SwiftVets.com

Wing Wiper

Kerry's still insisting he took a Swift boat into Cambodia at least once on a CIA mission. Any brown-water Navy vets here have a picture of the border crossing he would have had to navigate through? If it can be shown that a Swift boat could not have made the crossing (I've read that opinion here), it would sink another of his lies, bigtime. (There goes the "hat" story, too.)
If there were patrol boats up there, to make sure there was no cross-border traffic, I'm sure somebody would have a picture taken while on patrol. I think we need those now. Keep the faith!

BUTCHVORPAHL · Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2004 8:27 pm Post subject: WING WIPER

HE POSSIBLY COULD HAVE BEEN IN CAMBODIA. LOTS OF TRIPS WERE MADE INTO CAMBODIA BY SWIFTS. THE BORDER BETWEEN VIETNAM & CAMBODIA IS THE HA TIEN RIVER. ANY TIME WE TOOK A LEFT UP A RIVER OR CANAL WE WERE IN CAMBODIA. DON'T GET ME WRONG, I BELIEVE KERRY TO BE A BALD FACE LIAR, WHO DOESN'T DESERVE TO SERVE IN THE SENATE--MUCH LESS COMMANDER-IN -CHIEF. I BASE MY STATEMENTS ON THE FACT THAT I WAS A CREW MEMBER ON PCF 3 THAT WAS MINED ON THE 13TH OF MARCH. AND HIS RECOLLECTIONS OF THAT DAY ARE 180 DEGREES DIFFERENT THAN MINE.

Wing Wiper · Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2004 8:35 pm Post subject:

Okay, that tack isn't going to work then. Thanks for the info. Was Rassmann on your boat when the mine went off? (I'll understand if you can't answer that right now)

Navy_Navy_Navy · Admin Joined: 07 May 2004 Posts: 5777

Welcome BUTCHVORPAHL,

Glad to have you aboard! Were you one of those injured in the mine blast? I hope you've recovered well, if you were.

Are you one of the signers to the Swifts' letter? If so, I'd like to add a Founder's tag tribute under your name, if you don't mind. We like to recognize "those who were there."

We'd love to hear your story, any time.

In the meantime, please visit the Thank You Swiftees forum for some of the many messages that we have received here in appreciation for your service - then and now.
_________________
~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

Ladder Yankee 33 · Ensign Joined: 12 Aug 2004 Posts: 68 Location: Cumming, GA

snake king · Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2004 10:09 pm Post subject: Cambodian Border

Not a good line of attack. In fact there is a hilarious story about the PBR crew that spent too much time in the beer hooch moored to an LST in the middle of the river 10 miles south of the border, such that when they departed the LST she had swung 180 degrees with the tide and they merrily took off at 20 knots UP river! They managed to cross the Cambodian border and make it at least 20 miles into Cambodia before being arrested by the Kampuchu. Caused a big international incident, Cambodians gave us back the crew in about three weeks but kept the PBR. Sometime after the Cambodian incursion in 1970, the Cambodians asked USN if they wouldn't like the boat back (since we're now alies and all the). USN team went upriver to claim the boat because the Cambodian Navy didn't think it would move -- after all it had no propellors!

Wing Wiper · Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2004 12:24 am Post subject:

Okay, thanks for all the feedback. I guess I misunderstood that it was very difficult to cross the Cambodian river border without being aware of it. I thought if the border had an unmistakeable landmark (pillars, blockhoses, etc.) it might shoot holes in a couple of Kerry's stories. Thanks anyway.

Ladder Yankee 33 · Ensign Joined: 12 Aug 2004 Posts: 68 Location: Cumming, GA

redhawk34 · Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2004 4:09 pm Post subject:

The major rivers are navigable by fairly large vessels at the Cambodian border, in mid-'68 an LCU from 5th Heavy Boat Co. (USA) went up the Mekong and missed the cutoff that would have taken them to the Bassac, and got themselves interned after crossing the border. A few weeks later, a convoy of LCM-8s enroute to Can Tho made the same mistake, and we were stopped several klicks from the border by PBRs stationed there for that purpose.
There were obviously too many small canals to station guards at all of them, and I am sure that small incursions were commonplace, but the kind of clandestine mission implied by Kerry smells. The last refuge of the poseur is "my orders were classified." We never got written orders at the boat level, but you better believe that some career officer at higher level would insist on them to cover his ass.
Redhawk

Wing Wiper · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2004 3:32 am Post subject:

Well, I was talking about a waterway into Cambodia large enough for a Swift boat to navigate. It still sounds like he could talk his way around that angle, from what I'm hearing, so best not to persue it. A CIA agent going in solo on a Swift boat without his hat. Maybe that's so rediculous on it's face that it doesn't need much attention. Maybe put Chuck Norris and Sylvester Stallone in a police lineup and ask Kerry if anyone looks familiar to him. Rolling Eyes