The Midnight Rant of John Kerry
Written by Gordon Bloyer
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
We all have heard of the ''The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere'' but have you heard of ''The Midnight Rant of John Kerry''?
After President Bush finished his acceptance speech, Kerry held his midnight rant. He once again bragged about his Vietnam service and he even brought up his TWO tours of duty. How many of you have heard about his first tour on the USS Gridley? The ''objective media'' never mentions it. Why not? Kerry is bragging about it, but where are the interviews with the Gridley ''band of brothers''? Why weren’t they on the Kerry stage?
Well, it seems that the USS Gridley experience was pretty uneventful. Kerry only mentions it briefly in his book. Ah, but there is the problem: his Gridley ''band of brothers'' read the book and they are not too happy with Kerry's story. It appears that Kerry lied about his service on the ship. Why are there no questions from the media? Where are you, Fox, Drudge, and Rush?
The commander of the Gridley, J. F. Kelly, wrote this in an article for a San Diego newspaper:
There is no question that John Kerry earned his decorations and that he put his life at risk in the service of his country. There is no doubt in my mind, moreover, that he has the intelligence to serve as president. But there is also no doubt in my mind that his anti-war activities while our troops were still fighting, dying, and being tortured in filthy Vietnam prisons were despicable.
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.
Then radar man, Phil Carter, wrote this on the ''The Kerry Page'' of his website:
As everyone must surely know by now, John F. Kerry came on board Gridley as a boot Ensign when we returned from our 1967 Westpac Cruise. He remained on Gridley through the 1968 cruise. Politics aside, shipmates of the time who have read ''Tour of Duty,'' the authorized campaign biography, will have something to say about the chapter on Gridley.
I was an E-5 radarman on the USS Gridley and was on board from 1965 until May of 1968. My principal role in '67 and '68 was to prepare intelligence information to brief the rescue helo pilots and the ship's officers. I received a commendation from CINCPACFLT for this activity.
When I read ''Tour of Duty,'' I became concerned because the material on Kerry' 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:
Page 87 has Kerry ''shuttling sailors and provisions'' between Gridley and Kitty Hawk in a small motor whaleboat out in the Gulf of Tonkin. The regular method of travel between the two ships was via helo. That is how I went over to the Kitty Hawk. If such an event did occur, it would have been unusual and hardly a shuttle.
Later on page 87, Kerry talks about Olongapo in the Philippines. He talks about bloated corpses floating in the river and starving women with babies dying of malnutrition. Now Olongapo was a wild and wooly town that existed solely for the entertainment of the U.S. Navy, but in over three years of calling there, I never saw a single instance of either thing happening. Kerry uncovered this in his first visit. If this was from his letters home then he was certainly writing for dramatic effect. Balderdash.
The trip to Danang –– Gridley went into Danang for briefings before going to Northern 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. I was part of the shore party that went to Monkey Mountain. We were taken in a screened-in truck (to protect against grenades being tossed in) and made to unload our .45's. The driver said that he did not want us newbies to shoot anyone by accident.
Neither Commander Kelly nor LCDR Rueckert (Kerry's immediate boss) can recall approving a trip ashore for Ensign Kerry. The author uses remarks of David Simons IC2 as a lead in to the Danang section. I spoke to David and he has no personal knowledge of Kerry going ashore at all. He did talk to a researcher and made some generic remarks about Danang but had never discussed Danang with Kerry. He recalls arguing with the researcher because he tried to put the words ''cowboy'' in his mouth, which ended up in the book.
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.
If, indeed, he got to the pier, because he was in charge of the motor whaleboat, it certainly would not have been within his purview to wander Danang, eating dog meat, and drinking beer in a bar (under arms). It also seems amazing that he had all these observations on Vietnam in such a brief visit.
In command--again with the hyperbole. Kerry makes much about being ''in charge'' of the ship after the Captain and  . The OOD is in charge of the operation of the ship during his four hour watch but hardly in charge of the ship. Kerry qualified almost immediately as OOD(P), in port OOD but that is a given. For much of his time onboard he would have been Junior Officer of the Deck when underway. Although his fitness report as of 22 March says ''he is qualified as OOD(I) now'' (Independent steaming--with no ships or land anywhere near), only OOD(P) is listed under duties. His Fitness Report from July 1968 lists two months as OOD(I) which would mean he qualified after leaving the war zone.
You can read more on Carter’s web page
Does it sound like Kerry has a problem with the truth? The swift boat vets deserve more respect. When will the media expose the ''Gridley Tour''? Can you believe the swift boat skipper that does not know his boat was never in Cambodia? Kerry and Gilligan and Mr. Howell--that would be a great crew.
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