Kerry - Old, but interesting article

[freeandfun1]

Notice the date of this article (June 2003).

In this article, Kerry apparently claims that one of his injuries caused him to miss two days of service. But I posted it because of the following:

Kerry served two tours. For a relatively uneventful six months, from December 1967 to June 1968, he served in the electrical department aboard the USS Gridley, a guided-missile frigate that supported aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin and was far removed from combat.

"I didn't have any real feel for what the heck was going on [in the war]," Kerry has recalled. His ship returned to its Long Beach, Calif., port on June 6, 1968, the day that Robert F. Kennedy died from a gunshot wound he received on the previous night at a Los Angeles hotel. The antiwar protests were growing. But within five months Kerry was heading back to Vietnam, seeking to fulfill his officer commitment despite his growing misgivings about the war.

Kerry initially hoped to continue his service at a relatively safe distance from most fighting, securing an assignment as "swift boat" skipper. While the 50-foot swift boats cruised the Vietnamese coast a little closer to the action than the Gridley had come, they were still considered relatively safe.

"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."

But two weeks after he arrived in Vietnam, the swift boat mission changed -- and Kerry went from having one of the safest assignments in the escalating conflict to one of the most dangerous.

Under the newly launched Operation SEALORD, swift boats were charged with patrolling the narrow waterways of the Mekong Delta to draw fire and smoke out the enemy. Cruising inlets and coves and canals, swift boats were especially vulnerable targets.

 

[freeandfun1]

WOW - This is VERY interesting..... make sure you read the entire article.

Kerry, asked whether he is certain a rule enabled him to leave Vietnam after three Purple Hearts, responded: "Yep. Three and you're out."

For the past several weeks, Kerry's staff said it has been unable to come up with a Navy document to explain that assertion. On Friday, however, the National Archives provided the Globe with a Navy "instruction" document that formed the basis for Kerry's request. The instruction, titled 1300.39, says that a Naval officer who requires hospitalization on two separate occasions, or who receives three wounds "regardless of the nature of the wounds," can ask a superior officer to request a reassignment. The instruction makes clear the reassignment is not automatic. It says that the reassignment "will be determined after consideration of his physical classification for duty and on an individual basis." Because Kerry's wounds were not considered serious, his reassignment appears to have been made on an individual basis.
Moreover, the instruction makes clear that Kerry could have asked that any reassignment be waived.

The bottom line is that Kerry could have remained but he chose to seek an early transfer. He met with Horne, who agreed to forward the request, which Horne said probably ensured final approval. The Navy could not say how many other officers or sailors got a similar early release from combat, but it was unusual for anyone to have three Purple Hearts.

So the transfer was NOT automatic as Kerry likes to claim. Furthermore, the "transfer" is automatic for those that spend time in the hospital on at least, TWO SEPARATE occasions. Since Kerry's wounds NEVER required hospitalization, technically, HE DID NOT QUALIFY for a transfer. Therefore, the proclamations by his commanders that they WANTED to get rid of him, MUST BE TRUE!

 

[Jimmyeatworld]

Woooo. Way to go, Sherlock Holmes!

Makes me think about Clinton's speech at the DNC. John Kerry said, "Send me... But not over there! Wait! Wait!"

 

[freeandfun1]

Bump!

 

[Merlin1047]

WOW - This is VERY interesting..... make sure you read the entire article.

So the transfer was NOT automatic as Kerry likes to claim. Furthermore, the "transfer" is automatic for those that spend time in the hospital on at least, TWO SEPARATE occasions. Since Kerry's wounds NEVER required hospitalization, technically, HE DID NOT QUALIFY for a transfer. Therefore, the proclamations by his commanders that they WANTED to get rid of him, MUST BE TRUE!

This certainly dovetails with statements by his commander which were less than flattering:
"During Lt.(jg) Kerry's tour, he was under my command for two or three specific operations, before his rapid exit. Trust, loyalty and judgment are the key, operative words. His turncoat performance in 1971 in his grubby shirt and his medal-tossing escapade, coupled with his slanderous lines in the recent book portraying us that served, including all POWs and MIAs, as murderous war criminals, I believe, will have a lasting effect on all military veterans and their families. Kerry would be described as devious, self-absorbing, manipulative, disdain for authority, disruptive, but the most common phrase that you'd hear is 'requires constant supervision.'" -- Captain Charles Plumly, USN (retired)

My guess is they approved his transfer just to get him out of their hair.

 

[freeandfun1]

My guess is they approved his transfer just to get him out of their hair.

Same here. I saw stuff like that when I was in the Army, so no reason to doubt it happens in the Navy.