SwiftVets.com

[TexasCop]

I had a mental picture of a river patrol boat in my mind until I bought Unfit for Command and saw that the swift boat was completely different from what I had envisioned.

What exactly was the job of a swift boat? Were they for patrolling, for carrying troops/supplies from point A to B or what?

If you say your job was to transport beer to Army soldiers, you'll be my heroes for life. If not, that's cool, too.
_________________
United States Army Military Police Corps 1987 - 1994
Civilian Police Officer 1994 - Current
OSHA Certified HAZMAT Tech - WMD Response Team
Survivor of the Dept. of Homeland Security COBRATF Live Agent facility (HUAH!)

[mtboone]

Well, it depends on what year and what division you were in. We were mainly trained for coastal patrol to stop enemy supplies from the sea and stop and board boats going up and down the coast, but we would do an occasional river run like MedCaps. In late 68, that changed and we were doing more river and canal runs almost daily, especially in the Delta. We would insert VN troops, SEALs and some times the Army but we never gave them our booze, they were more interested in fresh eggs, milk and canned goods that we received, much better than C Rats. Go to http://www.pcf45.com/ and that is the best site to understand our operations. If you click on the Qui Nhon link, you will see me in 68 and also my return in 2002 that helped me put to bed many of the Ghosts so long ago, but just yesterday in my mind.
_________________
Terry Boone PCF 90
Qui Nhon 68-69

[Bob Chamberlain]

The following discussion of Kerry's Swiftboat history should give you an idea of the overall strategic use of the Swiftboats in Vietnam. A Swiftboat veteran can give you more details of how a typical operation was conducted.

John Kerry, Swift Boat Volunteer for River Duty

Well… not exactly.

The Legend: John Kerry courageously volunteered for the very hazardous Swift Boat river duty.

The Reality: John Kerry volunteered for Swift Boat duty at a time when the Swift Boats were being used for the interdiction of waterborne traffic in coastal waters. This was “PT” boat style duty, which allowed junior officers to command a fast motor boat and zip around chasing down junks and sampans suspected of transporting enemy supplies and personnel. This was not particularly hazardous duty. By the time John Kerry reported for duty in Vietnam, the Swift Boats were being used for dangerous river patrols. When John Kerry experienced the reality of the dangerous Swift Boat river duty, he bugged out of Vietnam after just four months - for a soft, safe job as an admiral’s aide at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061603.shtml

Quote from The Boston Globe, "John F. Kerry – Candidate In The Making, Part 2"
By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff, 6/16/2003
"I didn't really want to get involved in the war," Kerry said in a little-noticed contribution to a book of Vietnam reminiscences published in 1986. "When I signed up for the swift boats, they had very little to do with the war. They were engaged in coastal patrolling and that's what I thought I was going to be doing."

OPERATION MARKET TIME
On March 11, 1965, the U. S. Navy created the Coastal Patrol Force, later designated as Task Force 115, whose objective was to interdict enemy efforts to move supplies to south Vietnam by sea: Operation MARKET TIME. Much of the enemy effort to smuggle arms and supplies was conducted by means of wooden junks, indistinguishable from the hundreds of other junks that had traded or fished along the South Vietnamese coast for a hundred years. For the most part, duty on MARKET TIME was boring routine patrol, much of it conducted in oppressive heat. Vessels cruised up and down the coast, stopping to examine or board vessels, either randomly or because of suspicious behavior. Substantial amounts of arms and supplies were interdicted. To conduct the MARKET TIME patrols in the shallower coastal waters, the Navy employed 81 PCF Swift patrol boats. John Kerry wanted to command one of these boats.

Essentially, John Kerry volunteered twice for MARKET TIME Swift Boat duty. The first time was on his OCS Duty Recommendation Form that he submitted on December 16, 1966. The second time was in a duty assignment request submitted on February 10, 1968. But why Swift Boats? The most obvious answer is that Swift Boats were the closest thing to a PT boat that the Navy was operating in the 1960’s. John Kerry had seen what PT-109 had done for John Kennedy’s political career. There is ample evidence that John Kerry was consciously seeking a similar opportunity for his own political future.

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061503.shtml

Quote from The Boston Globe, "John F. Kerry – Candidate In The Making, Part 1"
By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff, 6/15/2003
Kerry also had political ambitions -- and was aware of how much military service had served John Kennedy's career. "John would clearly say, ‘If I could make my dream come true, it would be running for president of the United States,’" recalled William Stanberry, Kerry's debate team partner for three years. "It was not a casual interest. It was a serious, stated interest. His lifetime ambition was to be in political office."

John Kerry received orders to report to the Naval Amphibious Base at Coronado, California, for the Swift Boat training class that began on August 25, 1968. Upon completion of this training, he was assigned to Coastal Division Fourteen of Coastal Squadron One at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. Kerry reported for duty on November 17, 1968.

SEALORDS
Admiral Zumwalt launched the SEALORDS (Southeast Asia Lake, Ocean, River, and Delta Strategy) program in October 1968. This program was a determined effort by U.S. Navy, South Vietnamese Navy, and allied ground forces to cut enemy supply lines from Cambodia and disrupt operations at his base areas deep in the Mekong River delta. In the first phase of the SEALORDS campaign, allied forces established patrol "barriers," often using electronic sensor devices, along the waterways paralleling the Cambodian border. In early November 1968, PBRs and riverine assault craft opened two canals between the Gulf of Siam at Rach Gia and the Bassac River at Long Xuyen. South Vietnamese paramilitary ground troops helped naval patrol units secure the transportation routes in this operational area, soon named Search Turn. Later in the month, Swift boats, PBRs, riverine assault craft, and Vietnamese naval vessels penetrated the Giang Thanh-Vinh Te canal system and established patrols along the waterway from Ha Tien on the gulf to Chau Doc on the upper Bassac. Then in December, U.S. naval forces pushed up the Vam Co Dong and Vam Co Tay Rivers west of Saigon, against heavy enemy opposition, to cut infiltration routes from the "Parrot's Beak" area of Cambodia. The Giant Slingshot operation, so named for the configuration of the two rivers, severely hampered Communist resupply in the region near the capital and in the Plain of Reeds. Completing the first phase of the SEALORDS program, in January 1969 PBRs, assault support patrol boats (ASPB), and other river craft established patrol sectors along canals westward from the Vam Co Tay to the Mekong River in Operation Barrier Reef. Thus, by early 1969 a patrolled waterway interdiction barrier extended almost uninterrupted from Tay Ninh northwest of Saigon to the Gulf of Siam. The Swift Boats were used for patrols and troop transport in the larger of these waterways, freeing up the PBR’s and ASPB’s for use in the smaller waterways.

Bug-Out
When John Kerry discovered that he would be performing dangerous SEALORDS duties instead of the relatively safe MARKET TIME duties, he collected a quick handful of medals and maneuvered himself out of Vietnam as expeditiously as possible. On March 13, 1969, he claimed the third of his “band-aid” Purple Heart wounds. On March 17, he obtained a Personnel Casualty Report verifying this “wound” and applied immediately for early reassignment out of Vietnam. Orders were cut on March 20, 1969, reassigning Kerry to duty at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He had served only four months and three days of his twelve month tour in Vietnam.

[BuffaloJack]

Actually, there were a few PT boats that operated in Viet Nam. Although I never served on one, the PCF I was on was tied up to a PT once while I was in Qui Nhon. At the time they called them Nasty Boats, and they were half again bigger than our swifts.

[Me#1You#10]

Moving to our R&R Forum.

Thanks!

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[rbshirley]