War Hero

War Hero - John Kerry's war record may or may not stand up to much detailed scrutiny, according to Thomas Lipscomb in the NYSun.

Assuming it ever gets detailed scrutiny. But then, that's what we're here for.

[Admiral] ‘Bud’ Zumwalt got it right when he assessed Kerry as having large ambitions — but promised that his career in Vietnam would haunt him if he were ever on the national stage.” And this statement was made despite the fact Zumwalt had personally pinned a Silver Star on Mr. Kerry.

Mr. Kerry was assigned to Swiftboat 44 on December 1, 1968. Within 24 hours, he had his first Purple Heart. Mr. Kerry accumulated three Purple Hearts in four months with not even a day of duty lost from wounds, according to his training officer. It’s a pity one cannot read his Purple Heart medical treatment reports which have been withheld from the public. The only person preventing their release is Mr. Kerry.

Hm. What did Kerry know, and when did he know it?

Lipscomb continues:

By his own admission during those four months, Mr. Kerry continually kept ramming his Swiftboat onto an enemy-held shore on assorted occasions alone and with a few men, killing civilians and even a wounded enemy soldier. One can begin to appreciate Zumwalt’s problem with Mr. Kerry as commander of an unarmored craft dependent upon speed of maneuver to keep it and its crew from being shot to pieces.

Kerry's role model, the original JFK, was also a famously reckless boat handler; his nickname (according to the bio "PT109" by Robert Donovan), Kennedy's nickname in his squadron was "Crash". More conscious emulation on Kerry's part?

Mr. Kerry now refers to those civilian deaths as “accidents of war.”And within four days of his third Purple Heart, Mr. Kerry applied to take advantage of a technicality which allowed him to request immediate transfer to a stateside post.

Y'see, here's a part where I'd given Kerry too much credit. Officer rotations through combat billets in Vietnam was very fast - where enlisted grunts were rotated out after a year, officer slots were turned over every six months, mainly to give more officers more combat experience. I'd figured Kerry's four-month tour was related to that.

My bad.

Read the whole thing, of course.

Posted by Mitch at March 4, 2004 05:33 AM