SwiftVets.com

all3 · Seaman Recruit Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 28

I've talked with Army Veterans who served in Vietnam and they agree. They claim that the Navy was trying to compete with the Army and gave out plenty of medals to the Navy people who were on the ground in Vietnam.

I count almost 20 medals in the 1 minute SwiftVets ad.

That fact that Kerry won 3 Purple Hearts a Silver Star and a Bronze Star during his 4 months in Vietnam seems to support this claim.

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LewWaters · Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2004 5:07 am Post subject:

Some medals were given out undeservedly, I'm sure. But to label the entire group as "overmedaled" is a bit over the top, I feel.
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Clark County Conservative

lrb111 · Captain Joined: 28 Jul 2004 Posts: 508

They did earn some medals.
Just htink though if kerry had stayed a full year like those guys, he would have come back with 15. If he could maintain his literary pace..
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said Democratic Chairman Terry McAuliffe. "It is inexcusable to mock service and sacrifice."
well, when even the DNC can see it,,,,, then kerry is toast.

all3 · Seaman Recruit Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 28

Navy_Navy_Navy · Admin Joined: 07 May 2004 Posts: 5777

LewWaters · Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2004 5:35 am Post subject:

all3, I was Army, not a Swiftee. However, to label an entire group as overmedalled is a bit much, to me. Kerry is a prime example of medal hunting, but that doesn't mean all the Swiftees were.

From what I've seen, most of them earned what medals they got, the hard way.

I was in helicopters and it wasn't unheard of for some guys to be awarded 20 or more Air Medals. Could someone accuse them of also being overmedalled?

I think it should be looked at individually.
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Clark County Conservative

ccr · Commander Joined: 10 Aug 2004 Posts: 325

The medal inflation charge (as applied to a group) is more than just a bit crass (of course, so is a politician who uses any combat award in their campaign).
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Whose side is John Kerry really on? Take this quiz and decide for yourself.

http://www.learnthat.com/quiz/

all3 · Seaman Recruit Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 28

LewWaters · Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2004 5:44 am Post subject:

Since the Swift Boats were involved in a lot heavier fighting than many of us Army types saw, maybe they related some jealousy to you, I don't know. That's why I say to look at medal awards iindividually.
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Clark County Conservative

cgc · Seaman Recruit Joined: 03 Jun 2004 Posts: 47

I am a Swift Boat Veteran, I also was In An Toi, Coastal Division 11 in 1969, the fact that you see so many medals is because of all the action in the area of operations. Were some medals undeserved? You will have to ask the person who wears them. Do not paint those of us whom came home with purple hearts and bronze stars, etc. with the same brush as J Kerry. I can tell you this, if over two hundred of my fellow swift boat veterans are willing to go on TV and other media and make these claims about Kerry, all the way from a 3rd class to an Admiral, you can bank on it being truthful. I personaly don't give a rat's ass if this guy (Kerry) has 10 purple hearts, 11 silver stars, and four medal of honor. His behaviour and spoken words, his accusations of war crimes, and criminal behaviour on the part of those of us who pulled a full tour and completed our duty, his dishonor of our dead and gravely wounded by his comments in 1971, make him unfit to serve as the commander in chief of the armed forces. If any swift boat crews commited any war crimes it would of been public knowledge, we was a very small organization, it did't happen. I served from September 1968 until September 1969, the same timeframe as Kerry's four month tour, He's lying about war crimes, and Cambodia, and alot of other crap. Do you believe over two hundred men are all lying?

CGC 68-69 An Toi , Danang Swift Boat Crew 6C

ASPB · Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2004 8:11 am Post subject:

cgc.

email that to the hack at the Washington Post! Laughing

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On Sale! Order in lots of 100 now at velero@rcn.com Free for the cost of shipping All profits (if any, especially now) go to Swiftvets. The author of "Sink Kerry Swiftly" ---ASPB

all3 · Seaman Recruit Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 28

Medal inflation seems to be a current topic in the War in Iraq too.

'Medals inflation?'

More than 69,000 awards and other honors have been handed out by the Air Force for the Iraq war, according to Air Force Capt. Richard Johnson. The list also includes four Air Force Crosses, one step below the Medal of Honor, plus 21 Silver Stars and over 1,900 Bronze Stars.

The Army trails just behind with 40,000 medals issued and approved, including 111 Silver Stars and more than 13,000 Bronze Stars.

“It’s absolutely outrageous,” says retired Army Col. David Hackworth, who styles himself as the most decorated soldier in U.S. military history as well as the unofficial watchdog of military heraldry.

“In World War II, when I saw a Distinguished Flying Cross, that meant the guy had made 25 or 30 missions over dangerous places like Hamburg or Berlin,” he says. “Those places sometimes had 50 percent casualty rates.

“Now, they give medals out to guys who fly bombers invisible to radar whose bombs miss Saddam and kill civilians in a restaurant. It’s an outrage.” The Air Force awarded Distinguished Flying Crosses to the crew of a B-2B bomber that destroyed a Baghdad restaurant last April thought to contain Saddam Hussein. Saddam was not there, but 16 civilians, including an infant, died in the attack.

Hackworth, who fought in World War II, Korea and Vietnam – and appears ready to go to Iraq at any moment – has made his share of enemies over the years. His years of combat in Vietnam turned him into a scathing critic of the U.S. military’s brass and won him a reputation for shooting from the hip. In 1996, he threatened to expose then-Chief of Naval Operations Mike Boorda for wearing decorations he did not win. Boorda killed himself.

But Hackworth's concerns are shared by more conventional heroes.

Col. Jack Jacobs, who received the nation’s highest medal, the Medal of Honor, during his Vietnam years, agrees with some of the criticism.

“It’s an age old problem with the Army and the Air Force, too,” he says. “The authority to approve most awards is at a very low level, and that has a tendency to increase their frequency. Plus, there’s always a political motive, or component, to giving out awards, to keep morale high and create a positive story for the home front.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4243092/

sevry · Commander Joined: 13 Aug 2004 Posts: 326

hanna · Rear Admiral Joined: 07 Aug 2004 Posts: 701

I saw a list a couple of days ago. I think it was on Kerry's web site. Anyway it was a list of all the medal winners in Coastal Division 11. Kerry got the ONLY silver star....there were several, but maybe 10% bronze star winners, one and probably 50% of the unit won a purple heart, BUT, there was only ONE other person who won 3 and he was there a whole lot longer than Kerry was.

During the time Kerry was on PCF94, he was awarded 2 PH, the Silver and the Bronze. He was only commander of the 94 boat for less than 6 weeks. The time period which missions were actually being run were less than that.

kmudd · Master Chief Petty Officer Joined: 16 Aug 2004 Posts: 825

But Kerry was turned down for a medal by his commander and some how he went around the system and got the medal anyway. That is slighty different than the commander okaying too many medals for whatever reason. Kerry touts that he is a hero but most heros wouldn't claim scratches as wounds.