SwiftVets.com

[stealthy]

-s-

The Kerry version of events begins with his volunteering to serve in the Vietnam war. The O'Neill version has Kerry's draft board rejecting his application for a deferment and Kerry then enlisting in the Naval Reserve -- not the Navy, as in Brinkley's book.

Enlisting in the Naval Reserves is not very different from enlisting in the National Guard. The big difference is that John Kerry happened to get sent to Vietnam and George Bush did not. But those decisions were made by people far above them in the military chain of command.

Yet some in the media and elsewhere have acted as if it was heroic for John Kerry to have enlisted in the Naval Reserve and cowardly for George Bush to have enlisted in the National Guard. But none has bothered to show what essential difference -- if any -- there is between these two back-up branches of service.

source

Why am I just now learning this? Brinkley has much to answer for.
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American Conservative

[risawn]

The big difference between National Guard and the Reserves is the Reserves is funded federally while the Natioanl Guard is funded by the state. Example, Bush didn't sign up for just the National Guard, he signed up for the Texas National Guard.

A lot of people get these two branches mixed up. Everyone always confuses me with being in the National Guard myself and I have to correct them that I'm actually in the Reserves. A completely different pot of money.

[Jack Mclaughlin]

Of course Douglas Brinkley has a lot to answer for but he is hiding. He has that boyish, innocent face and people tend to believe him but he can lie and distort as much as Kerry. They are both pathological liars. Brinkley signed an exclusive contract with NBC and they are providing cover for him, using him in very controlled situations. We need to smoke him out and put pressure on him to debate John O`Neill.

[stevieboy]

Actually folks, you are taking off in the wrong direction here.

The sources for commissioning in the US Navy for most line officers during that time period up to today are: The US Naval Academy (Annapolis), ROTC programs, and Officer Candidate School (OCS). Commissions from the Naval Academy and most ROTC programs were US Navy (i.e "regular Navy") commissions. Ensign Jones, USN. Commisions from OCS were always United States Naval Reserve (USNR), Ensign Kerry, USNR. Both would go to active duty, same pay, same job, no difference. Kerry knew he would go on active duty with a four year active commitment as did anyone who went through the OCS program.

What is the difference then between regular Navy and Reserve commissions. It is best to compare them to tenure among university professors. USN manning is directed by Congress, in a Reduction in Force (RIF), they are the last to go. USNR officers serve at the whim of the administration and their forces can easily be reduced or added depending on need.

Most USNR, at the end of their initial tour are offered a chance to "augment" into the regular service if they qualify in their warfare specialty and receive promoting fitness reports. If they opt to leave active duty, they may or may not have a drilling ("weekend warrior") committment.

Don't compare it to the Guard where most understand that it is a weekend drilling position. I also understand that the guard, while under state administration, is about 90% federally funded. They can be federalized at any time, as we have seen recently.

In summary, I'm no Kerry apologist, but I beleive Kerry knew where he was going when he signed up.