Posted on 08/05/2004 6:37:46 PM PDT by FairOpinion
"When [Kerry] came back from the well-publicized action where he beached his boat in middle of ambush and chased a VC around a hootch and ended his life, when [Kerry] came back and I heard his debrief, I said, `John, I don't know whether you should be court-martialed or given a medal, court-martialed for leaving your ship, your post,"' Elliott (Kerry's Commanding Officer) recalled in an interview.
A C.O. [commanding officer] never leaves his ship in battle or anything else.
Elliott stressed that he never questioned Kerry's decision to kill the Viet Cong, and he appeared in Boston at Kerry's side during the 1996 Senate race to back up that aspect of Kerry's action.
"I don't think they were exactly ready to court-martial him," said Wade Sanders, who commanded a swift boat that sometimes accompanied Kerry's vessel, and who later became deputy assistant secretary of the Navy. "I can only say from the certainty borne of experience that there must have been some rumbling about, `What are we going to do with this guy, he turned his boat,' and I can hear the words, `He endangered his crew.' But from our position, the tactic to take is whatever action is best designed to eliminate the enemy threat, which is what he did.
.....
Roy Hoffmann, who commanded the coastal division in which Kerry served, worried about Kerry, at least at the beginning. He said Kerry and some other skippers initially "had difficulty carrying out direct orders. You know, they were playing the cowboy a little bit. John Kerry was one of them. You don't go out on your own when you are given certain type of patrols, and we were having difficulty with that."
Kerry is clearly reckless, and would present a grave danger to the country, if he becamse CiC. The Swiftboat Vets know Kerry and know this.
In such critical times, Bush has shown himself to be measured and patient, but also courageous, when action needed to be taken.
Kerry is totally reckless.
Sorry, I accidentally omitted the link, could you please include it:
http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061603.shtml
Thank you very much.
"My name is Steve Gardner. I served in 1966 and 1967 on my first tour of duty in Vietnam on Swift boats, and I did my second tour in '68 and '69, involved with John Kerry in the last 2 1/2 months of my tour. The John Kerry that I know is not the John Kerry that everybody else is portraying. I served alongside him and behind him, five feet away from him in a gun tub, and watched as he made indecisive moves with our boat, put our boats in jeopardy, put our crews in jeopardy... if a man like that can't handle that 6-man crew boat, how can you expect him to be our Commander-in-Chief?"
-- Steven Gardner
The above quote was from a press conference given at the National Press Club in Washington on May 4, 2004. You may view Steven’s comments at the following web site. Just scroll down to Steven’s picture and click on it.
http://www.swiftvets.com/index.php?topic=SwiftVetQuotes
Searching through that web site, you will find 250 men who served on Swift boats, including the entire chain of command above Lt. Kerry, agree with Steven Gardner that Kerry is not fit to be Commander-in-Chief. That compares to the 13 crew members who support his candidacy.
4 crew members who were in his boat...the rest were on other boats
I just posted that comment about court martial or medal on another thread. Perfect timing.
Has anyone asked the men on his boat about their war crimes? Kerry was so absolutely inclusive in his testimony that they are surely guilty.
I would like to hear what they did.
I'm having some trouble picturing this metaphor. There is something inside me which doubles over with laughter as I even get close to imagining the Bostonian "Kerry" and "cowboy" in the same 40 acre plot. Need photoshop or something, I guess.
I disagree...Kerry hasn't got the balls to be reckless.
Perhaps he had a WO who talked him into rash action?
I should have rephrased it, Kerry is reckless with other's lives, the same way he put his crew in danger, by leaving his ship, he would put us in danger.
He a thoughtless fool who believes his own legend.
Worse, he has the entire media/entertainment industry in the tank for him.
Scares the living he!! out of me.
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