SwiftVets.com

[MACVJOE]

I have a question on Kery's discharge. I know with out the 180 there are a lot of holes/questions.

I noticed that it appears Kerry or his records went before a board. There are 3 references
a. Title 10 US Code Section 1162
b. Title 10 US Code Section 1163
c. BUPERSAN 3830380

Discharge is dated 16 Feb 78. Thats 4 years after transfer out of Inactive on 3 Jan 72. Also Board action appears to have been done in New Orleans.
Does any Navy know anything on these references? (I am ex Army and we spoke different language)
_________________
Retired 86 Army
MACV Upper Delta 68-69

[Hondo]

MACVJOE:

My guess is that Kerry's records went before a US Navy Reserve (USNR) promotion board for mandatory consideration to LCDR in 1977 or 1978 and that this is what the board action was all about. This is based on the following:

a. Kerry never resigned his commission when he left Active Duty in 1970. He thus was still a member of the USNR.

b. An officer isn't automatically discharged when his reserve obligation ends. An officer has to request discharge or he/she is retained in Inactive Reserve status untill something else causes discharge. Possible such causes for discharge are age, time in service, or 2x nonselect for promotion.

c. At about the 10 and 11 year points, Kerry would have been considered by a mandatory promotion boards for LCDR. If he had not been participating in USNR activities since leaving active duty, odds are he would not have been selected for LCDR.

d. The USNR maintains its personnel records in the New Orleans area. I believe it has done so since well before 1978.

My guess is that Kerry ceased participating in the USNR when he left active duty, was 2x nonselect for LCDR as a result, and this led to his automatic discharge from the USNR in 1978.
_________________
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse."
-- John Stuart Mill

[Hondo]

MACVJOE:

Addendum: 10 USC 1162 and 10 USC 1163 appear to have been repealed or superceded. However, based on what little I could find, they appear to have been parts of the US Code (since changed and/or renumbered) dealing with reserve separations.
_________________
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse."
-- John Stuart Mill

[RMalloy]

Kerry came out of Vietnam highly decorated. Would someone with those
impressive credentials been given more weight for a promotion to a higher grade back then?

[Hondo]

RMalloy:


Can't speak for the USNR in 1978, since I wasn't in it and was never a personnel type. I can, however, tell you what the US Army Reserve (USAR) says now regarding preparing for officer selection boards and the impact of decorations. I'm pretty sure all services are roughly the same.

The USAR board prep guidance states that ensuring documented participation in the Reserve is the most important thing you can do in preparing records for a promotion board. Specifically, you want to have evals pretty much every year, without large gaps in service, and other evidence of participation. (Of course, if those evals say you're incompetent or a fool they won't help very much.)

A decoration of Silver Star or higher being omitted from your records seen by a promotion board is now in fact grounds for requesting reconsideration by a special selection board. I believe this is the same across all services and has been for a long time. However, the officer concerned does have to request reconsideration. The officer also has an affirmative duty to ensure, to the best of his ability, that his/her records are complete and correct prior to the board. If an officer's records are not correct, is the officer's responsibility to attempt to correct them. This means it's a damn good idea to document pre-board efforts to correct records.

I'd guess that Reserve participation was also given pretty high weight after Vietnam (a s***load of folks had served during Vietnam and had then left Active Duty; at the time, the military was also downsizing). I'd further guess that Kerry didn't participate much in the USNR after he left Active Duty.

Since Kerry wasn't promoted to LCDR, I would assume one of three things happened:

a. Kerry was considered but was 2x nonselected - probably due to non-participation - in spite of his Vietnam decorations, and was discharged from the USNR.
b. Kerry's decorations were missing from his record, but he was 2x nonselected, elected (conciously or through ignorance) to not challenge nonselection, and was discharged from the USNR.
c. Kerry resigned his comission in the USNR in 1978 and was discharged.

Personally, I'd bet on a. or b. If the answer were c., I'd guess that Kerry's web site would show the letter where he formally resigned his comission.
_________________
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse."
-- John Stuart Mill