QandO

August 05, 2004

Swift Vet Ad Continued
Posted by Dale Franks

I don't know what happened on the Bay Hap River on March 13, 1969. On that particular date, I was patrolling a kindergarten classroom in Houston, Texas. The greatest threat I faced that day was a skinned knee at recess. Although, I think I heroically resisted the temptation to taste some of that yummy, sweet Elmer's Paste just one more time. In any event, I wasn't on the Bay Hap that day.

For that matter, neither was John McCain.

But, among those who were there, there seems to a lot of controversy about what actually happened. Jim Rassman, Kerry's crew, and John Kerry say one thing. The crewmen and captains of the other swift boats on the scene that day say another.

How can we make some sort of judgement about the contrasting claims? I don't know. I doubt it's even possible to know. Eyewitness testimony is, it may surprise you to learn, the least reliable evidence of all.

In 1986-1887, I was responsible for the Security Police Augmentation Training program at Holloman AFB, NM. My job was to take mechanics, admin specialists, and the like, and put them through an abbreviated, 2-week version of the Security Police Academy training program. , teaching them the basics of SP work, so that in emergencies, they could augment us as traffic controllers, gate guards, and the like, while we were doing more vital tasks.

As part of this training, at one point, while I was lecturing in the class room, an individual would burst into the classroom wearing civilian clothes, point a pistol at me, and fire off a blank round. I would drop to the floor, and my assailant would flee.

After allowing pandemonium to ensue for a a few seconds, I would jump up, and ask everyone to write down exactly what they'd seen, then turn it in to me. After they had done so, my assailant would re-enter the room, and I'd read aloud the eyewitness statements I'd collected from the class.

By the time, I was done, I would learn that I had been attacked by a tall, short, average, hispanic, caucasian, black male, between 20 and 50 years of age, with blond, brown, black hair, who fired a between one and five pistol or rifle rounds at me, while remaining completely silent and screaming obsenities at me.

Clearly, people's perceptions differ.

Over the long term, memories differ, too. People often fool themselves into remembering exactly what it is they wish to remember., and beleives with utter sincerity in the fidelity of their memories.

So, as a practical matter, we will never know the truth, in any objective sense, about Kerry's service, or what happened on that remote day in 1969.

But, it is John Kerry who is asking us to make him the president of the United States, and doing so on the basis of his service there. So, if there are questions about his record, especially questions raised by a large majority of people who served with him, Kerry has a responsibility to answer those questions.

The difference between John McCain and John Kerry is that, to a man, all of John McCain's fellow prisoners at the Hanoi Hilton regard him as a dedicated officer who did his utmost to do his duty under exceptionally adverse circumstances. So, when John Kerry's fellow veterans question his service, it is not unreasonable to wonder why.

It might help if Kerry would release his medical records from his military service, as well as all of his Fitness Reports (FITREPS). We've seen practically every piece of paper in existence about George W. Bush's national guard service, so it seems to me that if Kerry want to make his Vietnam experience the sine qua non of his qualification to be president, then he has the obligation to fully disclose the relevant documentation.

But, Kerry has not seen fit to do that.

Indeed, the immediate response fro the Democrats has been to question the motives of Kerry's fellow Vets. I don't think that's enough, nor I do I think it'll play well with the public.

Joe Conason described Admiral Hoffman as having "gained notoriety in Vietnam as a strutting, cigar-chewing Navy captain... whose obsession with body counts and 'scorekeeping' may have provoked the February 1969 massacre of Vietnamese civilians at Thanh Phong."

Nice word: "may".

That's a pretty risky strategy, because, at some point, someone is going to count the number of Kerry's "Band of Brothers", then count the number of Kerry's fellow swiftees who think he's unfit for command. If that number is wildly disproportionate, like a 9:1 ratio, then calling them all "embittered Republicans" isn't going to be very helpful.

And this ad is just the first shot. The Swift Vets anti-Kerry book, Unfit for Command : Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, is due out in 10 days.

If you're going to make your military service the centerpiece of a national political campaign, it's probably wise to ensure that all your fellow veterans agree about the nature of that service. If they don't then you'd better be prepared to answer their criticisms with something other than the Joe Conason "They were baby-killers then, and they're baby killers now" talking points.

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