharge that took place sometime prior to February 1978.
The most routine time for Mr. Kerry's discharge would have been at the end of his six-year obligation, in 1972. But how was it most likely to have come about?
Here is the exact wording of Kerry's discharge for our archives off of the PDF. The Italicized parts were added for clarification purposes.
1) By direction of the President, and pursuant to reference (a)(10 U.S.C.S. 1162), you are hereby honorably discharged from the U.S. Naval Reserve effective this date (Feb. 16, 1978).
2) This action is taken in accordance with the approved recommendations of a board of officers convened under the authority of reference (b) (10 U.S.C.S. 1163) to examine the official records of officers of the Naval Reserves on inactive duty and determine whether they should be retained on the rolls of the Reserve Component or separated from the naval service pursuant to Secretarial instructions promulgated in reference (c) (BUPERSMAN3830300).
3) The Navy Department at this time expresses its appreciation of your past services and trusts you will continue your interest in the naval service.
http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/Honorable_Discharge_From_Reserve.pdf
thanks..looks like it could be damaging to me...it at least needs Kerry to answer some questions ..
I think you have it pegged.
His records might not be available, but what about Carters?
Surely his library would have some records of pardons granted by him.
This story needs to be pushed hard 24/7 so that it grows legs and motivates others to keep digging.
Hmmm... If it's a general amnesty order, would every proceeding held under the order be documented in Carter's files? or would there be a kind of snipe hunt going on if one were to look for a document?
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Unlike President George W. Bush, former Vice President Al Gore and most candidates for office, Kerry refuses to allow the Pentagon to release his military records. Speculations are rife, from his Purple Hearts, to criteria about his medals, and why Kerry did not receive an honorable discharge until March 2001, nearly 30 years after his service ended on July 1, 1972.
No explanation has been offered.
Informed guys in the Pentagon believe Kerry originally was discharged in the 1970s with a "general" discharge and used his pro-Clinton votes during the impeachment of Boy Bill to apply political pressure for an upgrade. Obviously, his military records would contain material on his appeal, and might explain the 30-year delay.
From the scant information available, John Kerry signed his enlistment contract with the U.S. Navy on Feb. 18, 1966. He was discharged from "total active duty" on Jan. 3, 1970, with three years and 18 days of active duty. On that date, he was posted to the Naval Reserve Manpower Center in Bainbridge, Md., with "ready reserve" status and required to do 48 drills and 17 days of active duty a year until 1972. That year, on July 1, he was transferred to "standby reserve -- active" and was discharged from the U.S. Naval Reserve on Feb. 16, 1978.
Kerry's friends can and will argue about dates. But here are some irrefutable facts:
Kerry was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy
Kerry was an official of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), a self-styled revolutionary organization giving aid and comfort to our enemies
Kerry was and is a U.S. senator
Kerry was and is in violation of the U.S. Constitution. In May 1970, Kerry, a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy, was in Paris on his honeymoon. He met with Madame Nguyen Thi Binh, the Viet Cong's foreign minister. The next month he joined the Communist-controlled VVAW and helped organize their seditious Winter Soldier hearings in Detroit, along with their march to Washington. These events were designed in rebellion against the U.S. government and to change its policies.
On April 22, 1971, Kerry, still an officer in the U.S. Navy, gave evidence to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of his shame in being an American and told horror stories of the behavior of the U.S. military. Throughout the next six months, Kerry remained active with the VVAW as a leader and a spokesman, appearing on national television to claim that he had been a war criminal and a delegate at meetings with the Viet Cong in Paris.
During this period, Lt. John Kerry attended many VVAW meetings and mass rallies at which the Viet Cong flag was displayed and the U.S. flag desecrated. He also attended a VVAW conference where the assassination of U.S. senators was discussed. He took no action to close that discussion or report it to the FBI, despite the participants' planning murder. He did, however, leave before a vote was taken on how to implement the crime.
It could be argued that, in 1970 and 1971, John Kerry, an officer in the U.S. Navy, violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 104, part 904; and the U.S. Code 18 USC 953, for violating the U.S. Constitution.
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Let me ask this as a lifelong civilian with a great respect for, but no real connection to, the military: Do y'all really think that this has legs? I understand what's going on thanks to the explanations of our military FReepers, but you have to admit, this is a fairly "dense" topic; it requires an understanding of 10 USC 1162/1163, of why discharges occur and what Jimmuh did in 1977-78 with his amnesty. We know that the MSM is going to ignore this and do their best to discredit or just bury it. So do you think that this can get to the sheeple in a way that they can understand it, and will they care?
We care. We know what this means--heck, we've suspected it all along. But we weren't voting for JF'nK anyhow. Will it make a difference since the MSM will just treat it as a crackpot VRWC "desperate move"?
}:-)4
No one who COULD clear up such a story would let it sit out there, waiting for a time like this.
I agree, that is a mystery.
But, Kerry does have DREAD (the fear of exposure) written all over his ugly face!
You're absolutely right!
He could have put the facts out and played the Big Martyr Act. "Persecuted for his beliefs in an unjust war" etc.etc.
Would have had Hollyweird and all wetting their pants even more for him.
What a snot!
Anything he says now will reflect negatively. It's not the lie, it's the coverup, stupid.
Oh, boy. That delay says it all...
Arkancide?
Being in the military myself since 1972 I know that you could get like a general discharge and after a period of time you could appeal to have it upgraded to a honorable discharge. I would suspect that something of this sort happened because when I left the Air Force in 1980 I was given a honorable discharge. It will state it on your DD-214 what the discharge is. What you would want to see is the original DD-214. I don't know if when they upgrade the DD-214 if they issue a replacement DD-214 or if they just paperwork amending the original DD-214. The DD-214 will also list all awards and decorations.
bump
"First I wasn't honorably discharged, then I was"
Yuk, Yuk.
This has all the makings of an orchestrated story. By whom, we can't yet tell. But this story is going to dribble out like toothpaste from a tube and it will be equally hard to put back in. If the SVFT start running a series of ads stating that Kerry originally received a less than honorable discharge, even without evidence, which they can do since JFK is a public figure, this thing will explode worse than an Al Qaida car bomb.
Just want to add that these discharges are not automatically upgraded after a period of time ( some used to think they were ). The person has to put in for it.
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