Navy Corrects Kerry Discharge Certificate

[SoDesuKa]

When Kerry was separated from the service, his discharge papers contained a then-insignificant clerical error, that his Silver Star had a combat "V". There's no such thing as a combat "V" for a Silver Star, but the Navy didn't correct the mistake until recently. Why are they doing it now? Because it makes them look stupid.

http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/DD214.pdf

However, right wing conspiracists are seeing deep meaning in this recent change. Their argument is unbelievably silly, but they are using it to suggest dishonesty. All Silver Stars are for valor. There's no need to add a "V" device because valor is implied in the medal itself. Despite this, right wingers weigh in with the following drivel:

The presence of the combat “V” with Kerry’s Silver Star on his DD 214 raises two extremely disquieting questions. How did the unauthorized “V” get there, and why has Kerry allowed it to remain?

The first question should not be taken lightly because we are talking about possible federal crimes. We are talking about the possibility of a forged official document. We are talking, as well, about Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001, which states: “hoever, in any manner within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the United States, knowingly and willfully . . . makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years or both.”

Was the combat “V” added by a sloppy clerk or a yeoman’s typo thirty years ago? Was someone pressured or persuaded to add it? If Kerry had nothing to do with the gratuitously added combat “V,” why didn’t he have his DD 214 corrected when he was separated from the Navy?

Which gives rise to the second disturbing question: If Kerry was not a party to the unauthorized “V,” why, for all these years, has he allowed his DD 214 to remain uncorrected and to repose on his website?

In light of the recent Swift Boat revelations and the cloud they have cast over Kerry’s awards, one plausible answer is that this is yet another example of Kerry’s multiple, and increasingly transparent, lies about his alleged heroics in Vietnam.

Let’s hope it won’t take a controversial TV spot to spark a mainstream media investigation of how candidate Kerry received an unearned “V” for valor.

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=14743

[fob]

1. I heard that spewed out of a Michael Medved AM radio program

about 2 hours ago. I'd say this makes Walt Starr's info HIGHLY relevant since these jackasses are saying this is a possible felony.

[blm]

4. Wow, Michael Medved will be FURIOUS when he researches Bush's records then

won't he?

I mean, if this outrages him just imagine how nuclear he'll go when he realizes Bush was a deserter and had documents generated to cover up.

[Cha]

15. AND wearing ribbons or medals ,in a photograph

that hangs in pappybbush's Library, that there is NO documentation for.

[SoDesuKa]

6. It's Disrespectful

It's disrespectful to combat veterans to call John Kerry a liar because of a clerical error on his DD214. The Navy has finally gotten around to correcting a mistake on their record.

Reading a conspiracy into this shows a lack of understanding of military reality. Kerry's DD214 is full of typos, indicating that the clerk who typed it was not very skilled, and probably didn't know that there's no Combat V with a Silver Star. Despite the errors, the officer signed it to get it off his desk.

[EndElectoral]

2. How many V's on Bush's discharge?

[dogman]

3. There was an article about this in the Chicago Sun Times

today. It appears to have been pulled offline now. It contained attack on many of his records and implied he had trouble with his discharge. Reminded me of what is being disclosed here about B$$$'s records. Tit for tat.

[RamboLiberal]

7. It's still there - just accessed it

http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-lips27.html

[SoDesuKa]

10. Sun Times

Is the Chicago Sun Times a right wing rag like the New York Post? That article is outrageous. I'm infuriated by it.

[dogman]

12. NEO-CON to the max does carry some good liberal opinions also.

I'm not familiar with this writer. I wonder what these experts would make of Walt Starr's questions.

[SoDesuKa]

14. Thomas Lipscomb, Freeper

Lipscomb is a freeper. In a piece about Clinton in 2000, he writes:

Clinton’s rage is understandable. After all he struggled brilliantly to overcome the greatest array of potential obstacles to political success of any American president and he’d been decisively re-elected. The illegitimate son of a Mafia gambling town hooker, a draft dodger, a one man crime wave when it came to charges of sexual abuse, rape, and blackmail, lackluster governor of one of the least significant and most corrupt states in the Union, convicted of perjury by his own former law student, impeached by the Congress of the United States--to name a few--Clinton’s viable political existence itself is far more of a miracle than the flight of the bumblebee. And he was lucky. As ratings and poll-driven as Clinton himself, the news media’s coincidental fin de siecle decay into features, fluff, and conglomeration left it without the resources, concentration, or dedication to hard news to investigate the most scandalous President in American history. Historians will find it hard to understand the imbalance between press treatment of Nixon and Clinton and will speculate over what might have happened if Nixon had followed the "stonewalling" across the board obstruction of justice tactics devised for Clinton by former Watergate prosecution staff members like Hillary Clinton.

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a39ff2667574c.htm

[faithnotgreed]

5. once again i dont get it. if the silver star is the same thing as valor

and thus no reason for the errant "v" on the certificate, then what difference would this possibly make?


the v doesnt denote anything thats not already there in a silver star citation so what on earth would anyone gain by adding the "v"?

its not like it brings kerry any other award or honor with it
the "v" is not recognized in any way in reference to a silver star

so whats the deal? if kerry gains not one iota of anything why on earth would anyone think he may be "behind" adding this letter to the citation??

thank you for letting me vent

[SoDesuKa]

8. Totally Ignorant

There's no case for anything. The V device indicates valor, but all Silver Stars are for valor. As you point out, there's no need to put a V device, just as there would be no need to put a symbol of bodily injury on a Purple Heart.

[faithnotgreed]

11. thats what i thought. thank you!

[Jo March]

9. My DD214 says that I have 10 years of service but I don't

The Sgt. who handled my paperwork told me that it would take forever to have it fixed and to just leave it that way.

"Who knows," he said, "You might get a better payout on the G.I. Bill for school."

So, I left it. It's not that I was trying to fool anyone. I just needed the DD214 because I was applying for my G.I. Bill to start school and I had to have it. The Sgt. made it sound like it would take months to correct the mistake.

Besides, I point out the error when I apply for aid. It also clearly has when I enlisted and when I was discharged. Any idiot can see that I wasn't in for 10 years.

I guess I shouldn't run for office, though.

On edit - I have NEVER gained an extra cent for the error. I would never try to, either.

[zaj]

13. Where does it say that the Navy corrected their mistake?

I've been looking for an article or an updated document.

I haven't seen any evidence yet. I'd like a link for a discussion I'm having elsewhere.

[Jackpine Radical]

16. On Kerry's site there is a DD215,

which is a form for correcting the DD214, and it contains a correction in a date. My presumption is that the "V" thing is so minor that they wouldn't have bothered issuing a correction.