Kerry's Discharge

"I WAS honorably discharged...
After I was dishonorably discharged!"

An article by BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB in The NY Sun today raises questions about John Kerry's discharge from the Navy Reserves.

One official document opens the door to scrutiny. It describes Mr. Kerry's discharge as being subsequent to the review of "a board of officers." Ordinary discharges do not require reviews. In addition, the document is under cover of Carter administration's secretary of the Navy, W. Graham Claytor. Kerry would have been a civilian for four years by the time Carter took office.

One of Carters first official acts as president was to pardon draft dodgers and change the status of discharges from less than honorable to honorable. (executive order)

According to the secretary of the Navy's document, the "authority of reference" this board was using in considering Mr. Kerry's record was "Title 10, U.S. Code Section 1162 and 1163. "This section refers to the grounds for involuntary separation from the service. What was being reviewed, then, was Mr. Kerry's involuntary separation from the service. And it couldn't have been an honorable discharge, or there would have been no point in any review at all. The review was likely held to improve Mr. Kerry's status of discharge from a less than honorable discharge to an honorable discharge.

It's my understanding that if an officer is dishonorably dismissed his medals are revoked as a result. This would explain why John Kerry's medals were all reissued on the same day years later.

So far the Kerry Kamp has refused to comment.

There is one odd coincidence that gives some weight to the possibility that Mr. Kerry was dishonorably discharged. Mr. Kerry has claimed that he lost his medal certificates and that is why he asked that they be reissued. But when a dishonorable discharge is issued, all pay benefits, and allowances, and all medals and honors are revoked as well. And five months after Mr. Kerry joined the U.S. Senate in 1985, on one single day, June 4, all of Mr. Kerry's medals were reissued.

NY Sun story here

Stealing this directly from Beldar Blog, here is a list of blogs with posts on this article: Power Line's post promises an update with comments from the SwiftVets. Democracy Project has a post up, as do VodkaPundit, Milblog, Just One Minute, Little Green Footballs (also here, thanks for the link, Charles!), Wizbang!, PajamaPundits, Cranial Cavity, Posse Incitatas, Jawa Report, Dr. Zhibloggo, Michelle Malkin, Chasing the Wind, and Captain's Quarters.

I'll have to admit I haven't read them all yet but Beldar does an exceptional job of taking the story apart and analyzing each aspect.