When you hear the term “Swiftboat” what comes into your mind?
I already know your answer, but it isn’t the meaning for those who served on nor any Navy Personal who served In-Country Vietnam.
Not to far back a small group of misguided Navy personal, who served aboard ‘Swiftboats’ in ‘Nam, took that once proud name and used it for their political purposes and gains, with some others joining them, who not only never served on swiftboats, and the extremely dangerous missions they were sent into, but some never served at all, in the Military nor In War/Occupations!
They not only Disgraced their own service but the service of all who served on Swiftboats as well as All of us Navy personal who served In-Country as well as the Blue – Water Navy serving off the shores of ‘Nam. They ‘Verbally Spit’ on themselves and their brothers, All their Navy brothers and sisters!
Recently some who served on but did not partake in the slanderous actions have been back in the news, They want their Proud Name and Proud Service to Country back, especially for the brothers who were Lost!
John Kerry, hands on hips, and Roy F. Hoffmann, kneeling, in Vietnam. Mr. Hoffman helped start the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which criticized Mr. Kerry in his 2004 presidential bid.
One of the recent news reports to service was this one:
Vets Say Billionaire is Going Back on His Word.
Some Vietnam veterans are claiming that Texan businessman T. Boone Pickens is going back on his word to pay $1 million to anyone who can find inaccuracies in claims made by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth during the 2004 presidential election. Agreeing with the veterans, oddsmaker Ben Eckstein says that failing to deliver on a bet is “sacrilegious.” “In the world of betting and gambling, your word is your bond,” said Eckstein, president of America’s Line, a sports and entertainment oddsmaking business. “Whether it’s a $7 bet or a $500,000 bet, once it’s made and once you shake on it, it should be done.”
Which carried this:
“We have 11 different falsehoods that the [Swift Boat Veterans for Truth] came out with in 2004. We have documents, videos, editorials and depositions not just by my boat crew but other eyewitnesses who were involved in the operations.”
Sanudsky added that while his group has come up with “everything Pickens asked Kerry for in November,” it has all been for nothing.
Brother Navy ‘Nam Vet Sanudsky added this,
“We’re disappointed because he’s ducking out,” Sanudsky said. “He’s dodging the bullet because we’ve got the ammunition.”
In writing about the above report I placed this in my posts and e’s:
Less was known about the Navy’s role in that Guerilla/Insurgent Occupation. One says ‘Navy’ one thinks Sailors on Naval Ships or stationed on shore bases, which by the way was how I spent my whole four years, on shoreduty. Only ships I went on were ‘Cuban’ cargo vessals riding them through the Panama Canal guarding against them ramming the locks or causing other damage, which was a long running part of the duty down there and was Assinine to say the least, we finally got that practice stopped.
I wasn’t a part of the ‘Brownwater Navy’ in ‘Nam, Swifts, PBR’s, Zippo’s, PACV etc., nor was I a part of the SEAL’s, which is probably the only part of the Navy in ‘Nam some may have known about, still not knowing what they actually did. I did work with some in the ‘Brownwater’, mostly friends from previous duty bases who were there at the same time, and because of what I did some work with the SEAL’s, I was a GunnersMate small arms.
Untill Apocalypse Now, the movie, I doubt the knowledge of Navy duty In-Country was a reality to most. My brother Sailors were involved in a whole slew of differing parts of that Occupation.
Do a search of ‘Swiftboat’, ‘PBR’, ‘Brownwater Navy’, ‘COMNAVFORV’, you’ll find numorous sites to learn more about the Naval role in Vietnam.
A few days later this followed:
More on T. Boone – swiftie funder
T. Boone Pickens Says No Deal on Swift Boat Bounty
T. Boone Pickens is not giving up his million dollars
And today there’s another report out that should be hitting Every Major/Minor Newspaper and MSM Outlet, Especially the Talking Heads who backed the Slander, Speaking Apology and putting Present Meaning To Rest!
Give My Brothers Their Proud Service Back!
More “Swiftboat Sailors” are coming out in demanding their Integrity and Service to Country Back.
“I was proud of what I did, and all the guys I was with,” Mr. Miller said. “Now somebody says `Swift boat’ and it’s a whole different meaning. They don’t associate it with the guys we lost. That’s a shame.”
“You would not hear the word `Swift boat’ and think of people that served their country and fought in Vietnam,” said Jim Newell, who spent a year as an officer in charge on one of the small Navy vessels in An Thoi and Qui Nhon. “You think about someone who was involved in a political attack on a member of a different party.
“It is time to ban a word that is at once offensive, demeaning and obscene both to and for anyone serving in the naval profession. That word is `Swiftboating.’ “
This month, a group of veterans who served with Mr. Kerry took up the challenge by Boone Pickens, the billionaire Texas oilman who helped finance the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004, that he would give $1 million to anyone who could disprove anything in the group’s campaign against Mr. Kerry.
Now Billionaire T. Boone never served on a Swiftboat nor did he serve in Vietnam, but felt it was his Political Duty to fund this slanderous attack on someone who served Honorably and not only on Swiftboats but prior to that on a Support Ship for the same Swiftboats off the shores of Vietnam, doing Two tours, untill wounded in the second.
On Swiftboats.net, Larry Wasikowski tends to a crew list, a history of the boats and even archives of newsletters that various crews sent home to their families from 1966 to 1969. Mr. Wasikowski and the sailors’ association grant the designation of “Swiftie” meticulously, requiring extensive official documentation from anyone who claims the title.
By the association’s count, about 3,600 men served aboard Swift boats in Vietnam, 600 officers and 3,000 enlisted.
Some 200, a questionable count, took part in using the proud name “Swiftboat” in a Political Slander Campaign against one of their own. They did so simply because a small handfull can’t stand John Kerry and his Politics, that small handfull can’t even stand John McCain and some are now going after him as well!!
Regardless of what they thought of Mr. Kerry, many Swift boat veterans objected to the attacks.
“It was unconscionable,” said Stan Collier, who served as an officer in charge on a boat based in Qui Nhon. “I thought those boys struck a new low.”
Mr. Collier considers himself a conservative and did not agree with Mr. Kerry’s politics, but he voted for him to protest the Swift boat campaign. “We’ve all been attributed to the sleaziness that those guys assigned to Kerry,” he said. “I think we’ve all been demeaned.”
As Mr. Miller said, “People don’t know about us; they know about those few TV advertisements.”
“It’s taken on a life of its own,” Mr. Wasikowski said. “The problem is, it’s on the wrong side. We would like to be remembered as the one operation in Vietnam that succeeded, totally.”
And there is another group of Very Proud Military Service Members that would like their Honor Back, this covers All Conflicts, All Service Branches, and isn’t making the News. It happened in the same year as the above. Yet after it occurred extremely little has been mentioned since, and especially as we have Two Theaters of Military Operations and Occupations still ongoing. Many died for this Honor, many were Maimed for this Honor, from the start of it’s existance right up to Today and will continue into the forseable future.
Remember this:
This happened at that years Political Convention. A certain Political Party, who claim they are the Party of a Strong National Defense and Supporters of America’s Military Personal found it not only Amusing but Extremely Funny to Pass Out and Wear their Purple Heart Bandaids, many with their Lapel American Flag Pins as well, why the Joke even carried to their talking heads, political spinmeisters, and their legions of Supporters, most who have Never Served In The Military nor do much in our times of Wars Of Choice and Occupations, except to scream they want More. More of making More Hatreds and Enemies of our Country and Us Americans! More of allowing the War Profitteers to rob from our Treasury! More of the Huge Defense Budgets with No Questions Asked about where the moneys going, More of sending the few into Multiple Tours and Stoploss! More of Not Taking Care of those sent when They Return! As long as most of them don’t have to Sacrifice and can continue to call themselves a Party of Moral Americans!
I never heard an APOLOGY to the few who Serve and are Awarded Purple Hearts, America’s Highest Honor, for Dying and being Maimed in America’s Wars, Wars mostly of Choice not Need!
