SwiftVets.com

[Geano]

From John Kerry’s testimony at the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, April 22, 1971:
freerepublic.com
“They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.”
“We call this investigation the "Winter Soldier Investigation." The term "Winter Soldier" is a play on words of Thomas Paine in 1776 when he spoke of the Sunshine Patriot and summertime soldiers who deserted at Valley Forge because the going was rough.” —John Forbes Kerry, April 22, 1971
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The term “Winter Soldier” certainly is a “play on words”…another illustration of distortion and misstatement of truth and history. I have found no examples (although I have no doubt they exist/existed) of challenges to Kerry’s Thomas Paine reference as to its veracity; or to the principles that motivated him to misrepresent the writings of a man who was incredibly important in the birthing of our nation, who barely escaped execution in France for his principles (In 1795, I believe).

The first paragraph referenced above could be used to describe the situation, as it potentially exists tomorrow in America, if our avowed enemies have their way, and if we are then forced to apply the “bombing power of this country” inside this country. Our “enemies” prove daily all around the world that they are willing to commit the very actions Kerry claims our “Winter Soldiers” committed 40 years ago.

Please bear in mind that I refuse discussion of the ‘rightness’ or ‘wrongness’ of any previous military conflict. For our current “crisis” let’s turn to the Thomas Paine pamphlet so skillfully misrepresented in 1971 by the ‘war hero’ Kerry. Perhaps we can then view Kerry from a perspective closer to his true principles, and determine any relevance of past events to present situations:

“THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated." Thomas Paine “The Crisis- December 23 1776" http://www.ushistory.org/paine/crisis/index.htm

First of all, Mr. Kerry, Washington and his guys weren’t at Valley Forge in December 1776….

THAT was the winter of 1777-1778… In December 1776, Washington’s troops wound up encamped about 10 miles north of Trenton NJ, on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River, about 25-35 miles northeast of what became Valley Forge.

Secondly, Mr. Kerry, there is no mention of desertion in the referenced thesis.

Paine wrote the first of his “Crisis” series on December 23, 1776 following “our retreat to the Delaware”, (resulting in the above encampment) and in no way did Paine refer to any deserters. He was lambasting Tories and “their mean Principles” “Every Tory is a coward; for servile, slavish, self-interested fear is the foundation of Toryism; and a man under such influence, though he may be cruel, never can be brave.” He says of such individuals: “ Your conduct is an invitation to the enemy, yet not one in a thousand of you has heart enough to join him.” (Paine will define “Tory” in his 3rd Crisis essay…See below.)

Paine gives an example of such selfish, “mean principles:”…"a (man), who kept a tavern at Amboy, was standing at his door, with as pretty a child in his hand, about eight or nine years old, as I ever saw, and after speaking his mind as freely as he thought was prudent, finished with this unfatherly expression, “Well! Give me peace in my day." …a generous parent should have said, "If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace;" and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty.”

Paine, in fact, has nothing but praise for the officers and men who were involved in the redeployment of the Fort Lee Garrison under threat of British General Howe’s far superior force, which appeared to be rolling in from the coast. “…suffice it for the present to say, that both officers and men, though greatly harassed and fatigued, frequently without rest, covering, or provision, the inevitable consequences of a long retreat, bore it with a manly and martial spirit. All their wishes centred (sic) in one, which was, that the country would turn out and help them to drive the enemy back.”

Paine was, however:

1. Very likely making a very strong “re-enlistment” argument, since large portions of Washington’s militia were near the end of their “enlistments” (December 31st, for many), and they were hired militia, not enlisted or conscripted troops.

2. Addressing “those who have nobly stood, and are yet determined to stand the matter out: I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on this state or that state, but on every state: up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake. Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it.”

Thirdly, Mr. Kerry, those last mentioned above are likely the “Winter Soldiers” Paine was calling upon…to use your invented phrase…:

Not those persons who fail to recognize that “There are cases which cannot be overdone (conquered) by language, and this is one.” Not those persons “who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if he succeed, will be merciful.” Not those who cry "Well! Give me peace in my day." Not to those who would “…give up their arms, they would fall an easy prey…”

Anecdotal stories say that General Washington ordered that this first “Crisis” essay be read to the troops on Christmas Eve 1776, shortly before crossing the Delaware the night of December 25-26, to attack a group of Hessians (German mercenaries hired by Britain) at Trenton, New Jersey. These were celebrating the holiday with strong drinks, and were taken by surprise. The Hessians surrendered themselves with all their weapons and equipment. Washington returned with about 30 of them to Pennsylvania, locking them up in the Newtown jail.

The “retreat to the Delaware” began when the British were reported (on November 20. 1776) to have landed 200 boats near the area of Fort Lee, which was certainly not able to repel such an assault.
“Major General Nathaniel Green, who commanded the garrison, immediately ordered the garrison under arms”…. (They then joined up with Washington near Hackensack, while securing such bridges and areas as possible.) “The simple object was to bring off the garrison, and march them on till they could be strengthened by the Jersey or Pennsylvania militia, so as to be enabled to make a stand. We staid (sic) four days at Newark, collected our out-posts with some of the Jersey militia, and marched out twice to meet the enemy, on being informed that they were advancing, though our numbers were greatly inferior to theirs.” Thomas Paine “The Crisis- December 23, 1776"

How Our Guys wound up at Valley Forge wasn’t simple…. Condensed version:
“The commander-in-chief first posed to his generals the question of when and where to quarter the troops for the winter at a Council of War on October 29, 1777. Shortly after this council, at the beginning of November, the army took up a strong defensive position at Whitemarsh, a naturally protected hilly spot a few miles northwest of Germantown. On November 30, he summoned a Council of War to discuss winter quarters again. The troops moved out of Whitemarsh on December 11, camping west of the (Schuylkill) river at the Gulph (West Conshohocken) on the thirteenth. On December 17 the commander-in-chief, now certain of his destination, announced in general orders that the troops would [be?] in the neighborhood of the Gulph, but to preserve secrecy the exact spot was not revealed. Two days later the troops arrived at Valley Forge to commence a new era in American military history and mythology.” http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/valleyforge/index.html

195 years after “Crisis” 1, Kerry and his “Winter Soldiers” commenced another “new era in American military history, and mythology” that has continued to expand, and today, the “summer soldier” and “sunshine patriot” of whom Paine was writing remains hidden inside their “servile, slavish, self-interested fear… and a man under such influence, though he may be cruel, never can be brave.”

Finally Mr. Kerry, Thomas Paine would write 3 more “Crisis” essays before the Valley Forge Winter…
http://www.ushistory.org/paine/crisis/index.htm.
Since YOU brought Paine into discussion in 1971, let us throw this at you, even though you never openly declared yourself a subject of any other country:

In “The Crisis: PHILADELPHIA, April 19, 1777” Thomas Paine writes:

“Here is the touchstone to try men by. He that is not a supporter of the independent States of America in the same degree that his religious and political principles would suffer him to support the government of any other country, of which he called himself a subject, is, in the American sense of the word, A TORY; and the instant that he endeavors to bring his toryism into practice, he becomes A TRAITOR.” …

“It is unnatural and impolitic to admit men who would root up our independence to have any share in our legislation, either as electors or representatives; because the support of our independence rests, in a great measure, on the vigor and purity of our public bodies. Would Britain, even in time of peace, much less in war, suffer an election to be carried by men who professed themselves to be not her subjects, or allow such to sit in Parliament? Certainly not. “

“But there are a certain species of Tories with whom conscience or principle has nothing to do, and who are so from avarice only.” … “And shall disaffection only be rewarded with security?” … “And though the scheme be fraught with every character of folly, yet, so long as he supposes, that by doing nothing materially criminal against America on one part, and by expressing his private disapprobation against independence, as palliative with the enemy, on the other part, he stands in a safe line between both…”

“These men, ashamed to own the sordid cause from whence their disaffection springs, add thereby meanness to meanness, by endeavoring to shelter themselves under the mask of hypocrisy; that is, they had rather be thought to be Tories from some kind of principle, than Tories by having no principle at all. …”

And is such a person to lead us through the current war on terrorism…does such a person actually have our economic and social instincts at the forefront?

“Yet it is folly to argue against determined hardness; eloquence may strike the ear, and the language of sorrow draw forth the tear of compassion, but nothing can reach the heart that is steeled with prejudice.” (Thomas Paine “The Crisis”- December 23, 1776)

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Michael Sparks...August 30, 2004
AF Vet SEA 68-69
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MSM Lead Nov 3 2004 "Kerry Oval Office Hopes killed by 10,000 Mice..."
Candidate had declared mice "only a nuisance".
States they "moved too Swiftly"....