How can Kerry have a chestful of medals? Didn't we see him standing at the White House fence throwing them? Oh yeah, he just pretended he was throwing his medals away, didn't he? And how did he get out of the Navy early for political reasons? Was he AWOL?

Ladies and gentlemen, the next president of the United States...

JFK, JFK, both rode boats into war, Kennedy wrote profiles in courage and Kerry wrote that.

Kerry got 3 purple hearts for minor injuries. He then requested to be discharged and started his career of protesting.

Maybe the Air Farce is different, but my old branch did not hand out Honorable Discharges for AWOL. Matter of fact if one was UA for a solid year the charge was Desertion.

Does anyone know what Kerry's injuries/wounds were? i'd love to know.

This was an interesting letter at NRO:

The problem with the Bush AWOL story is not Bush's completion of his service. That part of the story may have been successfully debunked. The problem for Bush is the overall meta comparison of Bush with Kerry. One graduated from Yale and volunteered for combat duty, despite his privelidged background. He served and was wounded three times, returning with bronze and silver stars for heroism. The other Yale graduate, faced with the same choices, jumped the line to get into a coveted Texas Guard unit that was highly unlikely to be called up. He then requested a transfer to another unit so that he could work on a political campaign, and completed his service later, at a more personally convenient time. None of these basic facts seems in doubt.

The question isn't going to be about whether all the T's were crossed and all the I's were dotted in the service records. The question is going to be: who had [more guts]? In the larger meta narrative, Bush could be the loser here, and it would seem to me that the White House ought to change the subject quickly.

Kerry's military service was an effort to mold himself after the JFK (see link via book above) a rather noble effort to be sure, and from many accounts he served with distinction.

But I contend that on return, political expedience of the day led him to pursue a different track into politics - a track that led to tossing medals onto the white house lawn, amongst other things.

I would condemn neither action, serving or protesting, per se; one is a duty, one is a right - and Vietnam was a period where right and wrong were blurred.

But Kerry's motives for both are questionable. And in the mind of most vets his protest actions are unforgivable, regardless of what he accomplished on the PT-109.

A longer post on this topic will follow.

One comment only. Every single Presidential nominee from the Republicans and the Democrats since WWII have RELEASED THEIR MILITARY RECORDS.

EXCEPT for our current President, George W. Bush.

There are pay record, attendance records, retirement points, income tax records and the DD 214. this will go away, and Bush may well be vindicated.

It's the secrecy that's driving this.

Speaking of records, how about the 1992 Congressional record?

I am saddened by the fact that Vietnam has yet again been inserted into the campaign, and that it has been inserted in what I feel to be the worst possible way. By that I mean that yesterday, during this Presidential campaign, and even throughout recent times, Vietnam has been discussed and written about without an adequate statement of its full meaning.

What is ignored is the way in which our experience during that period reflected in part a positive affirmation of American values and history, not simply the more obvious negatives of loss and confusion.

What is missing is a recognition that there exists today a generation that has come into its own with powerful lessons learned, with a voice that has been grounded in experiences both of those who went to Vietnam and those who did not.

What is missing and what cries out to be said is that neither one group nor the other from that difficult period of time has cornered the market on virtue or rectitude or love of country.

What saddens me most is that Democrats, above all those who shared the agonies of that generation, should now be refighting the many conflicts of Vietnam in order to win the current political conflict of a Presidential primary.

-John Kerry

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1071592/posts

Jeff McRae: You quote an NRO letter as "Jumped the line to get into a coveted Texas Guard unit that was highly unlikely to be called up".

Unfortunately, the facts are different. Did GWB advance ahead of others who were on the list?: Yes, because he VOLUNTEERED for immediate induction and training. Was his unit "highly unlikely" to be activated?: Elements of this unit of the Texas Air National Guard were, at the time of GWB's enlistment, flying COMBAT missions in Viet Nam - in F-102's (the aircraft he VOLUNTEERED to learn to fly).

Let's look at this again: I want to stay out of Viet Nam and I don't want to do anything that could get me killed. So, I volunteer to learn to fly F-102's (not one of the most stable aircraft in the inventory), in a unit that has elements in Viet Nam at precisely the moment that I join up. Boy, I've got it covered just fine, don't I?

By the way, does anyone want to remind me what happened to another ANG fighter jock from a privileged family: A guy named Dino who flew an F-100 from March AFB? Boy, those ANG guys sure had it soft.

This is simple. Bush does what every other presidential candidate has done and releases his military records.

The Republican spin that those who question W's service is a slap at all of those who served in the National Guard sounds desperate and is off point. No one has smeared the Guard. They have, however, looked at the evidence and it appears, from all the evidence in, that Bush was missing for a significant amount of time.

I'm a veteran, 1969-1971, and I'd like to know if Bush was or was not performing his sworn duty.

As I said, this is simple. He should release his records. If Bush is telling the truth, he has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

What records do people keep talking about. If someone asked me about my records, I would produce my DD-214 and hope that would suffice. It is the only thing I have left, I had my military license but my wife washed my jeans with my wallet in it. 15 years I have kept it, gone.

And if I had to produce names, I remember two people in my time in the military. I went to basic and AIT with them, and then by chance we all ended up in Bamberg in the same unit. So it is hella easier to remember their names. 15 years from now, I may not remember that. I best not ever run for the Presidency.

James,

The records refer not to the records you have, such as your DD214, but records the military has that include pay documents and other proof that you were where you said you were, doing what you said you were doing.

I'd be hard pressed to name more than a handful of the men I served with, too, but I would remember serving with a Texas flyboy whose father was a Congressman/UN Ambassador. In 2000, a group of vets offered $3500 to anyone who would step forward and say that served with Bush in the Alabama Guard. No one claimed the money. No one.

So, while every other candidate has released his military records, Bush has not. Even John McCain released his to counter Bush campaign smears that McCain had suffered emotional and mental distress due to his imprisonment in Hanoi. His records showed no such impairment.

Now, Bush could simply ask the DoD to release his records to prove he was not AWOL. It's simple. It makes you wonder why not.

His dad was a one term Senator at the time in Texas. Would anyone care about a one term senator from Texas in Alabama?

Uh, no, and unless Bush went around spouting, "Do you know who I am", which he does not seem the kind of person to do, than no one would know.

I read a report somewhere once where he did some work with underpriviledged kids in Texas. They say he drove a beat up car and no one knew he had any money. They just remember him being a good guy with the kids.

Does that sound like someone spouting off, "Do you know who I am?"

Of course not.

Maybe people came forward, but not with the stories the group of vets wanted to hear.

Did T. McAuliffe ever serve in the military and if he did not, who is he to challenge any body any were in this nation.

SGM--US Army