Swift boats low risk?
That's not what I heard while I was there, about the same time Kerry was on the Gridley. It was common knowledge that swift boat duty was very dangerous, and for volunteers only. When we cycled back to the Atlantic fleet in June of 68 all the QMs and BMs on Dewey were offered the chance to volunteer for command of a swift boat ( I guess a senior quartermaster or bosun mate could replace an officer ). A promotion to QM2 and a bonus of $3000 was part of the deal. That was a lot of $ in '68. We all turned it down.