 |
SwiftVets.com
Service to Country
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Chukkal
Ensign
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Posts: 69
|
 Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2004 3:21 am Post subject: Two Tours of Duty? |
 |
|
| I've noticed that Sen. Kerry is now claiming two tours of duty. Anyone know what he's talking about? Thanks. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
air_vet
PO2
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
Posts: 374
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2004 3:36 am Post subject: |
|
|
If you search the site you can probably find a lot more, but in brief:
Tour 1 - USS Gridley WESTPAC
Tour 2 - Swift Boats
I'm sure the Gridley tour qualified him for the VSM but I don't think the grunts on the ground would see it as a tour.
Heck, during my 13 month tour in SEA I spent about 90 days in-country at TSN. I qualified for the VSM, but I NEVER claim to have had a "tour of duty in Viet Nam". |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Herb
Lieutenant
Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 213
Location: Austin, TX
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2004 4:19 am Post subject: Re: Two Tours of Duty? |
|
|
| Chukkal wrote: | | I've noticed that Sen. Kerry is now claiming two tours of duty. Anyone know what he's talking about? Thanks. |
There is a MUCH better thread over in the main forum and Bob Chamberlain (member name) seems to have the clearest post so as it belongs here anyway, here are some of Bob's excellent answers:
| Bob Chamberlain in another forum wrote: |
We know precisely how long his tours were. The USS Gridley spent 4 months on a WestPac deployment (February to June of 1968), of which almost precisely 7 weeks were spent in waters contiguous to Vietnam.
Kerry was assigned to Coastal Squadron One (Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam) for a 12 month tour of duty. Kerry arrived in country on November 17, 1969. He bugged out on March 20, 1969, having completed 4 months and 3 days of service.
There is room for error of a day or two on the date of leaving Vietnam. He might actually have left as late as the 24th. Other than that, these dates are well documented.
|
| Bob Chamberlain in another forum wrote: |
The Legend: John Kerry served not just one, but rather two tours in Vietnam, with the implication being that both tours were in Swift Boats.
The Reality: John Kerry served a deployment in the western Pacific aboard a guided missile frigate. Some seven weeks of this deployment were within the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin and qualify as Vietnam service. But the official term for such service is “deployment”, not “tour in Vietnam”. John Kerry was assigned to a full twelve month tour of duty in Vietnam as OIC of a Swift Boat. However, he actually completed only four months of this tour before bugging out.
To everybody except John Kerry, the term “tour in Vietnam” means boots on the ground for 12 or 13 months of mud, sweat, rain, mosquitoes, bad food and too little sleep, interspersed regularly with moments of intense trauma. John Kerry did not serve even one such tour.
John Kerry served aboard the USS Gridley (DLG-21) from June 8, 1967, to June 21, 1968. From February 9, 1968, to June 6, 1968, the USS Gridley made a deployment to the western Pacific ocean, commonly referred to as a “WestPac deployment”. During that period of time, the USS Gridley sailed in waters considered to be contiguous to Vietnam for the periods March 16 to March 29 and April 3 to May 7. The crewmen who served aboard the USS Gridley for these seven weeks are authorized to wear the Vietnam Service Medal. But this was a WestPac deployment with seven weeks in the waters near Vietnam. This was not a “tour in Vietnam”.
John Kerry was assigned to Coastal Squadron One for a 12 month tour of duty in Swift Boats beginning on November 17, 1968. Over the period of the next four months, John Kerry received three very minor wounds that required little more than band-aids for treatment and caused no loss of time from duty. There is strong evidence that at least two of these “wounds” were accidentally self-inflicted during periods of time when no enemy fire was being received. As such, these two “wounds” do not meet the requirements for the award of a Purple Heart. Despite the minor nature of his “wounds” and the circumstances under which they were received, John Kerry applied for and received a Purple Heart for each of them. And when he had his third Purple Heart in hand, he used a little known regulation to escape from his duty in Vietnam. John Kerry actually served only four months and three days of his only “tour in Vietnam”.
|
_________________
Herb |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Boundless
Seaman Apprentice
Joined: 29 Aug 2004
Posts: 93
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2004 4:29 am Post subject: Re: Two Tours of Duty? |
|
|
Tour of Duty
The fiction begins with the first word of the title.
And yes, it's not a big issue, but it doesn't hurt to
use the above line if someone happens to bring
up the topic of that book.
Let them ask you what you mean.
It goes to character, as the lawyers say. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Boundless
Seaman Apprentice
Joined: 29 Aug 2004
Posts: 93
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2004 5:22 pm Post subject: Re: Two Tours of Duty? |
|
|
Tour of Duty
The title itself is false,
unless it means Kerry was just a tourist. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
