Old Guy,

you are quite wrong. Not only wrong but self-contradictory. Here is a direct quote from you:

I understand he was sationed near Vietnam on the Gridley as an electrician of some sort when he noticed the swift boats. He had a fixation on JFK (same initials) and thought he would like to skipper a swift boat to emulate JFK on his PT boat.

I am not sure of the date but he applied to serve on the swiftboats at some point in time. He was already in Vietnam.

You yourself say he was "somewhere near vietnam." THEN suddenly that becomes "already in vietnam." Well, sorry buddy you can't have it both ways. He may at some point have been NEAR vietnam, just as someone with a cushy job in Tokyo during the Korean War was "near Korea." He was not "IN Vietnam" until after he requested to go there.

Indeed, Kerry was not "near vietnam" when he "noticed the swift boats," as you erroneously claim. He requested Swift Boat duty the day after Gridley set sail from California. And if the Gridley was actually going TO vietnem, then the first line of his letter, "I request duty in Vietnam," would make no sense.

But then, you didn't bother to look at the letter, did you Old Guy?

No need to...you already think you know everything.