SwiftVets.com

[truthseeker]

http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20040825-085753-2062r.htm

Dr. Martin L. Fackler served as a combat surgeon in Vietman in 1968. A fellow of both the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, he also is an author, expert witness and lecturer on wound ballistics and surgery, and former director of the Wound Ballistics Laboratory at Presidio.

My usual disclaimer, I didn't serve in Vietnam, I'm your "younger brother" they stopped drafting about the time I would have hit the age to serve.

But as a physician, certainly I see a steady stream of people who are trying to use any of a number of ailments to milk for all it's worth, from getting handicapped parking permits, to getting off prison work details, or any work for that matter, etc., etc.

Though I wasn't there, certainly there may have been similar behavior with respect to military personnel, if so inclined, to try to exaggerate a minor would into something worth a Purple Heart in order to get any of a number of benefits.

This particular doctor says he saw it frequently.

In addition, he makes an interesting point about Dr. Letson, and the claim by the Kerry defenders that another "doctor" (apparently a corpsman, now deceased, rest his soul) actually signed his records.....therefore Dr. Letson's a liar.

"IF" I understand correctly, that the individual who signed Kerry's record is a corpsman and not a physician, and "IF" for the sake of argument, Dr. Letson did not actually treat Kerry, the doctor who authored the article linked above points out:

In Part B, Paragraph 2, of the Army Purple Heart Regulation (600-8-22 of 25 February 1995), we find "the wound for which the award is made must have required treatment by a medical officer."

Now I'm not sure how to interpret this regulation. Is a corpsman a "medical officer" for the purpose of determining a Purple Heart? Also, I notice as I write this, the regulation cited is, apparently, from 1995. What was the regulation regarding Purple Hearts at the time of Kerry's wounds?

"IF" I understand the regulation correctly, and "IF" the regulation was the same as in Kerry's time in Vietnam, if the corpsman had been the only treating person, then the injury sustained was not worth a Purple Heart.

And how common was the practice of trying to amplify a minor wound into a Purple Heart wound for secondary gain? Given that I see plenty of similar "secondary gain" issues in the civilian arena, I have to assume there is similar motivation in the military arena.........but admittedly no first-hand knowledge.