I've seen a PDF preview of chapter three from the forthcoming Unfit For Command, and it seems pretty damning.

Now, for those who would instantly discount it as lies I humbly offer my friend's defense of Fahrenheit 9/11: "if it's not true why isn't he being sued?"

Libel laws aside, let it suffice to say that the chapter, "The Purple Hear Hunter," sets out the official Kerry line ...

John Kerry’s website presents his first Purple Heart incident in typical heroic fashion: “December 2, 1968—Kerry experiences first intense combat; receives first combat related injury.”

... then offers a number of variants and contradictions, many in Kerry's own words, before concluding that the story was hogwash. The most interesting bit to me was that while Kerry contends he was in command of a boat with two mates, on a special patrol, he was in fact on a training run with two mates and a superior officer. This superior has never been mentioned by Kerry, nor has his commander's reaction to events:

The truth is that at the time of this incident Kerry was an officer in command (OinC) under training, aboard the skimmer using the call sign “Robin” on the operation, with now-Rear Admiral William Schachte using the call sign “Batman,” who was also on the skimmer. After Kerry’s M-16 jammed, Kerry picked up an M-79 grenade launcher and fired a grenade too close, causing a tiny piece of shrapnel (one to two centimeters) to barely stick in his arm. Schachte berated Kerry for almost putting someone’s eye out.

According to the physician who treated Kerry the splnter was removed and the scratch covered with a bandaid. Kerry was refused the purple-heart request by his commanding officer, yet somehow obtained it three months later:

Most Swiftees who were with Kerry at Cam Ranh Bay never knew until Kerry decided to run for president that he had somehow successfully maneuvered his way to this undeserved Purple Heart.

But in Kerry’s own unit, Coastal Division 14, his attempt to gain the award through fraud marked him as someone who could never be trusted. When Kerry was dispatched to go to An Thoi with Lieutenant Tedd Peck (now Captain, USNR, retired), Peck told him, “Kerry, follow me no closer than a thousand yards. If you get any closer, I’ll teach you what a real Purple Heart is.”

More evidence of the vast right wing conspiracy?

One more thing ... I don't know if much has been made of this yet, but Kerry has his own conflicting story about Christmas 1968, one he recorded in his journal:

The story of Christmas 1968 has one final chapter. When refueling his PCF near Dong Tam, Kerry and his crew were told that the Bob Hope USO show was at the Dong Tam base. So Kerry decided to leave his station on the river and go searching for the Bob Hope Christmas show. Unable to find the show, he risked boat and crew by unknowingly blundering into one of the most dangerous canals in Vietnam, a canal that to those who knew the area was notorious for Viet Cong ambushes. Given the easy navigation by radar and map of the rivers involved—not much more difficult than driving a car—Kerry had just performed a feat of reverse navigation worthy of Wrong Way Corrigan.

There is, of course, no record that Kerry ever informed anyone of what he did, where he was, or where he was going—all required by regulations for the safety of the boat and crew. He did, however, record the Bob Hope adventure in his journal so he could be sure to share it in Tour of Duty.

Tour of Duty, of course, "is the definitive account of Kerry's journey from war to peace," not the John Dos Passos book of the same name, which I would venture to guess is eminently more worth your time.