In a 2004 presidential candidate questionnaire for Humane USA, Mr. Kerry was asked whether any pets have had an impact on his life.
"I have always had pets in my life, and there are a few that I remember very fondly," Mr. Kerry replied. "When I was serving on a Swift Boat in Vietnam, my crewmates and I had a dog we called VC.
"One day as our Swift Boat was heading up a river, a mine exploded hard under our boat," he continued. "After picking ourselves up, we discovered VC was MIA (missing in action). Several minutes of frantic search followed, after which we thought we’d lost him. We were relieved when another boat called asking if we were missing a dog."
Said Mr. Kerry: "It turns out VC was catapulted from the deck of our boat and landed, confused but unhurt, on the deck of another boat in our patrol." [Source]
This has all the marks of what we called in the Navy a "sea story." They way you tell the difference from a fairy tale and a sea story is that a fairy tale starts out "Once upon a time" and a sea story starts "This is no bulls***." First there is the plausibility of taking a dog out on missions when brass is flying. Never mind that one of his crewmembers has already stated (on the Hugh Hewitt show) that there were no dogs on board the Swiftboat or on any of the other boats. But the story of this dog getting catapulted and landing on another boat is over the top. Then we have the statement that another boat asked them if they were missing a dog. Swiftboat crews worked and lived together daily. Wouldn’t they already know any dog that was a regular fixture or a mascot on another boat? Wouldn’t this amazing story be a part of Kerry’s journals that he wrote and wouldn’t this event have been told in David Brinkley’s "Tour of Duty." It seems that with every retelling of his time with the swifites new details are added and custom made for the circumstances. Whether it is VC the dog story for the humane society or a Cambodia story seared in his brain to relate on the Senate floor. At least he could start our his stories with "This is no bulls"""."
2 comments
hehe. I thought this was a joke at first. Sounds like something out of a movie, Hot Shots Part Deux or something. 🙂
All my seastories begin “No $h1t, this really happened…”
But I am having trouble prognosticating the results of this election. I hope Bush wins, and will vote for him this time, but there is the navy thing. For the sake of brevity, I will use “sailor” to denote any level of service in the US Navy, although we all know that real, honest-to-goodness, actual SAILORS are enlisted men, or were at one time.
Since 1960, 2/3s of all US presidents have seen service in Uncle Sam’s Canoe Club. Only two have ever lost a presidential re-election to a non sailor (JC to RR, GHWB to WJC. GF to JC doesn’t count, both were sailors.)
However, no sailor standing for President since 1960 has ever lost the initial election.
Well, hopefully, there really is a first time for everything.
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