Kerry's military commitment should have been over 18 Feb. 72. The discharge he has released shows a date of 16 Feb. 78. It didn't make sense until I ran across this article.
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=5339
Kerry refuses to release all his records. This is probably why.
Kerry Discharged Twice?
Discussion in 'Free-For-All Archives' started by ballfan, Oct 17, 2004.
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RIFs (reduction in force) separations are involuntary, but not in any sense punitive or less than honorable. I personally know many officers with good OERs, and no marks on their record, who were involuntarily separated after the Vietnam war.
That's how it happens.
This one is simply playing on people's ignorance of what such involuntary separations really mean.
Hence the vagueness and pussy-footing around the truth in your links.
Here's the link to the first section cited:
http://assembler.law.cornell.edu/uscode/search/display.html?terms=1162&url=/uscode/html/uscode10/usc_sec_10_00012681----000-notes.html
The second was repealed, but has to to with warrant officers and enlisted men.
http://assembler.law.cornell.edu/uscode/search/display.html?terms=1163&url=/uscode/html/uscode10/usc_sup_01_10_10_A_20_II_30_59notes.html
As you can see, if you bother reading it, it has nothing whatever to do with any punitive or corrective action. It merely describes what the process will be when RIF of reserve officers is necessary.
So why did your source post it, if it wasn't about punitive separation? Because they assumed many folks would be gullible enough to accept it without checking what it actually meant.
Maybe so.
I'd be a lot more careful who I believed, if I were you. -
I know about RIFs. Got one myself. I went in the Air Force in 1966. Went off active duty eight months early. Still the six years had to be completed. My discharge is dated six years to the day after I enlisted. Kerrys is not. You can bet he did not extend his reserve commitment. I suspect his discharge was at first something less than honorable. -
Maj B where are you? -
Major B has a life--too much to do--, but was called in for this one.
The only way for a commissioned officer to have an other than honorable discharge is if there were punitive action taken. A simple RIF will ALWAYS yield an honorable.
The ONLY reasons for an officer to have a discharge review would be if there were a less than honorable discharge, or if there were a medical discharge either proposed or to be expunged. I don't think Kerry's massive wounds would have put him in that category.
Back to life. -
http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/DD214.pdf
Thats a link to Kerry's DD214.
As you can see on line 18 the date for his six year commitment to be up was 17 Feb. 72. Thats the date his discharge should have on it. It has a later date. His discharge was reviewed for some reason and reissued with the later date.
Where is the paperwork for the 17 Feb 72 date? It should tell an interesting story. -
http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/Enlistment_Contract.pdf
A link confirming a six year enlistment. He should have a discharge for 1972. -
Fact is, the section listed covers RIFs, but not any punitive discharge.
If your site is right, then there could not have been a discharge other than under honorable conditions.
But they were counting on people not knowing that, or just possibly, they weren't bright enough to look it up for themselves. -
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-bloggers/1244385/posts
Also check out the United States Code button at the top of the page.
[ October 17, 2004, 11:37 PM: Message edited by: ballfan ]