Kerry was asked to leave Vietnam: Kevin McCullough reveals why prez wannabe lasted only 4 months

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Friday, August 6, 2004 | Kevin McCullough

[JohnHuang2]

Friday, August 6, 2004

---

---

Kerry was asked to leave Vietnam

---

Posted: August 6, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Kevin McCullough

---

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

The image Americans were asked to believe, at the Democratic National Convention, of a John Kerry who "defended this nation" as a soldier in Vietnam and "will defend this nation" as its commander in chief has hit a snag.

The soldiers he served alongside of don't really believe that he did defend his country very well. And as one of his former commanding officers told my radio show on Wednesday, Kerry's chain of command was so fed up with his actions, they asked him to go home after he received his third purple heart.

Retired U.S. Navy officer Thomas Wright served our nation for 21 years. He also served as one of Kerry's superiors in the tough assignment of SWIFT Boat (Shallow Water Inshore Fast Tactical) patrols on the southern tip of Vietnam. Lt. Wright frequently experienced trouble with Kerry.

According to Wright, Kerry frequently broke protocols of engagement for SWIFT Boat commanders.

When you're in a group (of boats on patrol) you don't open fire unless the person in charge tells you to or unless you are defending yourself from an immediate attack ... I'd have problems because we'd be running on a river and Kerry would see something off in the distance and he'd take a pot-shot at it, to see what happened. And that wasn't the way we were trying to run the patrols.

We were trying to get in and find out what was going on, and hopefully make contact and begin to work with some of the people that lived there ... And you don't get to go shake their hands when you're shooting at them.

I asked Wright how Kerry would respond to the necessary correction that would follow such unilateral actions.

Well, during the mission you just continue to issue the orders that you expect people to follow and, if they don't do them, you would continue to press until you got the results that you need.

After a mission, is generally when you work out the more difficult problems. And those are done in private.

I'd go talk to John Kerry and I'd tell him that I was unhappy with his opening fire, or pulling out of a column when he wasn't supposed to, or failing to communicate when he needed to ... And I'd always get an excuse. I wouldn't get a direct answer.

I'd get "I didn't hear that," or "We thought we saw something" or "My radio was on the other side of the boat" or "I didn't have time." It was always an excuse. After three or four times ... I went to the division commander, told him about the problems I [had] been having and told him [the commander] that he needed to take steps to correct it.

That brought me to the shocker of the interview. To hear John Kerry speak about his time in Vietnam is to hear a self-personified story of heroics. Lt. Wright remembers what happened after Kerry's third purple heart quite differently.

When he got his third purple heart, that evening, and we didn't particularly care what it was for, we knew that he had three. That evening, I and two other people went in and told him that we felt that he should go home. It was something that he could do ... He told us that he didn't want that, it was his intention to serve his country, and the next morning he was gone. And we were happy and didn't worry about it.

John Kerry was barely able to endure four months on SWIFT Boat detail. Since I am sure the War on Terror will endure a bit longer than that, the idea of him commanding our troops with his unsteady hand is making me ... well ... seasick.

---

Editor's note: The actual audio of this entire interview can be heard on Kevin McCullough's website.

---

Kevin McCullough is heard daily from 1 to 4 p.m. EST in New York City on AM 570 WMCA, and in New Jersey on AM 970 WWDJ. Additionally, you can read his daily postings at The KMC Blog. For information on how to bring "The Kevin McCullough Show" to a station near you, call Dave Armstrong at 201-298-5700.

[drq]

btt

[Bob]

Thank you for your service, sir.

You're quite welcome; I was just doing my job (and staying out of the draft). We didn't have lottery numbers when I flunked out of college in 1966. Once the student deferment was gone, so were you.

If I'm not mistaken, they were considering drafting into the Marine Corps as well as the Army at that point in time. I don't know if they did or not but I wasn't willing to chance it. The Marine Corps was looking for 'A Few Good Men' who really wanted to be there. I can't imagine that Marine draftees were treated any better than some Army draftees that I had gone to school with.

And for the correction in jargon.

No problem. I think it's a deliberate attempt on the rats' part to exaggerate J F'n K's 'career'.

[Bob]

did he have a friend in teddy kennedy at that time??--if so, that is what protected his sorry ass

See posts 48 and 51. You bet he did.

[cmotormac44]

sounds a lot like today--most servicemen in for a year or so have 2-4 lines of medals---guess they give them out for just being around these days

[dixie sass]

Oh, I have no doubt that it could be both - I wonder if there weren't some threats or something like walking into a door attached to his hurry to get away from 'Nam. My Daddy always said that chicken s%&$@'s and coward weren't tolerated and were made to realize it one way or another during WWII, and I don't think 'Nam was any different.

[kilowhskey]

Draftees were indeed sent to the Marines at that time. At the peak of the manpower shortage, at the induction center those in charge would count out "One, two, three, Marine!" So, one in four draftees (at the height of the conflict)went to the Corps. I later asked a Marine Corps Sgt. if he had any contact with Marines who had been drafted. He said that indeed he had a couple working for him and they were every bit as good as volunteer Marines.

[mabelkitty]

I don't know. I heard this bit a while back. I also heard he got poor reviews.
Did Kerry get these Purple Hearts so he could leave before he was thrown out? That would make even more sense.

[Bob]

I later asked a Marine Corps Sgt. if he had any contact with Marines who had been drafted. He said that indeed he had a couple working for him and they were every bit as good as volunteer Marines.

Please don't get me wrong. I don't doubt that Marine draftees were every bit as good as the volunteers. I just didn't want to be one of them. :=)

A friend who had been drafted into the Army told me that his service number (which is used for everything in the military) distinguished him from a volunteer. I recall him telling me that his number started with the letters "US" (indicating a draftee) and volunteers' numbers started with "RA" (for 'regular Army'). I've never independently confirmed this but I believe it to be the case.

[No Surrender No Retreat]

The elitist click taking care of one of their own.

[VOA]

Lt. Kerry, here are your medals and ribbons.
Now get out.

[knarf]

It's true.

RA 11448419
'65 - '67
O5C20 - Radio-Teletype Op.
Signal Corps, Uijongbu, Korea,

[Poincare]

Both can be true.

I believe Kerry had help getting into the Navy since it was so hard to do at a time when so many were facing the draft into a ground war. I remember well how some of my classmates tried and failed to get in the USN. So it should be in his records that someone influential, perhaps just his father, (perhaps a Kennedy?) was someone that would complain if Kerry were cashiered out as he deserved to be. So give him some Purple Hearts, some Stars and send him home to run for office as a war hero.

[Bob]

Thanks for the confirmation on that.

[No Surrender No Retreat]

I was a volunteer and still remember my RA #. Yes, your assumption is correct. Bush/Cheney 2004

[kellynla]

Elliott signed off on at least one citation (the Silver Star), and now has come saying that if the information is true, that Kerry chased one Viet Cong and dispatched him, had he (Elliott) been given that version of events when he was considering the citation, he (Elliott) would not have signed off. He has sworn this in an affidavit dated August 6, 2004.

ohhhhh, pullllllezzzzzzzzz
the Navy blew this royalllllll,,,,,giinvinnnnng this clown three PH's, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star for four months work????? give me a friginggg break!!! I don't know what world you guys live in but nobody in my world in Nam was gettin 3 PH's, a Bronze and Silver star for four months work except those having a wet dream!!! And that's the bottom line!!!

[Cboldt]

ohhhhh, pullllllezzzzzzzzz
the Navy blew this royaly, giving this clown three PH's ...

I agree with your bottom line, that the weight of Kerry's commendations in a short tour is odd. Let his peers and superiors carry this water. Our job is to make sure they get to air their piece on a nationwide scale, and rebut opponents in the same nationwide venue. This is a Presidential election, not a Massachusetts election.

[AndrewC]

So give him some Purple Hearts, some Stars and send him home to run for office as a war hero.

Something planned surely occurred. For someone that volunteered for Viet Nam duty to serve his country, four months of that sought-after duty would not be much of a fulfilment. Especially in light of the serious nature of the three purple heart wounds which lost him all of one day of "incapacitation"(I suspect less than 1 hour). And the fact that prior to his release from military duty he was gallivanting around the country doing anti-war activities.

[dennisw]

bttttt

[kellynla]

Well I don't know where the hell the good folks in MA were for the past 30 friggin' years but somebody should have questioned this clown's combat service!!!
Point, Game, Set, Match!!!

I trust you polo swingin' dicks in MA comprendo????

[RottiBiz]

Bingo!

Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

He has more than five -- he has all nine.