SwiftVets.com

[Recon]

As a Marine Corps veteran having served in VietNam I find it extremely difficult to believe that in just four short months one man(?) earned a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and not one, but THREE Purple Hearts. Superman step aside here comes John!!

[one more captins mast]

If you have a Awards and Decorations officer on board

RASSMAN

then the battle gets ever more easy , you do not even have

to call the VC or the Nortviet regulars, or the Russian advisors

the North Koren advisers, all you need is ,


I fell in the water and there was all this fire


and due to the fact the sun was in their eyes

none of the 1,000 or more it would have taken

to cover the 5,000 meters, none of them hit us


it was like a gift from God, we just went along

there pulling this disabled boat, and wow, not

one of us hit, not even the boats,

puke
_________________
the strange mr aj

[eliptak]

I too have a problem with all this happening in 4 months.

At that rate, if John Kerry did a full tour he would have 9 purple hearts, 3 silver stars and 3 bronze. He'd be the most decorated sin-of-a-***** to ever wear a uniform.

He was such a hero, if he did a full tour he probably would have won the war by himself.

3 purple hearts and not a single day in the hospital, and no visible scars. Hmmmmm.

I also think the "good" press should start calling for the X-Rays of "the sharpnel he still carries in his leg to this day."

He makes me want to puke.
_________________
Ed Liptak
B/2/502
101st Abn Div
1966-1967

[BuffaloJack]

I do not have a problem believing that all this could have happened in 4 months. I was a swiftee advisor to the VN Navy for 2 years and some of the attractions on this water ride scared the stuffing out of me at the time. My problem is Kerry's lack of credibility. No one I knew would have gotten purple hearts without a trip to the hospital and especially not for superficial cuts, bruises and abrasions. The silver and bronze stars are just a reward for literary talent in describing some action in an action report. There were far more instances of our guys not getting a reward for actions involving far more valor than Kerry ever dreamed of.
My biggest beef with Hanoi John is his sellout to the commies and radicals in 1970 and his accusations before congress of GIs committing aledged war crimes.
Stop Hanoi John !!

[ALMOUNT]

[SwanLady]

The problem isn't just the nature of his wounds. It's the fact that he took advantage of the "three wounds" system.

From what I've been told, three purple hearts got you out of Nam. That made sense for men who were being shot at every day, in particular mud pounders, who didn't know where "charlie" was half the time and whose "luck" could run out the longer they stayed in Nam.

Kerry did what NO other Navy man did. He took advantage of a system designed to help men stay alive longer. A similar thing would be a man in the Army in Nam getting a minor skin abrasion in the jungle from a twig or branch while under enemy fire. His "wound" can be treated by the medic and wouldn't require his going to an aid station. But he goes anyway, gets his boo boo washed out and a small bandaid put on it. He's then sent back to his unit. Does he get a purple heart for it?

Kerry was an OPPORTUNIST. He is still one today. Look at whom he married, for cornsakes! Two wealthy heiresses! And he left wife #1 DURING her nervous breakdown. Now he's with Teraysah.

This tendency to be an OPPORTUNIST is something Kerry has been doing all his life, no matter whom it harmed. And he did it with the Navy, too.

Think about it for a moment.

In college, he is noted to have not favored the war. Suddenly, realizing he could be drafted, he tries for a deferment, doesn't get it, so he joins the Navy. But he doesn't volunteer for "Vietnam" as he claims, no, he went on the GRIDLEY as an electrician officer. Not exactly hazardous duty.

He bombs on the GRIDLEY and, he wants out, so he can pursue politics. The way to get out fast was to get three purple hearts. So, he manages to do it in under four months time, though he had been on the GRIDLEY and in another swift boat prior to this, WITHOUT INCIDENT.

So he comes back home, sticks his finger in the air, and sees that an anti-war fever is in America. He's a democrat (long time friend of the Kennedy family) and he knows that's the party spearheading anti-war fever. So, he becomes a leader--- NOT just a member-- but a LEADER in the most well known of anti-war groups.

And now look, today, he touts his service in a war he once protested because HE knows that a chunk of "undecided" voters will look down on someone who is "anti-war" where Nam is concerned (there's a substantial group of active duty military who are undecided or independent, or so the Pew pole said six months ago).

Now you tell me... OPPORTUNIST or HERO?

If I were a swiftie, I would be hopping mad that this guy screwed me, and others, who served nobly, and then tried to run on a record like that!

[Nathanyl]

The question I have is how many people actually know somebody who so many medals in so short a time?

[ALMOUNT]

I was in the infantry.
took me 9 1/2 months to get 3 PH & 1 BS w/V

Got the 1 BS & 1st PH on the same day.
_________________
101st Airborne Div.
Vietnam 67-68


http://www.DELTARAIDERS.COM

I killed a six pack....just to watch it DIE