Those figures are always annual, and I posted that:
"Under Zumwalt's command, swift boats would aggressively engage the enemy. Zumwalt, who died in 2000, calculated in his autobiography that these men under his command had a 75 percent chance of being killed or wounded during a typical year.
If there's a 75% risk of being killed in a year, and many of your best friends have been killed, it's hot and heavy and bloody combat. I almost get the impression that your view is that it wasn't a very bad and bloody assignment. Are you among those who sneer at his silver and bronze medals, and who believe he shouldn't have spoken out against the war, which he had seen "up close and personal," on his return?
One of the the unit commanders was quoted...
That commander was Zumwaldt, who wrote the citation for Kerry's Bronze Star:
"A couple of weeks later, on March 13, 1969, a mine detonated near Kerry's boat, wounding Kerry in the right arm, according to the citation written by Zumwalt. Guerrillas started firing on the boats from the shoreline. Kerry then realized that he had lost overboard a Green Beret who is identified only as "Rassman."
"The man was receiving sniper fire from both banks," according to Kerry's Bronze Star citation from that day. "Lt. Kerry directed his gunners to provide suppressing fire, while from an exposed position on the bow, his arm bleeding and in pain, with disregard for his personal safety, he pulled the man aboard. Lt. Kerry then directed his boat to return and assist the other damaged craft and towed the boat to safety. Lt. Kerry's calmness, professionalism and great personal courage under fire were in keeping with the highest traditions of the US Naval Service," Zumwalt's citation said.
I can't believe I'm posting about somebody's war medals. If this is my visceral reaction, this campaign to even up Kerry's and Bush's war records is going to backfire. |
