No need to take a screen shot of the title. :-)
According to Senator Kerry’s service record, he was transferred to the Standby Reserve immediately upon his exit from active duty and promoted to full Lieutenant. According the UCMJ’s specifications.
(3) Members of a reserve component while on inactive-duty training, but in the case of members of the Army National Guard of the United States or the Air National Guard of the United States only when in Federal Service.are still subject to this body of law.
Lt. John Kerry’s reserve service did not fall under this or any of the other categories, so, barring a relevant change in the UCMJ between 1971 and 2004, he was not subject to the UCMJ. He was merely a name on some navy reserve unit’s books; what those types of units refer to as a “ghost.”
Therefore, I retract the post below, but I won’t remove it. I won’t hide my mistakes.
As far as I can tell, Lt. Kerry never was an active reservist; that is, he did no weekend duty once each month nor did he serve the two weeks per year of active duty. (That requirement is only for active guard personnel and reservists. There’s a third group of guard and reserve personnel: those who are put on active duty, like those presently serving in Iraq. Confused yet?)
Standby Reserve appears to be the same as Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR; someone please correct me if this is an error). Unless it’s for training, a standby reservist cannot be ordered to active duty by a lower authority than the service Secretary—Navy, in this case—and the Secretary of Defense. (Like the IRR of today.)
There’s no illegality in the type of reserve service that John Kerry had. As a matter of fact, it’s quite common, even during war time. If they don’t need you (or want you) they won’t call you up.
(Thanks to reader A Proud Veteran for making me eat a little humble pie, but in a nice way. :-)
UPDATE: It's really embarrassing to display one's slipshod research skills in public. Looks like I may have been wrong about being wrong. Lt. Kerry wasn't transferred to the Standby Reserves until July 1972. (So sue me, it's the weekend.) In the two and a half year interval between his exit from active duty and his entrance into the Standby Reserves, he was regular Navy Reserve. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: According to this document, Lt. Kerry was release to "inactive duty in the U.S. Naval Reserves," so he was in the clear, militarily speaking.
(Thanks to Boloboffin)
