XPost: talk.politics.guns, comp.os.linux.advocacy   
   From: sambo@msn.com   
      
   Was Kerry's original discharge less than honorable?   
      
   In a front-page article in today's New York Sun entitled "Mystery   
   Surrounds Kerry's Navy Discharge," reporter Thomas Lipscomb asserts that   
   in all probability, Sen. John F. Kerry originally received a less-than-   
   honorable discharge from the United States Naval Reserve — a discharge   
   that was only upgraded to honorable after President Carter's 1977   
   executive order proclaiming a presidential amnesty for Vietnam War   
   resisters.   
      
   My purpose in this post is to provide links to and more extended quotes   
   from the documents that Mr. Lipscomb's article references for those who   
   are interested in assessing this assertion, and of course my own   
   admittedly tentative take on these issues.  [Update: Be sure to read   
   through to my 5:25pm update below for a speculative, innocuous scenario   
   possibly involving section 1163(a) — Beldar.]   
      
   I.  The Claytor document   
   Mr. Lipscomb's assertion begins with this document from John Kerry's   
   website, described there as Kerry's "Honorable Discharge From Reserve."   
   Dated February 16, 1978, and issued in the name of Carter administration   
   Secretary of the Navy W. Graham Claytor, it provides:   
      
   Subj:	Honorable Discharge from the U.S. Naval Reserve   
   Ref:	(a) Title 10, U.S. Code, Section 1162   
   (b) Title 10, U.S. Code, Section 1163   
   (c) BUPERSMAN 3830380	   
   Encl:	(1) Honorable Discharge Certificate   
      
   1.  By direction of the President, and pursuant to reference (a), you are   
   hereby honorably discharged from the U.S. Naval Reserve effective this   
   date.   
      
   2.  This action is taken in accordance with the approved recommendations   
   of a board of officers convened under authority of reference (b) to   
   examine the official records of officers of the Naval Reserve on inactive   
   duty and determine whether they should be retained on the records of the   
   Reserve Component or separated from the naval service pursuant to   
   Secretarial Instructions promulgated in reference (c).   
      
   3.  The Navy Department at this time expresses its appreciation of your   
   past services and trusts that you will continue your interest in the naval   
   service.   
      
   There's another 1978 document on the Kerry website, labeled "Acceptance of   
   Discharge Naval Reserve," that as best I can tell simply reflects Sen.   
   Kerry's acceptance of the Claytor letter.   
      
   II. Former sections 1162 and 1163 of   
   Title 10  of the United States Code   
   As part of a reorganization of the relevant portions of Title 10, sections   
   1162 and 1163 were repealed effective December 1, 1994, and because their   
   text no longer appears in the current United States Code, they're somewhat   
   hard to locate.  However, with some digging using Lexis/Nexis, one can   
   determine that as in effect from 1956 through 1994, 10 U.S.C. § 1162 read:   
      
   (a) Subject to the other provisions of this title, reserve commissioned   
   officers may be discharged at the pleasure of the President.  Other   
   Reserves may be discharged under regulations prescribed by the Secretary   
   concerned.   
      
   (b) Under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of Defense, a   
   Reserve who becomes a regular or ordained minister of religion is entitled   
   upon his request to a discharge from his reserve enlistment or   
   appointment.   
      
   Since Kerry was not a regular or ordained minister, section 1162(b) can't   
   have applied.  Rather, the first sentence of section 1162(a), pertaining   
   to "reserve commissioned officers," was what the first numbered paragraph   
   in the Claytor document must be referencing, and stands for nothing more   
   than the unremarkable proposition that the President has authority to   
   discharge reserve commissioned officers.   
      
   Where things get interesting, however, is the second numbered paragraph of   
   the Claytor document quoted above, and in particular its reference to the   
   "approved recommendations of a board of officers convened under authority   
   of [section 1163] to examine the official records of officers of the Naval   
   Reserve on inactive duty and determine whether they should be retained on   
   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.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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