Calling Kerry's bluff

[Tamaroa]

Neil, I should have been more specific. I didn't mean "forget the decorations" as in if one truly deserved them and being awarded them. I was referring specifically to Kerry's case. While his receiving the awards in the manner that he did was bothersome, I felt that his leaving his crew behind was more egregious. I was only in for 4 years. But I can equate it to something that happened to me in Civilian life. I was the Chief Engineer of a Manhattan Skyscraper. I was offered a promotion after only 6 months on the job (as Chief). I refused it because first I did not think I had enough time on the job as a Chief and secondly, I wanted to make sure that the guy who replaced me would take care of the crew when I left the Union. I kept the Chief's job for two more years and was offered the promotion again. This time I took it with the proviso that I choose my successor thereby knowing my crew would be well cared for. My logic worked because that incident happened twenty years ago. To this day the crew of that building and I meet for a reunion lunch every 6 months. We were a close crew that went through a lot opening up a building under construction.

So standing up WITH and FOR your crew means an awful lot to me.

Bill

Paraphrasing Robert E. Lee, "DUTY is the most sublime word in the English language because it was such a small word and meant so much."

[reconeil]

Bill,
Any misunderstanding about which Phony JFKerry Deceits were/are worse or most
stupid, really don't matter since ALL SUCH LOUSY & DESPICABLE.

Hell, claiming to burn "HIS" Decorations while actually burning someone elses Decorations,...
showed explicitely just how TRULY Trustworthy & Honorable His Lordship TRULY WAS/IS.

Neil

[ABNCIB]

exlrrp said; "

"Why don't you explain why your hero george Bush's discharge http://users.cis.net/coldfeet/ANG22.gif shows he received NO medals at all? Thats right none at all--you know as well as me that TAFCS and TAFMS are not medals--why are they there in his medals box? With NO medals?"

I wasn't aware that George Bush ever said he had medals. Hell, I went for years without any medals either. Since when do medals matter to people who serve? It's been my experience that people who put more stock in medals than service are just ticket-punching ring-knockers.

Kerry, on the other hand, built a career in politics on his medals, regardless of how he earned them. I wasn't there, so I don't know. I can only listen to the people who were there. But I'm fairly certain he wasn't in the US Navy in Cambodia while Richard Nixon was President. Statements like that cast a pall over his entire military career.

[Tamaroa]

I have a relaxed approach to decorations. 4 years active and I received the NDSM and Good Conduct medals. On the plus side, I didn't feel I needed much. It was enough to be on a cutter and save lives. I knew what I did. I must have been on at least 18 search and rescue cases.

Oddly enough, years later, I have a kid who gets interested in that kind of stuff after he saw the movie Top Gun. All these years my uniform and meager supply of medals, dog tags, etc remained out of site in a closet. Sean became an officer in the Navy and questioned me about my "medals" once. I made light of them since they were basically given to you if you still could breathe. He insisted that I put my service related "souveniers" in a shadow box. I had it done by a local framer for Sean more than anyone else. But as I looked at the memoriabilia from those years (40 years ago) I began to appreciate them more. I have all my Dad's from WW2. I think I'll do his as well. Sean liked the way that I had arranged everything enough so that he asked me to make him one once he was discharged (2 more years). So eventually, the poor guy will be stuck with service memorabilia from three generations.

I'm more proud of my DC crow then anything because of what it represents.
Bill