Kerry's Page at the U.S.S. Gridley Site

Well, surprise, surprise! "Tour of Duty" contains some blatant lies and exaggerations about Jean Fraud Kerry's first "Vietnam Tour" too, and the men he served with do not want him in the White House. Some excerpts from The Kerry Page on the U.S.S. Gridley site:

From J. F. Kelly, Jr., the Executive Officer on the Gridley during Kerry's time aboard:

[...]

Aside from a Christmas card and an aborted telephone call, I didn’t hear further from John until I read about his anti-war antics including his appearance with Hanoi Jane Fonda and the famous episode of throwing medals onto the capitol steps during a protest.

While he was protesting against the war, many of us were still fighting in it. Many of us felt betrayed that one of our own, a decorated hero, would give comfort to the enemy by such actions.

[...]

For that reason, even aside from his anti-defense voting record in the Senate, he is one ex-shipmate that I could never support as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

From Phil Carter, an E-5 during Kerry's time on the Gridley:

[..]

When I read “Tour of Duty”, I became concerned because the material on Kerry’s time on GRIDLEY appeared in many instances to be exaggerations and in some cases figments of an overactive imagination.

Here are my observations on the sections that bothered me:

[..]

2. Page 78 – “motivate 400 swabbies” – The First Lieutenant is responsible only for the personnel of 1st Division, not the entire crew. 1st Division had a roster of about 30 in 1968. To the extent that other divisions had responsibility for deck space, their officers would have been responsible for motivating them.

[...]

5. The trip to Danang – GRIDLEY went into Danang for briefings before going to orthern SAR. This section is so full of hyperbole that the urge to giggle is almost uncontrollable. “The panic and pressure onboard GRIDLEY, strapping on a .45, wondering if I would have to use it, B-52’s howling overhead”. A B-52 over Danang would have been so high that only contrails would have been visible, cloud cover permitting. David Simons confirmed my recollection that during our brief stay in Danang Harbor, the sky was overcast to the point of being ominous.

More seriously, no one can remember John Kerry going ashore. ...

[...]

There is no mystery about the “gruesome site of a pile of dead VC.” We saw no sign of anything like this. However, our escort to Monkey Mountain did tell us how the VC bodies were stacked up on the LZ’s after the TET Offensive, which had been several months before. Ensign Kerry would have been told this story by members of the shore party.
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6. In command – Again with the hyperbole. Kerry makes much about being “in harge” of the ship after the Captain and XO. The OOD is in charge of the operation of the ship during his four hour watch but hardly in charge of the ship. ...

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I have to wonder about all of those foreign leaders who will supposedly be so much more cooperative with the U.S. if Kerry is elected. Can they read? They're going to trust this man?

Hat tip: lgf: Kerry's Page at the U.S.S. Gridley Site