A qestion for Combat Verterans of Vietnam

I must confess I am not a veteran and this is the first visit to this news
group so I hope I don't step on anyone toes. The hubby and I got into a
discussion of whether the Army ever disclosed that 3 Purple Hearts would get a
soldier a free pass home. The reason I ask is the spouse held a bit of a
ranking and had never heard this clause /loophole before this week

Second question being, do you believe it was it easier for officers to fill
necessary paperwork to request medals? And finally was there much
documentation required for requisition of a Purple Heart.

The reason I asking is because of Michael Morans article on MSNBC and because
I might be asked to aid in applying for Bronze Stars for MS for an entire
platoon. A whole lota paperwork.
. Don't mean to offend or cast dispersions on anyone.

>Subject: A qestion for Combat Verterans of Vietnam
>From: theviewfan@aol.c

As i was reading your question a strange thought Occurred to me. Who would've
thunk that someday the outcome of a presidential election would depend on
someone's Vietnam record. Did George Bush report for l Guard duty and did John
Kerrie fabricate the extend of his injuries to get out of Vietnam ?

I think we may see positive recognition many of us so secretly desired for
ourselves and for our families. . I was told when when I deros to wear
civies thru the airport because of guys like John Kerry

A presidential hopeful may have spit on me 30 yeas ago but today I think he
will play the NAM card and he will use it for all its worth

dlovick195@aol.com (DLovick195) wrote:
>>Subject: A qestion for Combat Verterans of Vietnam
>>From: theviewfan@aol.c
>
>As i was reading your question a strange thought Occurred to me. Who would've
>thunk that someday the outcome of a presidential election would depend on
>someone's Vietnam record. Did George Bush report for l Guard duty and did John
>Kerrie fabricate the extend of his injuries to get out of Vietnam ?

No one thinks Kerry fabricated his wounds. They were there, pretty much minor in
nature, for all to see. All three times.

Doug

"Doug Reese" wrote in message
news:402e18a1$0$3087$61fed72c@news.rcn.com...
> dlovick195@aol.com (DLovick195) wrote:
> >>Subject: A qestion for Combat Verterans of Vietnam
> >>From: theviewfan@aol.c
> >
> >As i was reading your question a strange thought Occurred to me. Who
would've
> >thunk that someday the outcome of a presidential election would depend on
> >someone's Vietnam record. Did George Bush report for l Guard duty and
did John
> >Kerrie fabricate the extend of his injuries to get out of Vietnam ?
>
> No one thinks Kerry fabricated his wounds. They were there, pretty much
minor in
> nature, for all to see. All three times.
>
> Doug
>
Perhaps we ought to demand Kerry open his entire medical file.
Has anyone come forward who treated Kerry's wounds?
Has anyone come forward who actually saw Kerry get wounded?
I know Kerry's military records show he was in Vietnam but was he really in
Vietnam?

Yea, stupid questions but no more stupid than those asked of Bush.

Doug Reese wrote:
>
> dlovick195@aol.com (DLovick195) wrote:
> >>Subject: A qestion for Combat Verterans of Vietnam
> >>From: theviewfan@aol.c
> >
> >As i was reading your question a strange thought Occurred to me. Who would've
> >thunk that someday the outcome of a presidential election would depend on
> >someone's Vietnam record. Did George Bush report for l Guard duty and did John
> >Kerrie fabricate the extend of his injuries to get out of Vietnam ?
>
> No one thinks Kerry fabricated his wounds. They were there, pretty much minor in
> nature, for all to see. All three times.
>
> Doug

By Kerry's own admission he had three owies. When he became a
three-timer, Kerry exercised his option under a NAVORV or MACV
directive that said three wounds could be a ticket home, but in
his case it probably wasn't mandatory. I for one don't think Kerry
fabricated anything about his wounds. In fact, there is this;
"When later asked about the severity of the wounds, Kerry said that
one of them cost him about two days of service, and that the other
two did not interrupt his duty. 'Walking wounded,' as Kerry put it.
John Kerry put in his chit to rotate home after three wounds
in March and returned to the U.S. in April 1969, to serve on
an admiral's staff."

above IAW - Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry
http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnkerry.com/

"Jeff Laventure" wrote:
>
>"Doug Reese" wrote in message
>news:402e18a1$0$3087$61fed72c@news.rcn.com...
>> dlovick195@aol.com (DLovick195) wrote:
>> >>Subject: A qestion for Combat Verterans of Vietnam
>> >>From: theviewfan@aol.c
>> >
>> >As i was reading your question a strange thought Occurred to me. Who
>would've
>> >thunk that someday the outcome of a presidential election would depend on
>> >someone's Vietnam record. Did George Bush report for l Guard duty and
>did John
>> >Kerrie fabricate the extend of his injuries to get out of Vietnam ?
>>
>> No one thinks Kerry fabricated his wounds. They were there, pretty much
>minor in
>> nature, for all to see. All three times.
>>
>> Doug
>>
>Perhaps we ought to demand Kerry open his entire medical file.
>Has anyone come forward who treated Kerry's wounds?
>Has anyone come forward who actually saw Kerry get wounded?

Yep, about 15 Navy guys who were there when he was wounded.

>I know Kerry's military records show he was in Vietnam but was he really in
>Vietnam?

Yes. I saw him. But then, was I really in Vietna?

>Yea, stupid questions but no more stupid than those asked of Bush.

To a degree.

Doug

Assuming you are not a troll and are truly interested...

I do not believe that you will find anywhere in regulations that three
wounds automatically sends one home from a battle zone. I never heard
that. There may have been some local informal rules that a unit or
command exercised, but I do not believe it is in regulations.

Is it easier for an officer to do the paperwork? Of course. In some
cases the officer is in a garrison situation while the soldiers are in
the field. The officer has access to a typewriter and clerks while the
common soldier may not. Although in theory anyone can nominate anyone
for an award, I always got the highest ranking officer I could find to
sign the paperwork on a soldier that I wrote up, because at higher HQ
they were going to want to see an officer's signature. The simple fact
is that there is a caste system and the officer is of a higher caste
than the enlisted man. That should come as no secret to anyone who has
been in the service. Finally, the vast majority of enlisted personnel
had no idea how to fill out the paperwork for a medal. An officer could
grab a company clerk and order it filled out, and that might have been
the one guy in a unit that knew how to do it.

"Herb F." wrote:
>
> Assuming you are not a troll and are truly interested...
>
> I do not believe that you will find anywhere in regulations that three
> wounds automatically sends one home from a battle zone. I never heard
> that. There may have been some local informal rules that a unit or
> command exercised, but I do not believe it is in regulations.

That is what I remember. I have a hazy remembrance of a MACV rule
about three wounds, it was an option for the woundee and no doubt
MACV had it typed up and printed up and distributed all over SE Asia.

If the wound was disabling, then the option was not in effect. Although,
it seems to me that a really dinged up guy might be able to fight his
way
back in-country, as long as it was not an amputation or loss of an eye.

If you were already medevaced, and sitting in a hospital in Japan or
Okinawa, it might have been easier to exercise the option to go home or
go back. In the case of John Kerry, there was likely a NAVFORV
instruction or other directive giving guidance.

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 0249 GMT, Richard Rongstad
wrote:

>"Herb F." wrote:
>>
>> Assuming you are not a troll and are truly interested...
>>
>> I do not believe that you will find anywhere in regulations that three
>> wounds automatically sends one home from a battle zone. I never heard
>> that. There may have been some local informal rules that a unit or
>> command exercised, but I do not believe it is in regulations.
>
>That is what I remember. I have a hazy remembrance of a MACV rule
>about three wounds, it was an option for the woundee and no doubt
>MACV had it typed up and printed up and distributed all over SE Asia.
>
>If the wound was disabling, then the option was not in effect. Although,
>it seems to me that a really dinged up guy might be able to fight his
>way
>back in-country, as long as it was not an amputation or loss of an eye.
>
>If you were already medevaced, and sitting in a hospital in Japan or
>Okinawa, it might have been easier to exercise the option to go home or
>go back. In the case of John Kerry, there was likely a NAVFORV
>instruction or other directive giving guidance.
In my platoon we all thought three Purple Hearts would get us a free
pass home. I don't remember anyone ever getting back to the world
this way. I also remember being told that a wound causing
disfigurement of the face would get you back to the world. In regards
to officers getting more medals than the enlisted man, it is a fact. I
did a survery once using 4th ID casualty records and comparing KIA's
by rank and if I remember correctly a Major was more than ten times
more likely to recieve a Silver Star, than a Sp 4. Now if you consider
how many ambushes and platoon sweeps a field grade officer goes on, it
makes it seem even more a sham in my eyes. I think a groundpounder
really had to do something special to earn the award, where I think
the Major may in some cases receive the award for only having done a
good job.
http://www.vietnow.com/artbc.htm

In my year in country, which was with a direct support 105 howitzer
battalion, I knew of one man who was awarded the Silver Star. He was a 1st.
Lt. FO named Jankowski, from Cleveland.

I wasn't present at the action involved, but it the citation was anywhere
near accurate, Jankowski earned his award. He was also nuts.

ted

"Tom Lacombe" wrote in message
news:402ef0b5.60769429@news.shentel.net...
> On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 0249 GMT, Richard Rongstad
> wrote:
>
> >"Herb F." wrote:
> >>
> >> Assuming you are not a troll and are truly interested...
> >>
> >> I do not believe that you will find anywhere in regulations that three
> >> wounds automatically sends one home from a battle zone. I never heard
> >> that. There may have been some local informal rules that a unit or
> >> command exercised, but I do not believe it is in regulations.
> >
> >That is what I remember. I have a hazy remembrance of a MACV rule
> >about three wounds, it was an option for the woundee and no doubt
> >MACV had it typed up and printed up and distributed all over SE Asia.
> >
> >If the wound was disabling, then the option was not in effect. Although,
> >it seems to me that a really dinged up guy might be able to fight his
> >way
> >back in-country, as long as it was not an amputation or loss of an eye.
> >
> >If you were already medevaced, and sitting in a hospital in Japan or
> >Okinawa, it might have been easier to exercise the option to go home or
> >go back. In the case of John Kerry, there was likely a NAVFORV
> >instruction or other directive giving guidance.
> In my platoon we all thought three Purple Hearts would get us a free
> pass home. I don't remember anyone ever getting back to the world
> this way. I also remember being told that a wound causing
> disfigurement of the face would get you back to the world. In regards
> to officers getting more medals than the enlisted man, it is a fact. I
> did a survery once using 4th ID casualty records and comparing KIA's
> by rank and if I remember correctly a Major was more than ten times
> more likely to recieve a Silver Star, than a Sp 4. Now if you consider
> how many ambushes and platoon sweeps a field grade officer goes on, it
> makes it seem even more a sham in my eyes. I think a groundpounder
> really had to do something special to earn the award, where I think
> the Major may in some cases receive the award for only having done a
> good job.
> http://www.vietnow.com/artbc.htm