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Let's Put this Urban Legend to Rest (Kerry's Discharge)
UCMJ, John Kerry, Washington Post ^ | 9/30 | TOH

Posted on 09/29/2004 11:13:03 PM PDT by The Old Hoosier

This business about Kerry not receiving an honorable discharge until 2000 is simply untrue. The real story of Kerry's discharge is interesting enough, we don't need to be making things up.

Kerry actually received his honorable discharge in February 1978, not 30 years after his service ended, as so many threads here on FR have alleged. Here is the document:

http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/Honorable_Discharge_From_Reserve.pdf

Here is the full timeline, which Kerry was given by the Navy years later:

http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/Request_For_History_of_Service.pdf

Note that that's quite a long time as an inactive standby reservist--six years. Kerry left active duty in 1970. He left the naval reserves in July 1972 to become an inactive standby reservist. This notice of his upcoming change in status was sent to him in March 1972:

http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/Transfer_To_Standby_Reserve.pdf

Yet as one FReeper notes regarding the above document, "John Kerry's letter of transfer to the Standby Reserves is conspicuously missing a page. The first page posted on his campaign website has a final line that ends in a colon. After the colon was supposed to follow a list of Kerry's obligations while in the Standby Reserves. What were those obligations, and did Kerry fulfill them?"

As a naval reservist between 70 and 72, Kerry would have had certain obligations--keeping the govt notified on his whereabouts, and drilling, for example. Someone should ask the question of whether Kerry properly notified the Navy when he travelled to Paris in 1971 (see note at the end) and met with the communists. He would have been required to do so as a standby reservist.

Presumably, he also would have been required to drill. Was he drilling during the same period when he was out giving speeches that compared Ho Chi Minh to George Washington? Or even better, did he skip drills to do events with Jane Fonda? Did he skip drills to do Dewey Canyon and Valley Forge and the protest on the mall, and other such anti-war events?

Maybe Kerry did not fulfill those obligations, and that's why his discharge came so much later. Could Kerry have gotten a less-than-honorable discharge (perhaps general) at some point later than 1972 and earlier than 1978, then got it smoothed over later on? No one will be able to know this unless Kerry releases his full record to the press, without filtering it through his campaign.

The Washington Post noted on August 22 that, contrary to his claims, Kerry has not released his records:

"Although Kerry campaign officials insist that they have published Kerry's full military records on their Web site (with the exception of medical records shown briefly to reporters earlier this year), they have not permitted independent access to his original Navy records. A Freedom of Information Act request by The Post for Kerry's records produced six pages of information. A spokesman for the Navy Personnel Command, Mike McClellan, said he was not authorized to release the full file, which consists of at least a hundred pages."


TOPICS: Front Page News; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: awol; discharge; kerry; kerrydischarge; kerryrecord; militaryrecord; ucmj
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To: The Old Hoosier

Most services have something like PerFormPro--automated document software which loads a particular form number (e.g. DD-215, etc.) onto a PC and allows the user to fill in the document blanks and print it out. It automatically sized the spaces to fill and did word wrap, etc. Mucho different from what one would expect in the 1970's.


41 posted on 09/30/2004 1:16:07 AM PDT by Skybird
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To: Mia T
The proportionally-spaced and kerned sections appear computer-generated and 'wrong' to me. If the body of the letter had been typeset by the Navy, why is the font used a "shmutzified" font, i.e., a font design that simulates age and impact-generated type?

The boilerplate text of the form appears to be typeset, and was probably printed in large quantity with an offset method (i.e. Gutenberg). The perforations at top and bottom indicate a continuous form.

The malformed monospaced letters from the computer printer - Kerry's name, for instance - could be explained as the last carbon copy in a multi-part form. Perhaps that's what "Part 4" at the bottom of the page refers to - the fourth copy.

42 posted on 09/30/2004 1:31:43 AM PDT by HAL9000
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To: HAL9000

BTTT!


43 posted on 09/30/2004 1:34:32 AM PDT by Jet Jaguar (Who would the terrorists vote for?)
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To: JLS
Good point, I was wondering that as well. If it would be the date of the original discharge, or the date on which it was changed?

Cheers!
44 posted on 09/30/2004 1:42:07 AM PDT by SmellsLikeOwen
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To: HAL9000

Sounds reasonable. thx.

The bottom line, tho, is kerry's refusal to sign 180 and release ALL of his records.

Kerry is hiding something... and it's likely something related to his seditious activity...

Will the old media 'interrogators' ask him why he refuses to sign form 180? Or are they still operating in the manner of Dan Rather?


45 posted on 09/30/2004 1:53:01 AM PDT by Mia T (Stop Clintons' Undermining Machinations (The acronym is the message.))
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To: zip

pimg


46 posted on 09/30/2004 3:51:26 AM PDT by zip ((Remember: pingDimocRat lies told often enough became truth to 42% of americans))
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To: little jeremiah
Is the statute of limitations expired? If not, could someone perform a citizens' arrest for that crime, or does it have to be a MP?

The UCMJ has no statue of limitations for death penalty crimes.

47 posted on 09/30/2004 3:56:08 AM PDT by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink.)
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To: The Old Hoosier

Eww, Kerry has a discharge? Does it have something to do with tha orange jaundice he's taken? He needs to see a doctor!


48 posted on 09/30/2004 4:09:41 AM PDT by Churchjack
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To: The Old Hoosier

As a member of the inactive reserve Kerry was not subject to the UCMJ. I read Article 2 of the UCMJ and cannot find anywhere in it that a person in his status was subject to the provisions of the UCMJ. As much as I would like to nail Kerry for his treasonous conduct, the UCMJ would not apply to him.


49 posted on 09/30/2004 4:59:24 AM PDT by ops33 (Retired USAF Senior Master Sergeant)
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To: clyde260

BUMP For later


50 posted on 09/30/2004 2:03:50 PM PDT by clyde260 (Public Enemy #1: Network News!)
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To: Jet Jaguar
What is John Kerry hiding? Why doesn't he sign the Standard Form 180 and release his military service and medical records to the public?

Join the petition.

http://www.SignForm180.com

51 posted on 09/30/2004 2:07:02 PM PDT by Beckwith (John Kerry, sign the Form 180 - petition at http://www.SignForm180.com)
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To: The Old Hoosier

Detailed analysis of Kerry discharge now online at

http://www.vetsforbush.net/kerry-oth-discharge.pdf


52 posted on 11/01/2004 1:13:30 AM PST by mindwest
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