"jps" wrote in message
...

"Joe Parsons" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 1 Nov 2003 14:20:52 -0800, "jps" wrote:

"JohnH" wrote in message
.. .

Yes, I was there. Yes, I was wounded. Yes, I was awarded a Purple
Heart.
No, not
baseless rhetoric.

So, what you're saying is that your Purple Heart was based on stupidity
or
coincidence so everyone else's must've been too.

A Purple Heart is based on only one thing: being wounded in action while
serving
as a member of the U.S. Armed Services.

So all one can reliably conclude is that the recipient of a Purple Heart
served
on active duty, saw some sort of action and was wounded.

I don't think it takes a genius to agree that a serviceperson (awkward
inclusive
language!) can get wounded as severely while doing something smart and
brave as
they can doing something stupid and not-so-brave. Either situation
meets
the
criteria for the Purple Heart.

Kerry requested the transfer just days after a March 13, 1969 incident for
which he was awarded a Bronze Star. Kerry, while under fire, rescued a
Green
Beret who had fallen overboard. Kerry had been wounded just moments
earlier
when a mine detonated near his "swift boat," the small vessels that made
forays into the Mekong River delta.

"The man was receiving sniper fire from both banks," according to Kerry's
Bronze Star citation. "Lt. Kerry directed his gunners to provide
suppressing
fire, while from an exposed position on the bow, his arm bleeding and in
pain, with disregard for his personal safety, he pulled the man aboard."



Doesn't sound accidental that Kerry was awarded three Purple Hearts and a
Bronze Star.



Purple hearts and Medals do not make a person presidential material. Audi
Murphy was the most decorated soldier in WWII. Did not have a high school
education. My uncle spent 4.5 years in the South Pacific as a shooter in WW
II. 5 purple hearts that he even picked up. Bronze star with Oak leaf
clusters. Great guy, but would not have made a good political leader.
There were smart guys and not so smart guys getting shot in all the wars.
Friend was a medic and then a pilot in Viet Nam. Shot down a couple of
times, captured and escaped one time. Ph.D. degree now. John McCain was a
pilot also, did not escape and does not have a Ph.D.. Does not that make
him ineligible for office under your criteria?