John Kerry's service in Vietnam lasted 4 months and 12 days, beginning
in November 1968 when he reported to Cam Rahn Bay for a month of
training. His abbreviated combat tour ended shortly after he requested
a transfer out of Vietnam on March 17, 1969, citing Navy instruction
1300.39 permitting personnel with three Purple Hearts to request
reassignment. So far as we are able to determine, Kerry was the only
Swift sailor ever to leave Vietnam without completing the standard
one-year tour of duty, other than those who were seriously wounded or
killed.

It is clear that at least one of Kerry's Purple Heart awards was the
result of his own negligence, not enemy fire, and that Kerry went to
unusual lengths to obtain the award after being turned down by his own
commanding officer.

John Kerry has long insisted that using the three-injury loophole to
leave combat early was his own idea, but Kerry's fellow Swift officer
Thomas Wright, who served on occasion as the OIC (Officer in Charge)
of Kerry's boat group, contradicts that claim. Wright reports that he
"had a lot of trouble getting Kerry to follow orders," and that those
who worked with Kerry found him "oriented towards his personal, rather
than unit goals and objectives." He therefore requested that Kerry be
removed from his boat group. After John Kerry qualified for his third
Purple Heart, Thomas Wright and two fellow officers informed him of
the obscure regulation, and told him to go home. Wright concluded, "We
knew how the system worked and we didn't want him in Coastal Division
11."

Constructing a complete picture of Kerry's service is difficult due to
gaps in the Naval records provided by the Kerry campaign. These gaps
include missing and incomplete fitness reports, missing medical
records and missing records related to his medal awards.

For this reason we call upon Senator Kerry to authorize complete
access to all his military records by filing a standard Form 180, a
simple two-page release form.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is in the process of researching John
Kerry's time in Vietnam by conducting interviews with eyewitnesses to
his activities, and we plan to add material to this section over the
next several weeks as it becomes available. We will report the true
circumstances of Kerry's medal awards and injuries, describe other
controversial missions, and provide in-depth analysis of his fitness
reports.


..
Kerry's Medals

1st Purple Heart: December 2, 1968

2nd Purple Heart: February 20, 1969

Silver Star: February 28, 1969

Bronze Star / 3rd Purple Heart: March 13, 1969



Other Missions

Sampan Incident: January 20, 1969.


Was Teddy Kennedy and the Kennedy family pulling strings for Kerry in
the Navy during JFK's Vietnam War?
Why is Kerry refusing to release his records?

http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/graphics/morphws.HTML
http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/in...pic=Historians

Also when will his wife release her tax returns showing she is worth
$3 billion. She loaned money to his campaign and is giving money to
liberal political groups. Americans have a right to know.

Joe