Saving Lieutenant Rassmann

Instapundit links to this Robert Novak column.

I've heard that Kerry's rep for heroics is based on rescuing Jim Rassmann after he had fallen off the boat. Excuse me, but what did the Navy and his crew expect from him? To leave one of his "Band of Brothers" to drown or be captured? I've never been in a firefight, but I think I'd have a hard time seeing one of my friends fall off the boat, hanging on, exposed to enemy fire, and not go pull him back to safety. Is that all it takes to be a hero, to not abandon your fellow troops to save your own skin? It sounds like a pretty low threshold to me. I can see how Rassmann would have a vivid memory of the danger he was in, and be grateful for Kerry pulling him to safety, but I don't see how anybody on that boat could have watched that scene and not have gone to get him.