Thank you for your service, then and now

With all of the post-election news and opinion today, I wondered if anyone had asked the Swiftvets for their reaction to Kerry's defeat.

If anyone has, I'm not aware of it. Or perhaps someone did ask and they declined preferring, instead, to issue a dignified statement through their site. Normally I'd just include an excerpt from something like this and then direct readers to the source for the remainder.

This time, though, something tells me that that link won't be valid for much longer, and I think it's important that this be preserved even if only on my little blog.

I suspect in the not too distant future, their mission accomplished, those who worked so hard and so long and endured so much will simply disappear again, back into the anonymity from which they came.

Statement by Admiral Roy Hoffmann, founder of Swift Vets and POWs for Truth
Wednesday, November 03 2004 @ 08:00 AM PST

We are pleased with the fact that we were able to effectively bring attention to our issues and raise questions regarding Senator Kerry’s character, leadership ability and qualifications as a potential Commander in Chief. As we have stated since we formed, we believed that John Kerry’s actions in Vietnam, coupled with the reprehensible statements he made after he returned were serious and consequently made him unfit for command. The primary purpose of our organization was to provide a voice for the courageous and honorable veterans of Vietnam, more than 280 Swift Boat Vets,
Coast Guardsmen and POWs who served their country with honor. Our national grassroots efforts produced donors in every state in the nation as we raised more than $26 million, with more than $7 million in online contributions. In addition, Swift Boat Veterans and former POW's visited dozens of states to take their message directly to the American people. We were the true embodiment of
grassroots citizen action, complied fully with federal election law and had every right to participate in the public discussion of John Kerry's qualifications as Commander in Chief.

-- Admiral Roy Hoffmann (ret.)