Maybe this will help you understand why I feel like I do
I spent 3yrs on a destroyer in the Navy from
'66-'69 as a Gunners Mate, GMG3.
USS CORRY DD 817 '68-'69 Gulf of Tonkin Yacht Club Member.
http://www.uss-corry.com/
Home port was Norfolk Virginia
and sailed with her in the North Atlantic,
Caribbean,(dealt with Cuban gunboats off of Havana in Jan '68)
thru the Panama Canal, across the Pacific to Viet Nam and back.
I was there the same time Kerry was.
I was there Oct'68-Apr'69 on the destroyer USS Corry DD-817
which supplied PCF's and PBR's
and provided gunfire and gunfire support
in North AND South Viet Nam.
My ship may have even supplied
Kerry's boat in the Mekong Delta
Although there are many similarities between naval gunfire support
and Operation Sea Dragon (which ended Nov '68), they differ in two important areas:
naval gunfire support is normally fired at the request of troops ashore,
while Sea Dragon's mission is the interdiction of supplies and destruction
of military targets; and naval gunfire support is always conducted in South Vietnam,
while Sea Dragon missions are fired only above the demilitarized zone.
29 US Navy ships received gunfire from Viet Cong shore batteries.
My ship DID NOT get hit by the VC.
In Feb '69 my ship was part of Operation Bold Mariner
which was the largest amphibious assault since Korea.
We are proud of you Tonkin, and all others here like you, who served honorably. People like Kerry will have a higher power to answer to.