Kerry's Military records

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-24-2004
Kerry's Military records
42
Tue, 08-24-2004 - 7:15am
John Kerry's service in Vietnam lasted 4 months and 12 days, beginning in November 1968 when he reported to Cam Ranh Bay for a month of training. His abbreviated combat tour ended shortly after he requested a transfer out of Vietnam on March 17, 1969, citing Navy instruction 1300.39 permitting personnel with three Purple Hearts to request reassignment. So far as we are able to determine, Kerry was the only Swift sailor ever to leave Vietnam without completing the standard one-year tour of duty, other than those who were seriously wounded or killed.

It is clear that at least one of Kerry's Purple Heart awards was the result of his own negligence, not enemy fire, and that Kerry went to unusual lengths to obtain the award after being turned down by his own commanding officer.

John Kerry has long insisted that using the three-injury loophole to leave combat early was his own idea, but Kerry's fellow Swift officer Thomas Wright, who served on occasion as the OIC (Officer in Charge) of Kerry's boat group, contradicts that claim. Wright reports that he "had a lot of trouble getting Kerry to follow orders," and that those who worked with Kerry found him "oriented towards his personal, rather than unit goals and objectives." He therefore requested that Kerry be removed from his boat group. After John Kerry qualified for his third Purple Heart, Thomas Wright and two fellow officers informed him of the obscure regulation, and told him to go home. Wright concluded, "We knew how the system worked and we didn’t want him in Coastal Division 11."

Constructing a complete picture of Kerry's service is difficult due to gaps in the Naval records provided by the Kerry campaign. These gaps include missing and incomplete fitness reports, missing medical records and missing records related to his medal awards.

Senator Kerry can clear all of this up if he would authorize complete access to all his military records by filing a standard Form 180, a simple two-page release form.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-24-2004
Wed, 08-25-2004 - 4:38pm
Kerry was the one demonizing the rest of the Vietnam Vets before Congress......not Bush. End of story for me and for most of the Vets.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-24-2004
Wed, 08-25-2004 - 4:41pm
Is getting a 7% pay raise living in La-La land?
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Wed, 08-25-2004 - 5:22pm
That is only part of it but you are right about that.

What about the entire introduction video.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Wed, 08-25-2004 - 5:23pm
From what I hear from my friends and family that served, you are 100% right about that.

Kerry hurt himself with the veterans with his actions after the war.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-24-2004
Wed, 08-25-2004 - 6:29pm
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You can try to spin things that way. However my father had a 50000/yr job before he was laid off, and now cannot even get back into his original field because of a large chunk of electrical engineering layoffs, and he has to fight for positions that aren't full time and don't come close to what he was making before, in a state that had a good job outlook when I left 4 years ago. There are alot of people who had good jobs, or are graduating college complaining of having to compete with their children for jobs in fastfood, department and grocery stores etc. This isn't just happening in a small amount of areas, it's happening in many places around the country. There may be more jobs but if so many people are having to take drastic pay cuts to stay employed that is not real improvement.

Venus

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-24-2004
Wed, 08-25-2004 - 7:04pm
Some may be geting big pay raises but most are not. In my husbands company for example 2/3 of his company got laid off, and alot of them took pay cuts to stay on. A couple that were really needed threatened to leave because of this, and were hired back on with a pay raise but only a couple. This happened in 2001, and so far as I know that was the last big lay off but there has been little or no change in employment, or pay since then. Most of those that were laid off had severe trouble geting a job at first but this last year alot of them had found jobs in other, biger companies. The only problem is most of them had to take big pay cuts. I thank God my husband made it through all the layoffs, there was at least twice that he was a main person being considered for layoffs. Luckily his supervisors stuck up for him, because he does more then most of the guys in his area, and gets paid close to the lowest in the company. He has recently gotten a pay raise of sorts. He was switched from hourly pay to sallary. The sallary is larger then his regular pay, but he can no longer recieve overtime. He brings home less now then he did before the layoffs when he was geting lots of overtime, but he brings home more then after the layoffs when he was geting hardley any overtime.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 08-25-2004 - 7:17pm
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Wed, 08-25-2004 - 10:15pm
Sorry to burst your bubble, but I can bet that I am fairly well versed in what is going on in the world olddude. I just choose my sources carefully, and read the extremist stuff for laughs, as that is what they are for in my view.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Wed, 08-25-2004 - 10:17pm
Spin is the stuff you see on the RNC and DNC websites.

I deal in the facts that I am able to research for myself.

The cold hard fact is that the economy is still improving, which is why Kerry has no idea what to really attack Bush on in that area.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2004
Thu, 08-26-2004 - 12:01pm
<<"I'm John Kerry and I am reporting for duty"

John Kerry made his military experience the pinnacle of his campaign when he began his speech at the DNC with that comment.>>


And he's still doing it!

Renee ~~~