The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

Reporting for Duty

By The Prowler on 6.8.05 @ 12:09AM

MISSION UNACCOMPLISHED
So with the exception of seeing Sen. John Kerry's middling grades at Yale, what was achieved by his signing of the SF-180 document?

If it was about releasing his military record, that wasn't achieved.

If it was about clarifying his reserve activities upon his return from his short stint in Vietnam, that wasn't achieved.

If it was to perhaps further obscure the truth about his service and post-Vietnam activities, mission accomplished.

It is unclear exactly what was released by the Navy late Monday to the Boston Globe. On its face it appears that aside from the Yale transcript and some commendations, little new appeared.

"I don't know what everyone expected," says a former Kerry campaign staffer. "We said this was the complete file months ago. The Senator pointedly requested that the grades not be included in the documents released during the campaign."

And there lies the rub. At no point has Kerry requested a full, nonredacted release of his military record from the National Personnel Record Center, which has custody of Kerry's complete record.

According to Steve Jones, a principal of Lyon Research, and a respected researcher, who specializes in culling data at the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and various military and museum repositories across the country, Kerry's full file could contain a number of other documents not released on Monday, such as documents that verify his status in the Reserves up to 1978.

But redirecting media and the public away from his full file appears to have been Kerry's plan all along, because he submitted his SF-180 to the wrong entity.

"It doesn't make sense that he is going through the Navy," says Jones. "Applying through the Navy gives this scenario the appearance of a personnel shuffle. Kerry said he applied to the Navy and the Boston Globe said they received his record from the Navy and that makes no sense when the relevant records are at the National Personnel Record Center, a part of the National Archives. By going through the Navy Kerry makes it appear that he is using the Navy to screen his file; he added a layer of bureaucracy when all he needed to do was sign an authorization allowing a third party to look at his record at the NPRC."

What is the difference between the Navy and the NPRC?

The Navy, which created the documents to begin with, is legally obligated to protect the privacy of the veteran. If, as many conspiracy theorists have posited, negative material was expunged from Kerry's file, the Navy could most likely only include the final version of a document.

For example, if an individual were to have a received a less than honorable discharge, but then gained a full, honorable discharge some years later, only the honorable discharge order might appear in the Navy file, while both discharges might appear in the individual's file at the NPRC in St. Louis, Mo.

Jones, who has worked extensively at the NPRC and the National Archives, says that were Kerry to sign an SF-180 and authorize a third party full access to his NPRC records, more fodder would likely be found. "There is no way to know what is in his file unless an independent party looks at the file at the NPRC," says Jones.

But there is hope. The NRPC can open the file to the public ten years after a famous individual dies.

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Military, NATO