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A West Point Cadet sends this along with the photo below: I'm a cadet at West Point, and tonight at our game against the Air Force Academy, a big sign emerged, and it was shown to the Corps of Cadets, who cheered wildly, and then shown to the Air Force cadets, who also cheered.

One needn't be a John Kerry-should-have-been-president diehard to support the 2004 Democratic nominee's long-overdue effort to clear his name from vicious attacks on his military service during the Vietnam War. Granted, nearly two years have passed since Kerry's failed bid for the presidency - and more than three decades since U.S. troops fought in Vietnam. But Kerry has every right to defend his meritorious record against the smear campaign waged by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Senator John F. Kerry, ending at least two years of refusal, has waived privacy restrictions and authorized the release of his full military and medical records. The records, which the Navy Personnel Command provided to the Globe, are mostly a duplication of what Kerry released during his 2004 campaign for president, including numerous commendations from commanding officers who later criticized Kerry's Vietnam service. 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.

Title says it all. Stand by

(From April 2004) WASHINGTON - John Kerry has a piece of shrapnel in his left thigh from an injury he suffered in the Vietnam War, his doctor said Friday during a review of 36 pages of the Democratic presidential candidate's military medical records. The records shown briefly to reporters provided a few more details about the wounds that resulted in Kerry's three Purple Hearts and show that he suffered from respiratory ailments, a skin rash and a minor urinary tract infection during his four years in the Navy. Kerry was wounded three times while commanding a swiftboat in Vietnam's Mekong...