Ironically enough, perhaps the most telling piece of evidence that Kerry's service in Nam was dead serious and conceivably heroic is the fact that he was there for such a short time.

When his critics began to point out that he was only there for four months, I was flabbergasted and *favorably* impressed. He had to have taken some pretty serious hits not to have been kept in-country for the usual full year. As artbrooks implies just above, getting the hell out of there was not easily accomplished.

Also, his Silver and Bronze Stars are truly impressive -- much moreso than the three Purple Hearts.