I never served in the military, so I will agree that generally, we should not quibble over medals.

What is your thought on Kerry's "Reporting for Duty" line? I thought it was really cheesy.

My dad was an infantryman in Korea and could not stand Kerry. It became a standing joke the last year of his life that "did you know Kerry served in Vietnam?" I heard a loud noise when Kerry spoke that line, and I am convinced it was my dad turning over in his grave.

What is your thought?

Well, there are lots of soldiers (though only two regulars, myself and Dad) in my line - and none of the living like the way Kerry plays the game.

As I've said before in a couple of posts (I'll make y'all look, I'm tired of doing the linkage) I don't think Kerry carried his water as an officer should.

If Kerry had been a Gunner's Mate, my opinion would be different.

But he chose to be an officer, and there is a whole different standard that goes with that.

And he failed to meet my standard.

Like it or not, Bush-haters, Bush met his legal requirements, within the rules. I know you don't like that - but tfb, dudes.

I guess that my problem with Kerry and his war record is that he wants it every way. He was a hero, no a resister, no a hero, and he threw away his medals in protest except that he did not.

I think, though I cannot prove it, is that Kerry in 1966 thought the war would be popular, so he wanted to be part of it. He wanted to recreate the JFK thing, so he joined the swift boats (closest thing to PT boats in the US Navy at the time). Then when he realized he was running in liberal land, he needed to prove he was a protester.

But now he needs to show he was a war hero.

Frankly, his constant change of scope makes me dizzy.

And I agree that you could have been against Vietnam for reasons other than sympathy with the communists. I view Vietnam as that we were on the right side, but fought the war in such a stupid manner that all we did was waste American AND vietnamese lives. But that was not his opposition to the war.

Anyway, sorry for the rambling.

John, thanks for trying to get folks to use the correct terms regarding this particular instance, especially since you dislike Kerry. You could have chosen to say nothing, but instead you speak up. I respect you for that. Unfortunately, I fear that your statement:

"...but don't call it a 'self-inflicted' wound.

There really isn't justification for that."

will fall on deaf ears. As near as I can tell, justification has little to do with what many are writing or saying anymore on either side of the political spectrum.

I'm guilty. I called it a self-inflicted wound - but I was thinking more along the lines that the guy has to be a total klutz to get himself wounded after throwing a grenade into some rice.

Well Jack, I'm not trying to change people so much as I'm just being internally consistent...

SWWBO - what I find interesting is that there are now two stories about JfK and grenades. One, that you related, the other, that his first Purple Heart was possibly a fragment from a grenade launcher shot - Kerry contends under fire, others contend he was just randomly shooting at the shore.

Well, I have no problem with quibbling over the exact nature of Fuckface's service since he's the one that insists on running on it as a platform. If he'd never brought it up, I would've considered the nitty-gritty off limits, but he didn't.

As bsc says it: He wants it both ways, and I'll be damned if I'll let him. If he wants to parade around pretending to be a war hero, waving the medals that he suddenly didn't throw away in disgust, his service record is fair game.

All that being said, I agree completely that there's a huge difference between "accidentally self-inflicted" and "self-inflicted". The latter is a serious charge that one shouldn't even think of bringing up unless backed by evidence.

And that, Sire, is why I leave rabid moonbat spanking to experts like yourself, and content myself with Gun Pr0n!