Band of brothers against Kerry

Our posts on John Kerry continue to elicit information, support, and encouragement from Kerry’s fabled band of brothers — the guys who served in Vietnam while Kerry was trashing them before adoring audiences back home and clawing his way to fame over their bloodied reputations. Funny he hasn’t gotten around to extending an apology to the “band of brothers” whose loyalty he claims.
Peyton Randolph writes:

From numerous discussions of That Prick’s heroic action which “earned” him a Silver Star, it seems clear to me that he jumped off of his boat, while leaving it grounded and vulnerable, to chase down and execute a lone enemy soldier who was grievously wounded and no longer firing at That Prick’s boat. I was 9 years active duty in the Army, and the above describes a court-martial offense. We were taught in no uncertain terms that administering a coup de grace to wounded enemy soldiers was a big no-no. I hope much more buzz comes of this from veterans groups and people who ought to know. If that happens, then the RNC won’t have to utter a peep.

Peter Rice writes:

Perhaps you might get the facts about the exact period of time that Senator John F-word Kerry served in the US Navy Reserve, the period on active duty and the period in the US Navy Reserve until he was discharged. Perhaps you will learn that he was discharged from the US Navy Reserve several years after his throwing someone’s medals or ribbons on the US Capitol grounds and his other support for Jane Fonda and the Government of the People’s Socialist Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam, our enemy at that time).
Perhaps you may learn that Lt (jg) John F-word Kerry while still an officer in the US Navy Reserve was helping our enemy, North Vietnam. The Uniform Code of Military Justice applies to those in the reserves just as it does to those on active duty. Perhaps you have a major story about Lt. John F-word Kerry USNR throwing medals and/or ribbons on the US Capitol grounds, not civilian John F-word Kerry.

CNN’s profile of Kerry indicates that Kerry served in the Naval Reserves from 1972 to 1978 following his 1970 discharge.
Brad La Fleur, 1st Force Recon Co. USMC, Vietnam 1964-66, writes:

Thank you for making this information available. I have been following Kerry’s campaign and searching for background (military and civilian) history because of his pathetic portrayal of Viet Vets – and all soldiers in general. He is certainly a disgrace to the United States of America and more so to the Armed Forces of America as a whole. Please pass this information to the author [of “A Vietnam vet against Kerry”] with my sincere thanks and appreciation for his military service to our country.

Finally, a gentleman who asks us to withhold his name writes:

I have had some experience writing commendations for various levels of military award. This causes me to comment (and support) some of the information from the [“A Vietnam vet against Kerry”] post. Perhaps you will find this information useful.
Before I proceed, here are my credentials as it were:
Name: [Withheld]
Address: [Withheld]
Enlisted US Army, May 1965 – May 1968 (3 yrs)
Infantry MOS (11B) all 3 yrs.
Germany Sept. ’65 – Jun ’66 (8th Inf Div, HHC 1-13inf, Baumholder)
Vietnam Jul ’66 – Jul ’67 (1st Inf Div (Big Red One), C-1-18
Stateside Jul ’67 – May ’68 (197th Light Infantry Brigade, B-1-58, Ft. Benning – So. Fort/Harmony Church).
Now, concerning commendations. On return stateside from Viet Nam, was assigned to B Company, 1st Bn 58th Inf (197th Light Inf Brigade) at Ft. Benning’s South Fort/Harmony Church area – about 25 mi. out from the main Ft. Benning post area. We were so far away that our unit (197th) had its own Personnel section, etc. While assigned to B Company as an infantry squad leader (SSG E-6), I was assigned temp duty (TDY) to the Personnel section within the 197th. My assignment was to handle a 4-person section that wrote up commendations for various military awards – mostly combat citations from Vietnam.
As part of that assignment, we used a compilation of phrases and words that had been categorized into divided-binder form, the divisions based on words/phrases that should be used in preparing each of the various levels of award. For example, there was a section of words/phrases that were to be used when writing a Silver Star commendation, one for Bronze Stars, etc. During my 7-month assignment in this area, senior military officers (typically COL 0-6 thru Maj Gen 0-8 levels) from Ft. Benning, other Posts and Wash., DC typically “dropped by” to see how the preparation for various citations was going for individuals they had recommended.
What they invariably asked to see was whether or not we had used the “right words/phrases” to support the level of award they had in mind for the individual in question. In other words, commendations were often written to what was desired, rather than to what actually happened. I must put a caveat here: This happened in only about 25% of the cases. The remaining 75% were written based on eye-witness and other reports of what actually occurred in the combat situation described.
Hope you find this interesting.

HINDROCKET has a thought: You know how in the last couple of elections, a Presidential candidate can’t go anywhere without a motley gang of protesters assembling, or a guy with a cigar or dressed up like a chicken? Fast forward to the fall…imagine that everywhere John Kerry goes, there is a group of Vietnam veterans protesting…quietly, in a dignified, maybe even semi-military, manner. Say the crowd keeps getting bigger as the campaign goes on. It could become very hard to ignore. It could drastically impact how people view Kerry. After all these years, the Vietnam era soldiers who have been belittled and maligned by John Kerry and people like him may have an opportunity to be seen. And heard. If our mailbox is any indication, there may be no shortage of volunteers.