Rating: 
Summary: Oh Come Now!
Review: Okay, please allow me to point a few things things out: it is not only hypocritical but dishonest (and typical of the studied irrationality of the left) for those who have supported Bill Clinton (like almost all those who now applaud Kerry and this book), a man who ran away from any military service during Viet Nam, who participated in demonstrations against his country overseas, who is a personal physical coward, and who is on the record as "hating the military", to now turn around and try somehow to imply that service in the Texas National Guard (whether that included a stint in Alabama or not, who really cares?) by our President was somehow dishonorable. They also conveniently ignore that fact that he is now among the most successful war time commanders-in-chief in our history, certainly far more successful than the last Democrat to find himself in that position, Lyndon Johnson. Nor is it especially impressive that they feel empowered to attack the President because he and his family have been successful financially, especially as their "hero" John Kerry has never had a real job in his life and has only become hugely weathly by leaching off of lonely rich women. If you study Tour of Duty closely, it is clear that John Kerry is just another Massachusett's rich guy and opportunist, who enjoyed a privileged military service during which he gave himself purple hearts, and had his rich connections arrange for a higher decoration for a minimal accomplishment. Equally clear is that his life and world view has had nothing to do with those of the "people" he pretends to want to lead, a fact only underscored by his propensity to change his position with every variation of the political winds. No amount of verbage, even that by a skilled writer like Brinkley, or vituperation by those who write here, is going to change the truth. Hopefully after November we can look forward to John Kerry at last achieving something geniunely substantial by his assumption of the mantle of that other Massachusetts champion, Michael Dukakis.
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Summary: Kerry's Tour Of Duty For North Vietnam
Review: The book has no information on Kerry's "tour of duty" with Hanoi Jane and her gang. Nothing on how North Vietnam's leader dredit Kerry & Fonda for saving North Vietnam from defeat. Nothing on how Kerry's family financial benefitted from the normalization of relations with his old comrades in the "new" Vietnam.
Rating: 
Summary: John Kerry risked his life to save others
Review: John Kerry served bravely and with honors in Vietnam. He risked his life to save others. During a mission to insert troops on a riverbank, a Vietcong soldier fired a rocket at his boat. Lt. Kerry beached his boat, ran into the jungle, took out the enemy and returned with the rocket launcher, earning a silver star for gallantry in action. During another mission Lt. Kerry turned his boat around and headed back into the same enemy fire he had just escaped from to rescue a Navy Seal from certain death. While wounded in the right shoulder, Kerry pulled the Seal into the boat before leaving the scene. Kerry didn't even know the Navy Seal. He wasn't part of Kerry's crew, just a passenger but John Kerry brought him back alive. When John Kerry returned from Vietnam he protested to end the war, to save the lives of the soldiers that were still in a mistaken war. He risked his own future and fought the political establishment to save lives. In comparison, George Bush disappeared from duty when the air war heated up in Vietnam. On April 10-14, 1972 Richard Nixon began carpet bombing North Vietnam. Fighter planes were used as a slow moving screen to protect the B-52 bombers. Pictures of captured US fighter pilots appeared on the front pages by April 15. George W. Bush's last paid day as a fighter pilot with the Texas Air National Guard was the very next day, April 16, 1972 (according to records released by the White House). Bush stayed in Alabama for FIVE months before he received authorization to transfer there. In Alabama, Bush stopped flying, failed to take a required physical exam and allowed his flying status to lapse. He never went back to Texas until he received his discharge six months before his required end of service date.
Rating:
Summary: TRUE story of a REAL hero
Review: If you want to read a true and fascinating story of a real hero--both during and after the War--this book is for you. If you want to rant mindlessly against Kerry, like a lot of wackos who reviewed this book have done here, then skip it. Perhaps they'd prefer to be led by an overprivileged bozo who slid into the Champagne Corps of the National Guard--the unit where all the rich boys hid out--and then went AWOL even from that, to work on a pro-war Senate candidate's campaign. As for me, I'll stick with the real heroes.
Rating:
Summary: History? No!
Review: Any historian who is attempting to write history is obliged to be as objective and professional as possible. Further, history must be based upon the historians thoughts not upon his or her feelings. He or she is obliged to present all the evidence, and to address any significant contradictory data to his or her interpretation. He or she is also obliged to acknowledge and respond to contrary interpretations. If he or she does not do this, he or she is not writing history but is writing a political tract or something even less centered upon the historical truth (like out and out propaganda). Brinkley fails to meet this standard period, and consequently, Tour of Duty is NOT a "piece" of history. The fact that is an election year actually only made it more incumbent upon him to have admitted his limitations and prejudices which should have been followed by an even more determined effort at objectivity because, after all, he is supposedly writing for the historical record (not of course to get Kerry elected). If Brinkley has political views that inhibited a balanced account, he simply should not have published this book as a work of history. We must never forget that tyrants (Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Pol Pot, Saddam, you name it)ALWAYS attempt to have history rewritten to make it more flattering or to comform to their own selfish interests, and even in inclusive societies such as ours, there are those who surrender to this temptation, a point Tour of Duty only makes too well!
Rating: 
Summary: A genuine combat vet - who went wrong
Review: I don't have the slightest problem with regarding John Kerry as a hero for his service in Vietnam. Everybody who served in Vietnam was a hero, from the combat soldiers to the military nurses, the WACS, the Red Cross Donut Dollies and even the USO entertainers such as Martha Raye, Connie Stevens and Bob Hope who risked their own lives to support the young combat soldiers, whose average age was 19 (in WW II, it was 26). John Kerry served his country, for however long, in a combat vessel which repeatedly engaged the Enemy at a time when 100,000 Draft Dodgers had fled the country, 90,000 to Canada alone, and at a time when Bill Clinton was hiding in England and generally doing his level best to avoid the Draft. Trashing the man's combat record is inappropriate. True, taking a rocket launcher from a VC who had been hit by a 50 cal (imagine a Mac Truck) is like taking candy from a baby, and maybe it was reckless to take the boat in as he did. But whether bad tactics or not, he risked being raked with AK-47 fire while Bill Clinton was hiding away with a bunch of anti-War people (who probably didn't inhale either, right?). Yes, Kerry seemed to be a gong magnet, and yes, he got himself out after receiving three relatively minor wounds, and no, he ain't Hack, but I know of an Air Cav pilot who was shot down six times before his luck ran out. Maybe Kerry instinctively knew that the fourth wound would not be a scratch. As it is, any one of the minor wounds could have taken his eyesight or damaged his spinal column. We all know how little it takes to devastate the human body. Vietnam was a dumb war fought by a lot of very brave men, supported by a lot of very brave women, and when crippled Vets like Ron Kovic (Born On The Fourth Of July) protested the War on their return, it was more because they cared about their comrades who were still out there, than that they had a desire to align with the cowardly Stalinist flag burners who had hijacked the Peace Movement. It is AFTER Vietnam that John Kerry goes wrong. Any association whatsoever with that treasonous reptile Hanoi Jane Fonda cannot be seen as anything but signing a pact with the Devil to give aid and comfort to the Enemy. Trash Kerry if you will, but trash Kerry the fool, not Kerry the combat veteran. Let's at least leave him with that.
Rating:
Summary: A piece of the historical record
Review: Can anyone expect an unbiased treatment of this subject matter during an election year? I have only one response. You can't expect an honest answer from an open hand. Furthermore, what is really being reviewed here. Is it John Kerry's bid for the presidency or Douglas Brinckley's merits as a historian. The two are not inextricably linked. This is a piece of scholarship to be added to the historical record. It is an excellent book. How dare anyone bring anything else into a review of the book. (Somethings Fishy). This book is about war and not the 2004 presidential election.
Rating:
Summary: Kerry Was Still Getting A Navy Paycheck As He Slandered GI's
Review: Kerry was still on the U.S. Navy's payroll as he travelled the NE & MidAtlantic for Jane's Fonda's antiwar rallys. Kerry was an organizer in the group. Pretty sad how he was cashing U.S. Navy paychecks as he was smearing American GI's by calling them "babykillers." I guess there were no wealthy widows around so he need the paycheck. Kerry is no hero. He is an opportunistic back stabber. His cousin Stewart Forbes, Chief Executive Officer of Colliers International (Kerry's cousin), was awarded a contract worth billions designating Colliers International as the exclusive real estate agent representing Vietnam. This is after Senator Kerry sold out American POWs & MIAs while "normalizing" relations with the new Vietnam.
Rating:
Summary: Let's Be Clear
Review: This is my second review, and it is inspired by the startling naiveté demonstrated by the reviewer who insists that since Brinkley is a professional historian he could not, therefore, be politically motivated in his composition of this "biography" of John Kerry. I, too, am a professional historian, and while I cannot claim that my books match the popularity of Brinkley's, I have a professional understanding of the process of writing works in history. The reality is this: John Kerry as just a senator is not a subject of sufficient stature to merit such an explication of his life. Aside from his recent presidential efforts, he is but one of hundreds of men and women alive and dead who have served or who are serving in the Senate. He has no major legislation associated with his name; he has not been a real leader of the Democratic side of the upper chamber; and he was, until recently, not even much of a household name outside of Massachusetts. Historians choose their subjects with great care not only because good historical works require tremendous time, concentration, and luck in researching but also because publishers demand that they be at least reasonably marketable. Someone of Brinkley's status certainly would not bother to begin the arduous task of researching a biography of say Senator Mikulski of Maryland without the certain knowledge that such a work would be a greater public interest in the future - occasioned by, say, a run for the presidency. It is simply not reasonable to believe, therefore, that Brinkley did not know Kerry was going to make a presidential run in '04, and wrote Tour of Duty accordingly; it is even possible that he was approached directly or indirectly by Kerry's people or those of his mentor Ted Kennedy to write the work because that, children, is often how life works. Further, let us have a reality check about academia and historians. It is a rare scholar indeed who is employed as a professional historian either within or without universities and colleges who is not at least a strong liberal or socialists (at one major Big Ten school, the chair of the history department at one time was an open and passionate communist, who was saddened by the fall of the Soviet Union). This is not my opinion, it is objective fact well known within the profession. Scholars who do not conform can be and are denied tenure and promotion. Therefore, it is not only possible, but also probable that Brinkley is indeed a "knee-jerk" liberal, and certainly the content Tour of Duty only buttresses this contention. It is, I repeat, a rather skillful campaign book designed to attract votes for John Kerry. It is neither history nor historical biography, but is instead, like Kerry's public image, a clever manipulation of the truth.
Rating:
Summary: Another Viewpoint on JFK's "Heroism"
Review: Personally, I place more credence in the following account of Kerry's sevice, as written by someone who actually served: "I was in the Delta shortly after John Kerry left. I know that area well. I know the operations he was involved in well. I know the tactics and the doctrine used, and I know the equipment. Although I was attached to CTF-116 (PBRs) I spent a fair amount of time with CTF-115 (swift boats), Kerry's command. Here are my problems and suspicions: (1) Kerry was in-country less than four months and collected a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts. I never heard of anybody with any outfit I worked with (including SEAL One, the Sea Wolves, Riverines and the River Patrol Force) collecting that much hardware that fast, and for such pedestrian actions. The Swifts did a commendable job, but that duty wasn't the worst you could draw. They operated only along the coast and in the major rivers (Bassac and Mekong). The rough stuff in the hot areas was mainly handled by the smaller, faster PBRs.
(2) He collected three Purple Hearts but has no limp. All his injuries were so minor that he lost no time from duty. Amazing luck. Or he was putting himself in for medals every time he bumped his head on the wheel house hatch? Combat on, the boats were almost always at close range. You didn't have minor wounds, at least not often. Not three times in a row. Then he used the three Purple Hearts to request a trip home eight months before the end of his tour. Fishy. (3) The details of the event for which he was given the Silver Star make no sense at all. Supposedly, a B-40 was fired at the boat and missed. Charlie jumps up with the launcher in his hand, the bow gunner knocks him down with the twin .50, Kerry beaches the boat, jumps off, shoots Charlie, and retreives the launcher. If true, he did everything wrong.
(a) Standard procedure when you took rocket fire was to put your stern to the action and go balls to the wall. A B-40 has the ballistic integrity of a frisbie after about 25 yards, so you put 50 yards or so between you and the beach and begin raking it with your .50's.
(b) Did you ever see anybody get knocked down with a .50 caliber round and get up? The guy was dead or dying. The rocket launcher was empty. There was no reason to go after him (except if you knew he was no danger to you just flopping around in the dust during his last few seconds on earth, and you wanted some derring-do in your after-action report). And we didn't shoot wounded people. We had rules against that, too.
(c) Kerry got off the boat. This was a major breach of standing procedures. Nobody on a boat crew ever got off a boat in a hot area. EVER! The reason was simple: If you had somebody on the beach, your boat was defenseless. It coudn't run and it couldn' t return fire. It was stupid and it put his crew in danger. He should have been relieved and reprimanded. I never heard of any boat crewman ever leaving a boat during or after a firefight. Something is fishy. Here we have a JFK wannabe (the guy Halsey wanted to court martial for carelessly losing his boat and getting a couple people killed by running across the bow of a Japanese destroyer) who is hardly in Vietnam long enough to get good tan, collects medals faster than Audie Murphy in a job where lots of medals weren't common, gets sent home eight months early and requests separation from active duty a few months after that so he can run for Congress. In that election, he finds out war heroes don't sell well in Massachsetts in 1970, so he reinvents himself as Jane Fonda/...
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