Plot thickens after checking records August 27, 2004 BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB Advertisement In the midst of the controversy between the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and Kerry campaign representatives about Kerry's service in Vietnam, new questions have arisen. The Kerry campaign has repeatedly stated that the official naval records prove the truth of Kerry's assertions about his service. But the official records on Kerry's Web site only add to the confusion. The DD214 form, an official Defense Department document summarizing Kerry's military career posted on johnkerry.com, includes a "Silver Star with combat V." But according to a U.S. Navy spokesman, "Kerry's record is incorrect. The Navy has never issued a 'combat V' to anyone for a Silver Star." Naval regulations do not allow for the use of a "combat V" for the Silver Star, the third-highest decoration the Navy awards. None of the other services has ever granted a Silver Star "combat V," either. Fake claims not uncommon B.G. Burkett, a Vietnam veteran himself, received the highest award the Army gives to a civilian, the Distinguished Civilian Service Award, for his book Stolen Valor. Burkett pored through thousands of military service records, uncovering phony claims of awards and fake claims of military service. "I've run across several claims for Silver Stars with combat V's, but they were all in fake records," he said. Burkett recently filed a complaint that led last month to the sentencing of Navy Capt. Roger D. Edwards to 115 days in the brig for falsification of his records. Kerry's Web site also lists two different citations for the Silver Star. One was issued by the commander in chief of the Pacific Command (CINCPAC), Adm. John Hyland. The other, issued by Secretary of the Navy John Lehman during the Reagan administration, contained some revisions and additional language. "By his brave actions, bold initiative, and unwavering devotion to duty, Lieutenant (j.g.) Kerry reflected great credit upon himself... ." One award, three citations But a third citation exists that appears to be the earliest. And it is not on the Kerry campaign Web site. It was issued by Vice Adm. Elmo Zumwalt, commander of U.S. naval forces in Vietnam. This citation lacks the language in the Hyland citation or that added by the Lehman version, but includes another 170 words in a detailed description of Kerry's attack on a Viet Cong ambush, his killing of an enemy soldier carrying a loaded rocket launcher, as well as military equipment captured and a body count of dead enemy. Maj. Anthony Milavic, a retired Marine Vietnam veteran, calls the issuance of three citations for the same medal "bizarre." Milavic hosts Milinet, an Internet forum popular with the military community that is intended "to provide a forum in military/political affairs." Normally in the case of a lost citation, Milavec points out, the awardee simply asked for a copy to be sent to him from his service personnel records office where it remains on file. "I have never heard of multi-citations from three different people for the same medal award," he said. Nor has Burkett: "It is even stranger to have three different descriptions of the awardee's conduct in the citations for the same award." So far, there are also two varying citations for Kerry's Bronze Star, one by Zumwalt and the other by Lehman as secretary of the Navy, both posted on johnkerry.com. Kerry's Web site also carries a DD215 form revising his DD214, issued March 12, 2001, which adds four bronze campaign stars to his Vietnam service medal. The campaign stars are issued for participation in any of the 17 Department of Defense named campaigns that extended from 1962 to the cease-fire in 1973. However, according to the Navy spokesman, Kerry should only have two campaign stars: one for "Counteroffensive, Phase VI," and one for "Tet69, Counteroffensive." 94 pages of records unreleased? Reporting by the Washington Post's Michael Dobbs points out that although the Kerry campaign insists that it has released Kerry's full military records, the Post was only able to get six pages of records under its Freedom of Information Act request out of the "at least a hundred pages" a Naval Personnel Office spokesman called the "full file." What could that more than 100 pages contain? Questions have been raised about President Bush's drill attendance in the reserves, but Bush received his honorable discharge on schedule. Kerry, who should have been discharged from the Navy about the same time -- July 1, 1972 -- wasn't given the discharge he has on his campaign Web site until July 13, 1978. What delayed the discharge for six years? This raises serious questions about Kerry's performance while in the reserves that are far more potentially damaging than those raised against Bush. Experts point out that even the official military records get screwed up. Milavic is trying to get mistakes in his own DD214 file corrected. In his opinion, "these entries are not prima facie evidence of lying or unethical behavior on the part of Kerry or anyone else with screwed-up DD214s." Burkett, who has spent years working with the FBI, Department of Justice and all of the military services uncovering fraudulent files in the official records, is less charitable: "The multiple citations and variations in the official record are reason for suspicion in itself, even disregarding the current swift boat veterans' controversy."

One award, three citations

3 citations for one medal.........Hmmmmmmm........someone has been pulling some strings

Don't tell me your surprised by this?

Quoted: someone has been pulling some strings

You mean like string cheese?

No wonder he didn't mind throwing his medals ribbons his friend's medals whatever, cause they were fake!

The name "Admiral Jeremy Boorda" comes to mind.........

Quoted: The name "Admiral Jeremy Boorda" comes to mind.........

Bullshit! Not even close!

Quoted: Quoted: The name "Admiral Jeremy Boorda" comes to mind......... Bullshit! Not even close!

Close enough!

Quoted: Quoted: The name "Admiral Jeremy Boorda" comes to mind......... Bullshit! Not even close!

Brought up just as an illustration of somebody being busted for falsifying records, or wearing medals
that he didn't earn. Nothing else intended......

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: The name "Admiral Jeremy Boorda" comes to mind......... Bullshit! Not even close! Brought up just as an illustration of somebody being busted for falsifying records, or wearing medals that he didn't earn. Nothing else intended......

NOT EVEN CLOSE!



Boorda was going to be accused of wearing a device ON a medal he DID earn in Vietnam. The fact the device was given to him is still cloudy in that the standards back then were different than they are now.

So, in order to save the Navy from the scandal that would most likely ensue (because Lord knows, NOTHING gets the liberal scumbag media spun up like taking down a popular military leader), the man ATE A BULLET.

KERRY, OTOH, has not only put himself up for President, but has done so based upon his supposed exploits and medals alone!

Boorda lost more integrity in the last dump he took than Kerry has been able to produce in his entire life.

As such - NOT EVEN FUCKING CLOSE!

Sorry, but I will not sit by and have the honorable record of a man who chose death over dishonor be compared to that of a coward, liar, and traitor!

kerry, loser

Kerry is a loser; but so is this particular controversy.

1) DD214 award records are screwed up all the time. Mine shows more four sea service ribbons awarded when my sea time counter is nowhere near enough to have earned that many. It shows I was awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal instead of the Naval Expeditionary Medal and it doesn't show several awards I earned under joint service.

2) This issue is difficult to understand for civilians and will not pass the 30-second soundbite test

3) By providing the media with a less concrete charge with easy rational explanations, you virtually give them a free pass to ignore the ones where the Swift vets nailed Kerry's ass to the wall. Notice how no "mainstream" media organization wants to talk about Christmas in Cambodia or Kerry's first self-inflicted Purple Heart. They have all concentrated on the one charge that had the least evidence and is most difficult to prove - the Bronze Star and Purple Heart during the underwater mine incident.

This gives them an out to discuss the Swift Boat charges while at the same time burying the most harmful evidence and discrediting the swifties as part of a Republican smear campaign. This story would be played out the same way.

A politician fake something??  *GASP* No, be still my beating heart!  Get over it.  Politicians job is to lie.  It's what they do.

More more more, bring on the implosion.

And the RNC hasn't started yet.

Barrt,

Kerry is a lying skank, and you know it.

He worked the system for political gain, and you know it.

He is totally lacking in integrity, and you know it.

He lied before Congress, and you know it.

He met with agents of NVN and the VC while still obligated to the USN, and you know it.

He planned strategies that were for the benefit of our enemies during a time of war, and you know it.

He did not fulfill his military obligation after returning to the States, and you know it.

He is slandering real men of honor, and you know it.

He is in bed with the Demo 527 groups, and you know it.

He will sell the US out if elected POTUS, and you know it.

He is not good enough to be a dog catcher and certainly not your president, and you know that in your heart.

Quoted: My DD-214 is all screwed up as well ...

+1

I didn’t notice at the time - I just wanted out!!!