Attacking a Soldier's medals is attacking all Soldiers Medals. Good point Zeke, or ahh Rafe, no wait its Clem. And what about throwing medals away?
Who really cares- Apply the same standards to Bush.
So your contention is that the Vietnam war was a good thing and should not have been protested. I lived during that time and like now supported the troops, but thought the war was a joke and was fought in an asinine manner.
If Kerry came back and said he thought the war was wrong and he made a mistake- Who would criticize him? As others before me have stated, Kerry opens himself up to this scutiny when thats all he refers to...Remember: "Reporting for Duty, Sir." And to publicly castigate all those who served when he was an Officer in Viet Nam no less, is less than honorable- IMHO. i have no problem to let the voters decide. And I'd say the same about Baby Bush if I felt that way.
Shammy makes the best arguments/answers IMHO.
In his speech to the Democratic convention, vice presidential nominee Senator John Edwards, D-NC, was the latest figure to distort John Kerry's service record in Vietnam:
When John Kerry graduated college, he volunteered for military service. He volunteered to go to Vietnam and to captain a swift boat, one of the most dangerous duties you could have. And as a result he was wounded and honored for his valor.
"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."
A normal tour of duty in Vietnam was at least one year for all personnel. Many sailors, like Tom Wright (who would later object to operating with Kerry in Vietnam) and Steven Gardner (the gunner?s mate who sat behind and above Kerry for most of his Vietnam stay and came to regard him as incompetent and dishonest), stayed for longer periods either because of the special needs of the
Navy or because they had volunteered to do so. With very few exceptions in the history of Swift Boats in Vietnam, everyone served a oneyear
tour unless he was seriously wounded. One exception was John Kerry, who requested to leave Vietnam after four months.
?Many took exception to the Purple Hearts awarded to Kerry. His ?wounds? were suspect, so insignificant as to not be worthy of the award of such a medal. That Kerry would seek the
Purple Heart for such ?wounds? is a mockery of the intent of the Purple Heart and an abridgement of the valor of those to whom the Purple Heart had been awarded with justification.?
Due to an obscure regulation that permitted release of personnel with three Purple Hearts. John Kerry is also the only known Swiftee who received the Purple Heart for a self-inflicted wound.
None of Kerry?s Purple Hearts were for serious injuries. They were concededly minor scratches at best, resulting in no lost duty time. Each Purple Heart decoration is very controversial, with considerable evidence (and in two of the cases, with incontrovertible and conclusive
evidence) that the minor injuries were caused by Kerry?s own hand and were not the result of hostile fire of any kind. They are a subject of ridicule within our unit. ?I did get cut a few times, but I forgot to recommend myself for a Purple Heart. Sorry about that,? wrote John Howland, a boat commander with call sign ?Gremlin.?
Moreover, many Swiftees have now come forth to question Kerry?s deception. ?I was there the entire time Kerry was and witnessed two
of his war ?wounds.? I was also present during the action [in which] he received his Bronze Star. I know what a fraud he is. How can I help??
wrote Van Odell, a gunner from Kerry?s unit in An Thoi. Commander John Kipp, USN (retired), of Coastal Division 13 also volunteered, ?If there is anything I can do to unmask this charlatan, please let me know. He brings disgrace to all who served.?
Swiftees have remarked that, if Kerry faked even one of these awards, he owes the Navy 243 additional days in Vietnam before he runs for anything. In a unit where terribly wounded personnel like Shelton White (now an undersea film producer who records specials for National Geographic) chose to return to duty after three wounds on the same day, Kerry?s actions were disgraceful. Indeed, many share the feelings of Admiral Roy Hoffmann, to whom all Swiftees
reported: Kerry simply ?bugged out? when the heat was on. For military personnel no medal or award (with the exception of the Congressional Medal of Honor) holds the significance of the Purple
Heart. John O?Neill remembers witnessing, as a five-year-old child, the presentation of the Purple Heart to his widowed aunt, standing with her five children, at a memorial service for his uncle, a
fighter pilot lost in Korea. Many remember the Purple Heart pinned on the pillows of the badly wounded in military hospitals throughout
the world during America?s wars in defense of freedom. For this reason, there were those in Coastal Division 11 who turned down Purple
Hearts because, when the medals were offered, these honorable men felt they did not really deserve them. Veteran Gary Townsend
wrote, ?I was on PCF 3 [from] 1969 to 1970 . . . I also turned down a Purple Heart award (which required seven stitches) offered to me
while in Nam because I thought a little cut was insignificant as to what others had suffered to get theirs.? To cheat by getting a Purple Heart from a self-inflicted wound would be regarded as befitting the lowest levels of military conduct.
To use such a faked award to leave a combat sector early would be lower yet. Finally, to make or use faked awards as the basis for running
for president of the United States, while faulting one?s political opponents for not having similar military decorations, would represent unbelievable hypocrisy and the truly bottom rung of
human conduct. Anyone engaging in such conduct would be unfit for even the lowest rank in the Navy, to say nothing of the commander
in chief.".
Who really cares- Apply the same standards to Bush.
So your contention is that the Vietnam war was a good thing and should not have been protested. I lived during that time and like now supported the troops, but thought the war was a joke and was fought in an asinine manner.
If Kerry came back and said he thought the war was wrong and he made a mistake- Who would criticize him? As others before me have stated, Kerry opens himself up to this scutiny when thats all he refers to...Remember: "Reporting for Duty, Sir." And to publicly castigate all those who served when he was an Officer in Viet Nam no less, is less than honorable- IMHO. i have no problem to let the voters decide. And I'd say the same about Baby Bush if I felt that way.
Shammy makes the best arguments/answers IMHO.
In his speech to the Democratic convention, vice presidential nominee Senator John Edwards, D-NC, was the latest figure to distort John Kerry's service record in Vietnam:
When John Kerry graduated college, he volunteered for military service. He volunteered to go to Vietnam and to captain a swift boat, one of the most dangerous duties you could have. And as a result he was wounded and honored for his valor.
"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."
A normal tour of duty in Vietnam was at least one year for all personnel. Many sailors, like Tom Wright (who would later object to operating with Kerry in Vietnam) and Steven Gardner (the gunner?s mate who sat behind and above Kerry for most of his Vietnam stay and came to regard him as incompetent and dishonest), stayed for longer periods either because of the special needs of the
Navy or because they had volunteered to do so. With very few exceptions in the history of Swift Boats in Vietnam, everyone served a oneyear
tour unless he was seriously wounded. One exception was John Kerry, who requested to leave Vietnam after four months.
?Many took exception to the Purple Hearts awarded to Kerry. His ?wounds? were suspect, so insignificant as to not be worthy of the award of such a medal. That Kerry would seek the
Purple Heart for such ?wounds? is a mockery of the intent of the Purple Heart and an abridgement of the valor of those to whom the Purple Heart had been awarded with justification.?
Due to an obscure regulation that permitted release of personnel with three Purple Hearts. John Kerry is also the only known Swiftee who received the Purple Heart for a self-inflicted wound.
None of Kerry?s Purple Hearts were for serious injuries. They were concededly minor scratches at best, resulting in no lost duty time. Each Purple Heart decoration is very controversial, with considerable evidence (and in two of the cases, with incontrovertible and conclusive
evidence) that the minor injuries were caused by Kerry?s own hand and were not the result of hostile fire of any kind. They are a subject of ridicule within our unit. ?I did get cut a few times, but I forgot to recommend myself for a Purple Heart. Sorry about that,? wrote John Howland, a boat commander with call sign ?Gremlin.?
Moreover, many Swiftees have now come forth to question Kerry?s deception. ?I was there the entire time Kerry was and witnessed two
of his war ?wounds.? I was also present during the action [in which] he received his Bronze Star. I know what a fraud he is. How can I help??
wrote Van Odell, a gunner from Kerry?s unit in An Thoi. Commander John Kipp, USN (retired), of Coastal Division 13 also volunteered, ?If there is anything I can do to unmask this charlatan, please let me know. He brings disgrace to all who served.?
Swiftees have remarked that, if Kerry faked even one of these awards, he owes the Navy 243 additional days in Vietnam before he runs for anything. In a unit where terribly wounded personnel like Shelton White (now an undersea film producer who records specials for National Geographic) chose to return to duty after three wounds on the same day, Kerry?s actions were disgraceful. Indeed, many share the feelings of Admiral Roy Hoffmann, to whom all Swiftees
reported: Kerry simply ?bugged out? when the heat was on. For military personnel no medal or award (with the exception of the Congressional Medal of Honor) holds the significance of the Purple
Heart. John O?Neill remembers witnessing, as a five-year-old child, the presentation of the Purple Heart to his widowed aunt, standing with her five children, at a memorial service for his uncle, a
fighter pilot lost in Korea. Many remember the Purple Heart pinned on the pillows of the badly wounded in military hospitals throughout
the world during America?s wars in defense of freedom. For this reason, there were those in Coastal Division 11 who turned down Purple
Hearts because, when the medals were offered, these honorable men felt they did not really deserve them. Veteran Gary Townsend
wrote, ?I was on PCF 3 [from] 1969 to 1970 . . . I also turned down a Purple Heart award (which required seven stitches) offered to me
while in Nam because I thought a little cut was insignificant as to what others had suffered to get theirs.? To cheat by getting a Purple Heart from a self-inflicted wound would be regarded as befitting the lowest levels of military conduct.
To use such a faked award to leave a combat sector early would be lower yet. Finally, to make or use faked awards as the basis for running
for president of the United States, while faulting one?s political opponents for not having similar military decorations, would represent unbelievable hypocrisy and the truly bottom rung of
human conduct. Anyone engaging in such conduct would be unfit for even the lowest rank in the Navy, to say nothing of the commander
in chief.".
