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RobBob

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  1. RobBob

    Honesty, Part II

    I really think this story is more meaningful than most of you hard-over liberals want to believe it is. It's all about honesty. I'd love to vote for someone other than Bush, but I really want him to be more honest than Bush. Statement of RADM William L. Schachte, Jr. USN (Ret.) August 27, 2004 As was true of all "Swiftees," I volunteered to serve in Vietnam and was assigned to Coastal Division 14 for a normal tour of duty. I was a Lieutenant serving as Operations Officer and second in command at Coastal Division 14 when Lieutenant (junior grade) John Kerry reported to us in mid-November, 1968. Lt. (jg) Kerry was an Officer-in-Charge (O-in-C) under training in preparing to be assigned as one of our Swift Boat O-in-C's. At some point following President Johnson's announcement of the suspension of bombing in North Vietnam in March 1968, we were directed to become more aggressive in seeking to find and destroy or disrupt the enemy in our operating area. As part of this effort, I conceived a new operation that became known as "Skimmer OPS." The concept was simple. A 15-foot Boston Whaler was sent into an area where, based on coordinated intelligence, North Vietnamese cadre and Viet Cong were expected to be meeting or where, for example, concentrations of enemy forces might be involved in the movement of arms or munitions. We were to draw fire and quickly get out of the area. This would allow more concentrated firepower to be brought against the enemy forces we had been able to identify. These operations were carried out only in "hot" areas, and well away from any villages or populated areas. A Swift Boat would tow the skimmer to the general area of operations, and the ambush team would then board the skimmer and proceed to the designated area of operations. The Swift Boat would be riding "shotgun" and standing off, occasionally out of sight, to provide fire support and long-range communications. The Skimmer was powered by an outboard motor, and we carried an FM radio, handheld flares, an M-60 machine gun with a bipod mount, and an M-16 mounted with a starlight scope. If the night was heavily overcast, we brought an M-14 mounted with an infrared scope. We also carried an M-79 single-shot grenade launcher. In addition to our combat gear and flak jackets, we often carried .38-caliber pistols. The operation consisted of allowing the skimmer to drift silently along shorelines or riverbanks to look or listen for sounds of enemy activity. If activity was identified, we would open fire with our automatic weapons, and if we received fire, we would depart the area as quickly as possible, leaving it to air support or mortar fire from a Swift Boat standing off at a distance to carry out an attack. I commanded each of these Skimmer operations up to and including the one on the night in question involving Lt. (jg) Kerry. On each of these operations, I was in the skimmer manning the M-60 machine gun. I took with me one other officer, and an enlisted man to operate the outboard motor. I wanted another officer because officers, when not on patrol, were briefed daily on the latest intelligence concerning our sector of operations and were therefore more familiar with the current intelligence. Additionally, at these daily briefings, officers debriefed on their patrol areas after returning to port. On the night of December 2-3, we conducted one of these operations, and Lt. (jg) Kerry accompanied me. Our call sign for that operation was "Batman". I have no independent recollection of the identity of the enlisted man, who was operating the outboard motor. Sometime during the early morning hours, I thought I detected some movement inland. At the time we were so close to land that we could hear water lapping on the shoreline. I fired a hand-held flare, and upon it bursting and illuminating the surrounding area, I thought I saw movement. I immediately opened fire with my M-60. It jammed after a brief burst. Lt. (jg) Kerry also opened fire with his M-16 on automatic, firing in the direction of my tracers. His weapon also jammed. As I was trying to clear my weapon, I heard the distinctive sound of the M-79 being fired and turned to see Lt. (jg) Kerry holding the M-79 from which he had just launched a round. We received no return fire of any kind nor were there any muzzle flashes from the beach. I directed the outboard motor operator to clear the area. Upon returning to base, I informed my commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. Grant Hibbard, of the events, informing him of the details of the operation and that we had received no enemy fire. I did not file an "after action" report, as one was only required when there was hostile fire. Soon thereafter, Lt. (jg) Kerry requested that he be put in for a Purple Heart as a result of a small piece of shrapnel removed from his arm that he attributed to the just-completed mission. I advised Lt. Cmdr. Hibbard that I could not support the request because there was no hostile fire. The shrapnel must have been a fragment from the M-79 that struck Lt. (jg) Kerry, because he had fired the M-79 too close to our boat. Lt. Cmdr. Hibbard denied Lt. (jg) Kerry's request. Lt. (jg) Kerry detached our division a few days later to be reassigned to another division. I departed Vietnam approximately three weeks later, and Lt. Cmdr. Hibbard followed shortly thereafter. It was not until years later that I was surprised to learn that Lt. (jg) Kerry had been awarded a Purple Heart for this night. I did not see Lt. (jg) Kerry in person again for almost 20 years. Sometime in 1988, while I was on Capitol Hill, I ran into him in the basement of the Russell Senate Office Building. I was at that time a Rear Admiral and in uniform. He was about 20 paces away, waiting to catch the underground subway. In a fairly loud voice I called out to him, "Hey, John." He turned, looked at me, came over and said, "Batman!" We exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes, agreed to have lunch sometime in the future, and parted ways. We have not been together since that day. In March of this year, I was contacted by one of my former swift boat colleagues concerning Douglas Brinkley's book about Senator Kerry, "Tour of Duty." I told him that I had not read it. He faxed me a copy of the pages relating to the action on the night of December 2-3, 1968. I was astonished by Senator Kerry's rendition of the facts of that night. Notably, Lt. (jg) Kerry had himself in charge of the operation, and I was not mentioned at all. He also claimed that he was wounded by hostile fire. None of this is accurate. I know, because I was not only in the boat, but I was in command of the mission. He was never more than several feet away from me at any time during the operation that night. It is inconceivable that any commanding officer would put an officer in training, who had been in country only a couple of weeks, in charge of such an ambush operation. Had there been enemy action that night, there would have been an after action report filed, which I would have been responsible for filing. I have avoided talking to media about this issue for months. But, because of the recent media attention, I felt I had to step up to recount my personal experiences concerning this incident. Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
  2. and that goes double for spouses.
  3. someone put pen to paper a little too soon after using the hookah. if you're trying to say what I think you're trying to say...well, it ain't gonna take extinction of lower-order primates to give us a nice pandemic. It's probably only gonna take a few of the wrong frickin ducks flying by a few filthy Shanghai chickenfarms. Next thing you know, when the chicken-flu starts, then Harry Pi's cousin starts sellin as many of his chickens as he can, knowing it won't be long before The Man discovers the disease outbreak and burns his flocks...and voila, the pandemic begins. It'll be that simple.
  4. I thought this was going to be a 'post sport climber photos' thread
  5. Marylou's Prayer Before I lay me down to sleep, I pray for a man, who's not a creep One who is handsome, smart and strong. One who loves to listen long. One who thinks before he speaks. When he says he'll call, he won't wait weeks. I pray that he is gainfully employed. When I spend his cash, he won't be annoyed. Pulls out my chair and opens my door. Massages my back and begs to do more. Oh! Send me a man who'll make love to my mind, Knows what to answer to "How big is my behind?" I pray that this man will love me to no end, And never attempt to hit on my friend. Amen. +++++++++++++++++++++ TRASK'S PRAYER I pray for a deaf-mute nymphomaniac with huge boobs who owns a liquor store and a boat. Amen
  6. Nothing like a good environment thread to bring us all together. Feel the lovveeeee!
  7. I'm in the food and foodstuffs biz, and I read a lot of food industry news, nutrition stuff, animal diets and nutrition, etc. I happen to like seafoods of all kinds (grew up around commercial fishing) and therefore have a particular interest in just trying to understand the facts of both wild and farmed seafood. You can and all you want, but that won't make you necessarily more informed or less entrenched in your position than me. If a real study tells me tomorrow that there are 10 times more pcbs in farmed salmon than wild salmon, then I'll probably only eat wild salmon. But since the pcbs ultimately come from feeding on other fish (whether in the wild or thru menhaden or anchovy meal), I have a feeling that pcb levels are going to be roughly the same in either product. Depending on the source, they both taste good.
  8. Back to salmon, Hell, I know I'll never change Dru's mind about farmed salmon---it's made up. Maybe he's got a point about waste...but I was talking about the obvious, worldwide touting of pcb counts. Both wild salmon and farmed salmon contingencies have their own data, and it's all suspect. Okay, another obvious example of often-rotten science comes out fo the pharmaceutical industry. While I don't think there are many dishonest scientists working on new drugs, I do believe that over-zealous hope, and one Hell of a lot of financial influence putting pressure on the system, introduces a lot of bias into results.
  9. Jim, mark, I'm not gonna defend Bush's environmental record, for God's sake. As much as I like to play Devil's advocate on environmental issues, there are some things that are beyond the pale. But here's an example, just because it's the first one that pops into my head. The farmed salmon industry has been shit on from great heights. I don't think that Pew Trusts, the David Suzuki Foundation, or the wild Alaskan salmon industry can be objective in comparing and contrasting farmed salmon with wild salmon. I think the public has received biased information because of the political goals of these various funding groups. ...and on their side, the Chilean/Norwegian salmon folks are playing their position too. It's a publicity war based on a trade war, and the public is being jerked around by each new 'study.' And no, it looks like I'm in the clear, and Frances will stay south. WAtch out Florida!
  10. And I think that sometimes they should make exactly this type of statement. And we as a nation ought to be able to evaluate things in terms of tradeoffs. Agreed that the Bush admin spews out a lot of backwards bullshit on the environment. But Goddamn if a whole lot of "science" isn't being funded and conducted by the radically-environmental side, and the studies begin with high expectations as to what the outcome will be. Whatever happened to the fucking Scientific Method? Where are the dispassionate scientists that are supposed to be searching for the unskewed truth? You won't find them in this month's National Geographic.
  11. another side-bene of reading cc.com is the great additions to one's vocabulary. I now find myself thinking or using terms like coils, choad, clownpuncher, and asseyes on a daily basis.
  12. actually controversy IS what keeps it all fun. Hell, I'd love to have a good round of vintage mudslinging between caveman and the perennially-offended allison, for instance...with trask on the sidelines providing the color.
  13. chill you guys. I'm still laughing at
  14. Before TSA took over, I think a lot of the show-your-ID was to stop the ticket swapping that used to take place. Nothing like a nighttime traffic stop in Latin America, complete with machine guns, to get the old blood pumping. It's happened to me twice...one was in a taxi between the Panama City airport and downtown. Unsettling.
  15. Airlines are not public transportation, therefore the suit has no basis. He'd have more basis IMO if he complained that as a motorist he was stopped in random traffic stops while traveling across the country on public highways.
  16. I say points off for dropping his to a clownpuncher (unless that's his thing of course)
  17. If Frances hits Florida, I'm betting most people will hardly remember Charley. This one's a large cat. 4 with sustained 140mph winds gusting to 165. If it turns and comes up my way (not too far from JIm's sister), it'll weaken some before landfall. But right now it looks like Daytona or Jacksonville FL may be the point of landfall, in which case it will likely be more like Hurricane Andrew than the relatively small Charley.
  18. -own a decent business here -live on waterfront that would cost 3 times as much in your area -sunny most days, etc. etc. So it's where we live. But hurricanes are a downside..
  19. on the East Coast. http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2004/images/frances090104-1345z.jpg It's getting so that I spend hours and hours every Aug-Sep, studying tropical depressions as they approach. Hurricane season is a pain in the ass.
  20. Okay, so the it's conservative faggotspeak. The point is, no matter what your preference, the freak-factor never stops till you're in the box.
  21. RobBob

    Lies?

    We're always talking about religion on the macro level. How about on the micro level? Like, religion and how it affects your life? An example of what I don't like about religion as it intersects with my life: -the sinking feeling I recently got when I heard one of my kids' school administrators drop a little religious reference (a thinly-veiled feeler to see if/where we 'go to church') What I like about 'my' religion: -on a personal level, it keeps me more centered. It focuses me back on fairness, grace, caring about others in a way that agnostic logic cannot. -it's there at the level I choose to live it. I'm glad to have it. It offers security in times of stress. It may be , but I've thought about giving up on the concept of God...and I've decided that it would be a mistake.
  22. RobBob

    Lies?

    So how about the deranged Irish ex-priest who fucked up the marathon at the Olympics. I think it would have been a righteous and good thing if the crowd had monkey-stomped that sumbitch and then nailed him to a cross.
  23. That's DFA's 80s-vintage rags there.
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