Please explain Kerry's war record to me.

[in_cog_ni_to]

I know he served longer than 4 months. How much longer? Where? Doing what? ect.... I want to have my ammo before I leave the house in my Kerry shirt today. Thanks! :hi:

[Brotherjohn]

1. I don't have the links handy, but my understanding is...

... he served two tours of duty overseas (some say "two tours in Viet Nam", but I don't think that's accurate).

I read his military records somewhere, and I he did specifically request duty in Viet Nam, but I'm not sure if that was before or after his second tour.

I think he did a tour on a ship in SE Asia, and his second tour was "in country".

[DrWeird]

2. Two tours of duty

The second tour he requested to serve on the swift boats, a very dangerous assignment that often saw combat. During his second tour he went above and beyond the call of duty numerous times, earning a silver star, two (?) bronze stars, and he took several injuries by shrapnel on several different occasion, earning him three purple hearts. Due to the numerous injuries, he returned state side after some for months through his second tour, which was a routine practice. All of this is a matter of public record and if somebody says otherwise they're likely just a damn liar who disrespects our troops.

[thecrow]

3. Here is the link

As he was about to graduate from Yale, John Kerry volunteered to serve in Vietnam - because, as he later said, "it was the right thing to do." He believed that because he had had a lot of privileges in life - for example, attending a great university like Yale - he had a responsibility to give something back to his country. His two great heroes - his father and John F. Kennedy - had served during World War II. John Kerry wanted to follow both their example and that of some of his best friends, who also went to Vietnam.

John Kerry enlisted in the Navy in 1966. After completing Naval Officer Candidates School, he began his first tour of duty on the USS Gridley, a guided-missile frigate in the waters adjacent to Vietnam. In 1968, John Kerry began his second tour of duty, and volunteered to serve on a Swift Boat, one of the most dangerous assignments of the war. Swift Boats patrolled the narrow inlets and canals around the Mekong Delta "to draw fire and smoke out the enemy," according to the The Boston Globe.

To the men who served with him, John Kerry was "one of the most daring skippers in the US Navy, relentlessly and courageously engaging the enemy," according to The Boston Globe. William Zaladonis, who served under Kerry on a Swift Boat, said that he was more interested than some other commanding officers in his crewmates' lives, hopes, and dreams. John Kerry put his crewmates at ease, telling them to "call me John - you don't have to call me sir." When "we were out on patrol," Zaladonis recalls, "we were a family."
http://www.johnkerry.com/about/john_kerry/service.html

[markses]

4. He only served FOUR MONTHS IN COUNTRY

That is, actually in the Republic of Vietnam. His first tour was on a ship, off-shore. To my knowledge, barring pilots, no sailors on ships off shore were killed by the NLF or the PAVN.

So, the four months is his total time in-country. That said, it is more time in dangerous combat than many Vietnam Veterans who served full (12 or 13 month) tours; the tail to tooth ratio in Vietnam was ridiculous. For example, Al Gore served a full tour (as I understand it), and saw relatively little, if any, actual combat. Kerry served 4 months in a region and time that saw a 70% casualty rate.

[LSK]

5. he volunteered to go to Vietnam

He saw combat action. He was wounded. He received metals. He saw what Vietnam was about and did what he had every right to do after getting the 3rd purple heart, he left. He came home and told about what a mess Vietnam was and that is was a wrong war. Something at least half the country agreed with at the time.

If nothing else, Kerry volunteered to go and he actually saw combat. He could have easily been killed. He was in the line of fire.

Nobody has a right to dispute this. And that is all that should matter.

[Killarney]

6. two tours

the first tour was six months on a big ship in the Gulf of Tonkin. He saw no combat, but he was THERE. The second tour was the 4 month swift boat on the mekong.

[in_cog_ni_to]

7. You guys/gals are awesome!

Thank you so much! I'm ready for 'em now! THANKS! :hi: