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   From: kerry_lied@hotmail.com   
      
   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   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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