Swift Boat Vet Betrayed Yet Again

This is the story of a military veteran whistleblower. He spoke out against someone he thought was dangerous for the nation, talked to local newspapers, and appeared on talk shows. In return, he was vilified by reporters, threatened by a political operative, fired by his company, and now he's broke.

His name is Steve Gardner. He's also known as "The 10th Brother," as in Band of Brothers. He's one of two members of Sen. John Kerry's 12 Vietnam swift boat crew members who refused to stand with Kerry at the Democratic Convention. The other man remained silent.

"They said I had a political agenda. I had no and have no political agenda whatsoever. I saw John Kerry on television saying he was running for the Democratic nomination for president, and I knew I couldn't ever see him as commander in chief -- not after what I saw in Vietnam, not after the lies I heard him tell about what he says he did and what he says others did."

The paragraphs above are from the beginning of a Chicago Sun-Times story on Steve Gardner, the only man from Kerry's Swift Boat days in Vietnam who served on his boat and spoke out against him. Mr. Gardner is now paying a steep price for his decision to stand against Kerry.

Although he currently doesn't have the funds to fight back against his firing, my guess is now that this story is out, there will be many who will rally to Mr. Gardner and provide him the funds to pursue a case against his former employer.

You have to admire Mr. Gardner and the other Swift Boat Vets who put their livelihoods on the line to challenge Kerry. That took some guts, and certainly they had a big impact. The Swift Boat story really took off in the dog days of August right at the time Kerry should have been basking in the glow of his convention. They took a lot of steam out of the campaign.