I spent seventeen years in the navy. My war was with Iraq and all the little piss ant actions inbetween Vietnam and Iraq. I don't know that i would have said anything in Senator Kerry's place even 35 years after the fact. There is crap my wife doesn't know and it is likely i will never tell her. I don't think she needs to know that her husband had to clean someones brains off his face after they got stupid for one second and that was peace time. I sure the hell don't think I would be telling people. "Oh Gee, we got in a fire fight and capped civilians" We don't know what went through. It like every war was ugly. Maybe uglier than some but they all are including the Gulf War. It took courage to go and do your duty. Conversely, the people who went to jail rather than go to Vietnam were also courageous in their own way. The ones who gall me are the ones who fled to Canada or parts futher extant and think themselves martyrs. The marytrs are the fifty some odd thousand that died fighting a war that was in my personal opinion the wrong war for uncaring, incompetent politicians who had no better goal or strategy than to "Stop Communism" That ain't a goal that's a bumper sticker. Unfortunately they came home to a hostile populous after spending a minimum of thirteen months in a hostile fire zone. So I'll tell you what, if Bob Kerry runs for president, I'll vote for him and I'll salute him and mean it when I do. I believe he did his best in a horrific situation and if it took thirty some odd years to tell his story, that is no ones business but his. He's done well as a senator and I think he is a basically honest guy. Kindest reguards, Neil