Interesting addition to the "Kerry saga" with respect to his biography

[dude1394]

There seems to be some interesting triangulation of data in the continuing swifites story. First there is the swifties accounts, then records, now roods accounts. It seems that a big part of this whole brohaha is the kerry biography Tour of Duty. Which seems to contradict everything out there.

qando

[quote]
Swifties and Rood
Posted by McQ

I have to admit I sort of chuckled when I read Rood's account of the action in which Kerry won his Silver Star. It was funny because the first thought that popped in my head was "how can this matter, he wasn't in the same boat as Kerry". This has been an article of faith with the pro-Kerry side in all of this. I'm going to be interested to see how they manage the acceptance of Rood's story while still rejecting the stories of the other Swift boat commanders who served "with" Kerry as Rood did.

Having read the book "Unfit for Command" and Rood's version, I really don't see much in Rood's story that contradicts what was said in the book.

It more of a case of differing opinions about the incident. The book, for instance, points out that Kerry didn't act alone in his pursuit of the wounded VC. Rood confirms that. If I'm not mistaken, "Tour of Duty" alludes to Kerry acting alone.

BTW, that's the one part missing in all of this. Much of the dispute "Unfit for Command" has is with Kerry's biography "Tour of Duty" and its version of the events. Note that the "Tour of Duty" version is not related in any of these articles.

"Unfit for Command" also claims the move to beach the boats was orchestrated while "Tour of Duty" alludes to it being a spontaneous action. Rood confirms the "Unfit for Command" version, but his explanation says it was done for tactical surprise (it wasn't standard operating procedure) while the "Unfit for Command" claims or infers that it was done for other less savory reasons (again, based on the treatment by "Tour of Duty". Based on Rood's recollection I'd have to go with him on this point.

Rood also confirms that when the initial ambush was sprung Kerry's boat was not the boat that turned and beached. That is not the impression left by the campaign's treatment of the event although it is how it is treated in the Silver Star citation. It was the boat PCF-43 commanded by Donald Droz with the Regional Forces (known as "Ruff Puffs" for "Regional Forces/Popular Forces" ... a sort of militia) that beached. The Ruff Puffs cleared the ambush. That's how the book tells the story as well.

It was a secondary ambush in which Kerry beached the boat. Where the Swiftees dispute Kerry's account is that he alone chased this VC down. He was part of a group which chased him down.

Per the Chicago Trib article:

The book's authors, John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi, wrote that Kerry's attack on the Viet Cong ambush displayed "stupidity, not courage."

This is an important point. It is also the main point of contention. But its also a matter of opinion. Was the beaching of the boat stupid? Well if the main assets of your command are its mobility and firepower, then yes, beaching your boat is stupid. If you read what one of Kerry's crewmembers manning the .50s on the boat says you can understand why. Because of the beaching, he couldn't depress his weapons enough to bring them to bear. He was out of the fight. That's dangerous to the safety of the boat and the crew.

Secondly, and probably just as important, Kerry was a Swift boat commander, not an infantryman. He left his post to chase this VC down. Now, if you read some of the statements from the vets he's surrounded himself with and "Tour of Duty", you get the impression that if he hadn't done that, they were "dead men".

Well that's only because his craft was beached and he couldn't bring his weapons to bear. Had he maintained position in the river and been able to bring his .50s to bear, the VC was a dead man, right there. But its also not true for another reason. As Rood himself points out, there were Ruff Puffs on the shore clearing the area. They were also after this VC.

Here's how Rood remembers the event:

Meanwhile, Kerry ordered our boat to head upstream with his, leaving Droz's boat at the first site.

It happened again, another ambush. And again, Kerry ordered the turn maneuver, and again it worked. As we headed for the riverbank, I remember seeing a loaded B-40 launcher pointed at the boats. It wasn't fired as two men jumped up from their spider holes.

We called Droz's boat up to assist us, and Kerry, followed by one member of his crew, jumped ashore and chased a VC behind a hooch --- a thatched hut --- maybe 15 yards inland from the ambush site. Some who were there that day recall the man being wounded as he ran. Neither I nor Jerry Leeds, our boat's leading petty officer with whom I've checked my recollection of all these events, recalls that, which is no surprise. Recollections of those who go through experiences like that frequently differ.

With our troops involved in the sweep of the first ambush site, Richard Lamberson, a member of my crew, and I also went ashore to search the area. I was checking out the inside of the hooch when I heard gunfire nearby.

Not long after that, Kerry returned, reporting that he had killed the man he chased behind the hooch. He also had picked up a loaded B-40 rocket launcher, which we took back to our base in An Thoi after the operation.

So again, not to belabor the point, but to ensure its clear ... we have 2 Swift boats beached and the 2 commanders ashore, which essentially leaves their boats "leaderless" and unable to support against any further VC action while they're running around on shore like John Wayne. You've reduced their combined firepower from a couple of twin .50 cal machine guns and a couple of M-60 machine guns to 4 guys running around with M-16s. Not a smart tactical move. In fact a rather stupid tactical move.

So I definitely agree with part of what O'Neill said .... it was stupid. I wouldn't agree, however, that it wasn't courageous. Stupid and courageous are not mutually exclusive. Unfortunately, in this case and in my opinion, the stupid outweighs the courageous. The "courageous act" could very easily have gotten his boat destroyed and his crew killed. They were very lucky they survived the incident because Kerry's action essentially took his crew and boat out of the fight and left his command in very sorry tactical shape.

But again .... that's an opinion based on 28 years of operations experience in the military.

The other part of the SBVT opinion is that Kerry's action with the VC didn't rise to the level of that for which a Silver Star is awarded.

l'd agree if that's all the Silver Star awarded was about. But it wasn't. When you read the citation, the impression I get its for the whole operation. It appears to me that the award is being given to the OITC (Officer In Tactical Command) of the operation (Kerry) for the operation, a part of which was this pursuit of the wounded (or not wounded) VC. Hoffmann's praise was for the operation, not the killing of the single VC. So I'd have to side with Kerry and Rood on this one.

Although I think it was operationally stupid to beach swift boats because of the degredation of their tactical mobility and firepower and the risk to the crews, and I further think it was stupid to see OICs of swift boats on shore playing infantry and leaving their beached boats leaderless, the results were a 'success' as concerns the mission.

If I had been pinning Kerry's Silver Star on that day, I'd have congratulated him on his courage and success and told him if he ever repeated the incident I'd have him court-martialed for disregarding Standard Operating Procedure, endangering his command, and leaving his command while under fire (all which come close to dereliction of duty). But success ameliorated the stupidity of the actions Kerry took that day. Funny how that works.

One other point brought out in Rood's article which makes a point I and others have been stressing about the claims that Kerry has made about "clandestine insertions in Cambodia". I couldn't have made it better than if I'd have written it myself:

The approach of the noisy 50-foot aluminum boats, each driven by two huge 12-cylinder diesels and loaded down with six crew members, troops and gear, was no secret. Ambushes were a virtual certainty, and that day was no exception.

Get the point folks? You don't do "clandestine" insertions with 'noisy 50-foot aluminum boats, each driven by two huge 12-cylinder diesels'. You do clandestine insertions with stealthy craft which will go in undetected, not announce themselves a mile ahead of their arrival.

I still await the revised Cambodia stories with anticipation.