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Me#1You#10
Site Admin
Joined: 06 May 2004
Posts: 6503
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 Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2004 7:02 pm Post subject: "Kerry's War Tour Serves as Theme, Target" |
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This writer is badly informed...(see bold highlights)
| Quote: | Kerry's War Tour Serves as Theme, Target
A four-month stint in Vietnam is at the heart of the senator's image. But some ex-naval officers who oppose him question his resume.By Stephen Braun, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — As a young Navy lieutenant, Sen. John F. Kerry spent four months fighting in Vietnam — a tour of duty that is the touchstone of his public career and is certain to be a central theme as he accepts the Democratic presidential nomination tonight.
His stint as a patrol boat skipper on the Mekong Delta, where he earned a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts, gave Kerry his first taste of leadership. The conflict in Vietnam inspired his early career as an antiwar activist, and its unfinished business spurred his Senate efforts to open relations with the Communist government.
<snip>
Kerry's Vietnam service also has proved to be a target for political foes. A group of former Navy officers opposed to his presidential campaign has questioned Kerry's abbreviated combat service and the background of one of his Purple Hearts.
Vietnam veterans long have been divided over Kerry's peace activism after the war and his citations of alleged U.S. atrocities against Vietnamese civilians.
"He couldn't tie the shoes of the people who were the real heroes," said John O'Neill, a former Swift boat officer who debated Kerry 33 years ago and is now a leader of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a political action committee aided by Republican fundraisers.
But the broad outlines of Kerry's military resume and his performance in battle have remained mostly unshaken. Navy records, fitness reports by Kerry's commanders and scores of interviews with Swift boat officers and crewmen depict a model officer who fought aggressively in river ambushes and won the respect of many of his crewmates and commanders, even as his doubts about the war grew.
LA Times |
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Indianbaboon
Lieutenant
Joined: 04 Jul 2004
Posts: 234
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| Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2004 8:08 pm Post subject: |
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*snort*
fit reps=good leader 
I thought it was by now accepted cliche from all the movies, books, etc. that the better you score on fitness reports the worse officer you are. |
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