The subject of John Kerry and his war stories has come up again. Some of the people at the above link started in with their war stories. So naturally I had to tell one or two of my own. Some one was talking about Danag. So I piped up.

I remember Danag early '66.

My ship, DLGN-25 The Bainbridge, got within a couple of miles of the shore and the arty was going steady. Sounded a lot like July 4.

That was the closest I got to real combat, although I did get a few months of combat pay.

Everybody on my ship wanted to get closer to the combat to collect the $50. I think 5 days in the combat zone was the requirement.

Kerry's testimony in Congress did it for me. Except I didn't wise up til '80 or so. Ever since I have hated that man with a passion.

I was heavily invovled in the Swift Boat discussions being somewhat impecunious at the time. I did every thing I could to defeat that man.

Posted by: M. Simon | March 01, 2007 at 09:54 AM

Do you mean BDS (Bush DerrangementSyndrome)?

I'm not sure that applies. Our lack of support for South Vietnam led to the death of something like 350,000 Vietnamese and the Death of 2 million Cambodians. I based my non-support of South Vietnam on Kerry's testimony in Congress.

I believed that man and it led to the death of millions. I deeply regret my decision. It is a stain on my soul. As I believe today that our withdrawal from Iraq would lead to the death of millions.

Once was enough for me. Kerry wishes to repeat the exercise. Thus my hatred for a man unable to learn from experience.

Posted by: M. Simon | March 01, 2007 at 10:38 AM

Man I'm putting the Doors on the boom box and lighting up the incense.

The war that never ends.

Posted by: M. Simon | March 01, 2007 at 10:42 AM

Then the death and destruction tales started. Vets talking about disasters they have seen. What I had to contribute was not much of a disaster. Just a major equipment failure.

I have no death and destruction war tales.

I do have a reactor scram of the only running reactor and a hot restart (dangerous, done only in emergencies) of the reactor in a war zone. My job was to check the DG (diesel generator) to make sure it automatically started so we had electrical power in the control room. I also got to help with the hot restart calculations. They were computed by hand in those days and had to be triple checked before yanking the rods. So three guys did the calculations until they all came up with the same number.

Thank the Maker it wasn't me on the board. just thinking of the dressing down and the paperwork is enough for a moment or two of vicarious depression, even these days.

We never fired a shot in anger. We did go searching for a downed Enterprise pilot one night. No one ever found him. Watching carrier ops even from a distance is something. I loved going on deck for breaks and watching.

Posted by: M. Simon | March 01, 2007 at 11:06 AM

Cross Posted at Power and Control