Kerry & the draft an interesting story..

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-05-2003
Kerry & the draft an interesting story..
34
Thu, 08-26-2004 - 11:42pm
The Harvard Crimson newspaper followed a youthful Mr Kerry in Boston as he campaigned for Congress for the first time in 1970. In the course of a lengthy article, "John Kerry: A Navy Dove Runs for Congress", published on February 18, the paper reported: "When he approached his draft board for permission to study for a year in Paris, the draft board refused and Kerry decided to enlist in the Navy."

Samuel Goldhaber, the article's author who is now a cardiologist attached to the Harvard School of Medicine, spent 11 hours trailing Mr Kerry and still remembers that the subject of the Paris deferment came up during long conversations about Vietnam.

"I stand by my story," he told The Telegraph. "It was a long time ago, and I was 19 at the time, so it is hard to remember every detail. But I do know this: at no point did Kerry contact either me or the Crimson to dispute anything I had written."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/03/07/wkerr07.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/03/07/ixnewstop.html




Edited 8/26/2004 11:45 pm ET ET by truemobile

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iVillage Member
Registered: 11-11-1999
Thu, 08-26-2004 - 11:50pm
"When he approached his draft board for permission to study for a year in Paris, the draft board refused and Kerry decided to enlist in the Navy."


Uhh-so? The point is?

I had a buddy who wanted to get married in th 60s and was looking at being drafted for a 3 year hitch and so he enlisted in the Marines for 2. This sort of thing happened all the time back then.

Some guys elisted in the Marines to shorten their hitch.

Some enlisted in the Navy.

Some had their parents pull strings so they could jump ahead of everyone else in line and get into the National Guard.


Such were the times.

dablacksox


Cynic: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.---Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 08-26-2004 - 11:54pm
Sixty-three Americans died in Iraq this month, and this is all you can find to post about?

Sixty-three dead Americans this month alone in Iraq and all you want to talk about is that over thirty years ago Kerry wasn't allowed a student deferment for further study and then volunteered to go into the Navy.

Kinda frivolous, don't you think?

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-05-2003
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 12:01am
Nope, Kerry supporters like to claim he enlisted in the Navy... they don't like to admit the enlistment was to avoid Kerry's being drafted into the Army.... Kerry sought non-dangerous assignments in the Navy. Initially when Kerry sought swift boat duty they were not engaged in dangerous action.

We have someone who is claiming to be a hero, who claims to have volunteered to go to Vietnam, and who may not be a hero, who may have joined to avoid danger, and to avoid being drafted.

Kerry has admitted being a war criminal.

He seeks to be the commander in chief... we cannot as a country allow a self-professed war criminal to head our military... nor can we allow someone who games the system to create a misleading record or who lies about his record to run our military.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-11-1999
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 12:05am
"We have someone who is claiming to be a hero, who claims to have volunteered to go to Vietnam, and who may not be a hero, who may have joined to avoid danger, and to avoid being drafted. "


This is as opposed to someone who used political connections to get into the National Guard to avoid combat and didn't even bother to show up for that after drug testing was instituted.

Correct?

dablacksox


Cynic: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.---Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 12:07am
"Mission Accomplished"
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-07-2004
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 12:58am
That's because Kerry DID ENLIST in the Navy. Uh, yeah, sure, he enlisted instead of waiting to be drafted. What was your point? Now you're saying enlisting is not honorable???

Who's sliming veterans now?

Kerry DID NOT seek non dangerous assignments, he requested Nam duty. While Bush requested Alabama political campaign duty. There is proof of both of these choices, Kerry's military records show he requested Nam, & Bush's choice is common knowledge.

Kerry claims to have volunteered for Nam because HE DID. What part of volunteer don't you understand?

Kerry enlisted instead of having his family pull strings for him, instead of going to Canada, he made his choice, Bush made his.

Despite all the ads, money, & talk, I still don't see what he lied about. He enlisted, he went, he served, he was wounded, he served a second term, he was awarded medals, he saved at least one mans life. I might think he would get more respect if he had serious wounds, but Max Cleland proved that idea wrong. I guess you would only be happy if Kerry had died in Nam, but the truth is Kerry DID RISK HIS LIFE in Nam.

As for being a war criminal, Kerry said he did as he was told & found out later free fire zones were against the Geneva conventions. He blamed the brass for putting all the soldiers in that kind of position. If you believed no one else did what Kerry did, then surely you are naive.

As for "gaming" the system, what do you call Bush pulling strings to get into the guard, pulling rank to be leapfrogged over other more qualified candidates for flight school, skipping his flight physical, going on extended leave for politics (try that if you don't have connections), and getting out 8 months early after not flying for several months. That pretty much meets my definition of gaming the system, especially since good people you & I knew were dying in Nam at the same time.







< Nope, Kerry supporters like to claim he enlisted in the Navy... they don't like to admit the enlistment was to avoid Kerry's being drafted into the Army.... Kerry sought non-dangerous assignments in the Navy. Initially when Kerry sought swift boat duty they were not engaged in dangerous action.

We have someone who is claiming to be a hero, who claims to have volunteered to go to Vietnam, and who may not be a hero, who may have joined to avoid danger, and to avoid being drafted.

Kerry has admitted being a war criminal.

He seeks to be the commander in chief... we cannot as a country allow a self-professed war criminal to head our military... nor can we allow someone who games the system to create a misleading record or who lies about his record to run our military. >

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 4:24am

<>


Actually, Kerry enlisted into the Naval Reserves - Inactive Duty ;)


Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-07-2004
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 7:42am


But then he requested to be sent to Nam, hardly inactive there.




< Actually, Kerry enlisted into the Naval Reserves - Inactive Duty >

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 10:26am
You know, that being the case, I wonder why he did not just go into the active duty Navy?

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Fri, 08-27-2004 - 11:07am
Are you sure about that? His bio says he was in the Navy from 66 -70, and in the Naval Reserves from 72-78. I thought he was only on inactive duty in the reserves after he returned from Vietnam.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kerry#Military_Service_.281966-1970.29

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