Dan Rather Exaggerates Military Record
 

Not sure if this has been posted or not, but....

Monday, September 20, 2004 4:19 PM
Expert: Dan Rather Exaggerates Military Record

Wes Vernon, NewsMax.com
Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2002

One of the nation’s top military researchers is angry that CBS News anchorman Dan Rather continues to exaggerate and make misleading statements about his military record.

The researcher, B.G. Burkett, says that Rather’s inaccaurate statements about his military service can be found in the new hit book "Bias,” written by veteran CBS reporter Bernard Goldberg.

Burkett, co-author of the book "Stolen Valor,” a history of the media’s portrayal of the Vietnam conflict, says he’s tired of Rather’s double-talk and hypocrisy.

Case in point are Rather’s claims in "Bias.” Goldberg's book details a confrontation he had with Rather over the anchorman's compulsive liberal bias.

Goldberg recounts that when he told the network star in 1996 of his upcoming Wall Street Journal op-ed piece citing a specific CBS News report as an example of left-wing bias, Rather replied he was "getting viscerally angry about this.”

"Angry I was expecting,” Goldberg tell his readers. "What came next, I wasn’t.

"Rather’s voice started quivering, and he told me how in his young days, he had signed up with the Marines – not once, but twice!”

This is not the first time Rather has hid behind the flag and his own military service claims to deflect criticism of his reporting, Burkett said.

Burkett added that Rather is greatly exaggerating his record. First, Burkett says, Rather "misspoke” when he claimed he signed up for the Marines twice. He didn’t.

And Burkett is flabbergasted that Rather continues to proudly describe himself as a "Marine.”

"What he did, he signed up for the military twice, not the Marines,” Burkett said after thoroughly reviewing Rather’s military records.

But Burkett notes that Rather "never got through Marine recruit training because he couldn’t do the physical activity.”

Rather 'Unfit'

As Burkett explains in "Stolen Valor," Rather "was discharged less than four months later on May 11, 1954 for being medically unfit.” As a boy, Rather had suffered from rheumatic fever.

"This is like a guy who flunks out of Harvard running around saying he went to Harvard,” Burkett said.

Burkett also believes that, far from being a gung-ho military enlistee, Rather’s record shows he deftly avoiding entering the military during the Korean War.

Burkett says that Rather was a student at Sam Houston University at a time during the Korean War when "you could be drafted right out of college,” with deferments available only short term, for a semester.

"The way he got around being eligible for the draft was he joined a reserve unit – Army reserve but not the Marines.” Rather stayed in the reserve for the entire war.

"The second the Korean War was over, and he wasn’t in jeopardy anymore, he dropped out of the Army Reserve. He later graduated from college, and then went into the Marine Corps. So he signed up for the Marine Corps once,” Burkett said, not twice.

Rather knows he is skirting the truth about his record, Burkett believes. "He’s made such a big deal out of this ‘I’m a Marine’ thing. I mean, to a real Marine, you’re not a Marine – I mean even though you swore an oath and you’re technically on the payroll, you’re not a real Marine until you get out of basic training. And he never got out of recruit training.”

During Rather’s angry confrontation with Goldberg, the author of "Bias” says that "to his credit,” the anchorman emphasized that his Marine service was during "peacetime” so that "he was trying not to sound like some kind of war hero.”

Still, Rather never disclosed that his Marine service never got him past basic training.

Meanwhile, Burkett is miffed that Rather led media criticism of former Vice President Dan Quayle’s military record during his White House campaign.

"This is the same national broadcaster who, night after night during the 1988 presidential campaign, hammered Republican presidential candidate Dan Quayle for avoiding Vietnam by joining the National Guard,” he said.

"CBS was particularly heavy on Dan Quayle and his Guard experience. … It’s exactly the same thing Dan Rather did during the Korean War.

"If I had been in Rather’s position,” added Burkett, "I wouldn’t even have ever brought up the Marine Corps.”

Burkett has tracked Rather’s claims for years. In "Stolen Valor,” Burkett investigated a CBS TV documentary, "The Wall Within,” hosted by Rather.

The thrust of Rather’s report was that hordes of Vietnam veterans were dysfunctional, mentally disturbed or harbored guilt because their superiors had forced them to kill Vietnamese civilians.

Burkett did his own investigation and found that this was all hype. And while he was at it, he looked up Rather’s own military history. So determined was he that the story be put in perspective that Burkett ended up collaborating with ABC on a "counter documentary” on that network’s "20/20.”

This attempt to set the record straight won "20/20” a Cine Award, a significant honor within the industry.

"We attacked Rather’s documentary as being a bogus piece of work,” Burkett recalled to NewsMax.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/1/
15/205545.shtml

And this is relevant how?

I have heard this before, but in his credit at least he tried to be a Marine in a time of war, you should give him that.

As for his "misspeaking", hey, the guy has a radio transmitter in his head for chrisakes, show some mercy. ;)

yeah...I was thinking the same thing when I posted it. I guess it's as relevant as anything else that may get posted here.

Randy

Not according to that article. It says he didn't quit the Army Reserve and enlist in the Marines until after the Korean War was over.

Tom

Re: Dan Rather Exaggerates Military Record
 

You know what - I don't think this is anything like that at all.

Rather tried to be a marine and was medically unfit - this hits a chord with me because even though on the outside I look like your average everyday joe and when I was 18 I was in great shape (hiked up and down mount whitney in a day) *I* was deemed medically unfit in my physical because of my well documented heart murmur. It was devistating to me but at the time the military gave me no way around the fact that I was medically unfit. I've heard stories of people getting around it but I likely *NEVER* would have been able to qualify as a pilot because of it.

I tried and I had been looking forward to it most of my childhood having idolized my Dad who was in the AirForce.

Completely beyond my control. Failing out of Harvard is hardly completely out of someone control - if you study and apply yourself I'm sure at least managing a "C" at Harvard is possible.

I'm not defending his statements or his recent reports - I just think that statement is full of crapola.

I tried getting into the air force on two occasions, then the navy, then the marines. I'm not an unfit guy, in my own opinion, but a doctor a few years ago put down that I had asthma. Automatic DQ from service, so I went back to MEPS to take a Methacholine challenge, which I passed with no problems. For some reason, still DQ'd.

So, can I run around saying I was in the Air force, Navy, and Marines? Hell no.

What that article does is point out the crutch lefties like to lean on so much. Kerry served most of his duty on the safety of a ship off the coast of California, then the short time he was in danger he took some self-inflicted wounds and got out. He was the only one in his unit to get out with 3 purple hearts in 4 months. Another lefty 'hero', Max Cleland, blew his own legs off by picking up a live grenade.

According to Cleland's campaign manager Oct. 26, 2002
Thank you for your service sirs, but inflicting wounds upon yourselves does not make you heroes. The real heroes are the guys over in Iraq and Afghanistan right now, and all the men and who selflessly served in the past.

Errr... you're effectively saying Cleland is a selfish bastard & his service was worthless because his he was stupid enough to get grievously wounded by a grenade that another soldier dropped?

Tell me how would he have prevented this? By not serving in the first place? Thats effectively the only way he could have protected himself from 'frendly fire' mistakes from others.

Serving & loosing both legs at war = selfish. Wow- thats some LOL-dork logic :rolleyes:

It's sad that it happened to him, but all he's done since then was exploit it for his own political gain. That's what I call selfish.

I'd like to see you 'inform' the families of wounded & dead soldiers in Iraq that their loved ones are 'not real heroes' because they died due to / were casualties of friendly fire or military accident.

Friendly fire is tragic and a totally different situation than what I was talkkng about. I'm talking about Kerry and Cleland extorting their own accidents for their own political gain. You're trying to twist what i'm saying, which was very clear.

Basically your point seems to be that he was stupid, therefore not a 'war hero' and has since milked the small inconvenience of losing 3 limbs for his country for everything he can get. I guess it all started by becoming a spokesperson for the welfare of veterans. That selfish pile of *****! :rolleyes:



Joseph Maxwell "Max" Cleland (1942- )

"Military Service

Army ROTC; Stetson University
U.S. Army 1965-1968; Commisioned Second Lieutenant and promoted to Captain 1968
Airborne, Ft. Benning, Georgia
Aide de Camp, Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey
Volunteered for duty in Vietnam in 1967
Wounded in grenade explosion April 8, 1968 (lost both legs and right arm)
Recovered from injuries "in various Army and Veterans Administration hospitals"
Awarded Bronze Star and Silver Star
"Cleland volunteered as communications officer for 2d Battalion, 12th Cavalry, which had been chosen for Operation Pegasus – the relief of Khe Sanh – in April 1968. CPT Cleland was on a mountaintop with his Signal team to set up a radio relay when he lost his legs and right arm to a grenade explosion. For Khe Sanh he received the Bronze Star for meritorious service and Silver Star for gallantry in action."

The awards of star medals appear unrelated to the grenade explosion accident which caused hs injuries. The Silver Star Medal Citation references action on 4 April. The grenade explosion was on 8 April.


Grenade Explosion Accident. In his own words,

On April 8, 1968, I volunteered for one last mission. The helicopter moved in low. The troops jumped out with M16 rifles in hand as we crouched low to the ground to avoid the helicopter blades. Then I saw the grenade. It was where the chopper had lifted off. It must be mine, I thought. Grenades had fallen off my web gear before. Shifting the M16 to my left hand and holding it behind me, I bent down to pick up the grenade. A blinding explosion threw me backwards.

Veterans Affairs

"In 1969, Cleland was asked to testify before the United States Senate Veterans Affairs Committee to describe the difficulties veterans were experiencing returning home from Vietnam. The next year, Cleland was elected to the Georgia State Senate, thus beginning a 33-year career in public service. As the youngest member of the Georgia Senate at the age of 28, he wrote the state law making public facilities in the state accessible to the elderly and the handicapped."


Political Career

Georgia State Senate, 1971-1975 [12]
In 1975, Cleland was hired to work for the U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Two years later, President Jimmy Carter appointed him to head the U.S. Veterans Administration. As the youngest ever VA Administrator and the first Vietnam veteran to head the agency, Cleland instituted the revolutionary 'Vets Center' program which, for the first time, offered psychological counseling to combat veterans to heal the emotional wounds of war. There are now more than 200 Vets Centers across the country offering support to combat and non-combat veterans and their families."


Consultant to Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs 1975
Professional Senate staff member 1975-1977
Administrator of United States Veterans Administration 1977-1981
"In 1982, Georgia voters elected him Secretary of State, the youngest in Georgia's history. In that position, Cleland fought for tougher campaign finance laws and cracked down on securities and telemarketing fraud. In 1995, he implemented the National Voter Registration Act ('motor voter') in Georgia, which added almost one million new voters to the rolls. In 1995, he resigned his position as Secretary of State to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Sam Nunn. Despite being out-spent three to one, Cleland won the race and was sworn-in to the United States Senate in 1997."


Secretary of State 1982-1996
United States Senate 1996; served January 7, 1997 to January 3, 2003
Unsuccessful candidate for reelection November 4, 2002 "

Most people's useful lives would be over after losing both legs & an arm in war. You seem to resent the fact that Cleland was able to recover from this & gain the strength to represent fellow Veterans in his situation. I would say that his experiences & hardship have highly-qualified him for a political career. Maybe you think he should have become a tap dancer, policeman, or professional baseball player?

What next? "he wounded himself on purpose to get medals & become a Senator 30 years later"

Cleland injuring himself is unfortunate, but not heroic...and cannot be compared to an injury from the enemy. He himself admits that only an idiot picks up a loose grenade. Regardless of what other democrats say...he claims all responsibility himself and admits publicly (or used to) that he was not even on a combat mission, but a routine one to install a relay and went back for some beer. Poor guy blew off three limbs and didn't even get a purple heart (like Kerry did from his self inflicted scratch). Cleland was one heck of a guy...too bad he has turned into a shill fror Kerry and the liberals.