My wife had rotator cuff surgery earlier this year and
the recovery is terribly painful. Then she developed staph-epi infection,
and they had to cut the same scar open and operate on her again. Just
thinking about the pain and anxiety of facing that painful surgery a second
time in the same scar makes me cringe.
That experience, however pales in comparison to what I am
going through right now in my heart. The old hurts are surfacing and the
feelings of betrayal by fellow citizens, and their leader stirring them up,
are breaking my heart again. I am being cut in the same scar. How did we
who served in Vietnam suddenly become cold blooded killers, torturers and
rapists of the like of the Nazi SS or the Taliban?
Most of us were American soldiers who grew up idolizing
John Wayne, Roy Rogers and all the other heroes. That was why we
volunteered. But for political expediency, you, John Kerry, have rewritten
history again. After spending only four months in the country of Vietnam,
you testified before Congress in 1971 in these exact words about incidents
you supposedly witnessed or heard about from other vets:
"They personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads,
taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals, turned up the
power, cut off limbs, blowed up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed
villages, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally
ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam."
I was a green beret officer who volunteered for duty in
Vietnam and fought in the thick of it in 1968 and 1969 on a Special Forces
A-team on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, just for starters. We were the elite. We
saw the most action. Everybody in the world knows that. But we did not
just kill people. We built a church, a school, treated illnesses, passed
out soap, food and clothing and had fun and loving interaction with the
indigenous people of Vietnam, just like our boys did in Normandy, Baghdad,
Saigon and everywhere American soldiers ever served. We all gave away our
candy bars and rations to kids; our hearts to oppressed people all over the
globe.
My children and grandchildren could read your words, and
think those horrendous things about me, Mr. Kerry. You are a bold-faced
unprincipled liar and a disgrace. You have dishonored me and all my fellow
Vietnam veterans!
Sure, there were a couple of bad-apples, but I saw none
and I saw it all. And if I did, as an army officer, it was my obligation
to stop it, or at the very least, report it. Why is there not a single
record anywhere of you ever reporting any incidents like this or having the
perpetrators arrested? The answer is simple. You are a liar!
Your medals and mine are not a free pass for lifetime,
Senator Kerry, to bypass charactar, integrity, and morality. I earn my
green beret over and over, daily, in all aspects of my life.
Eight National Guard green berets, and other National
Guard soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and you totally
dishonored their widows and families by lumping National Guard service in
with being a draft-dodger, conscientious objector, and deserter, just so
you can try to sabotage the patriotism of our President, who proudly served
as an Air National Guard jet pilot.
I have a son earning his green beret at Fort Bragg right
now and his wife serves honorably in the Air National Guard (just as did
our President) and I am as proud of her as I am of my own son. I
volunteered for Vietnam and have no problem whatsoever with President Bush
being our Commander-In-Chief.
In fact, I am proud of him as our leader.
Senator Kerry, you personally derailed the Vietnam Human
Rights Bill, HR2883 in 2001 after it passed the House by a 411 to 1 vote
and thousands of pro-American Montagnard tribes people in Vietnam died
since then who could otherwise have been saved. Earlier, as Chair of the
Senate Select Committee on MIA/Pow Affairs, you personally quashed the
efforts of any and all veterans to report sightings of living POW's, when
you held those reins in Congress. You have fought tooth and nail to push
for the United States to normalize relations with Vietnam for years. Why,
Mr. Kerry?
Simple, your first cousin, C. Steward Forbes, CEO of
Colliers, International recently signed a contract with Hanoi that is worth
billions of dollars for Colliers International to become the exclusive real
estate representative for the country of Vietnam.
"Hanoi John" now that it works for you, you beat your
chest about your Vietnam service. But to me, you are a phony,
opportunistic hypocrite. You are one of those politicians that is like a
fertilizer machine, all that's coming out is horse manure and you are
spreading it everywhere!
All I can say is a hearty AMEN!!! I salute you, sir, and your son and daughter-in-law for the invaluable service ya'll have given to our great country. It's truly sad that the South end of a North-bound Donkey, err, that would be a Democrat, is doing everything he can to elevate himself while at the same time besmirching and degrading the service of the countless tens of thousands of US military servicemen who served gallantly and heroically during their FULL tours of duty in Vietnam!!!
Kerry gets three wounds, none of which required him to go to a hospital, let alone be hospitalized, or miss even one day of duty, and he puts himself if for purple hearts!!! The man has no shame!!! We need to send him back to the US Senate where he can continue being a "DO NOTHING" politician of the most Liberal sort!!!
An open letter to Senator Kerry
