Thanks, Sam, this is very useful information. My own take on Kerry is that he was in the military as a stepping stone to political aspirations. He did an ignominious 6-month tour on a destroyer off the coast and well out of harm's way and then decided he needed a better resume, so he volunteered for coastal patrols in the Swift Boats. Little did he know that the Swift Boats would be used for riverine warfare by the time he arrived. I have read with interest that his boat was based in An Thoi. Although that means nothing to most people, An Thoi is located on Dao (island) Phu Quouc, well off the western Vietnam coast. Dao Phu Quoc just happened to be the location of the huge US POW camp. It was about as secure as Berlin, NH. I know, I flew in there many times. We looked forward to an approach with no ground fire, a nice swim in the ocean to cool off, and a fine meal at the Navy mess hall. An Thoi had the best food in Vietnam.I suspect the source of his rage against the war and his lies about his fellow officers and men stems from his own inexperienced behavior. I have read varying accounts of his "kills" and it sounds like a boatload of out of control people, who should have been under the command of Lt. Kerry. He was brought up in a normal, if privileged, manner and he likely suffered from enormous feelings of guilt about his own actions and his failure to command his men appropriately. Instead of taking personal responsibility for his failings, he decided to attempt to place the blame elsewhere to assuage his own guilt. I also suspect he is very vulnerable on this whole episode.
While he attempts to paint GW as serving less than honorably, I find that hard to swallow. He accepted two of his Purple Hearts for wounds that were nothing more than scratches, knowing that three PHs and he had a way out. His total tour was just four months. Obviously, he was a better guardhouse lawyer than I, as I had never heard of the three Purple Heart loophole, nor would I have applied for it under the circumstances Kerry did. On the other hand, no self-respecting officer would accept a Purple Heart for a "band-aid" wound if he had ever seen the men who truly earned the award. I cannot imagine an officer who would use a loophole to sneak out and leave his brothers to do the fighting. Most of us served out our tours as prescribed and didn't let down our fellow officers and men.
Now GW, on the other hand, graduated from USAF Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) in about the same era as I did and I know exactly what he had to do to make the grade. He went on to fly the F-102 Flying Coffin, which takes a special type of person. There is no crew to bail you out of trouble; it is just you and the airplane and you survive on your own skill and ability. I have respect for any man who had the right stuff to graduate from UPT -- 53 weeks of intensive training with never a let-up. As an aside, the F-102 was never assigned to South Vietnam; the closest GW would have been, even if activated, was Thailand. Despite what the media like to say, GW did not take the "easy way out", that was the province of the Klintoon and many others like him.
It seems to me that the realization is beginning to settle on the Dems that Kerry is going to lead the parade and they are terrified now that it has happened. He is not a leader and, in fact, is downright weak. We just have to exploit his flaws to our advantage.