[continued from previous message]   
      
   > the records of the Reserve Component or separated from the naval service   
   > ...."  As in effect from 1956 through 1994, 10 U.S.C. § 1163 read:   
   >   
   > (a) An officer of a reserve component who has at least three years of   
   > service as a commissioned officer may not be separated from that component   
   > without his consent except under an approved recommendation of a board of   
   > officers convened by an authority designated by the Secretary concerned,   
   > or by the approved sentence of a court-martial. This subsection does not   
   > apply to a separation under subsection (b) of this section or under   
   > section 1003 of this title, to a dismissal under section 1161 (a) of this   
   > title, or to a transfer under section 3352 or 8352 of this title.   
   >   
   > (b) The President or the Secretary concerned may drop from the rolls of   
   > the armed force concerned any Reserve (1) who has been absent without   
   > authority for at least three months, or (2) who is sentenced to   
   > confinement in a Federal or State penitentiary or correctional institution   
   > after having been found guilty of   
   > an offense by a court other than a court-martial or other military court,   
   > and whose sentence has become final.   
   >   
   > (c) A member of a reserve component who is separated therefrom for cause,   
   > except under subsection (b), is entitled to a discharge under honorable   
   > conditions unless —   
   >   
   > (1) he is discharged under conditions other than honorable under an   
   > approved sentence of a court-martial or under the approved findings of a   
   > board of officers convened by an authority designated by the Secretary   
   > concerned; or   
   >   
   > (2) he consents to a discharge under conditions other than honorable with   
   > a waiver of proceedings of a court-martial or a board.   
   >   
   > (d) Under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary concerned, which   
   > shall be as uniform as practicable, a member of a reserve component who is   
   > on active duty (other than for training) and is within two years of   
   > becoming eligible for retired pay or retainer pay under a purely military   
   > retirement   
   > system, may not be involuntarily released from that duty before he becomes   
   > eligible for that pay, unless his release is approved by the Secretary.   
   >   
   > Unfortunately, I've been unable to locate the text of the third reference   
   > from the Claytor document, "BUPERSMAN 3830380," which I presume to have   
   > been a Bureau of Personnel Manual  regulation.  [Update: see James   
   > Lederer's and Cecil Turner's helpful comments and links below, which I've   
   > edited this text to conform to — Beldar]   
   >   
   > III.  Mr. Lipscomb's arguments from the Claytor   
   > document and sections 1162 and 1163   
   > Here's Mr. Lipscomb's analysis of how the Claytor document and the two   
   > relevant statutes lead to inferences about Sen. Kerry's original discharge   
   > and possible later upgrade:   
   >   
   > An official Navy document on Senator Kerry's campaign Web site listed as   
   > Mr. Kerry's "Honorable Discharge from the Reserves" opens a door on a well   
   > kept secret about his military service.   
   >   
   > The document is a form cover letter in the name of the Carter   
   > administration's secretary of the Navy, W. Graham Claytor. It describes   
   > Mr. Kerry's discharge as being subsequent to the review of "a board of   
   > officers." This in itself is unusual. There is nothing about an ordinary   
   > honorable discharge action in the Navy that requires a review by a board   
   > of officers.   
   >   
   > According to the secretary of the Navy's document, the "authority of   
   > reference" this board was using in considering Mr. Kerry's record was   
   > "Title 10, U.S. Code Section 1162 and 1163." This section refers to the   
   > grounds for involuntary separation from the service. What was being   
   > reviewed, then, was Mr. Kerry's involuntary separation from the service.   
   > And it couldn't have been an honorable discharge, or there would have been   
   > no point in any review at all. The review was likely held to improve Mr.   
   > Kerry's status of discharge from a less than honorable discharge to an   
   > honorable discharge.   
   >   
   > After noting that the Kerry campaign had not replied to his inquiry about   
   > "whether Mr. Kerry had ever been a victim of an attempt to deny him an   
   > honorable discharge," Mr. Lipscomb discusses how a less-than-honorable   
   > discharge — one that would need further processing in 1978 to be upgraded   
   > to honorable — might have come about in the first place:   
   >   
   > The document is dated February 16, 1978. But Mr. Kerry's military   
   > commitment began with his six-year enlistment contract with the Navy on   
   > February 18, 1966. His commitment should have terminated in 1972. It is   
   > highly unlikely that either the man who at that time was a Vietnam   
   > Veterans Against the War leader, John Kerry, requested or the Navy   
   > accepted an additional six year reserve commitment. And the Claytor   
   > document indicates proceedings to reverse a less than honorable discharge   
   > that took place sometime prior to February 1978.   
   >   
   > The most routine time for Mr. Kerry's discharge would have been at the end   
   > of his six-year obligation, in 1972. But how was it most likely to have   
   > come about?   
   >   
   > NBC's release this March of some of the Nixon White House tapes about Mr.   
   > Kerry show a great deal of interest in Mr. Kerry by Nixon and his   
   > executive staff, including, perhaps most importantly, Nixon's special   
   > counsel, Charles Colson. In a meeting the day after Mr. Kerry's Senate   
   > testimony, April 23, 1971, Mr. Colson attacks Mr. Kerry as a "complete   
   > opportunist...We'll keep hitting him, Mr. President."   
   >   
   > Mr. Colson was still on the case two months later, according to a memo he   
   > wrote on June 15,1971, that was brought to the surface by the Houston   
   > Chronicle. "Let's destroy this young demagogue before he becomes another   
   > Ralph Nader." Nixon had been a naval officer in World War II. Mr. Colson   
   > was a former Marine captain. Mr. Colson had been prodded to find "dirt" on   
   > Mr. Kerry, but reported that he couldn't find any.   
   >   
   > The Nixon administration ran FBI surveillance on Mr. Kerry from September   
   > 1970 until August 1972. Finding grounds for an other than honorable   
   > discharge, however, for a leader of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War,   
   > given his numerous activities while still a reserve officer of the Navy,   
   > was easier than finding "dirt."   
   >   
   > For example, while America was still at war, Mr. Kerry had met with the   
   > North Vietnamese and Viet Cong delegation to the Paris Peace talks in May   
   > 1970 and then held a demonstration in July 1971 in Washington to try to   
   > get Congress to accept the enemy's seven point peace proposal without a   
   > single change. Woodrow Wilson threw Eugene Debs, a former presidential   
   > candidate, in prison just for demonstrating for peace negotiations with   
   > Germany during World War I. No court overturned his imprisonment. He had   
   > to receive a pardon from President Harding.   
   >   
   > Mr. Colson refused to answer any questions about his activities regarding   
   > Mr. Kerry during his time in the Nixon White House. The secretary of the   
   > Navy at the time during the Nixon presidency is the current chairman of   
   > the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Warner. A spokesman for the   
   > senator, John Ullyot, said, "Senator Warner has no recollection that would   
   > either confirm or challenge any representation that Senator Kerry received   
   > a less than honorable discharge."   
   >   
   > Mr. Lipscomb next explains how the amnesty issued by President Carter may   
      
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