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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (6591)	5/5/2004 6:57:43 PM
From: MulhollandDrive	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

there is no question that he pulled some dangerous duty.... as did untold numbers of vietnam vets... what seems to be in question is did he game the system for personal gain? using inconsequential wounds to apply for medals that would enable him to shorten his tour not particularly heroic, if he did

To: jlallen who wrote (6591)	5/6/2004 5:05:58 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

"Kerry went and pulled some dangerous duty...." But he wasn't looking for it. He thought he was going to chase his dream of pretending to be like JFK without the danger..... ....Kerry, who sought in so many ways to emulate John Fitzgerald Kennedy, took to the water, just as his idol served on a World War II patrol boat, the 109..... ....Kerry initially hoped to continue his service at a relatively safe distance from most fighting, securing an assignment as "swift boat" skipper. While the 50-foot swift boats cruised the Vietnamese coast a little closer to the action than the Gridley had come, they were still considered relatively safe. "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." But two weeks after he arrived in Vietnam, the swift boat mission changed -- and Kerry went from having one of the safest assignments in the escalating conflict to one of the most dangerous. Under the newly launched Operation SEALORD, swift boats were charged with patrolling the narrow waterways of the Mekong Delta to draw fire and smoke out the enemy. Cruising inlets and coves and canals, swift boats were especially vulnerable targets..... boston.com