SwiftVets.com

[JK]

Can't we question Kerry's war record?

Published in the Courier News on October 24, 2004

Personally, I believe the Vietnam War has little relevance to the present presidential campaign issues, but, since Sen. John Kerry has injected it, let's look at the records. The Kerry campaign and the media have given much attention to President Bush's military record in the Guard including the CBS "60 Minutes" and Dan Rather's injection of the now admittedly false documents regarding Bush's service. Kerry and the media have given little attention to investigating Kerry's military service. Should we not investigate it with the same vigor?

After serving 3“ months, Kerry got out of Vietnam using three Purple Hearts. As a 3“ year veteran, I have seen soldiers being put in for Purple Hearts because they had lost the use of a limb or even the limb itself because shrapnel lodged in the spinal column produced paralysis or because of the loss of an eye.

Now Mr. Kerry looks pretty healthy to me. I, therefore, must ask what was the exact nature of his wounds since he spent no time in a military hospital. I urge the media to demand the release of his military records to indicate the nature of his wounds. I urge them to investigate whether or not any influence was exerted by his family or friends to get him out of Vietnam.

If we are to investigate the president who received an honorable discharge (as did Kerry), in all fairness, should we not also investigate Kerry's record?

If his records bear out some severe wounds, he is home free. If not, they undermine his fairness and honesty. I want to know whether or not he told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. To me, honesty is an important quality for anyone seeking the presidency.

DR. LEWIS C. THOMAS North Plainfield

from the Courier News website www.c-n.com

[ranch hand]

Seems to me that someone with 3 PHs would have some sort of disability.

Has Kerry received any disability payments?

After all, he did receive a wound in the brain (you know, the hit in the arse.)

[Lily]

According to Bob Dole, Kerry has three purple hearts yet never spent a day in the hospital and recevied no disability payments.

[rparrott21]

Hold on a minute,,he cost the govt...money for 3 bandaids..

[Stevie]

[Bob Chamberlain]

For the record:

Purple Heart #1 - most probably accidentally self-inflicted, no reliable indication of enemy contact, one minor piece of shrapnel (probably from a US M-79 40mm grenade) lightly embedded in the skin, removed with tweezers, treated with salve and a bandaid, Purple Heart denied by commanding officer (lack of enemy contact), later awarded through methods unkown (Kerry will not sign the SF-180), Kerry did not miss a single day of duty.

Purple Heart #2 - conflicting reports, nothing really clear, may have been shrapnel from an RPG, may (again) have been shrapnel from an M-79 grenade fired by Kerry himself, (supposedly) the shrapnel was not removed, Kerry never missed a day of duty (although he did make a 2-day trip to Saigon on personal business - potentially, this is when and where he maneuvered the award of PH #1 - the timing fits). Kerry had some doctor take an X-ray and sign an affidavit that there was metal in his thigh, but the doctor stated that the shrapnel was in close to the bone - which absolutely does not jibe with rest of the medical evidence.

Purple Heart #3 - Kerry admits to getting shrapnel in his backside (from a grenade used to destroy a rice cache, no enemy contact) early on the morning of March 13, 1969. Later that same day, a mine exploded under PCF-3 some dozens of meters distant from Kerry's boat, PCF-94. There may or may not have been a second mine explosion in the vicinity of PCF-94. Kerry claims to have bruised his right arm as a result of such an explosion. No other injuries were sustained by any crewman on board PCF-94. Later, Kerry claimed to medical personnel that both the shrapnel and the bruised arm resulted from the mine explosion. The shrapnel was removed, the wound was treated with salve and a bandaid and Kerry did not miss a single day of duty.

I don't care what you believe about how these "wounds" were received, they were of such a minor nature that any real "hero" would never have requested a Purple Heart for them. I personally have maybe a dozen such scratches, many of which never even got treated by our platoon medic. And from these, I have 4 little pieces of something that went deep enough that they are still in there. One of them can be seen through the skin. The other three popped up years later in X-rays. But I did not even consider trying to get a Purple Heart for any of them. I have put field dressings on terrible wounds and helped load men barely clinging to life into a Medevac bird. They earned their Purple Hearts. There is no way on God's green earth that I would ever stoop to claiming the same medal for the little bits of nothing I picked up. I never heard of the "three and out" rule. I don't know if the Army even had such a rule. But if I had known of such a rule, there is simply no way I would have tried to use three of these little scratches to bug out of Vietnam.

But not John Kerry. He never really got hurt. My kids have been hurt much worse falling off a bike or tripping on roller skates. At least one of his Purple Hearts was officially denied by his commanding officer. At least one of his Purple Hearts is based on a self-admitted lie to medical personnel. But John Kerry wanted his medals. He wanted out of Vietnam. John Kerry simply has no honor. He did not care how low he had to go in order to achieve his personal goals. In my opinion, John Kerry is a medal hunter and a coward.
_________________
Bob

Useful anti-Kerry campaign material at:
http://www.betrayed-vietnam-vet.info

[drjohn]

Purple Heart #3 - Kerry admits to getting shrapnel in his backside (from a grenade used to destroy a rice cache, no enemy contact) early on the morning of March 13, 1969. Later that same day, a mine exploded under PCF-3 some dozens of meters distant from Kerry's boat, PCF-94. There may or may not have been a second mine explosion in the vicinity of PCF-94. Kerry claims to have bruised his right arm as a result of such an explosion. No other injuries were sustained by any crewman on board PCF-94. Later, Kerry claimed to medical personnel that both the shrapnel and the bruised arm resulted from the mine explosion. The shrapnel was removed, the wound was treated with salve and a bandaid and Kerry did not miss a single day of duty.

The Personnel Casualty report syas that Kerry recieved a "contusion" on his forearm. That's it.

SOMEHOW by the time the citation got written that bruise had turned into a bleeding arm.

I want to know HOW that happened.

[Bob Chamberlain]

It's very simple. Kerry wrote the after action report upon which his medal citation was based. Rassman and Sandusky also made statements (and still do) about Kerry getting hit in the arm and pulling Rassman out of the water with his "bleeding" right arm. Nobody ever bothered to check the Personnel Casualty report and question why that report only mentions a bruise. Nobody ever bothered to check battle damage reports and question why, after enduring several minutes of enemy "intense automatic weapons and small arms fire" at a range of 50 to 100 feet, PCF-94 did not have one single bullet hole - and not one single man was hit. But of course the dear MSM claims that all official Navy documents support John Kerry's story. I guess that the only Navy documents that are "official" are those that Kerry wrote himself or those that are based on his reports.
_________________
Bob

Useful anti-Kerry campaign material at:
http://www.betrayed-vietnam-vet.info

[ashter]

I wish one reporter would ask sKerry, "Did you write your after action reports, and if not all, which ones did you author?"

Not one journalist has asked him these questions.

[Cali-HeyGirl]

I just finished watching Vietnam Veteran B.G. Burkett 'Stolen Valon' speaking on C-Span and someone ask him about John Kerry's military records. He said that just may be the surprise that comes in the next fews days, the entire military record, not just what is posted on Kerry's website...

If this happens...Kerry's Boat and Band of Brothers are going down...

OOH-YAH!
_________________
Cali-HeyGirl....proud to be a CWO5 Navy wife!

[BuffaloJack]

The question was: Can we question Kerry's war record?
Since many of us were involved in creating Kerry's actual war record,
CERTAINLY, we can question his war record, especially when it involves lies and accusations made about our own war records.

[Dimsdale]

I am still waiting for Tim Russert to put Kerry on the spot, just as he did President Bush, about the release of his FULL military record. Even a few of the SBPT charges. Anything!!

But all you can hear is the crickets chirping.....

Russert has completely rolled over on this, and is no better than Wuss Matthews in terms of being a shill for Kerry.
_________________
Everytime he had a choice, Kerry chose to side with communists rather than the United States.

[Son of a VET]

_________________

Stolen Honor

[Dingbat]

But skerry said that he bled in Vietnam...I think it was in the debates. But, I have to admit, he did not say how much he bled.
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Kerry...Hanoi Jane...Murtha: same-same

1/101st ABN Song Be 3/82d ABN Phu Bai.