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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ann Corrigan who wrote (34116)	3/13/2004 2:45:04 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 793896

Was Kerry really in Vietnam for only 4mos?...or is that an exaggeration by his opponents? Less than 4 months...Here is the info given to me... In 67/68 Kerry served 7 months on board the USS Gridley as an electrical officer. 3-4 months of that time, the ship was somewhere off the coast of Vietnam. He did not go on land and the ship was not involved in combat. He returned to the US. Later, beginning Dec 1, 1968, Kerry commanded swift boat 44 through January. In late January 1969, he assumed command of swift boat 94 for 48 days. In March, Kerry used a loophole in Navy Rags to request he be relieved of his combat command. Commodore Charles F. Horne, an administrative official and commander of the coastal squadron in which Kerry served approved that request on March 17, 1969 and Kerry left his ship and shipmates in battle returned to the United States. Bendell, a Green Beret wrote, "After spending only four months in the country of Vietnam, John Kerry testified before Congress in 1971 with these exact words about incidents he supposedly witnessed or heard about from other American vets: “They personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam." (Similar words can be found in NVA propaganda from that period.) Then Bendell wrote, "My children and grandchildren could read your words, and think those horrendous things about me, Mr. Kerry. You are a bold-faced, unprincipled liar, and a disgrace, and you have dishonored me and all my fellow Vietnam veterans. Sure, there were a couple bad-apples, but I saw none, and I saw it all, and if I did, as an army officer, it was my obligation to stop it, or at the very least report it. Why is there not a single record anywhere of you ever reporting any incidents like this or having the perpetrators arrested? The answer is simple. You are a liar. Your medals and mine are not a free pass for lifetime, Senator Kerry, to bypass character, integrity, and morality. I earn my green beret over and over daily in all aspects of my life. Eight National Guard green berets, and other National Guard soldiers, have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you totally dishonored their widows and families by lumping National Guard service in with being a draft-dodger, conscientious objector, and deserter, just so you can try to sabotage the patriotism of our President who proudly served as an Air National Guard jet pilot. I have a son earning his green beret at Fort Bragg right now, and his wife serves honorably in the Air National Guard, just like President Bush did and I am as proud of her as I am my son." donbendell.com