[FairOpinion]

I think he waited until after he sent in Sandy Berger to stuff the incriminating ones into his shoes and pants and remove them from the records.

[NavVet]

Any one here can submit a Freedom of Information Act request to the Bureau of Personnel in Millington, TN and ask for a copy of the record.

[SR 50]

This is just another ploy by Kerry to stay in the news media weekly. If anything about this story is true, it"s an attempt to see what the reaction will be now rather than later on nearer to election time.

No one else here mentioned it so I guess I will. You don't send the SF 180 to the Department of the NAVY unless you are currently active duty. The request goes to the National Archives Center for retired military records.

Check out: www.archives.gov/research_room/obtain_copies/standard_form_180/pdf. (click on SF Form 180.)

If the Boston Globe got any records from the Navy Personnel Command they were not Kerry's Military and Medical Records Flies. The Navy simply does not maintain any records on non-active personnel.

This is another whitewash folks...

[R. Scott]

… including numerous commendations from commanding officers …

It must be different for Officers. Some time ago I requested copies of my military records. No commendations were sent. Very few transfer orders were sent. No citations for awards were sent. What I received were mostly my 210 file, DD214s and enlistment contracts
Maybe he had some help assembling the paperwork?

[Snickersnee]

The DD 214 (Report of Separation from Active Military Service) posted on Kerry's website was issued several years after his release from active duty and apparently incorporates several changes that were made to the original. The big question: what does the original say? Specifically, what entries are in the blocks entitled "Narrative reason for separation" and "Character of service"? Anything other than "expiration of active duty obligation" in the first and "Honorable" in the second spells trouble -- and a lot of explaining.

[OXENinFLA]

Now that's JF'nK signed the SF-180 can't anyone request the ALL the files under the FOIA?

[sam_paine]

Like a photo on a Coulter thread...

"Kerry Who?"

[kellynla]

BTTT

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

The Boston Globe, sheesh that means they're forever protected by the Seal of the Confessional. Might as well have place them in a time capsule on an extragalatic trajectory.

It's not like the Boston Globe is going to go over them with a fine tooth comb and find any revealing details or even recognize them if they did. Post them on the internet and in 45 minutes eagle-eyed bloggers will spot the tell-tale hints requiring requiring a whole lotta 'splainin'.

[jdm]

"The lack of any substantive new material about Kerry's military career in the documents raises the question of why Kerry refused for so long to waive privacy restrictions."

This is akin to Saddam shipping off his WMD's to Syria, et el, prior to the war. Yet so many still wonder "if Saddam had no WMD's why didn't he prove it so that he could maintain his status/lifestyle in the Middle East?" It's because he did have them (WMD's).

Likewise, if John Kerry had nothing to hide, why has he refused for so long to waive privacy restrictions. It's because the documentation had to be altered/changed/moved first.

Saddam couldn't move fast enough to beat the UN deadline to move the WMD's to another country -- therefore, eventually war started -- and Kerry couldn't beat the Presidential election deadline to have his 180 cleansed.

Maybe a poor analogy, I don't know.

[JarheadFromFlorida]

Don't worry, whatever will be released to the pubic (if anything ever really is), has already been scrubbed as to not damage Hanoi John in the next election.

[moondoggie]

Is anybody here surprised that once released the records were "sanitized"?

[NonValueAdded]

Has Kerry released the SF-180 itself? It might be interesting to see if there are any restrictions or conditions stated.

[sport]

He released them because all incriminating information in them has been removed.

Even someone who votes a straight Democrat ticket can figure this out.

[bert]

The Boston Globe is not a creditable source and must be considered as a propaganda purveyor rather than a publisher of truth.

The only acceptable reporting on this story must come from Fox News. When Brit reports it then it can be believed.

[bmwcyle]

What is at the bottom of the DD-214?

[Liberty Valance]

Je should have given them to the Boston Herald.

[NerdDad]

You know, I've never understood this stuff. I separated from the USAF in Dec 1984 after 2 terms. A couple months after my separation I received a package in the mail containing my complete original personnel record. I have no doubt that there are microfiched copies somewhere in USAF archives but I have the entire original file.

I would never consider running for any elected office but if I were to do so, I could hand any inquiring journalist my entire military record at my whim.

[pabianice]

So... what's the explanation of his being discharged from the Navy six years late (1978 vs. 1972)? Oh. I guess he hasn't released ALL his records, has he?

[dirtboy]

I think he waited until after he sent in Sandy Berger to stuff the incriminating ones into his shoes and pants and remove them from the records.

I think there are problems in the records - but by staging this so that the Kerry-friendly Globe does the initial sanitized reporting, any subsequent revelations can be dismissed by the MSM as fabrications by the right-wingers.

[tobyhill]

"The lack of any substantive new material"

Is there no new material or is there new material the BG figures is not substantive?