has Dan ever adaquately, himself, ever explained 'his service' in the USMC?
Wes Vernon, NewsMax.com Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2002
One of the nation’s top military researchers is angry that CBS News anchorman Dan Rather continues to exaggerate and make misleading statements about his military record.
The researcher, B.G. Burkett, says that Rather’s inaccaurate statements about his military service can be found in the new hit book "Bias,” written by veteran CBS reporter Bernard Goldberg.
Burkett, co-author of the book "Stolen Valor,” a history of the media’s portrayal of the Vietnam conflict, says he’s tired of Rather’s double-talk and hypocrisy.
Case in point are Rather’s claims in "Bias.” Goldberg's book details a confrontation he had with Rather over the anchorman's compulsive liberal bias.
Goldberg recounts that when he told the network star in 1996 of his upcoming Wall Street Journal op-ed piece citing a specific CBS News report as an example of left-wing bias, Rather replied he was "getting viscerally angry about this.” "Angry I was expecting,” Goldberg tell his readers. "What came next, I wasn’t.
"Rather’s voice started quivering, and he told me how in his young days, he had signed up with the Marines – not once, but twice!”
This is not the first time Rather has hid behind the flag and his own military service claims to deflect criticism of his reporting, Burkett said. Burkett added that Rather is greatly exaggerating his record. First, Burkett says, Rather "misspoke” when he claimed he signed up for the Marines twice. He didn’t.
And Burkett is flabbergasted that Rather continues to proudly describe himself as a "Marine.”
"What he did, he signed up for the military twice, not the Marines,” Burkett said after thoroughly reviewing Rather’s military records.
But Burkett notes that Rather "never got through Marine recruit training because he couldn’t do the physical activity.”
More at : http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/1/15/205545.shtml