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luvdemshrooms
Two inch dick..but it spins!?
Registered: 11/29/01
Posts: 34,247
Loc: Lost In Space
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Kerry's War "Wound"
#2560070 - 04/14/04 03:32 PM (19 years, 11 months ago) |
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Lucky he didn't bleed to death!
Kerry's War Wound Called 'Fingernail Scrape'
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry insisted on being awarded his first Purple Heart in Vietnam even though his injury amounted to no more than a "fingernail scrape," his commanding officer at the time now says.
Retired Lt. Cmdr. Grant Hibbard tells the Boston Globe that he can still recall Kerry's wound, and that "it resembled a scrape from a fingernail," the paper said.
"I've had thorns from a rose that were worse," Hibbard insists.
Still, the former Navy man remembered that Kerry insisted on receiving a Purple Heart for the wound he said was incurred during a Dec. 3, 1968 skirmish with Viet Cong near Cam Ranh Bay.
"He had a little scratch on his forearm, and he was holding a piece of shrapnel," Hibbard told the Globe. "People in the office were saying, 'I don't think we got any fire,' and there is a guy holding a little piece of shrapnel in his palm."
Much to Hibbard's chagrin, Kerry persisted in his quest for a war decoration for the scratch.
"I finally said, 'OK, if that's what happened ... do whatever you want,'" Hibbard said. "After that, I don't know what happened. Obviously, he got it, I don't know how."
Kerry's campaign refused to say whether he remains certain that his skimmer boat had come under fire or whether he recalls his superior officer raising doubts about whether he was entitled to the Purple Heart.
While a Kerry aide provided a copy of a medical report showing treatment for the wound in question, The Naval Historical Center "could not locate a copy of the original card for the incident," the Globe said.
Kerry was awarded two additional Purple Hearts for subsequent wounds that have also been described as minor. He then invoked a little-used regulation that entitled a triple Purple Heart winner to return to the United States.
Former Sen. Max Cleland, a Kerry supporter who lost three limbs in Vietnam, was never awarded a Purple Heart.
Oh.... did the boo-boo hurt?
-------------------- You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for that my dear friend is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it. ~ Adrian Rogers
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silversoul7
Chill the FuckOut!
Registered: 10/10/02
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Loc: mndfreeze's puppet army
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Apparently there's nothing unique about this case.
Quote:
According to a Boston Globe overview of John Kerry's Vietnam experience: Under [Navy Admiral Elmo] Zumwalt's command, swift boats would aggressively engage the enemy. Zumwalt, who died in 2000, calculated in his autobiography that these men under his command had a 75 percent chance of being killed or wounded during a typical year. "There were an awful lot of Purple Hearts ? from shrapnel, some of those might have been M-40 grenades," said George Elliott, Kerry's commanding officer. "The Purple Hearts were coming down in boxes. Kerry, he had three Purple Hearts. None of them took him off duty. Not to belittle it, that was more the rule than the exception."
-------------------- "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire
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luvdemshrooms
Two inch dick..but it spins!?
Registered: 11/29/01
Posts: 34,247
Loc: Lost In Space
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Re: Kerry's War "Wound" [Re: silversoul7]
#2560166 - 04/14/04 03:47 PM (19 years, 11 months ago) |
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Except that it's a statement from his commanding officer.
Nah... nothing unique about that.
-------------------- You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for that my dear friend is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it. ~ Adrian Rogers
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silversoul7
Chill the FuckOut!
Registered: 10/10/02
Posts: 27,301
Loc: mndfreeze's puppet army
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Quote:
luvdemshrooms said: Except that it's a statement from his commanding officer.
Nah... nothing unique about that.
Which one? The one you quoted or the one I quoted?
-------------------- "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire
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luvdemshrooms
Two inch dick..but it spins!?
Registered: 11/29/01
Posts: 34,247
Loc: Lost In Space
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Re: Kerry's War "Wound" [Re: silversoul7]
#2560193 - 04/14/04 03:54 PM (19 years, 11 months ago) |
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Did you even read it?
The one I quoted.
-------------------- You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for that my dear friend is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it. ~ Adrian Rogers
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Swami
Eggshell Walker
Registered: 01/18/00
Posts: 15,413
Loc: In the hen house
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As a former Viet Nam Era Navy man, I can tell you that without his commanders's approval, he would get no purple heart. 'Nuff said.
-------------------- The proof is in the pudding.
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silversoul7
Chill the FuckOut!
Registered: 10/10/02
Posts: 27,301
Loc: mndfreeze's puppet army
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Yes, I read it. And notice that whenever they refer to Kerry insisting on getting the Purple Heart, they're not quoting anyone. Typical NewsMax spin.
-------------------- "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire
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afoaf
CEO DBK?
Registered: 11/08/02
Posts: 32,665
Loc: Ripple's Heart
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execute him.
-------------------- All I know is The Growery is a place where losers who get banned here go.
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luvdemshrooms
Two inch dick..but it spins!?
Registered: 11/29/01
Posts: 34,247
Loc: Lost In Space
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Re: Kerry's War "Wound" [Re: afoaf]
#2560215 - 04/14/04 04:00 PM (19 years, 11 months ago) |
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That would probably be a bit extreme.
-------------------- You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for that my dear friend is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it. ~ Adrian Rogers
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HagbardCeline
Student-Teacher-Student-Teacher
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I think your underestimating the danger posed by a scratch. I mean, it could have been infected.
All my father had to do to receive his was to have a part of a grenade pierce his helmet and lodge in his skull.
-------------------- I keep it real because I think it is important that a highly esteemed individual such as myself keep it real lest they experience the dreaded spontaneous non-existance of no longer keeping it real. - Hagbard Celine
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silversoul7
Chill the FuckOut!
Registered: 10/10/02
Posts: 27,301
Loc: mndfreeze's puppet army
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A wound doesn't need to be severe to earn a Purple Heart.
-------------------- "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero
Registered: 04/27/01
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> I think your underestimating the danger posed by a scratch. I mean, it could have been infected.
That actually happened to my father. He was on a PT boat and ended up getting a scratch on this thumb somehow during combat. He lost all feeling in the digit from nerve damage due to infection. They were going to give him a purple heart, but he refused it claiming that getting an award for the 'scratch' would belittle the sacrifices made by so many others that had 'real wounds'.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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HagbardCeline
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Re: Kerry's War "Wound" [Re: silversoul7]
#2563512 - 04/15/04 12:32 PM (19 years, 11 months ago) |
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Though I'm not familiar with the severity of the wound as a criterion for eligibility, I have no reason to doubt your source. In my experience with Veterans who received the Purple Heart though, the wounds were always far more serious than a scratch. He was obviously awared it, and pending some proof that they were fraudulently awarded, I have no problem with it. I was simply comparing what my father went through, and everyone else that I have spoken with who received the award (though I have no way of verifying what they said was truthful, but also have no reason to doubt), it seems that to accept an award such as that on that basis, is less than courageous.
-------------------- I keep it real because I think it is important that a highly esteemed individual such as myself keep it real lest they experience the dreaded spontaneous non-existance of no longer keeping it real. - Hagbard Celine
Edited by HagbardCeline (04/15/04 12:36 PM)
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HagbardCeline
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Re: Kerry's War "Wound" [Re: Seuss]
#2563522 - 04/15/04 12:36 PM (19 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
That actually happened to my father. He was on a PT boat and ended up getting a scratch on this thumb somehow during combat. He lost all feeling in the digit from nerve damage due to infection. They were going to give him a purple heart, but he refused it claiming that getting an award for the 'scratch' would belittle the sacrifices made by so many others that had 'real wounds'.
Hehe. What timing! Case in point.
Although I was saying it partially in jest, I do realize that in the unsterile conditions they were in, that even a minor wound posed a threat. You father is an honorable man.
-------------------- I keep it real because I think it is important that a highly esteemed individual such as myself keep it real lest they experience the dreaded spontaneous non-existance of no longer keeping it real. - Hagbard Celine
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