SwiftVets.com

[3rd gen Navy]

Enjoy the mangled syntax and mindless drivel. Hope some of y'all can make it down to some of these boys "tour stops".

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2813402

Sept. 25, 2004, 12:30PM

Veterans for Kerry take message on the road
Texas group will stump in Houston on Monday stop
By T.A. BADGER
Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO - A group of Texas veterans for John Kerry started a four-state road trip Friday to drum up support for the Democrat's presidential bid among those who have served America in uniform.


The journey, called "The Last Patrol," begins in Laredo and includes a week of events in cities across Texas. The group will visit Houston on Monday.

Later it will pass through New Mexico and Arizona en route to its finishing rally in San Diego shortly before Election Day.

It was the idea of the four Bolanos brothers of El Paso, all of whom served in the Vietnam War and who are staunch Kerry backers.

Rick Bolanos said the effort to discredit Kerry's Navy service in Vietnam in the late 1960s is an insult to all veterans.

"We're tired of hearing about what went on 35 years ago," said Rick Bolanos, Texas veterans coordinator for the Kerry campaign. "We want to focus on the real issues" such as veterans benefits, health care, jobs and schools.

Bolanos, who served in the Army in Vietnam, spoke to a small group of Kerry supporters in San Antonio before heading south to Laredo. With him were his brothers Louis, who was in the Navy during Vietnam, and Ben, who served in the Marines. Bill Bolanos, an ex-Army Green Beret, was scheduled to join them in Laredo. The tour will include veterans traveling by van to connect with veteran groups in the cities they visit.

The brothers say their tour was not triggered by the ads of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that denigrate Kerry's military service, for which he was awarded a Silver Star for valor and three Purple Hearts.

They said the Swift Boat Veterans efforts, funded in large measure by Republican supporters, need to be countered by other former service members.

"It's despicable that they are allowed by this administration to speak for them and tear at the very souls of American veterans," Rick Bolanos said.
_________________
Warm Regards,
Sean G. Smith,
RN, BSN, EMT-B, U.S. Navy, 1994 - 2003.
BS Biology, Business Administration, Nursing
The Deal with Life: Make decisions based on what you might gain, not on what you may lose.
!!!!!! LET THE WILD RUMPUS BEGIN !!!!!!

[rbshirley]