[My Dog Likes Me]

I like Don Feder, so I'm surprised at this weird rant.

John Forbes Kerry-Kohn actually killed Communists with his own hands.

Kerry's later transformation into pacifist geek was, in my view, a form of PTSD.

How many commies has Feder killed?

[cajungirl]

PTSD?? Get real.

[Jaxter]

We pretty much have to depend on Kerry's word that he's a war hero. Do you think shooting a wounded man in the back warrants a Silver Star? He served 4 months in-country and weaseled his way home on a '3 wounds (no matter how insignificant) and you're home free' technicality. John Kerry is scum.

[MEG33]

Your view is very compassionate.He is not at fault for associating with Jane Fonda,who should have been tried for treason ,the peace initiative put forth by the communist,calling his comrades murderous baby killers and mutilators,faking throwing his medals over the fence..

His fellow comrades still fighting and dying over there,some imprisoned and tortured for years might possibly feel betrayed.

He had PTSD and all is ducky/sarcasm.

I despise his touting his Viet Nam war heroics without admitting he encouraged people,with his testimony and the work with Jane Fonda to spit on our returning GIs and call them baby killers.

91% are proud of their service and 97% were honorably discharged.

He gave suspect testimony that slandered all with the same brush.He helped break our sense of duty to the Vietnamese by our witholding promised funds when we withdrew and the North attacked again.

He had scroungy men in fatigues pose with an upside down American flag,mocking the famous WW2 flagraising on Iwo Jima for the cover of his first book.Hardly honorable nor respectful of WW2 vets.But he had PTSD.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Kerry's later transformation into pacifist geek was, in my view, a form of PTSD

Oh, that's different. In that case I will vote for him for president . . .

</sarcasm>

[armymarinemom]

PTSD? Why then did he speak against the War before he left to serve?
A lot of his classmates spoke of his intense political ambitions during his time at Yale.
Kerry '66: 'He was going to be president'

A sense of duty
In March 1965, as the war in Vietnam continued to escalate, Kerry won the Ten Eyck prize as the best orator in the junior class for a speech that criticized U.S foreign policy as arrogant and unrealistic.
"It is the specter of Western imperialism that causes more fear among Africans and Asians than communism, and thus it is self-defeating," Kerry said in his speech. "We have grossly overextended ourselves in areas where we have no vital primary interest."
The next year, Kerry discarded his original Class Day oration -- which had already been published in the Yale Banner -- for a new address echoing many of the sentiments of his prize-winning speech. In a speech that was unusually political for a Class Oration, he criticized the United States for intervening in Asian affairs and isolating itself from the world community.
"I think he was ahead of his time," Smith said about Kerry's attitude towards Vietnam. "I think he felt that the war was much more controversial at an earlier stage than anybody else."
But even before delivering his oration, Kerry had enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Despite his public misgivings about Vietnam, Kerry was preparing to enter the military soon after commencement.
While Kerry criticized the war and its goals, he was committed in his decision to serve. In contrast to Yale students two or three years later who more frequently tried to avoid the service at all costs, many members of the Class of '66 volunteered, Smith said.
"I was very proud of my decision to go into the Navy and I still am," Kerry said. "But keep in mind, when I joined the Navy, the first draft card hadn't been burned. Vietnam was nebulous. It wasn't yet the war it would become."
By volunteering, students could avoid the draft and enter the officer corps. But for the Class of '66, graduate school deferments were still available. If Kerry had not wanted to serve, he could have entered law school immediately after graduation.

It would appear that his time in the service was calculated in order to use it just as he is doing now.