Posted on 05/13/2004 11:42:28 PM PDT by Stoat
Sen. John Kerry was told to leave Vietnam by three colleagues upset with his behavior and attitudes, according to a fellow swift-boat officer during the war.
Thomas Wright says the misbehavior of the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate got to the point where his divisional commander no longer wanted Kerry in his boat group and re-assigned him.
Then Wright and like-minded boat officers took matters into their own hands, according to John B. Dwyer, a Vietnam veteran and military historian writing in the online magazine American Thinker.
"When he got his third Purple Heart, three of us told him to leave," Wright said, according to Dwyer. "We knew how the system worked and we didn't want him in Coastal Division 11.
"Kerry didn't manipulate the system," he continued, "we did."
Wright, who at times was officer-in-charge over Kerry, said he had occasion to observe Kerry's behavior and attitudes, and the circumstances surrounding his early departure from the war zone.
Wright noted Kerry's chosen moniker for radio communications between the boats was "Boston Strangler."
The officer said he and most other swift-boat officers had two commandments: 1. Protect the crews. 2. Win.
But working with "Boston Strangler" became problematical, he said, according to Dwyer.
"I had a lot of trouble getting him to follow orders," Wright recalled. "He had a different view of leadership and operations. Those of us with direct experience working with Kerry found him difficult and oriented toward his personal, rather than unit goals and objectives."
Wright said he "believed that overall responsibility rested squarely on the shoulders of the OIC or OTC in a free-fire zone. You had to be right [before opening fire]."
However, he continued, "Kerry seemed to believe there were no rules in a free-fire zone, and you were supposed to kill anyone. I didn't see it that way."
The rules were vital, Wright emphasized, because it was important the enemy "understood that swift boats were a competent, effective force that could dominate his location."
"You couldn't achieve that by indiscriminate use of weapons in free-fire zones," he said.
Wright referred to the three Purple Hearts awarded to Kerry, which allowed him to leave Vietnam for the U.S.
"No one wanted a Purple Heart because it meant we had made a mistake," he said. "We made sure our crews were recognized, but no one took pride in a Purple Heart."
More than a dozen of Kerry's superior officers and colleagues during the war held a press conference May 4 in Washington to tell Americans the senator is unfit to be commander-in-chief of the United States.
Retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffman, who headed Coastal Division 11, said Kerry was seen by colleagues as a self-serving, "loose cannon" who came only to launch a political career.
Hoffman said Kerry "arrived in country with a strong anti-Vietnam War bias and a self-serving determination to build a foundation for his political future."
"He was aggressive, but vain and prone to impulsive judgment, often with disregard to specific tactical assignments," Hoffman said. "He was a loose cannon."
Hoffman and his colleagues with the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are among more than 200 veterans who have signed a letter asking Kerry to authorize the Department of the Navy to release all of his military records, including health documents.
Kerry must never get the "football".
bump
Boston Strangler, huh?
Thanks for the post, but if the gruesome murder of Nick Berg barely made the news (except for the parts where the father blamed the President and SecDef's sins for his son's death), then this won't get a flea's scratch notice.
Now, if this were about the President, true or not, it would lead every news story of every member of the Fraudcast Lamescream Media.
Unfortunately you're completely correct of course.
Maybe if Drudge takes an interest in it, then it might get a footnote in the Washington Post a month from now?
Thank God for Free Republic and the internet, or we would never have an opportunity to hear all sides of a story.
If he were to do the impossible, 4 years of "The Touch back Kid" would be as detrimental to our country as 8 years of "The "Cum" back Kid".
Hasn't changed much, has he?
bttt
Boston Strangler ping.
Kerry, in Vietnam, is what we would have called, "A Goofball."
I was certain the "Three Purple Hearts and your out" policy did not exist. I have never talked to anyone who has even heard a rumor of it before f'n Kerry came on the scene.
Now those crushing efficincy reports make perfect sense. As does the late award of the 1st PH. 3 and out allowed the Navy to kick Kerry out of VN.
This also explains his hasty and unheralded departure. And his final assignment as an aide.
With Kerry's known political connections to the K-clan the Navy couldn't do anything too harsh, so they found a political solution.
Great, now he's billed as a frikken hero.
Can't wait for the POW situation to be spun to his credit.
Well isn't that special? He chose the name of a man that brutally assaulted and murdered 13 women during the early 1960's. Did he think that was humorous? I guess it fits with the description of him as a "loose canon" who fired at everything that moved and who has confessed to committing atrocities.
actually, the only part of this that doesn't make sense is the assignment as a flag officer's aide: those billets are usually given to really STRAC officers from the academies who are on the way up, if things work out the 0-7+ serves as a mentor to the 0-3 and helps guide his further career.
"Kerry must never get the "football".
Right! He would only use it against Texas though. Just Waco on a larger scale. Aggression, left wing style.
Hmm, the football. Kinda makes one think of The Dead Zone.
He made a call to the Kennedys. End of story.
Actually, if you check most flag officers career history, the position of aid as a JO is not the norm. Move it up to ops on a staff and you will have a future Flag. As a jo, combat or a meaningful operational billet carries much more weight than sword carrier.
This is just to funny.
bump
This is just another example of the fact that the ratmedia has lost control of the flow of news. In years gone by we would NEVER EVER hear about this story. I predict that lurch will go down as the first major victim of the three legged stool of The Net Talk Radio and Foxtv. In the future the dead horse faced leftist from Massachusetts will find his picture in poli-sci text books next to first "victim of modern technology."
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