Critics countered on Kerry record of inactive serviceNaval Reserve tour is defendedWASHINGTON -- On Nov. 21, 1969, John F. Kerry made a crucial decision: He wanted to leave active duty in the Navy in order to run for Congress.
"Because various political figures have advised that I move quickly to establish my organization, I respectfully request that I be released from active duty as soon as possible," Kerry, who was serving as an aide to an admiral in Brooklyn, wrote in a memo. Kerry won early release and was transferred to the Naval Reserve, which the Kerry presidential campaign says required that Kerry do no more than report his whereabouts in case of an emergency call-up. In the past, Kerry has estimated he shaved between two and five months from his active duty; this week, a campaign spokesman said it saved about six weeks. With the revival of questions about whether President Bush fulfilled his National Guard duty, some of Kerry's critics have begun to focus on what Kerry did in the Naval Reserve, asking why he hasn't released records of his reserve service. The Kerry campaign says that he was on inactive status at the time and did not have to appear for Naval Reserve duty. "He had no obligation," Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan said. "The only obligation was that he inform the Navy where he could be reached." Meehan said that Kerry was not paid for being in the Naval Reserve and would have been called to duty only if the US government had exhausted other means of finding sailors, such as the draft. Two knowledgeable people contacted by the Globe reviewed Kerry's record and agreed with that conclusion. "Everything looks in order," said Stephen Keith, a retired admiral who is executive director of the nonpartisan Naval Reserve Association. "It is very, very normal." Keith said critics who have suggested that Kerry should have shown up for drills in the Naval Reserve are mistaken. "He doesn't have an obligation to drill." Lawrence Korb, who oversaw reserve affairs as assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration and who also served in the Navy and the Naval Reserve, concurred that Kerry had no obligation to the Naval Reserve other than providing an update on his whereabouts. "I went through the same thing," said Korb, who declined to say which candidate he supports in this year's presidential campaign. "You are not required to do anything." Separately, both Keith and Korb raised questions about the way Kerry, who was a Naval Reserve officer at the time, was attired when he testified before the Senate against the war in April 1971. They noted that Kerry was wearing a fatigue-type shirt with military ribbons on his chest. Korb said that it was "technically incorrect" for an officer to wear the ribbons while testifying against the war. Keith said Kerry had the right to speak as a private citizen but should not have worn what appears to be a military uniform at the time. Continued... |
