Kerry Fails to Close the Credibility Gap during debate

From : flipflop kerry

Q: did kerry write own report of disputed clash october 1 2004 by thomas lipscomb a faded 35-year-old operations order recovered from the naval historical center in washington bears directly on the ongoing dispute between sen. john kerry and the swift boat veterans for truth about who wrote the key after-action report that ended kerrys service in vietnam. the report appears in the official navy records and is posted on kerrys presidential campaign web site. the report details kerrys participation in a naval operation on the bay hap river on march 13 1969 in such glowing terms that he was awarded a purple heart and a bronze star for pulling special forces officer james rassmann out of the water while under heavy enemy fire. this third purple heart allowed kerry to cut short his vietnam tour after only four months. the report in question described a mission of five swift boats ambushed by a mine explosion that seriously damaged one boat while the swift boats received heavy fire from both banks. the fire continued for three miles the report said. roy hoffman the admiral who commanded the swift boats in vietnam finds that detail alone absurd. hoffman a member of the anti-kerry swift boat veterans group says there was never an incident under my command in all of vietnam where my boats were engaged by continuous fire from both banks of a half mile in length much less three. it never happened the report mentions two other mines detonating as well. so according to this report which now stands as the official navy record this swift boat mission concluded by running a three-mile gantlet of enemy fire from both banks the detonation of three mines and yet the only casualties occurred on the boat that hit the first mine. the boats managed to escape and even more miraculously retrieve the sinking boat pcf-3 without getting a single bullet hole in any vessel or crew member. it is miraculous all right because it never happened recalls larry thurlow a kerry critic who commanded the mission. pcf-3 hit a mine; all of my boats directed suppressing fire on both banks expecting the mine to be followed up by gunfire. but after a couple of minutes we ceased firing and took steps to aid the sinking pcf-3 and its injured crew members. there was never a shot fired at us and no additional mines went off either. and if we had been facing gunfire from both sides of three miles of riverbank i would have called in the standby air support. i didnt. after he returned to the united states the following month thurlow was surprised to find that he had received a bronze star himself because of his activities described in the after-action report. when thurlow first saw the report last july he didnt recognize the mission it described. the kerry campaign pointed to thurlows own citation referring to his being under constant enemy small arms fire when the swift boat veterans for truth first contested kerrys account in august. as the commander of the mission normally thurlow would have filed the disputed after-action report. but he denies writing it. and the after-action report supports his denial. it was written by someone designated te 194.5.4.4/1. an operations order by adm. hoffman two months earlier set the format for the designation. the operations order procedures originated by the operational commander of the coastal 11 an thoi unit kerry served with cmdr. adrian lonsdale was the basis for the terms of designation used in this kind of report subsequently. upon seeing the report lonsdale a swift boat veterans for truth member recognized it and recalled the procedures it required as being followed in his command. te refers to a task element which is defined by the numbers to the right which show the command structure over the task element in action. 194 is adm. elmo zumwalt commander of u.s. naval forces in vietnam; 5 is hoffmans swift boat command; 4 is lonsdales command and the last 4 is capt. george elliots swift boat base at an thoi where the boats on this mission were based. the last 1 indicates someone other than the commander of the mission. if the report had been submitted by the mission commander in this case thurlow according to the operations order it would have begun with a c for commander of the task element and the sender would have been cte 194.5.4.4. according to a navy communications expert chief petty officer troy jenkins who has examined the message traffic the report in question was sent from the u.s. coast guard cutter spencer lonsdales command ship at 1120 that night. only three of the officers on the mission that day were on the spencer john kerry dick pease and donald droz. droz took the wounded from the mine explosion to be examined and treated at the spencer including the third officer the severely wounded dick pease. since the spencer had no helipad for the evacuation of the wounded droz then had to return to the uss wa

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From : jeff mayner

flip-flop kerry wrote here is a wrap-up lol... more stolen garbage. jeff .