Kerry's two tours?

Can some of you Democrats explain to me how Kerry can claim two tours of duty in Vietnam after being there for only 4 1/2 months? A normal tour of Duty was a 12 month rotation. Seems to me this is another attempt to make himself look better than what he is.

"For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as commander in chief," Kerry said. "I'm going to leave it up to the voters to decide whether five deferments makes someone more qualified than two tours of duty."
-- John Kerry

[edit on 3/9/04 by jrsdls]

Originally posted by jrsdls
Can some of you Democrats explain to me how Kerry can claim two tours of duty in Vietnam after being there for only 4 1/2 months? A normal tour of Duty was a 12 month rotation. Seems to me this is another attempt to make himself look better than what he is.

"For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as commander in chief," Kerry said. "I'm going to leave it up to the voters to decide whether five deferments makes someone more qualified than two tours of duty."
-- John Kerry

[edit on 3/9/04 by jrsdls]

Unrehearsed speach.. he probibly ment one tour of duty. Unless of course you want to discuss literal meanings behind quotes of Bush.

Wraith

Remarkablely, Kerry acts as if he is running against Cheney in stead of Bush. I guess he wants to try to make his image look better by comparing his service against Cheney. Compare Bush's service with Edwards, Bush served in the National Guard, Edwards served himself.

Well, he did, in fact, say two tours and I thought what???

Maybe he went sight-seeing twice or something while he was over there. Lord knows he took a camera with him for it.

I don't see how you can make this kind of mistake. I mean it's your own life your talking about, not like you got the facts of another person's life jumbled up.

That's an odd one right there.

Although I am not a Democrat, I can indeed explain why John Kerry can claim two tours of duty in Vietnam. He can claim two tours because he did two tours. Your four and a half month number is how long he was assigned to swift boat duty. He did a tour on the USS Gridley before he requested to be assigned to serve on a swift boat.

It would be fairly difficult to attribute this to be unrehearsed. One would assume that a person would be at least fairly knowledgeable about their own history. To you, wraith30, I would recommend doing at least a little research before trying to defend something you know nothing about. In fact, I would recommend that to everyone trying to make claims based on personal conviction instead of fact. The only thing odd about this situation is how willing people are to make fools of themselves without even looking into the subject.

Here are two links about the subject, one is to an unbiased source, and the other is to a decidedly biased one.

Official Naval document showing when Kerry began his service
John Kerry's website page about his service

But according to his timeline on his website, he stated that he was on the USS Gridley when he requested to go to vietnam. It's sorta hard for him to claim two tours when on his site he states otherwise.

The USS Gridley entered the coastal waters of Vietnam and remained there long enough to have warranted the Vietnam Service Medal. Thousands of sailors earned the VSM in this way. It is legitimate, but to call this a Vietnam tour of duty is, well, stretching it. Something for which Kerry has shown a propensity for over thirty years.

[edit on 04/9/3 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by Lerkur
Although I am not a Democrat, I can indeed explain why John Kerry can claim two tours of duty in Vietnam. He can claim two tours because he did two tours. Your four and a half month number is how long he was assigned to swift boat duty. He did a tour on the USS Gridley before he requested to be assigned to serve on a swift boat.

It would be fairly difficult to attribute this to be unrehearsed. One would assume that a person would be at least fairly knowledgeable about their own history. To you, wraith30, I would recommend doing at least a little research before trying to defend something you know nothing about. In fact, I would recommend that to everyone trying to make claims based on personal conviction instead of fact. The only thing odd about this situation is how willing people are to make fools of themselves without even looking into the subject.

Here are two links about the subject, one is to an unbiased source, and the other is to a decidedly biased one.

Official Naval document showing when Kerry began his service
John Kerry's website page about his service

Terribly sorry if you missed the levity in the comment. I was refering to double standard that seems to be previlant in comments and their meanings.

Wraith

GradyPhipott, Thanks, but It still smacks of a lie. this reminds me of clintons' what the meaning of is, is.

Originally posted by wraith30
Terribly sorry if you missed the levity in the comment. I was refering to double standard that seems to be previlant in comments and their meanings.

No, indeed, I did not miss this point. (Your jocular tone of voice was a dead giveaway ) I quite agree that double standards are often applied. In fact, I would venture so far as to say that it is quite possibly beyond human nature to not apply a double standard to information that a person learns. If the information backs up the person�s preconceived notions then they will be quite willing to accept the information. However, if it goes against preconceived notions then a person will often deny the validity of the information.

All I was responding to was your statement that:

Originally posted by wraith30
Unrehearsed speach.. he probibly ment one tour of duty.

In fact, he did not mean one tour of duty. He meant what he said in this case.

Originally posted by jrsdls
But according to his timeline on his website, he stated that he was on the USS Gridley when he requested to go to vietnam. It's sorta hard for him to claim two tours when on his site he states otherwise.

You are quite correct in stating that there is an error here jrsdls. Unfortunately, the error is mine and yours; it is not John Kerry�s. You see, John Kerry only said �two tours of duty� not �two tours of duty in Vietnam.�

Originally posted by jrsdls
Can some of you Democrats explain to me how Kerry can claim two tours of duty in Vietnam after being there for only 4 1/2 months?

Your original question makes an incorrect assumption. You assumed that Kerry claimed two tours in Vietnam in his quote. He did not. I made this mistake as well in my first post in this thread.

It may be debatable whether or not his first tour would constitute a �tour in Vietnam� but it seems that the Navy thinks so. Here is a snippet of timeline that may or may not clear up that question a bit.

Taken from Wikipedia
Kerry began his first tour of duty June 8, 1967, serving as an ensign in the electrical department on the guided missile frigate USS Gridley. On February 9, 1968, the Gridley set sail for Western Pacific deployment. The next day, Kerry requested duty in Vietnam, listing as his first preference a position as the commander of a Fast Patrol Craft (PCF), also known as a "Swift boat." These 50-foot boat have aluminum hulls and have little or no armor, but are heavily armed and rely on speed. (Kerry's second choice was a to be an officer in a river patrol boat, or " PBR", squadron.)

The Gridley traveled to several places, including Wellington in New Zealand, Subic Bay in the Philippines, and the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam, where the ship supported aircraft carriers. The ship had no enemy contact during this time, and departed for the U.S. on May 27, returned to port at Long Beach, California on June 6.

Ten days after returning, on June 16, Kerry was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, junior grade; on June 20, Kerry left Gridley for special training at the Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado. After completing Swift boat commander training on November 17, Kerry reported for duty at Coastal Squadron 1 of Coastal Division 14 at the Cam Ranh Bay in South Vietnam, arriving on December 1.

So, jrsdls, it seems that this is quite a non-issue. Your original question makes assumptions about Kerry�s quote that are incorrect. Even if he had said �two tours of duty in Vietnam� he would still be arguably correct in that assertion. I would ask that you be honest with yourself in regard to this situation and not let your bias against Kerry dictate your beliefs on this issue. You can admit that he did indeed serve two tours of duty and still disagree with him politically. I do not see the need to attempt to smear him on this (non) issue.

Never mind

[edit on 4-9-2004 by Amuk]

Does this have anything to do with the new attack ad going around about Bush's tours in Vietnam?
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