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A GREEN BERET'S OPINION OF KERRY
180A
Member Posts: 828 ✭✭✭✭
This email came today:
The old hurts are surfacing and the feelings of betrayal by fellow citizens, and their leader stirring them up, are breaking my heart again. I am being cut in the same scar. How did we who served in Vietnam suddenly become cold-blooded killers, torturers, and rapists, of the ilk of the Nazi SS or the Taliban? Most of us were American soldiers who grew up idolizing John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and all the other heroes. That was why I volunteered. But for political expediency, John Kerry has rewritten history, again. After spending only four months in the country of Vietnam, John Kerry testified before Congress in 1971 with these exact words about incidents he supposedly witnessed or heard about from other vets: "They personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam."
I was a green beret officer who volunteered for duty in Vietnam and fought in the thick of it in 1968 and 1969 on a Special Forces A-team on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, just for starters. We were the elite. We saw the most action. Everybody in the world knows that. But we did not just kill people, we built a church, a school, treated illnesses, passed out soap, food, and clothing, and had fun and loving interaction with the indigenous people of Vietnam, just like our boys did in Normandy, Baghdad, Saigon, and everywhere American soldiers ever served. We all gave away our candy bars and rations to kids and our hearts to oppressed people all over the globe.
My children and grandchildren could read your words, and think those horrendous things about me, Mr. Kerry. You are a bold-faced, unprincipled liar, and a disgrace, and you have dishonored me and all my fellow Vietnam veterans. Sure, there were a couple bad-apples, but I saw none, and I saw it all, and if I did, as an army officer, it was my obligation to stop it, or at the very least report it. Why is there not a single record anywhere of you ever reporting any incidents like this or having the perpetrators arrested? The answer is simple. You are a liar. Your medals and mine are not a free pass for lifetime, Senator Kerry, to bypass character, integrity, and morality. I earn my green beret over and over daily in all aspects of my life.
Eight National Guard green berets, and other National Guard soldiers, have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you totally dishonored their widows and families by lumping National Guard service in with being a draft-dodger, conscientious objector, and deserter, just so you can try to sabotage the patriotism of our President who proudly served as an Air National Guard jet pilot. I have a son earning his green beret at Fort Bragg right now, and his wife serves honorably in the Air National Guard, just like President Bush did, and I am as proud of her as I am my son. I volunteered for Vietnam and have no problem whatsoever with President Bush being our Commander-In-Chief. In fact, I am proud of him as our leader.
John Kerry, you personally derailed the Vietnam Human Rights Bill, HR2883, in 2001, after it had passed the House by a 411 to 1 vote, and thousands of pro-American Montagnard tribespeople in Vietnam died since then who could have been saved, by you. Earlier, as Chair of the Senate Select Committee on MIA/POW Affairs, you personally quashed the efforts of any and all veterans to report sightings of living POWs, when you held those reins in Congress. You have fought tooth and nail to push for the US to normalize relations with Vietnam for years. Why, Mr. Kerry? Simple, your first cousin C. Stewart Forbes, CEO, of Colliers International, recently signed a contract with Hanoi, worth BILLIONS of dollars for Collier International to become the exclusive real estate representative for the country of Vietnam.
Hanoi John, now that it works for you, you beat your chest about your Vietnam service, but to me, you are a phony, opportunistic, hypocrite. You are one of those politicians that is like a fertilizer machine: all that comes out of you is horse manure, and you are spreading it everywhere.
Medals do not make a man. Morals do.
(edited due to OPSEC)
The old hurts are surfacing and the feelings of betrayal by fellow citizens, and their leader stirring them up, are breaking my heart again. I am being cut in the same scar. How did we who served in Vietnam suddenly become cold-blooded killers, torturers, and rapists, of the ilk of the Nazi SS or the Taliban? Most of us were American soldiers who grew up idolizing John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and all the other heroes. That was why I volunteered. But for political expediency, John Kerry has rewritten history, again. After spending only four months in the country of Vietnam, John Kerry testified before Congress in 1971 with these exact words about incidents he supposedly witnessed or heard about from other vets: "They personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam."
I was a green beret officer who volunteered for duty in Vietnam and fought in the thick of it in 1968 and 1969 on a Special Forces A-team on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, just for starters. We were the elite. We saw the most action. Everybody in the world knows that. But we did not just kill people, we built a church, a school, treated illnesses, passed out soap, food, and clothing, and had fun and loving interaction with the indigenous people of Vietnam, just like our boys did in Normandy, Baghdad, Saigon, and everywhere American soldiers ever served. We all gave away our candy bars and rations to kids and our hearts to oppressed people all over the globe.
My children and grandchildren could read your words, and think those horrendous things about me, Mr. Kerry. You are a bold-faced, unprincipled liar, and a disgrace, and you have dishonored me and all my fellow Vietnam veterans. Sure, there were a couple bad-apples, but I saw none, and I saw it all, and if I did, as an army officer, it was my obligation to stop it, or at the very least report it. Why is there not a single record anywhere of you ever reporting any incidents like this or having the perpetrators arrested? The answer is simple. You are a liar. Your medals and mine are not a free pass for lifetime, Senator Kerry, to bypass character, integrity, and morality. I earn my green beret over and over daily in all aspects of my life.
Eight National Guard green berets, and other National Guard soldiers, have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you totally dishonored their widows and families by lumping National Guard service in with being a draft-dodger, conscientious objector, and deserter, just so you can try to sabotage the patriotism of our President who proudly served as an Air National Guard jet pilot. I have a son earning his green beret at Fort Bragg right now, and his wife serves honorably in the Air National Guard, just like President Bush did, and I am as proud of her as I am my son. I volunteered for Vietnam and have no problem whatsoever with President Bush being our Commander-In-Chief. In fact, I am proud of him as our leader.
John Kerry, you personally derailed the Vietnam Human Rights Bill, HR2883, in 2001, after it had passed the House by a 411 to 1 vote, and thousands of pro-American Montagnard tribespeople in Vietnam died since then who could have been saved, by you. Earlier, as Chair of the Senate Select Committee on MIA/POW Affairs, you personally quashed the efforts of any and all veterans to report sightings of living POWs, when you held those reins in Congress. You have fought tooth and nail to push for the US to normalize relations with Vietnam for years. Why, Mr. Kerry? Simple, your first cousin C. Stewart Forbes, CEO, of Colliers International, recently signed a contract with Hanoi, worth BILLIONS of dollars for Collier International to become the exclusive real estate representative for the country of Vietnam.
Hanoi John, now that it works for you, you beat your chest about your Vietnam service, but to me, you are a phony, opportunistic, hypocrite. You are one of those politicians that is like a fertilizer machine: all that comes out of you is horse manure, and you are spreading it everywhere.
Medals do not make a man. Morals do.
(edited due to OPSEC)
Comments
As for Kerry's so-called implication that all National Guardsmen are draft-dodgers in uniform, take a good look at what Kerry has said. He has said he has NEVER linked one's decision to serve, to object, or to dodge to one's patriotism or loyalty.
So, when he blames Kerry for making his doey-eyed grandkids think that he's a monster, maybe he'd better think twice, read more, and find someone else to blame.
Greg
Former
USMC
ANGLICO
maybe you'll get a chance to run your mouth in person (if you have the guts).
Lord Lowrider the Loquacious.
Member:Secret Select Society of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets
She was only a fisherman's daughter,
But when she saw my rod she reeled.
All politicians are self-aggrandizing, hypocritical pustules of shameless ambition. I'll give Kerry this much though; he should be lauded for making no effort to hide what he is.
As for Kerry's so-called implication that all National Guardsmen are draft-dodgers in uniform, take a good look at what Kerry has said. He has said he has NEVER linked one's decision to serve, to object, or to dodge to one's patriotism or loyalty.
Maybe Kerry doesn't link one's decision to serve, object, or dodge the draft to one's patriotism or loyalty, but I do and I'm sure many Americans do. I would also link their courage as being a man to it also.
I dare say our former CinC possessed none as a certain fata$$ Senator from MA that drives drunk.
The former Vice President wasn't overflowing with quality either. I would have had a good deal of respect and admiration for him had he resigned when told that he had been stumping for, and parroting a blatant liar.
Good men don't do terrible things just because they are in a bad situation.
This is a great statement of truth! I was there and didn't do it! Those situations really seem to bring out who you really are, not drive you to be someone you're not. Maybe you have to be there to know that!
How you doin'!
All that crap about atrocities by US troops was pure garbage, nothing but anti-war propaganda intended to shock people.
There was more than enough atrocity to go around on both sides. While not common, the taking of ears and scalps by Marines in I Corps happened often enough. I am afraid that I must disagree with your statement that Good men don't do terrible things just because they are in a bad situation. In Vietnam, it happened all too frequently.
Please.. grow up. What's next? "I double-dog dare you?"
Lowrider,
Ah... ever the eloquent speaker. I shudder to think what your cutting remarks will be like when you finally graduate from middle school.
I really get a kick out of comments from War. War is hell. I hope I never see hell. My dad spoke of untolds during WWII. Heroics and non mentionables. A friend of mine that fought in Vietnam would tell me how the Vietcong would take killed G.I.'s and sew their gentials in their mouth. Some things are best unsaid..
Select-Fire,
Your friend told you correctly, and it was things like that that snapped young men and made them act like animials at times. As far as this post goes, the Green Beret has earned the right to have his opinion, and those who didn't see the things he saw, and do the things he did, should be tolerant of his opinion. Us old vets have a private respect for those who held the honor, and most of us don't see Kerry as one of those. Disagree with us as is your right, but don't deny us our opinions.
That last statement is to all readers, not you as an individual![;)]
How you doin'!
When you wrestle a 'gator, there ain't no good end!!
"Molon Labe!" Spartan General-King Leonidas
So these things happened, how wide spread tho'?
The idea that we were there to build churches and schools and win hearts and minds never occurred to me. Not once. I did not share my C-Ration candy with kids because I couldn't trust them, not any of them. How widespread souvenir collecting was is really besides the point; once is once too often. But passing out soap and having fun and loving interaction with the indigenous people of Vietnam was not remotely my experience.
with the 3rd Inf Div as a PFC dogface and rarely heard of this. Our
Div had among the highest casualties and most battletime of any Div.
in the ETO. Along with this, who would want to get captured with a
enemies ears or scalp in their possession?? This would make for a short
and unhappy life. Some shootings, yes. Due to "situation and terrain".
Lets hear from some that actually "saw" such actually happened in such incidents. With names, dates, times and places. Please, not movies.
While we may not have been perfect we were also not that bad.
Tell you what wizeazz monkeyface, I'm sending your comments to him -
maybe you'll get a chance to run your mouth in person (if you have the guts).
Some folks don't know how not to take things personally and can't help but get belligerant. I disagree with Hairy on many things, I agree with him on some but I don't think either of us has had ocassion to be threatening or nasty.
How old are you anyway???
When you wrestle a 'gator, there ain't no good end!!
"Molon Labe!" Spartan General-King Leonidas
Lets hear from some that actually "saw" such actually happened in such incidents. With names, dates, times and places.
GySgt X, November 1965, Dong Ha, RVN. Vietnam was a different war Joe, get over it. For thirteen months we operated from the same base camp; when helicoptered into the field, the scalps and dried apricot necklaces stayed at the bottom of a wooden crate under your cot.
Hypocrisy is the homage paid by vice to virtue.
Don't assume malice for what stupidity can explain.
El Muerto Monkey & Hairy are the same person?
Gee.........that was hard to figure out!
My opinion on all this is that Kerry is a sleeze ball, and I thank 180A for fowarding the heads up.
Hanoi John will join Hanoi Jane in the annals of time; after his current ketchup mama figures out who he really is. The Vietnam Veterans already know.
Hypocrisy is the homage paid by vice to virtue.
Don't assume malice for what stupidity can explain.
"El Muerto Monkey & Hairy are the same person?"
Whatever gave you that idea?
Let's lay this to rest: Hairy and I are not the same person. I take full responsibility for all of my words and opinions (as well as the credit when it's due).
If I wanted to blame someone else for everything I said, I'd get the Supreme Court to elect me president and call myself George W. Bush.
What the Supreme Court did was to say if Florida wanted to recount votes, they had to recount votes in ALL of Florida, NOT just in Democtratic strong areas.
"If they won't give us good terms, come back and we'll fight it out."
-- Gen. James Longstreet
For so many reasons, Vietnam was a terrible thing for this country, second only to the events of 1861-5 in dividing us . . . and like the earlier event, those divisions continue to fester, as the acrimony / personal attacks in this thread amply illustrate. I disagree with almost every post HAIRY and DWS make, but on this subject, if no other, their experiences and opinions are as valid as those of the original author.
That said, I do feel the responsibility for perpetuation / exploitation of these divisions lies primarily on the Left. Just as the same group continues to whine about disputed results in Florida in 2000 but conveniently overlook the gross voter fraud in W. Virginia and Illinois in 1960 (well, in virtually every election with the latter state) which enabled a liberal icon to take office. We'll never know if undivided support for the war effort would have produced a different result, whether the casualty figures would have lower without the aid and comfort the Left afforded the foe or higher because there would not have been the public / political pressure to disengage. All we can know for certain is that more than 50,000 Americans gave their lives in the struggle and the ultimate legacy (to date) has been myriad examples of a continued, sometimes virulent, division in our society which will take generations to subside.
The candidate touts his military service and surely he is free to do so. But he is also responsible for what he has said and done in the thirty plus years since he returned. It seems to me the original author was taking him to task for that, and for the writer's perception of the impact those words / deeds have had on others, including the author. This, I submit, is valid - not just for veterans - and is intrinsic to the political process. Certainly it is at least as valid as driving Trent Lott from his leadership position for an ill-phrased comment to Strom Thurmond on the occasion of his 100th birthday. But then, the left is not renown for its aversion to self-serving hypocrisy.
"There is nothing lower than the human race - except the French." (Mark Twain)
DWS--I keep that special item with me at all times and take time at least once a week to tell someone the story about that type of item. You'd be surprised how many people in the military have no idea what it is. Thank you.
The guy is legit, I also got this email and looked into it.
I don't completely agree with his statements, but he's calling it as he saw it.
I don't get into politics; that's a un-winnable war-
but Kerry would never get my vote.
Jim
"De Oppresso Liber"
Big Daddy my heros have always been cowboys,they still are it seems
Let's be nice and not let the dogs out again. Took years to pen 'em
up.What we did we keep to ourself,it was another time and place.
You can't judge someone unless you were with him. I have to say though I didn't have fun.
Stop it guys,isn't it enough that we hear all this bull on the tv.
Let's be nice and not let the dogs out again. Took years to pen 'em
up.What we did we keep to ourself,it was another time and place.
You can't judge someone unless you were with him. I have to say though I didn't have fun.
Is everybody board monitor today? Stick it in your ear, rong.
The old saying: Opinions are like butt holes. We all got one and they all stink.
I'm sure we could find a former Green Beret' that doesn't feel that way about Mr Kerry. What makes this guy so special?
When you wrestle a 'gator, there ain't no good end!!
"Molon Labe!" Spartan General-King Leonidas
When you wrestle a 'gator, there ain't no good end!!
"Molon Labe!" Spartan General-King Leonidas
On his 'war' record, I don't think I could care less. Most of us would have sooner been in Singapore or Sydney or fwckin' around in Alabama with George.
Clouder..
thats a bit simplistic but im wondering when you are obligated to say something is wrong regardless and when you need to keep your mouth shut and sing the national anthem.as a true conservative i dont like to blindly support stupidity and a new neverending war especially when i cant seem to see an objective gained.i see a continual change of reasoning for this war justification and i certainly dont see anything conservative about the largest new entitlemnt program and a boatload of debt that keeps getting bigger.
it almost makes a fellow not want to vote anymore.[V]