re: "Kerry chose to go where people were being shot and blown up"
Kerry didn't chose "to go where people were being shot and blown up".
He wanted to go to school in Paris- he didn't qualify. So then he decided to join navy. I have seen anything that indicate that he wanted to "go where people were being shot and blown up"- or even be anywhere near the Vietnam theater. Unlike GWB who apparently wanted to go to Vietnam- but didn't have enough flight hours to qualify [needed 500 hours].
Now, you could be saying that Kerry chose to follow orders, but his apparent strong determination to get 3 purple hearts, to get out of "where people were being shot and blown up" and what he actually wrote at the time, or what he wrote or said later, do not support your assertion.