Военная служба Джона Керри во Вьетнаме

The military career of John Kerry occurred during the Vietnam War. Kerry served as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy during the period from 1966 to 1970. His only tour in Vietnam was four months as officer in charge of a Swift boat in 1969. Kerry received several combat medals during this tour, including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. Kerry's military record received considerable attention during his political career, especially during his unsuccessful 2004 bid for the presidency.

On February 18, 1966, John Kerry enlisted in the U. S. Naval Reserve. He began his active duty military service on August 19, 1966. After completing sixteen weeks of Officer Candidate School at the U. S. Naval Training Center in Newport, Rhode Island, he received his commission on December 16, 1966. On January 3, 1967, Kerry began a ten week Officer Damage Control Course at the Naval Schools Command on Treasure Island, California. On March 22, 1967, he reported to the U. S. Fleet Anti Air Warfare Training Center for training as a Combat Information Center Watch Officer.

Kerry's first tour of duty was as an ensign on the guided missile frigate USS Gridley, beginning June 8, 1967. On February 9, 1968, the Gridley set sail for a Western Pacific deployment. The next day, Kerry requested duty in Vietnam, listing as his first preference a position as the commander of a Fast Patrol Craft (PCF), also known as a "Swift boat." These 50 foot boats have aluminum hulls and have little or no armor, but are heavily armed and rely on speed. "I didn't really want to get involved in the war," Kerry said in a book of Vietnam reminiscences published in 1986. "When I signed up for the swift boats, they had very little to do with the war. They were engaged in coastal patrolling and that's what I thought I was going to be doing." However, Kerry's second choice of billet was in a river patrol boat, or PBR, squadron, which at the time was performing the more dangerous river duty. The Gridley traveled to several places, including Wellington in New Zealand, Subic Bay in the Philippines, and the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam. The executive officer of the Gridley has described the deployment: "We deployed from San Diego to the Vietnam theatre in early 1968 after only a six month turnaround and spent most of a four month deployment on rescue station in the Gulf of Tonkin, standing by to pick up downed aviators. It was a fairly grueling tour of duty. Our helicopter was shot up trying to rescue a downed pilot and the door gunner was killed. The crew performed well and John Kerry's performance in all aspects of his duty was outstanding." The ship departed for the U. S. on May 27, 1968, and returned to port at Long Beach, California on June 6. Ten days after returning, on June 16, Kerry was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, junior grade. On June 20, he left the Gridley for special Swift boat training at the Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado, California.

On November 17, 1968, Kerry reported for duty at Coastal Squadron 1 in Cam Ranh Bay in South Vietnam. Kerry took part in Operation Sea Lords, the brainchild of Admiral Elmo Zumwalt. The goal was to project a U. S. military presence more aggressively into an area that had long been a Viet Cong stronghold. As part of that plan, the Swift boats were assigned to patrol the narrow waterways — inlets, canals, and coves — of the Mekong River delta, to monitor enemy movements, interdict enemy river based supply lines, invite attack and otherwise draw out hostile forces. During his tour of duty as an Officer in Charge of Swift boats, Kerry led five man crews on patrols into enemy controlled areas. His first command was Swift boat PCF 44, from December 6, 1968, to January 21, 1969, when the crew was disbanded. The crew was based at Coastal Division 13 at Cat Lo from December 13 to January 6. Otherwise, it was stationed at Coastal Division 11 at An Thoi. On January 30, Kerry took charge of PCF 94 and its crew, which he led until he departed An Thoi on March 26 and the crew was disbanded.

During the night of December 2, 1968 and early morning of December 3, Kerry was in charge of a small boat operating in and around a peninsula north of Cam Ranh Bay together with a Swift boat (PCF 60). Kerry's boat surprised a group of men unloading sampans at a river crossing, who began to run. When the men refused to obey an order to stop running, Kerry and his crew of two enlisted men opened fire, destroyed the sampans, and took off. During this encounter, Kerry suffered a wound from a small piece of shrapnel in the left arm above the elbow. Dr. Louis Letson, a member of the anti Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT), claimed to have treated Kerry for this wound, but the sick bay report is signed by medical corpsman J. C. Carreon. According to Letson's account and the sick bay report, shrapnel was removed and the wounded area was treated with bacitracin antibiotic and bandaged. Kerry returned to duty the next day on a regular Swift boat patrol. Kerry was later awarded his first Purple Heart for this injury. Kerry's opponents, including the SBVT, have contended that this wound was too minor to merit a Purple Heart. However, guidelines for a Purple Heart do not distinguish between degrees of injury; in addition, a 2004 review by the Navy inspector general concluded that Kerry's awards, including his first Purple Heart, were properly approved.

At the time, the U. S. military command in Vietnam had an established policy of "free fire zones": areas in which soldiers were to shoot anyone moving around after curfew, without first making sure that they were hostile. Such encounters could result in the deaths of innocent civilians. Kerry has stated that he never thought he or his crew were at fault: "There wasn't anybody in that area that didn't know you don't move at night, that you don't go out in a sampan on the rivers, and there's a curfew." Nevertheless, he soon concluded that the policy should be changed. On January 22, 1969, Kerry and several other officers had an unusual meeting in Saigon with Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, the commander of U. S. Naval forces in Vietnam, and U. S. Army General Creighton Abrams, the overall commander of U. S. forces in Vietnam. Kerry and the other officers reported that the "free fire" policy was alienating the Vietnamese and that the Swift boats' actions were not accomplishing their ostensible goal of interdicting Viet Cong supply lines. According to some who retell the story, Kerry and the other visiting officers' concerns were dismissed with what amounted to a pep talk. One of the other officers who participated later recalled, "We all looked at each other and thought, 'What is this crap?'" Kerry later said that the Saigon meeting left him "more depressed than when I came."

Kerry received his second Purple Heart for action on the Bo De River on February 20, 1969. The plan had been for the Swift boats to be accompanied by support helicopters. On the way up the Bo De, however, the helicopters were attacked. They returned to their base to refuel and were unable to return to the mission for several hours. Kerry recorded the situation in his notebook: "We therefore had a choice: to wait for what was not a confirmed return by the helos [and] give any snipers more time to set up an ambush for our exit or we could take a chance and exit immediately without any cover. We chose the latter." As the Swift boats reached the Cua Lon River, Kerry's boat was hit by a rocket propelled grenade round, and a piece of shrapnel hit Kerry's left leg. Thereafter, they had no more trouble, and reached the Gulf of Thailand safely. Kerry still has shrapnel in his left thigh because the doctors tending to him decided to remove the damaged tissue and close the wound with sutures rather than make a wide opening to remove the shrapnel. Kerry received his second Purple Heart for this injury, but he did not take any time off from duty.

Only eight days later, on February 28, came the incident for which Kerry was awarded the Silver Star. On this occasion, Kerry was in tactical command of his Swift boat and two others. Their mission included bringing a demolition team and dozens of South Vietnamese soldiers to destroy enemy sampans, structures and bunkers. Along the Bay Hap River, they ran into an ambush. Kerry directed the boats "to turn to the beach and charge the Viet Cong positions" and he "expertly directed" his boat's fire and coordinated the deployment of the South Vietnamese troops, according to Admiral Zumwalt's original medal citation. After the South Vietnamese troops and an accompanying team of three U. S. Army advisors had disembarked at the ambush site, Kerry's boat and another headed up river to look for the fleeing enemy. The two boats came under fire from a Viet Cong B 40 rocket propelled grenade, shattering the crew cabin windows of PCF 94. Kerry ordered the boats to turn and charge the second ambush site. As they reached the shore, a Viet Cong soldier jumped out of the brush, carrying a loaded B 40 launcher. With the enemy soldier only a short distance away from the boat and crew, forward gunner Tommy Belodeau shot him in the leg with the boat's 7.62×51mm caliber M 60 machine gun. "Tommy in the pit tank winged him in the side of the legs as he was coming across," Fred Short said. "But the guy didn't miss a stride. I mean, he did not break stride." Belodeau's machine gun jammed after he fired, and while crewmate Michael Medeiros attempted to fire, he was unable to do so. Kerry leaped ashore and, followed by Medeiros, pursued the man and killed him. The medal citation notes that Kerry "then led an assault party and conducted a sweep of the area" until the enemy had "been completely routed." The mission was judged highly successful for having destroyed numerous targets and confiscated substantial combat supplies while sustaining no casualties. Kerry's commanding officer, Lieutenant George Elliott, joked that he didn't know whether to court martial him for beaching the boat without orders or give him a medal for saving the crew. Elliott recommended Kerry for the Silver Star, and Zumwalt flew into An Thoi to personally award medals to Kerry and the rest of the sailors involved in the mission. The Navy's account of Kerry's actions is presented in the original medal citation signed by Zumwalt. In addition, the after action reports for this mission are available, along with the original press release written on March 1, a historical summary dated March 17, and more. Sources close to Kerry say the incident had a profound effect on him: "It's the reason he gets so angry when his patriotism is challenged. It was a traumatic experience that's still with him, and he went through it for his country." It affects the way Kerry lives his life every day, the source said, since "he knows he very well would not be alive today had he not taken the life of another man [he] never ever met."

Critics have questioned several aspects of Kerry's military service. As the presidential campaign of 2004 developed, around 200 Vietnam era veterans formed the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT) and held press conferences, ran ads (financed in part by a major Republican party donor in Texas) and endorsed a book, Unfit for Command, questioning Kerry's service record and military awards. Several SBVT members were in the same unit as Kerry. SVPT member Stephen Gardner served on the same boat. Other SBVT members included two of Kerry's former commanding officers, Grant Hibbard and George Elliott. Hibbard and Elliott have alleged, respectively, that Kerry's first Purple Heart and Silver Star were undeserved. In addition, members of SBVT have questioned his other medals and his truthfulness in testimony about the war. Defenders of John Kerry's war record, who include nine of the ten living crewmen who served under him, have charged that organizers of SBVT had close ties to the Bush presidential campaign and that the accusations were false and politically motivated.