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Me#1You#10
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Joined: 06 May 2004
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 Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 6:51 am Post subject: "Kerry's Shipmate" |
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Here's a column on interviews of several of Kerry's "Gridley" shipmates. While featuring a Kerry supporter (Ernie Fleming) as the centerpiece, the writer does document an anti-Kerry sentiment among the crew that was interviewed. Towards the end of the column he offers...
| Matthew E. Milliken wrote: | | Of six Gridley officers and crew contacted for this article, only Fleming said he supports Kerry. Onorato would not make any comment about his former roommate's presidential bid and one man refused to speak for the record. The other three oppose the Massachusetts senator. Carter said he personally knows at least one Gridley alumnus who does support Kerry. |
IMO, with a bit more knowledge on the subject of John Kerry, Mr. Milliken would have been able to impeach Mr. Fleming's credibility when examining his anecdotal recollections of his conversations with Kerry on the Gridley. Here's the first part of Mr. Milliken's column...and, hopefully, this august forum will quickly spot some "peculiarities" in Mr. Fleming's recollections...
| Quote: | Kerry's Shipmate
By MATTHEW E. MILLIKEN
Daily Dispatch Writer
Henderson Daily Dispatch
When Ernie Fleming was in the Navy in 1968, he didn't get any say in who ran things on his ship. But when he votes for commander-in-chief next month, the Ridgeway resident plans to choose the man who was his boss back then: John Kerry.
In 1968, Fleming was on the guided-missile frigate Gridley, which cruised off Vietnam to help pilots who had to bail out at sea. A 21-year-old enlisted man, Fleming was assigned to the ship's First Division, which was responsible for handling lines and anchors and maintaining the deck and everything on it. The man in charge of the division was a 24-year-old officer who would go on to become a senator from Massachusetts and is now the Democratic nominee for president.
The Gridley's First Division contained about 30 men. Kerry was also the ship's public affairs officer, and he and Fleming were on the staff of the ship's cruisebook - the naval version of a school yearbook.
"I found him a person of strong character," said Fleming, now 57. "He was a very fair and honest person. I never had any problem with him telling me one thing and then doing something else."
Fleming remembers Kerry as a competent officer who was well-liked by the crew, a recollection shared by others who served on Gridley at the time.
The two men didn't fraternize, in keeping with military tradition. But Seaman Fleming expressed his surprise to Kerry when he learned that the officer had volunteered for duty on river boats.
"When I found out that he had put in for them, I know that I couldn't help myself" from speaking out, Fleming said.
"I thought that was madness, running up and down a river wanting people to shoot at you."
Fleming remembers asking the officer why he had put in for the hazardous assignment. "I've got to do something," Kerry replied.
The Henderson Daily Dispatch - con't |
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Hammer2
PO2
Joined: 30 Aug 2004
Posts: 387
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:14 am Post subject: |
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You mean like the inconvenient fact that at the time Kerry put in for Swift Boat duty they were doing coastal patrol and not running up and down rivers getting shot at?
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"The price of freedom is eternal vigilence" - Thomas Jefferson
"An armed society is a polite society" - Thomas Jefferson
"The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it won't be needed until someone tries to take it away." -- Thomas Jefferson |
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Me#1You#10
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:17 am Post subject: |
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Your letter in the mail yet hammer? Be gentle  |
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Hammer2
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Joined: 30 Aug 2004
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Location: Texas
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:20 am Post subject: |
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Geez, I gotta get some shuteye. Give me his email address and I'll roast him tomorrow! 
Tim
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"The price of freedom is eternal vigilence" - Thomas Jefferson
"An armed society is a polite society" - Thomas Jefferson
"The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it won't be needed until someone tries to take it away." -- Thomas Jefferson |
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Me#1You#10
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:22 am Post subject: |
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| Hammer2 wrote: | Geez, I gotta get some shuteye. Give me his email address and I'll roast him tomorrow!
Tim |
Actually, I'm not sure a "roasting" is appropriate. I think a gentle nudge might win him over
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Hammer2
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Joined: 30 Aug 2004
Posts: 387
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:30 am Post subject: |
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Don't worry, it will be a slow roasting, rather than a broiling.
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"The price of freedom is eternal vigilence" - Thomas Jefferson
"An armed society is a polite society" - Thomas Jefferson
"The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it won't be needed until someone tries to take it away." -- Thomas Jefferson |
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pwcarter
Seaman Recruit
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
Posts: 26
Location: Slingerlands, NY
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 1:39 pm Post subject: Gridley Stuff |
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I am the "Carter" mentioned in the article. If you want my opinions on the GRIDLEY material in TOUR OF DUTY, you can go to www.ussgridley.com and link over to the Kerry Page. I spoke to the reporter several times at length. Now I want to find the article to see how much of it he used. Most was negative.
Fleming was in 1st Div during the period Kerry was 1st Lieut. I have been told they called him Lurch! He also worked on the cruisebook staff for the 68 cruise. |
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MikeM
Ensign
Joined: 10 Aug 2004
Posts: 71
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 6:21 pm Post subject: |
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pwcarter says:
| Quote: | | A reporter from the Chicago Tribune actually asked me that. When I told him that he was just another goofy Ensign, he was horrified and did not use that quote. |
goofy Ensign.....how appropriate!  |
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Navy_Navy_Navy
Admin
Joined: 07 May 2004
Posts: 5777
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:13 pm Post subject: Re: Gridley Stuff |
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| pwcarter wrote: | | I spoke to the reporter several times at length. Now I want to find the article to see how much of it he used. Most was negative. |
I can't wait to see the differences between what you told them and what they actually printed.
Thanks for your web page!
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~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother |
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pwcarter
Seaman Recruit
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
Posts: 26
Location: Slingerlands, NY
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 8:24 pm Post subject: |
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| I have spoke to a Rear Admiral and a couple of four stripers and they agreed with my assessment that almost all Ensigns are goofy. Kerry tries to make himself out as Master and Commander of the South China Sea but he wasn't. According to his own Fitness Reports on his campaign site he did not qualify for OD until after GRIDLEY left the combat zone. |
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Anker-Klanker
Admiral
Joined: 04 Sep 2004
Posts: 1033
Location: Richardson, TX
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 10:02 pm Post subject: |
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I was assigned to USS REEVES, which as in the same class as the Gridley, some time before Kerry made his illustrious appearance. Frankly, I'm surprised Kerry was assigned the job of 1st Lieutenant as an Ensign. On the Reeves - a fairly large ship - it was SOP for the 1st LT to be a JG, with an Ensign as assistant (basically, in training).
Yes, at that time, and on a large ship like the Reeves and Gridley, a new Ensign was made to understand he was - as the phrase goes - lower than whale s**t.
Accordingly I'm somewhat flabbergasted with his XO's comments. |
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tugboatphil
Ensign
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 70
Location: Floyd, Virginia
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 10:49 pm Post subject: |
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My first ship was USS Jouett (DLG/CG-29) same hull as Gridley, but had a 5" mount aft instead of missile launcher. I was a lowly, non-rated, deck seaman. I knew we HAD an officer that was 1st Lt, but never who he was for any length of time. The Chief and BM1 ran the division. The duties of 1st Lt on our ship were very limited. If a junior officer was samrt, he'd LET the Chief run things while he concentrated on getting his watchstanding quals completed.
We were part of The weapons dept, and lowest on the totem pole. Most of my fellow seamen did not socialize with the officers, not only because of fraternization policies, but to do so would label you a brown-noser...and might also get you a mid-watch trip to the Bos'n Locker. For the laymen, that means you might fall UP a ladder.
So this guy was a deck seaman, AND on the cruisebook staff. Nuff said.
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Phil Toth
BMC(SW) ret
Don't Sweat the Mule Goin' Blind,
Just Keep Loadin' the Wagon. |
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cipher
Vice Admiral
Joined: 10 Aug 2004
Posts: 902
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| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 11:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | So this guy was a deck seaman, AND on the cruisebook staff. |
A cheerleader AND on the yearbook committee? Oh, be still my heart!
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USMC 69-72, 7th Comm, 3rd MarDiv, FMFPAC
US Army 75-79, 97th Sig, SHAPE, NATO
Arkansas National Guard 79
Defense contractor for US Navy, SSPO, SP-20, SP-24, OP-12 84-92 |
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zinfella
Rear Admiral
Joined: 19 Aug 2004
Posts: 708
Location: Mesa, Az
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| Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 1:34 am Post subject: |
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Now I have to wonder if John F-ing Kerry was introduced to a sea bat. Considering his elite attitude, I would love to have enlightened him.
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No whiners! |
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Navy_Navy_Navy
Admin
Joined: 07 May 2004
Posts: 5777
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| Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 1:40 am Post subject: |
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Okay, having once asked a poster on another board, (in my complete ignorance) "What's a dickfer?" I am now rather leery of even asking, but, "What's a sea bat?"
(I just know I'm going to have a DOH! moment when I hear. )
_________________
~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother |
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