Kerry's non-honorable discharge

Based on documents posted on Kerry's own website, he did not receive an honorable discharge from the Navy.

If Kerry had originally received an honorable discharge from the Navy, why did his discharge have to be reviewed by a board of officers, almost 6 years after his departure, and subsequently changed to honorable? If it changed to honorable, what was it to begin with?

Why did Kerry's "ribbons and medals" have to be reinstated? If he had simply lost (as in misplaced) them he could have easily had them REPLACED. It is a simple process. Kerry had to file for REINSTATEMENT of his awards. An "Undesirable Discharge Under Other-Than-Honorable Circumstances" would result in revocation of all commendations, pay and benefits, and thus in order to get his medals back, Kerry would have had to file for REINSTATEMENT. A Dishonorable Discharge would have further resulted in a court martial and felony hearing, so it seems unlikely our "hero" could have hidden a court martial or felony conviction, but hey anything is possible.

Given these facts, it seems that Kerry received something other than an honorable discharge upon his initial release from the Navy. Of course we will never know, because Kerry refuses to sign Form 180 which would fully release ALL his records. Funny, he's never had much trouble with 180s before.

The complete article is here.