SwiftVets.com

[BuffaloJack]

Hey Admin,
This Wintersoldier and VVAW Leadership Topic is really hard to do.
I know you'd like all us vets to contribute to the postings here, but after 33 years of associating these topics with the Anti-War croud it just creeps me out being in this particular area of the Forum.
I know it's all psychological and I plan to give it my best, but it really is uncomfortable here. I'd much rather be in the GeeDunk, Research and Resources or Vets and Active Duty areas.
Did Kerry and his croud have that much of an impact on us?
I've noticed that this area has the smallest number of posts and visit hits. I'm probably not alone in feeling the creeps while being here.
I really hate Kerry and all his hippie, draft-dodging, anti-War buddies now.
We've gotta make sure Kerry is never CinC.

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

I have no doubt that it's a difficult topic.

I'm not even an "era vet," and it makes my blood boil. I can't tell you how many times I've broken down in tears reading about what our soldiers were subjected to when they came home.

It was a result of the success of the anti-military movement and the complicity of our news media in making our fighting men outcasts.

Borrowing upon the fact of My Lai, the anti-military movement and the leftist media branded all of my older brothers and sisters as monsters.

It's difficult for me - how much more difficult it must be for those who were there - who lived it.

It's up to each person to decide where they can best contribute.

But, I will tell you that the most compelling evidence with civilians is exactly how John Kerry fit into the puzzle of the times.

Leading the VVAW, arguing for three days against the assassination of pro-war Senators without reporting the conspiracy to the FBI, meeting with the enemy while our men were still dying in SE Asia, the complete ease with which he slandered an entire generation of soldiers.

It's important because he and the anti-military movement and the leftist media are attempting to perpetrate exactly the same betrayals on our younger brothers and sisters in the Middle East.

We must make the connections between who John Kerry was then and who he is now.

We must not allow or his comrades to EVER get away with such a perfect set of crimes, again. Not without one hell of a fight.

That said, it is important that every participant contribute where they choose and what they choose. You do what you need to do and we'll support you.
_________________
~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[TEWSPilot]

This area of the forum is a cornerstone of the site and should be visited by every Vietnam veteran who has a desire to pull off the scar tissue and look at the wounds that never healed properly. For many, it also involves facing old demons. For some, it is a place to find old friends and make new ones. For others, it is a learning institute and historic repository, albeit in part, anecdotal. For everyone, it is a conduit to the reality of the Vietnam war as seen through the eyes of those who lived it and those who recorded it and those who have come here to correct history's distorted view of it.

My late father-in-law got into an argument with one of his high school teachers over the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (some things never change) and went down to the recruiter and had to have his mother sign for him so he could join the Navy. He was 19 when he and a dozen other sailors from his destroyer USS Putnam jumped into burning oil covered water in the Pacific to help rescue over 100 survivors from a sister destroyer (USS Twigs) hit by torpedoes and Kamakazis. Fastforward to the Vietnam war. Similar stories can be told, but most never will, and no one wanted to listen to them anyway.

The first time I visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall, I was with my wife, my children, and my wife's parents. Hardened as I thought I was, I stood and wept uncontrollably and covered my face with both hands as I read eight familiar names. I wasn't alone.

I wrote a poem to honor those men. It's on the site linked through my signature. Here are the names if you happen to visit the Wall or the Moving Wall. Note the date they were lost, and keep in mind John Kerry prolonged the war with his anti-American, resolve-breaking rhetoric.

IN MEMORY OF THE CREW OF EC-47 "BARON 52",
DOWNED NEAR SARAVANE, LAOS, BY HOSTILE FIRE ON 5 FEBRUARY 1973

361st Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron
Aircraft Commander, Captain George R. Spitz, Presbyterian
Navigator, Captain Arthur R. Bollinger, Baptist
Copilot, 1 Lt. Robert E. Bernhardt, Presbyterian
Copilot, 2 Lt. Severo V. Primm III, Catholic

6994th Security Squadron
Sgt Dale Brandenburg, Lutheran
Sgt Peter R. Cressman, Catholic
Sgt Joseph A. Matejov, Catholic
SSgt Todd M. Melton, Catholic

Let me tell you just a little about two of them.

My wife and Sonny Primm's wife were both pregnant at the time we finished training in EC-47s at England AFB, Alexandria, LA, in mid October 1972, enroute to Vietnam. My wife was two weeks from delivery, so I was granted a 30 day leave and departed on November 15, leaving a three year old daughter and a two week old son. The poem on my website describes how my wife and I spent the year while I was in Vietnam and closes with a memorial to those who did not come home. Sonny's wife was only a few months along, so he left with the rest of the class. Sonny's wife was about 6 months pregnant when he was killed.

Joe "Kiwi" Matejov was a young, energetic, highly proficient radio operator and linguist. He got the nickname "Kiwi" because of the shoe polish by that name and the fact that he always had perfectly spit shined shoes and boots.

There is so much more to tell about them -- so much more that never got to happen because they were killed --, and a similar story about each of the other six men lost that day, just as there is for the other 2.5 million who served with honor during that war...but like I said, no one ever wanted to hear their stories. I have prayed for the words to say each time I write to Joe's mother and his brother John and to Bob Bernhardt's sister and.....

Yes, it is personal with me, that at least part of the reason they didn't come home is that the actions of John Kerry, Jane Fonda, and the VVAW prolonged the war unnecessarily and with disasterous results by encouraging the enemy to hold out and not give up while at the same time they were eroding our national resolve to fight to victory -- victory that was all but won during TET in 1968. Now, John Kerry wants to do the same thing to the current generation of American fighting men and women, and it is up to us to stop him.

I hope everyone who visits this forum comes away with a better understanding of who we were, who John Kerry was and still is, and why we must convince everyone we can that
John Kerry is "Unfit For Command".
_________________
Find the perfect babysitter, petsitter, or tutor -- today!

[NortonPete]

[2ndamendsis]

{The following might not be of any value to this topic.......you be the judge for me} Navy3X said, "But, I will tell you that the most compelling evidence with civilians is exactly how John Kerry fit into the puzzle of the times. We must make the connections between who John Kerry was then and who he is now."
It's difficult for me to be articulate about this subject {I'm very emotional about this} but I know what I've seen happening & my instincts keep pointing me in one direction.

* We have another generation of soldiers who are being sold out. The frightening thing is that many of the younger troops are not aware of that fact. Their education on Viet Nam is sorely lacking. They have absolutely no idea what the VVAW did to our military, congress, American families and to our country's reputation.

* These soldiers are being manipulated as we speak by an almost invisible, subversive, multi-tentacled thing - that's NOT being addressed with any determination.

** Kerry's VVAW has morphed and expanded. From mmoore, moveon, Iraqi Vets against war, books for soldiers, etc. are using Kerry's words and devious past strategies to get to our soldiers, aid & embolden our enemies and confuse the American citizens. Call me crazy but it truly seems as though it was planned by the left as to what they will do to disrupt & confuse the military & people. They're all in such lock-step with their actions & verbiage.

But Kerry is, first & foremost, using his talents to weaken our soldiers spirit, enpower our enemies, screw our allies and manipulate our country's policy! I don't know the legality but isn't this, once again, BORDERING ON A FINE LINE ie:1971 Fulbright testimony? His words are being broadcast on Aljazeera just as they were broadcast to our POWs in VN!!

HIS WORDS & ACTIONS are numerous on the subject. From:
"We're making more terrorists by being in Iraq"
"Bush has alienated our allies"
"Wrong war, wrong time"
"Bush Lied to Americans"
"Iraq was not a threat"
"Allawi is being used"
"We're not concentrating on Afghanastan"
Take your pick, add the rest......{too numerous to repeat}

Isn't it plausable to somehow connect his past actions with his present actions? Linking him to VVAW & the fact that Fonda is helping moveon and supporting him? The fact that he IS using dangerous rhetoric that can endanger our troops?

We owe it to our new generation of troops to keep them as safe as possible. Kerry is endangering our troops as well as our American soil.

Thanx for listening
_________________
PROUD wife of Army ASA Vet - 66-70
mom of Sailor - Gulf 1
daughter of WW11 Army Vet

[m_drummond]

The Left can dispute sKerry's awards, but it's damn hard for them to defend what he did after Viet Nam. They'll try, but in the process will only expose themselves as being as craven as Kerry.

I don't post much here, because it looks like an indisputable slam dunk to me.
________
Chevrolet brookwood

[GT]

Now that it's the home stretch with the election mere weeks away our senators need to step up and apply the heat to Mr. Kerry regarding his giving aid and comfort to the enemy in Vietnam and now in Iraq. We all see what he's doing...time to call and write our senators!

[LewWaters]

[TEWSPilot]

Nests of sympathizers are everywhere, like this misguided site. Who is the bigger fool -- the fool, or the one who follows him?

Hannity & Colmes gave Stolen Honor film producer Carlton Sherwood a forum for more smears of Kerry

...More lies by Kool Aid drinkers who haven't even seen the film or studied the facts. Probably think "Fairytale 911" is a true documentary.
_________________
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