KERRYADS.CBS 08/24/04 8:34 AM-DLR   1:27
It's no longer enough just to have served.  This is Dave Ross on the CBS Radio Network.
Our national re-evaluation  of the Vietnam War continues.  The Book Unfit for Command, which slams John Kerry's military record, is leaping off the shelves.
The latest ad by Swift Boat Veterans for truth, which is actually running only in a few states, has been excerpted in news broadcasts nationwide, spreading the impression that John Kerry makes things up.
His critics weren't actually ON the mission in question - but I got an e-mail from a listener yesterday explaining that.  This listener also served in Vietnam, and he dismissed the notion that you actually had to be in a particular battle to know the truth about what happened.
He wrote:  "Having served in such close quarters under such long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of raw terror, I can assure you the moments of boredom back at the base were spent swapping and validating other people's stories."
In other words, you quickly got to know who the liars were, whether you were actually with them or not.
The closest I've been to an actual shooting war is the week I spent in Baghdad.  So I'm impressed by anyone who actually stands in the line of fire.  And I had no idea there was a pecking order among combat veterans as to who was bravest.
But if that's the way veterans really feel, let's go for it.  Let's have John Kerry, George Bush and all the swift boat veterans file Standard Form 180, which releases ALL of your military records, set up a national commission on valor, and decide once and for all who was brave, and who wasn't.
I always thought it was enough just to have served.  But the rules are apparently different in an election year.
Now this.  ~C:\works\files\KERRYADS.CBS