OT Political - {my last word}

[Erwinspiano@aol.com]

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Conrad
  Thanks for the unusually political post. It's always  more personal when=20
you & others especially Military folks  are on the  recieving end of the kin=
ds=20
of actions & words  being discussed here in  regards to J.F.Kerry.
   I've been hearing that his picture is in the  Vietnamese Museum as a hero=
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so I guess they like him for being a patriot there  as well as some do here.
  Thanks for your service to this country.
  Dale

At 17:38  10/28/2004, you wrote:
>If you know something about John Kerry being a  traitor you should report
>him--and soon.  He may be elected  President.  It is a crime, afterall,
>and I'm sure Mr. Ashcroft  would want to look at your hard evidence.
>Don't hold back, Carl, do  your duty.  Withholding evidence of capital
>crime might just be a  crime itself--especially one as serious  as
>treason.
>
>David  Love
>davidlovepianos@comcast.net


David,

Speaking out  politically is WAY different than my norm, and the way this=20
eternal  campaign has polarised the country will probably lose me some=20
friends on  this list, but I feel I must - please indulge me this last time.

I'm  not Carl, but _I_ do not need to check websites to determine Kerry's =20
culpability, but I may dig into my old seabag, pull out my Bluejacket's =20
Manual and rely on my first hand experience of the effects of  Kerry.

If you really still trust websites at this point, perhaps you  should=20
re-read Kerry's own words during his Senate testimony, and also  afterwards,=
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where he admits participating in the same atrocities which he  said were=20
happening.  Or... did he say he was just reporting what  other vets had told=
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him.  Oh... that's right... he said both.   Which version was purgery?

Since I was in the area at the time (Tonkin  Gulf) and in the same=20
organization (US Navy '67-'73) and trying to live  under the same rules=20
(UCMJ) [Uniform Code of Military Justice], let me try  to help you with you=20
some of the military rules with regard to his  traitorous activities.

Whilst Kerry was still a commissioned officer  and ostensibly bound by the=20
UCMJ, he visited with members of the Viet Cong  in Paris.  How a Lieutenant=20
(Paygrade O-2or3 -- i.e. next to the  bottom of officer ranks since Ensign=20
was routinely skipped)  thought  he could effect peace, who knows? However,=20
there is a term called  "consorting with the enemy".  In a war, the idea=20
generally is that,  if you meet an enemy, you do all you can to kill him.=20
It's brutal, but  that IS what war IS. {Note to Bill Clinton - there's that=20
word  again}  As an officer, it is your sworn DUTY to do that and lead =20
others to do the same. You don't generally sit down to croissants and =20
caviar with the enemy unless you are a general, admiral or head of =20
state.  Money talks, I suppose, as Saddam knew in his dealings with  the=20
same multiple UN members which Kerry thinks he'd get as  allies.

I recall several times in my military career having these  things drilled=20
into my head, so I don't need to consult a website to tell  me that, if I as=
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a 2nd class petty officer (only E-5 or middle of  non-commissioned officers,=
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having turned down E-6 opportunities to return  to civilian life) had done=20
the same thing, I would still be in Fort  Leavenworth for it, if not in an=20
unmarked grave.

How good was he  for the morale of troops/sailors in those years?  He=20
certainly didn't  make any points with me or my shipmates.  In the spring of=
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1970, when  my ship got back from it's tour of duty in the war zone - with=20
_IT'S_  current mission accomplished and signs celebrating that fact - I did=
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a lot  of traveling around southern and, later, northern California.  I went=
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to concerts at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (free or at a discount), =20
hitchhiked, went to movies and church and got invited into strangers homes =20
for home cooked meals, even got some dates after those meals.  ALL  WHILE IN=
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UNIFORM.

In the fall of 1972, when I got back from my  second WestPac "cruise",=20
sailors were, by that time, again allowed to grow  beards and have (even=20
encouraged to have) civilian clothes onboard and  allowed (even encouraged)=20
to go on "liberty" in civvies.     WHY?  Because, by then, people were=20
shouting the "baby killer' and  other phrases which Kerry had made so=20
popular in 1971.

Being IN  DANGER while wearing your uniform IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY is NOT good=20
for  morale!  Having a long hair wig to escape military haircut detection, =20
and getting spat upon for defending your country is NOT good for morale (I =20
did and I was)!   _Trust me_,   not some New York  Times/CBS fabrifacts.  It=
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took me 20 years before I felt comfortable  even joining the VFW.  I lay=20
that sputum in my face directly on  Kerry's doorstep. His statements were=20
not a little over the top.   They were slanderous and self-incriminating, if=
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you could believe any of  them.  They were certainly demoralising, and a=20
comfort to the enemy,  whether true or not.

The soldiers/sailors/marines in Iraq do NOT want a  POTUS/CIC (President of=20
the US /Commander in Chief) who is against what  they are doing in the first=
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place.  Kerry would have the same benefit  to military morale in 2005 as he=20
did in 1971.

Voting to approve  military action and then voting against support for the=20
same action does  not instill a feeling of comfort among those who depend on=
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that support  for their lives, either.

My 10=A2.

Conrad Hoffsommer
-Former  Machinist's Mate 2nd Class - USN
-Nuclear power plant operator aboard USS  Long Beach (CGN-9) 1970-73

Yup, it's personal.

over and  out.


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