SwiftVets.com

[NavyChief]

I have a probable stupid question. All the Dems are saying Kerry volunteered to go into combat, right?

Then why does his duty preference form on his website list:

Choice of assignments: (1) SC (2) PHIB (3) CA

If I'm not mistaken, these are all stateside tours????? I didn't know there was a lot of combat in South Carolina, Philadelphia Naval Base or California.
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Working with Senator Kerry four years in the POW/MIA Office left me thinking -- when did the man ever do any work?

[d19thdoc]

I am not certain of the translation of Navy acronyms for duty stations, but my understanding of the timeline is:

1 - Kerry violunteers for duty as a Naval officer early in the war, while it had widespread public support (that is, before those whom Kerry would later align himself with, and lead, had the opportunity to propagandize the masses);

2 - Kerry serves on board the U.S.S. Gridley, whose personnel also now have serious criticisms of him after his "tour" with them:
http://home.nycap.rr.com/pwcarter/the%20kerry%20page.html;

3 - Kerry volunteers for duty on Swift Boats, in pseudo-emulation of his hero, John Kennedy, but their mission is changed before his assignment comes through - from coastal ocean patrol that was usually quiet, to inland waterway patrol, which was not quiet;

4 - After four months in Swift Boats, Kerry requests voluntary separation from combat duty to become an aide to an Admiral in Brooklyn, or was it at the request of his fellow officers? In any event, it just so happened that he had accumulated three Purple Hearts by then, so he was eligible to transfer out, upon request, being sure meanwhile to "leave no man behind."
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For The Honor of the Fifty-Eight Thousand.
"He Can Lose, But He Can Not Hide"

[jwb7605]

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

There's a standard form in Kerry's file which says something to the effect of "I do/do not volunteer for overseas duty."

Kerry checked the "do" when he asked for Swifts duty.

As he said, he didn't think Swifts had "anything to do with the war." Swifts were then doing coastal patrolling and were fairly safe duty in Vietnam.

Two weeks after he arrived, the mission of the Swifts changed and became much more dangerous.

Hope that helps. The request for preferred duty stations is something separate from the volunteering for overseas duty, which is on a separate form.
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~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[Hueygunner]

I remember an article about a soldier who was pulling his eighth tour as a "grunt". It was in the Stars & Stripes. There was a photograph of him; his head was clean-shaven at a time when long hair was the fashion. I thought he was nuts and extremely lucky. Now there is a hero!

[NavyChief]

I also see on Kerry's duty preference for Pearl Harbor. He had no intention of going anywhere near Vietnam then. After reading the great posts above I see what probably happened. I just love the way the spin machine makes it look like he intentionally went into harm's way for love of his country - blaaaahh! I just wish some major news anchor with a clue about the military would set the record straight. Are all the media types clueless?

jwb7605: Thank you for sharing with us. The "Forest Fire" is a mando movie for us Navy pups when we enter bootcamp. Thank God, I've never had to deal with a major fire - only major oil spills; main engines blowing and going dead in the water for 6 days off the coast of Nicaragua; and my all time favorite of losing control of our sub and going down to within 157 feet of crush depth. Gotta lot of respect for you and your Dad's service.
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Working with Senator Kerry four years in the POW/MIA Office left me thinking -- when did the man ever do any work?

[4moreyears]

Navy Chief...you got stories? We want to hear them! Please.

"Working with Senator Kerry for 4 years at the POW/MIA Office made me realize something - When did the man ever do any work?"
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kerry returned to the United States on July 22, 1971, held a press conference publicly calling on President Nixon... for the surrender of the United States to North Vietnam.

[NavyChief]

Stories....hmmm. Trying to get myself into trouble I see

I do wish I was already retired because I could really drop some digusting stuff, but I gotta stick to PC stories for now...

Okay, Kerry is the Vietnam War Working Group Commisioner for the Joint US/Russia Commission on POW/MIAs, founded in 1991-92 by President Bush and President Yeltsin. The hot topic - find live POW/MIAs, or bring their bodies back or get all facts surrounding their cases to the families and public. President Bush appointed Senator Kerry, Senator Smith, Congressman Peterson, Congressman Johnson and Ambassador Malcolm Toon to head this up. All kinds of other CIA, STATE, DOD, National Archives, and veterans orgs were fused to really kick this thing in the butt. The Russians told us they had taken live POWs back to Russia from Korea and Vietnam. We already knew they had them from Cold War shootdowns and 22,000 from WWII. Our work led us to Poland which claimed to have a list of approximately 12,000 servicemen's whereabouts (a good number of them from Vietnam). Remember, Poland was in charge of the International Red Cross mission to look in on POWs in Hanoi and other places. The Polish were blackmailed by Senator Smith and other republicans to include a stipulation into the NATO treaty allowing Poland in. Congress has to ratified treaties. Clinton just wanted them in to bolster his pathetic legacy. Well, two weeks prior to us getting our hands on this list, Clinton signed the treaty saying Poland was fully forthwright on all info about POW/MIAs. Our office went into a huge fit!!!!! We almost got our hands on that secret list but Clinton screwed us once again - you see Poland said "too bad, so sad" after that. The list was a political bomb that would have embarassed the Russians and allowed us to find some of our POW/MIAs. Where Kerry comes into the story is Clinton said "someone" told him that the POW/MIA accounting was complete from Poland, Czech and Hungary. All arrows pointed to Kerry's office - no one else said anything of the kind to Clinton; to include the other Senator (Republican), Congressman (Dem but hated Clinton) and Congressman (Republican - Texan at that). Kerry was the only other Commissioner that had access to Clinton to tell him something like that. Kerry didn't play well with others - he wouldn't come to the quarterly meetings between Commissioners, he wouldn't come to the meetings with the Russians, he wouldn't come to the meetings with the families of POW/MIAs, he wouldn't come to the meetings with Veterans groups. He just wanted the title on his resume... We tried and tried to get him to help us out, especially after Clinton took office because Clinton refused to talk to anyone on the Commission except Kerry (so much for a bipartisan effort to work a humanitarian mission that was suppose to be the Nation's Highest Priority). Anyway the only thing that Kerry contributed to the effort of finding POW/MIAs was that he was MIA for the full four years I worked there. (sorry, that wasn't meant to be funny - it just burns my hide).
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Working with Senator Kerry four years in the POW/MIA Office left me thinking -- when did the man ever do any work?

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

Your story makes me feel ill, but I would expect nothing less after Kerry's betrayal of POW/MIA's as the Chair of the Senate Select Committee of POW/MIA Affairs.

Shredded evidence, ignored evidence, witnesses not called, witnesses discredited for flimsy reasons.

I will never forgive him for his performance on that committee. Why in hell would Congress allow him to be seated on a working party that was intended to investigate further?

Disgusting. Just when I think I've heard the lowest thing about this man, here comes another, even lower.

Is he seated on the latest POW/MIA committee that is supposed to look into the dealings of the first one, too? The one of which he had charge?? I wouldn't be surprised.
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~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[NavyChief]

I'm not sure what committee he is on now. I've not kept up on the POW/MIA office since 2000. But they still list him as the Chairman of the Vietnam War Working Group. The reason he was even on the Commission was his supposed war record and seniority in the Senate as a Dem. They asked McCain but he's an ole SOB that didn't feel the need to report to the President on POW/MIA matters. Don't get me wrong, McCain did try to work issues - he does care but the way he goes about it screws everyone else working on the problem.
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Working with Senator Kerry four years in the POW/MIA Office left me thinking -- when did the man ever do any work?