My Father in Law spent "two tours of duty in Viet Nam" wach tour was 18 months IN Viet Nam (I guess you could be picky and say since he was on helicopter flight crews much of it was spent over Viet Nam rather than in Viet Nam, but still, that is what I consider two tours. a few months close to Viet Nam and eighteen months staring down the barrel of a 60 hanging out the side of a Huey are two different things. This guy is a dirt bag, silver star my ass, one of my best friends fathers served in Viet Nam, and was awarded a Silver Star (he never felt the need to add a V device or change his citation). He was an enlisted crew chief (UH1) at the time, he later became a Warrant Officer and test pilot. The helicopter he was in, that had been on a resupply mission for some out of bullet type infantry guys was on teh way back to base for the night, when they took heavy fire and lost control of the aircraft. On impact the coppilot was killed the pilot had two broken legs and a broken arm (he recieved a single PH, for the wounds) and could not even get himself out of his seat. Mr. XXXXX (I will call him that because I don't really have permission to post his story) unstrapped the pilot and copilot while the helicopter burned, pulled them both a safe distance away before the helicopter expolded. Realizing that they were in a very unfriendly area and knowing that the dead WO1 could not be helped, he gathered the wounded officers .38spl's and a single M16 he had, picked the CW3 up over his shoulder and started walking, he carried the pilot nearly twenty miles to where he thought there might be some friendly forces, taking and returning fire several times along the way. Once he foundthe friendlies he and the pilot were medevaced to a medical facility in Saigon, the pilot never flew again, Mr. XXXXX was treated for a broken foot, a displaced shoulder and several shrapnel wounds, he returned to flight status and full duty a month later. That is the story of a war hero, a man who selflesly risked his life to protect the life of his brother in arms. When he finished his tour, he didn't go the easy route, and line up to protest the war, he went to college to better himself so that he could continue serving at a more usefull level.

It just occured to me, my father in laws tour extensions alone were each longer than either of Kerrys "tours". I have said it before, I will say it again, Kerry reminds me an awful lot of the guy at the gunshow in teh BDU's telling stories that you know aren't true, really pathetic.

edited to add: Guys like Kerry and the Gunshow Seals have no idea what they are doing, they have never served honorably the way most service men so, they served for the purpose self service, and felt no kinship to the men they served along side or just plain never served at all, either way they have no idea what the terms "keeping faith" or "brother in arms" mean. To people like this the military is just a place you can go and become a hero, and tell war stories about, no more.