Brad Kennedy, now age 78, is a decorated, combat veteran of the Vietnam War. In August 1966, then age 21 and having volunteered to serve in Vietnam, Kennedy embarked on a 23-day troop-ship voyage across the Pacific, as part of the 11th US Armored Cavalry Regiment--dubbed the Blackhorse Regiment. The Blackhorse was based and operated mainly in the III Corps military zone of what was then South Vietnam.
During his 12-month tour of duty, Kennedy served as an artillery surveyor, a machine gunner, a track commander, and, for his last five months in-country as a Forward Observer (FO).
Whether from helicopters in flight over-looking a battleground below or from the thick of things on the ground itself where the line troops were under attack, Kennedy would first consider how best to weaken the attackers with minimal risk of misdirecting friendly artillery fire on the US line troops nearby.
On July 28, 1967, eight days shy of two full years from his induction, he was released from active duty upon his return by Pan Am Airlines to San Francisco .
In the early 1970s Kennedy worked for two years on one of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs -- the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) – during which time he obtained and administered numerous state SLEPA grants for Hudson County, NJ, as well as for 10 of its individual municipalities. He also co-authored the 1972 Criminal Justice Plan for Hudson County itself.
Burning the midnight oil for decades, Kennedy wrote Betrayal: Will Stone in Vietnam, a fictionalized version of several of his actual experiences in Vietnam. In August 2020, more than fifty years after he left Vietnam, Kennedy filed a VA compensation claim for service-related disabilities. He supported his claim by including with it a factual recounting of those same, previously fictionalized, actual Vietnam experiences, as verified by contemporary Army documents, including after-action reports and citations.
After thorough investigation of Kennedy’s VA claim application, including current medical examinations and his medical history, as well as a complete review of his military records, the VA determined that his combined disability ratings would well exceed the maximum 100% rating that the VA can pay on claims, so the VA’s final determination of Kennedy’s claim rating must be capped at the 100% disability rating permissible. To view a redacted copy of relevant portions of Kennedy’s VA claim application and the VA’s final rating decision.
Today, Kennedy holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Lafayette College in Easton, PA. Over the years since his safe return from Vietnam, Kennedy has guest lectured extensively to civic-minded audiences and to college and high school classes on the realities of the Vietnam War.
Starting with the March 2003 US invasion of Iraq and until the final US pullout many years, he was a Gannett Newspaper panelist analyzing and commenting on emerging developments in Afghanistan and in Iraq after the US invasion of Iraq. panelist for, a body which met since before the March 2003 invasion to its conclusion, to analyze and comment upon important developments in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Kennedy lives with Barbara, his wife of 53 years; she is a former Peace Corp volunteer who lived in a mud hut next to the one-room schoolhouse where she taught Grades K-12 in Sierra Leone, West Africa. They now live in New Jersey, where they raised their son and foster children.
When asked how long he will keep writing about War, Kennedy is quick to answer, “as long as the obituary writers do.
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