"An honorable discharge in '78 would not have necessitated a board of review, either."
The letter from New Orleans indicates that it was not a special board of review convened to consider something about Kerry, but just one of the routine boards that periodically review the list of officers.
Congress mandates end strength. The Navy can't just allow that list of Standby Reserve (now IRR) officers to expand without limit. They have to keep discharging people off of it. Being the Navy, they instinctively convene a board to decide who to discharge. It's completely routine, I assure you.
I have been told that it is not routine and that there was a set time that one was expected to be on stand by. There are just more questions than answers regarding John Kerry's service and disservice to his country. The less than honorable discharge is the only logical explanation of the medal rewrites, that were done as a routine matter without the knowledge of the Secretary of the Navy whose name appears on the signature line.