I never said it mattered. I was making the comment.
Being on the same boat isn't the be-all-and-end-all of a person being able to comment on Kerry's service. But it does say something that only one out of 11-12 guys who served on Kerry's boat spoke out against him. That guy's name is Steven Gardner.
There were several other guys on Kerry's boat in the course of the Silver Star and Bronze Star incidents who also didn't speak out against him -- but for him, actually. These were guys who didn't serve under Kerry, but with him -- like LtJg Peter Upton and LtJg Charles Gibson.
For the Silver Star incident -- 25 guys present, and none has spoken out against Kerry. None.
The Bronze Star (and 3rd PH) incident -- about 34 guys present, and about 4-5 had something negative to say about what happened.
The 1st PH -- 2 or 3 guys present (depending on who you believe), and one guy (who says he was there, but the others disagree that he was there) had something negative to say.
The 2nd PH -- 30+ guys present, and one guy had something negative to say.
Bottom Line -- Very few of the guys actually present for the incidents for which Kerry was in combat, and received an award, have anything negative to say about it.
So, while it includes none of the guys actually on Kerry's boat (Gardner was not present for any of those incidents), it includes many guys who were on other boats.
It seems to me that is Kerry was such a liar about what he did in combat, there would be dozens of guys coming forward -- especially after the Swift Boat Veterans for "truth" hired a private investigator to look up as many of these guys as possible, in an effort to smear Kerry.. . . . . . that effort failed miserably, by the way.
Doug Reese
