Military Credentials: No ‘Stolen Valor’

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24 Responses to Military Credentials: No ‘Stolen Valor’

Universal Soldier says:

May 18, 2012 at 12:23

“Excuse me mammal, your pants are on fire. You might want to do something about that…”

A fraud, is a fraud. A lie, is just that–and nothing more. The consequences are the only variable…

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Ex-Yahoo CEO Leaves Without Severance
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Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) said Monday that Scott Thompson, its recently deposed chief executive, is leaving without receiving severance pay, though he will keep what are known as make-whole cash and stock the company had given him to make up for compensation left behind at his former employer, eBay Inc. (EBAY).

Yahoo disclosed its parting agreement with Thompson in a regulatory filing, one day after he stepped aside following the Internet company’s discovery of evidence that contradicted his claims he wasn’t responsible for a glaring inaccuracy in his academic record.

Thompson will leave behind all outstanding but not-fully-vested stock awards, “with no severance compensation,” Yahoo said. However, he retains the right to a make-whole grant of restricted stock with a value of $6.5 million, which was previously disclosed.

Thompson, who took the top job at Yahoo in January, had been entitled to a total of $22.5 million in potential stock awards, a $1.5 million cash bonus and a $1 million annual salary.

Earlier this month, Hedge fund Third Point LLC, which had been waging a proxy battle for increased control of Yahoo, flagged an inaccurate detail in Thompson’s academic record. A Yahoo filing incorrectly stated Thompson had earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and computer science; in fact, he had earned only an accounting degree.

After an internal review, Yahoo said on Sunday that Thompson would be replaced by interim CEO Ross Levinsohn, an executive who has been with the company since 2010. Meanwhile, Third Point ended its proxy battle after its leader Dan Loeb and others won Yahoo board seats.

Thompson had been a highly touted president of eBay’s PayPal payments unit before joining Yahoo and making headway on an ambitious turnaround effort. Under his leadership, PayPal regularly outpaced eBay’s core online auction business in terms of growth.

At Yahoo, Thompson was overseeing efforts to tap new sources of revenue, such as taking more financial interest in online purchases made on the company’s websites and pursuing litigation over its large patent portfolio.

In Thompson’s employment agreement filed at the time of his hiring in January, Yahoo said if it terminated him without “cause,” he would be entitled to severance benefits. If they aren’t fired for cause, Yahoo executives are generally entitled to cash severance equal to a year’s salary and bonus, and stock options awarded prior to their departure, according to regulatory filings.

A Yahoo spokeswoman declined to comment.

Thompson’s predecessor, Carol Bartz, received $3 million in cash severance as a result of her firing last year. Bartz, who had been hired in Jan. 2009, was widely seen as having come up short in her own bid to reverse Yahoo’s decline, as it struggles to remain relevant among younger competitors such as Google Inc. (GOOG) and Facebook Inc.

Shares of Yahoo rose 2% during the regular session Monday, and were down slightly after hours at $15.45.

In addition to Thompson’s separation agreement, the Sunnyvale, Calif., company also disclosed that it’s ended its proxy fight with Third Point–which had been on track to get increasingly ugly leading up to Yahoo’s annual shareholder meeting this summer.

As part of that agreement, Yahoo says its board will appoint Loeb and his nominees Harry Wilson and Michael Wolf as directors. Those additions come as Chairman Roy Bostock and board members Patti Hart, Vyomesh Joshi, Arthur Kern and Gary Wilson all resign.

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Again, this webpage is not for “bragging right’s.” Simply for credibility, and ease of reference as to what I have indeed accomplished. The documents–considering the age and fonts can not be duplicated by any photo-editing software, other than to remove certain information for my own [identification] security but only to a point. No one wants to take my name–which would come with those that wish to do me tremendous harm–despite this late date. Some do hold ‘blood fueds’ for generation’s in many diverse cultures.

You will just have to ‘trust me’, about that…

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Karan says:

March 29, 2012 at 20:52

[..YouTube..] Monica . . .This is an excellent piece of work and relfects a great deal of research. I’m looking forward to part 2. Thank you for your diligence, hard work and talent.Roslyn Manley

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Universal Soldier says:

February 9, 2012 at 12:31

As if anyone thought this was ever going to stop:

Veterans Mentor Lied About Military Record

The director of counseling at a nonprofit for veterans in Houston confessed Wednesday to lying about his military record and falsely claiming a Silver Star and other medals.

Paul Schroeder, 40, portrayed himself as a decorated Special Forces sergeant first class who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in combat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and Central and South America.

In his job at the nonprofit PTSD Foundation of America, Schroeder mentored veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and led group therapy sessions at local churches and the Star of Hope Mission. He also lectured at least half a dozen times at the Houston Police Academy as part of a PTSD awareness program for officers and cadets.

“Veterans helping veterans is such a great tool because we have been there,” he said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle last year. “We do understand. We can speak the same language, and if we’ve confronted those demons and come out the other side, it gives them hope that they can do the same. And that’s really the key to defeating suicide and things of that nature is having hope that it will be better.”

No record of honors

But the Army has no record of Schroeder ever serving in Special Operations, deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan or anywhere else, and no record of him receiving the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman’s Badge or other decorations he claimed to have earned, said Mark Edwards, spokesman for U.S. Army Human Resources Command at Fort Knox, Ky.

After being questioned by the Houston Chronicle, Schroeder confessed to a reporter Wednesday that he had lied. He had in fact served 10 years as a military policeman stationed in New York, Panama and Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, and left the Army as a sergeant in February 2001, before the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan even started.

Schroeder apologized and said he was resigning from the PTSD Foundation immediately.

He said he does have PTSD that predates his military service and worsened when he was stationed with the Army in Central and South America. He doesn’t know why he misled people about his service record and medals.

“You can call it a desperate act of a desperate man just trying to get the help that he needed,” he said. “It was a coping skill just as much as my alcoholism was. … I’m trying to do the honorable thing now.”

The PTSD Foundation’s director of operations said the organization was shocked at Schroeder’s confession.

“What we do know of Paul is that he helped a number of veterans and their families in their times of crisis,” said David Maulsby. “He did resign today. Our prayers are with him for getting his life and health turned around.”

Initially, when asked why Army records don’t substantiate his war stories, Schroeder had said he was unable to show his discharge papers to the newspaper because the documents were top secret, but Edwards, the Army spokesman, said the information on such forms is not classified.

Schroeder now is under investigation by the FBI, said Jodi Silva, spokeswoman for the Houston Police Department.

The Stolen Valor Act makes it a federal misdemeanor offense to wear military medals that were not awarded, or to falsely claim to have been awarded such medals.

Stolen valor allegations

FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said the bureau does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations, “but I can tell you that the FBI takes allegations such as these very seriously, and we thoroughly investigate all allegations of stolen valor.”

As a representative of PTSD Foundation, Schroeder appears in an HPD training video about PTSD, identified as an Army Special Forces soldier who was awarded a Silver Star, Soldier’s Medal, three Bronze Stars with valor, two Purple Hearts, two awards of the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Master Combat Parachutist’s Badge and three Humanitarian Service Medals.

“We are concerned about the allegations, obviously, and about this individual, his relationship with the PTSD Foundation, and we’re going to await the outcome of the investigation before commenting further,” HPD’s Silva said in a statement. “However, we will continue to work diligently with individuals in our agency who as victims of PTSD are seeking assistance.”

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Universal Soldier says:

November 15, 2011 at 05:24

Another reason for this specific page;

From here:

Stolen Valor Exposed

I wanted to share this video about Stolen Valor. Nothing makes me angrier than seeing phony Vets taking advantage of good, trusting people and leveraging their fake stories for self promotion. Not to mention the dishonor they bring to all the great men and women in all branches of service past and present. It’s a good thing guys like Don Shipley (former SEAL Teammate) are exposing these scum bags. “I’m on you like a hobo on a ham sandwich you rotten SOB’s…”-says Don.

Don runs Extreme SEAL Experience in Virginia and is a great guy. He get’s dozens of requests about phony vets everyday and I’m sure you guys agree that this sort of behavior is just not excusable. Check out the “Stolen Valor parade” above. It’s a true highlight reel of disgust and you can tell Don’s pretty fired up during the introduction portion. Who wouldn’t be? Hit the like button if you agree.

It’s a shame the courts overturned the Stolen Valor Act. If there’s no consequences for this behavior it will keep running rampant. So for now I guess it’s up to all of us to police these people up. Below are the Red Flag indicators that we commonly see. Let’s keep exposing these people for who they really are. Kit Up is watching.

Brandon out.

Red Flags

•Bragging about the number of people they killed.
•Bragging about awards (Medal of Honor and Silver Stars galore)
•Will not disclose dates and class numbers and when pushed they use the famous “that’s classified” excuse.
•Dates, places and and events don’t match up. “I was in Ranger selection out in Coronado, CA back in 72″….”I was BUD/S class 305 in 1990′s”….
•Will not release their DD214 (official transcript of service but, can be easily faked)
•Will never get specific about anything, they don’t have the background for it. And if they do it usually marries up to a former Movie or TV show.

Go to P.O.W.Networks.org to verify information on a suspicious person

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Universal Soldier says:

November 1, 2011 at 17:53

How the mighty–that are nothing of the kind–fall.

‘Deadliest Warrior’ Host Quits Over Green Beret Claim

The host of the show “Deadliest Warrior” — a TV series that pits warriors of different eras against each other — has resigned over lying about his purported Green Beret background. Robert Daly, a former imagery specialist assigned to an intelligence unit at the Presidio in Monterey, Calif., claimed online in May to “having been in the Special Forces.” In an Oct. 11 mea culpa to ProfessionalSoldiers.com, a website run by a former Special Forces master sergeant, Daly said he served as an intelligence analyst for the 12th Special Forces Group from 1991 to 1994, but was not a Green Beret. “While I wore the [Green Beret] as part of my uniform, I utterly regret that I have misrepresented my role by creating the impression that I was a ‘Green Beret,’” Daly wrote. “I have nothing but the utmost respect for the Green Berets and my fellow servicemen, and I respectfully apologize to the Special Forces community.” In the same posting Daly said he was resigning as studio head of Pipeworks Software, which produces “Deadliest Warrior,” and would no longer host the program. Pipeworks did not respond to Military.com’s request for comment.

The new host for “Deadliest Warriors” will be Richard “Mack” Machowicz, a former Navy SEAL and current host of “Future Weapons,” according to an announcement on Spike TV’s website. Spike carries both shows as original programming. The same web page also continues to refer to Daly as a “former Green Beret.” “Robert Daly had no doubt to the validly of his ‘Green Beret’ claims, neither did Professionalsoldiers.com,” Hinton told Military.com. “There is no debate, no gray area. Being referred to as a ‘Green Beret’ is analogous to being pregnant. You either are or you are not.” Daly is not the first veteran who served in a Special Forces unit to later promote himself as a Green Beret. In Philadelphia, city council candidate David Oh claimed in campaign literature to having been a Green Beret. Oh ended up making an online apology to the Special Forces community via the website Socnet.com. Hinton has become the bane of phony Green Berets and Navy SEALs, exposing numerous fakes by getting their publicly available records through Freedom of Information Act requests and using his own network in the Special Forces. In August Hinton testified before a Maryland judge prior to the sentencing of William G. “Bill” Hillar, who for years passed himself off as a former Special Forces colonel and expert in international sex trafficking. Hillar taught classes on the subjects at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and conducted paid lectures to law enforcement groups and agencies. Among his victims was the FBI. Hillar was sentenced to 21 months in jail for wire fraud after admitting that an email he sent to the University of Oregon to apply for work included fraudulent information about his military background and experience. “All I do is expose them,” Hinton said. “Ninety-nine percent of the time someone else ‘finds’ them and then asks that poser questions.” Once a skeptic asks “Is this guy for real?” he said, “That’s the last words for a poseur.”

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Universal Soldier says:

October 4, 2011 at 20:13

Still unconvinced?

Man Accused of Impersonating Marine Refuses Plea Deal

A Santa Rosa man charged with impersonating a Marine Corps combat veteran and defrauding his wife’s 97-year-old grandfather rejected a plea bargain Friday and appears headed to trial. Paul Alexander Tart, 29, was promised a five-year county jail sentence for his plea to a single count of elder financial abuse with an enhancement for taking more than $65,000, prosecutors said. But he would not accept the deal, said his lawyer, Amy Chapman. Removing his glasses, Tart stood before Judge Ken Gnoss and pleaded not guilty to five felonies including forgery and a misdemeanor of falsely representing himself as a military veteran with the intent to defraud. If convicted, he faces six years in state prison. His next hearing is Monday before Judge Arthur Wick.

Tart has been in custody since his arrest last week following an investigation into the theft of about $100,000 from his wife’s grandfather, Leonard Key of Santa Rosa.

Tart bonded with Key over what he portrayed as their shared military experience, forging checks and draining his bank account, investigators said. Several of his ex-wives and Sonoma County authorities said last week he often wore Marine Corps T-shirts, had USMC tattooed on his leg and owned a full uniform complete with a Purple Heart. Most recently he told family he was a sniper in Afghanistan. He also dressed in Sonoma County sheriff’s garb and posed as a member of law enforcement, investigators said.

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Mike Davis says:

September 23, 2011 at 11:03

I do not understand your requirements for participation or registration or subscription to this site. Can you clarify that?

I am a veteran, an author, and I want to share ideas with well informed former officers and NCOs. I am not an apprentice at war and I prefer anonymity (for economic reasons in the short term).

As a former officer I am critical of the US military (in the areas of : treatment of enlisted men, combat intelligence and reconnaissance, antitank warfare, “the transformations”, Clintonista generals, doctrine, training, employment of machine guns, use of land mines, maneuver versus attrition, Soviet versus Wehrmacht lessons, combat effectiveness and others) and there are a number of substantial reasons for my criticism.
I am willing to support my “claims” with references from the Command and General Staff School and other DOD research. I do not need such evidence because anyone who is, or has been, involved in a US ground forces combat arm, knows that I am speaking ground truth.

However, I am willing to trade evidence for evidence. If someone says that I am wrong, then lets compare his contention to mine.

I get pissed if I am treated unfairly because my facts, (which I promote in the belief that by airing such facts, the US military can be improved), are unsavory to some veterans.

The first concept that I want to discuss is the failure of the over watch tactic.

If what I want to say is not acceptable to your forum, inform me openly. I am used to attempted suppression of free speech.

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- Universal Soldier says:
  
  September 24, 2011 at 08:20
  
  I don’t do any such mammal-like critique here sir. Intellectual Honesty is the sole key to this blog site. I write for reasons in the tradition of Samurai, and other archetype’s that expressed themselves writing tomes, rather than doing something dishonorable or rash. Easily verifiable [fact-based] analysis is more than welcome here. There is no registration. By your commentary appearing, you have obviously figured how to get past my sole [known] requirement: If you have something to say, back it up, and stand by it, but have an open mind to information you may not be privy to, despite what you learned in a school based on history and the “theory” of an era in the timeline.
  
  And as far as the “Overwatch doctrine”, and from a T.O.W. crewmembers’/(multi-doctrine) Infantry perspective, I am alive because of it, and the swift adaptation to certain “changes in the environment” I was operating in. I don’t find anything you have said “unsavory”, only intellectually stimulating. Having my unique DNA-mixture, has been a Blessing and a curse, since within my demographic, educated conservative Black males that are Pro-America, are often shunned or persecuted. So anyone willing to engage in historical military science, strategm, and/or tactic’s, is a welcome sight. I think of myself as “an Apprentice” of sorts, out of Faith-based humility and since I’m aware and witness to current event’s since 1970, intently, there are places where I could cofirm my own concern’s, but my personal security, and what I would “have to do” to protect myself, are of great concern to me as a Christian. So I simply don’t have access to certain information, and no one does in certain region’s.
  
  Also because I am not able to ‘create’ certain tools of combat, i.e., a Katana of exceptional strength, a Halberd, or Claymore (the Sword, not the mine), nor custom (I mean molds for barrel’s or the rifling within them, to firing pins) objects that could fire projectiles, yet many other “tools” I have little problem creating, since it is only a matter of gathering material’s, though I really have no need for anything externally, as my unarmed/multi-threat skill has been tested in formal and informal competition’s and, albeit, involuntarily most of the time, against men, and women, that have gone down the path of the mercenary, that were threats to Principles/Clients I was charged to protect at all cost. I won’t lie and say I haven’t suffered severe injury, but the other’s–we’ll just say–they are unavailable for comment, and their geolocation is ‘unknown’…
  
  I sincerely welcome you to my small, and little known corner on the “Arpnet”, as I prefer to call it from what its primary name was. Maybe youcan help me make many understand the peril’s and the pleasures on technology as well. But I have responded and look forward to your commentary regarding certain tactic’s…
  
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- Universal Soldier says:
  
  September 24, 2011 at 15:26
  
  If you mean to “blog or write” an article here. That will not happen. I have issue with the current military, and its support systems, that do little of the kind, as a whole. Here, I do the writing, the sincere and humble, as I chose to be, arrive, read at whenever time they get around to wanting to read an “information intense” blog entry, beyond a paragraph in most cases, comment or move on. It is just that simple. I have been a bodyguard to the homeless, abused, the hopelessly addicted and helped them stay safe as they sobered up, as well as those of mean’s, including author’s, merchant’s, courier’s, politician’s, actors, scientist’s, model’s and all of the entourages, and supported via “The Over-watch Doctrine”, their own retinues, of all of those mentioned and beyond. If you care to debate a point, verbal precision is what I expect from someone as you. I don’t have such a standard for other’s that may not even know what LP/OP means or why the “Australian Slack-Line Rappel”, is a better air assault system [from] in my own experience since both hand’s can be used, rather than the “Speed Rope”. Some I’m teaching what ‘our’ “Phonetic Alphabet” is to begin with, so they can find their comments, and see how I protect their identity here, though off all search engines, cached files from my first blog entries linger on as the ‘electronic dust’ that they are. If you wish to rock–”let’s party…”
  
  Patience, humility, urgency, are best here, I have learned. Arrogance, overt condescension, and speaking in terms that civilians’ have no comprehension of don’t serve the stated purpose of this blog. And though my own military skill and experience is vast and varied, I have been “taught” that I too can’t write, and from the personal comment’s I have been Honored and humbled to receive, enough that my Black face has blushed, I have a degree of writing skill, though for myself it is an exercise of “martial art”, while I “wait behind glass”. I found, here, that, ‘I [CAN] FEEL’, though that unto itself is indeed–a work still in progress…
  
  Reply
Universal Soldier says:

August 31, 2011 at 17:49

One more reason, unfortunately, that this page had to be presented, again for only two primary reason’s–”Truth” and “Credibility.”

Phony Green Beret Gets 21 Months in Jail

William “Bill” Hillar, convicted of wire fraud in connection with making schools and the FBI believe he was a retired Green Beret and expert on human trafficking, was hit with a 21-month jail sentence today in Maryland.

Hillar was arrested at his home in January after his scam was exposed by veterans through the website ProfessionalSoldiers.com.

Retired Special Force Master Sgt. Jeff “JD” Hinton, who operates the website, said Hillar “deserved more [than 21 months] in my opinion.”

Hinton testified in court during the sentencing hearing.

“I hope this sentencing sends a clear message to those fakes and frauds that would use our reputation to con innocent people,” Hinton told Military.com. “Frauds beware. We are watching.”

Hillar was working as an associate professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California earlier this year when veterans there became suspicious of his story. Hillar’s claims included chasing down human sex slave traffickers in Asia in a futile attempt to rescue his daughter.

His reputation as an expert in international crime also got him teaching gigs at other schools, including lectures to state police, sheriff’s associations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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Universal Soldier says:

August 30, 2011 at 16:17

Did Kerry’s Swift Boat Hatchet Man Fake His Own Silver Star?

Last August, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus revoked a Silver Star medal formerly held by retired Navy Captain Wade R. Sanders. In a short, vague memorandum to the Chief of Naval Personnel, Mabus cited “subsequently determined facts and evidence surrounding both the incident for which the award was made and the processing of the award itself” as the reason. Such an action by the Navy is virtually without precedent.

There was no press release and no announcement. Eleven months later, a bare-bones report was finally published by the Navy Times. American Thinker picked up the story from WinterSoldier.com, and after Matt Drudge followed suit, it propagated rapidly.

Kerry’s most virulent supporter

Wade Sanders’ name will be familiar to those who recall the political battles between John Kerry and the veterans who opposed him in 2004. A key member of Kerry’s “Band of Brothers,” Sanders helped introduce his long-time friend at the Democratic National Convention. The two men had trained together at Naval Base Coronado nearly 40 years earlier, before deploying to Vietnam to serve as Navy Swift boat officers. Like Kerry, Sanders found time to do extensive filming in Vietnam, accumulating footage later used in Kerry’s campaign film “Going Upriver.” Among Kerry’s handful of highly-publicized veteran supporters, Sanders was probably the most visible — and the most virulent.

Most of Sanders’ efforts targeted the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group formed by Navy veterans who had known Kerry in Vietnam and doubted his fitness to serve as Commander-in-Chief. While the group was being organized, Sanders was already calling and firing off messages to hundreds of former sailors, pressuring them not to sign up.

In one email, Sanders slandered the anti-Kerry veterans as “bitter drunks.” In another, he ridiculed disabled veteran Joe Ponder as a “whining baby.” Ponder had become emotional at the initial Swift Vet press conference as he recalled his wife and daughters asking if he had participated in the “atrocities” described in Kerry’s campaign biography.

During the months that followed, Sanders relentlessly denounced Kerry’s opponents as liars and Bush shills, while reviling Swift Vet spokesman John O’Neill as a student of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. [My co-author and I would later receive the Goebbels treatment as well, when Sanders reviewed our book on the 2004 election.]

Sanders’ fellow Navy veterans weren’t the only targets of his venom. He repeatedly called President Bush and others “chicken hawks” — a vicious term used to smear non-military supporters of a war by associating them with child molesters. He also offered the bizarre suggestion that if Kerry lost, it would mean the end of democracy in America.

After the election, Sanders continued his attacks. He threatened to sue the non-partisan Swift Boat Sailors Association because several of its leaders had joined the Swift Vets. In 2007, he called the latter group a “distasteful smear machine,” adding, “Those of us who are real swift boaters know something about judgment and responsibility for our decisions.” He also boasted to the Boston Herald, “Yes, I am a member of Kerry’s ready reserve of Swift Boat vets and unlike those who served with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and their ilk, I serve with honor, integrity and exercise sound judgment.”

Honor, integrity and sound judgment

In 2009, Wade Sanders was convicted on felony charges of possessing child pornography and sentenced to 37 months in prison, considerably less than the 63-month term Federal prosecutors had requested. Sanders’ military record and a letter of support from John Kerry may have been factors in the reduced sentence. A San Diego news editor also wrote a letter, but later told the court that the copy Sanders submitted had been modified.

Even before the trial ended, the Navy was looking into Sanders’ much ballyhooed Silver Star, which first surfaced in the early 1990′s, more than 20 years after he left Vietnam.

An interest in retroactive medals

Sanders was a regular columnist at Military.com for several years, though his articles have now been erased. In “Medals Not Awarded” (2004) he urged former Navy officers to revisit the actions of sailors who served under them and recommend new awards.

“So, I did a bit of research and discovered that there is no statute of limitations on awards. I found the office in the Pentagon that deals with awards, and I got the guidance I needed. The process is simple. An officer in charge of a unit is fully authorized to recommend any member of his “command” for a military decoration.”

Retired Navy Captain George Elliott caused a stir in 2004 when the Swift Vets released his affidavit saying that he no longer believed the Silver Star he had authorized for John Kerry was justified. Elliott recalls being lobbied by Sanders in 2003 at a Swift boat reunion in Norfolk to “review my files to see if some deserving awards had been missed.”

In another Military.com article, “Attacks on John Kerry Discredited” (2006), Sanders defended Kerry’s reissued Navy awards in terms that, in retrospect, appear revealing:

“I, myself, made such a request for duplicates when my citations were stolen several years after my Vietnam service, and received replacement documents bearing the signature of then Secretary of the Navy Lawrence Garrett [May 15, 1989 to June 26, 1992], who was not the signatory on my original citations.”

Sanders justified the three citations for Kerry’s Silver Star, which vary significantly in content, by comparing them to his own “duplicate” awards. He wrote, “In the case of my Garrett issued citations, I would not be surprised if they contained words and phrases not in the originals. Does that affect the underlying facts: the basis for the original award? Of course not.” Sanders added that his awards, like Kerry’s, “were also signed by autopen.”

“…the incident for which the award was made”

A copy of Sanders’ Silver Star citation provided by the Navy in response to a Freedom of Information request has no date of authorization, nor does it include the signature of Sanders’ commander. The citation indicates that Sanders decided on his own to “probe the enemy presence” in a hot zone. However, young officers in charge of 6-man river patrol boats did not have that degree of autonomy. The citation’s account of a heroic solo mission raised another red flag: Swift boats virtually always operated in groups.

On March 16, 1969, Wade Sanders was a junior-grade Navy lieutenant serving under Captain Roy Hoffmann, the senior commander for all Swift boat operations in Vietnam. In 2004, after retiring as a Rear Admiral, Hoffmann took the lead in forming the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. When questions arose about Sanders’ Silver Star in 2009, the NCIS contacted Hoffmann, who agreed to review his records and provide a deposition.

Privately, Hoffmann had entertained doubts about the award for several years, since he first noticed a Silver Star on Sanders’ jacket at Admiral Elmo Zumwalt’s funeral in 2000. Hoffmann had no idea where the award had come from. He was certain that he would have known about any engagement that qualified for such a high-level decoration.

During the investigation that followed, the Navy was unable to substantiate the mission that Sanders’ citation described — there was no after-action report, no medical report, no official record of any kind. Hoffmann also discovered that the Swift boat Sanders claimed to have used was not available on the date of the purported engagement, having been temporarily assigned to a nearby Inshore Undersea Warfare Group (IUWG).

“…and the processing of the award itself”

The revocation of Sanders’ Silver Star is an extremely rare event. Doug Sterner, curator of military awards for MilitaryTimes.com, told the Navy Times that he was not aware of any similar action by the Navy in more than 90 years. A number of well-connected Navy officers have collected dubious awards during that period, including Lyndon Johnson, who finagled a Silver Star during WWII for riding on an airplane as an observer.

In his revocation memorandum to the Chief of Naval Personnel, Secretary Mabus wrote that the Silver Star was “previously awarded to Wade R. Sanders… on 24 February 1992 by Secretary of the Navy H. Lawrence Garrett III.” Mabus noted that if the evidence “surrounding both the incident for which the award was made and the processing of the award itself” had been known at the time, Sanders would not have received the medal.

The memo had an attachment titled “Award revocation recommendation package,” no doubt a summary of the NCIS investigation. That information has not been made public.

Navy sources told reporters that Sanders was responsible for what they referred to as “administrative errors” in the creation of the award, and said that he “may have lied.”

Other veterans familiar with the case question whether the Navy awarded a Silver Star to Sanders in the first place. They believe he fabricated the documentation while he was a high-ranking Pentagon official, in a position that would have offered ready access to his own personnel file. Sanders was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Reserves by President Clinton on July 22, 1993, and remained in the job until 1998.

Stolen Valor author B.G. Burkett, an expert on fraudulent military awards, considers such an event to be well within the realm of possibility. He notes that it is far more difficult to validate Navy awards than those issued by the other services. The Army, for example, numbers each general order sequentially and maintains a copy at the unit level, making it much easier to identify discrepancies. Attempts to research problematic Navy awards are also hindered by a longstanding institutional reluctance to publicly disgrace an officer.

The Navy’s decision to suppress the NCIS investigation report is unfortunate. Have other well-connected officials also manipulated a flawed system to enhance their credentials? Wade Sanders held a significant office under the Secretary of the Navy and later played an important role in a Presidential campaign. The public deserves to know what the Navy found out about his Silver Star to take the extraordinary step of revoking it.

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Universal Soldier says:

August 24, 2011 at 14:10

Another Politico Flagged as SF Phony

A Philadelphia city council candidate has apologized after a watchdog group outed him as a phony Army Special Forces officer.

Republican candidate David Oh claimed he was a Green Beret officer in 1988 before returning to Philly in the early 1990s and becoming a successful attorney. He leveraged his Army resume in politics, working for then-Mayor Ed Rendell and later Gov. Tom Ridge during a trade mission to South Korea.

But an online watchdog group that investigates claims of Special Forces qualifications uncovered evidence that Oh was never a tab-wearing Green Beret.

According to former SF Master Sgt. Jeff “JD” Hinton, Oh was authorized to wear a Green Beret while his unit supported the Special Forces, but that hardly makes him a Green Beret.

“During that time [Oh was in], everyone in the unit wore the Green Beret,” Hinton said. “It was organizational headgear. That included cooks, truck drivers, lawyers, supply guys. … That, however, did not make them SF cooks, SF truck drivers, SF lawyers, SF supply guys, or SF officers.”

Oh is “parsing words for political gain,” said Hinton, who runs the Web site ProfessionalSoldiers.com.

Oh’s campaign office did not return Military.com’s calls, but the candidate has been posting apologies on his campaign Facebook page to Hinton and other SF veterans, and on SOCNET, another special operations-oriented website that challenged his claims.

In many of his postings, he maintains that while he wore the Green Beret, he never wore the tab that only SF-qualified Soldiers may wear.

In his posting to SOCNET, Oh said he was sorry for his offenses.

“I did not appreciate the lines I was crossing. In retrospect, I thank you for your patience in not pounding me sooner or more severely,” he wrote. “I am NOT a Green Beret (SF Tab). I apologize for any actions or statements that may have misled people. I did not respect that matter enough despite my utmost esteem for you gentlemen. And, yes, my ‘thin’ connection with you has been an honor and a life’s experience I greatly value.”

Retired Army Brig. Gen. Bruce B. Bingham said Oh “is seriously out of order.”

“Just because this guy served briefly as a non-qualified [detachment] commander does not give him the right to wear the beret after leaving that unit or after leaving the service when wearing his uniform, like at Veterans Day events,” said Bingham, who previously commanded the Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, N.C., one of four major commands comprising the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

Even qualified Special Forces Soldiers, if reassigned to another unit, may wear the Green Beret only under certain circumstances and with the permission of his local commander, according to Bingham.

Oh is the second candidate for public office this month to be called out over claims he served in the military as a Green Beret.

In Florida, a retired Army Reserve colonel and U.S. Senate candidate pulled from his campaign website a claim that he served with Army Special Forces, including in “black ops” programs. Mike McCalister removed the claim after a group called “Stolen Valor” looked into his record and contacted his campaign and the media.

McCalister also had to retract claims that he testified before Congress on national security matters.

“If there was any misrepresentation, I accept responsibility,” he said Aug. 20.

“Fooling individuals is relativity easy as very few people are too intimidated or would be too embarrassed to question a ‘Green Beret’ concerning his claims or credentials, especially in today’s climate,” Hinton said. “We have found that this sort of behavior continues until the individual is confronted by another, real, Special Forces Soldier.”

This is what happened when an author and lecturer who long posed as a former Green Beret and expert on human trafficking encountered Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans taking his course at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California earlier this year.

William “Bill” Hillar’s claims of having been a Special Forces colonel who later unsuccessfully tried to rescue a daughter who had been kidnapped by sex slave traffickers in Asia didn’t ring true for the veterans in his class, and some of them began asking questions.

Hinton began exposing the truth about Hillar on his website. Hillar was arrested at his Maryland home in January and pleaded guilty in March to wire fraud. Among his victims were law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, which paid him to lecture on international crime and human trafficking.

He is scheduled to be sentenced next week, and Hinton has been subpoenaed to testify at the hearing.

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Universal Soldier says:

August 24, 2011 at 00:33

Vets Raise Questions About Candidate’s Military Record

For a U.S. Senate candidate campaigning against truth-stretching politicians, Republican Mike McCalister is facing questions about whether he padded his resume and misrepresented his military service.

The retired U.S. Army Reserve colonel has fashioned himself on the campaign trail as an “in the trenches” candidate who participated in “black ops” and even testified before Congress on national security.

But McCalister now admits he never spoke before Congress. He denies ever saying “I testified.” However, he did say the phrase on at least two occasions at campaign events, according to witnesses and videos posted on YouTube.com that stretch back to his 2010 unsuccessful bid for governor.

“If there was any misrepresentation, I accept responsibility,” McCalister, a 59-year-old from Plant City, said Saturday in his first public statements about the issue.

Also, McCalister’s website used to describe him as “retired Special Operations Colonel.” It was changed after retired military officers with a group called “Stolen Valor” began contacting the campaign and the press with complaints about the way McCalister represented his service.

After McCalister failed to respond to repeated questions from Stolen Valor, its main spokesman Chuck Winn forwarded these questions to reporters and made Facebook posts suggesting McCalister was needlessly puffing up his resume. McCalister refused to talk to a reporter about it Wednesday, claiming he had bad cell service.

McCalister’s campaign then issued a lengthy press releases detailing his service record, his awards and glowing reviews from senior officers that note his role working at U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa after 9/11.

But the press release wasn’t enough for Stolen Valor. Winn said that, when all of McCalister’s speeches and written statements are put together, it gives a misleading impression of a combat-hardened officer. Winn, a Vietnam vet and retired U.S. Army colonel, said McCalister’s service is “commendable,” but his record shows he hasn’t served in a combat zone.

“There’s no question he’s a heavy-duty, high-speed intellectual who has done very important high-level staff work that were vital contributions to the success of deployed Special Operations units. That’s not the issue,” said Winn. “The issue is that he has been misleadingly vague, suggested he’s in the Special Forces when he wasn’t and was involved in hands-on ‘black operations.’ ”

McCalister’s campaign accused Winn and Stolen Valor of being a “front group” for fellow Republican Senate candidate Adam Hasner. Both Hasner and Winn deny the charges; McCalister has furnished no evidence to show there’s a link between the two. A third candidate, George LeMieux, criticized Stolen Valor and supported McCalister.

Retired Naval officer Royce White, a Republican who writes under the pseudonym “Bloggy Bayou,” first took note of McCalister’s speech. In two blogs he posted in March, White said McCalister’s speech could leave people with the impression that he fought in Afghanistan and Iraq when he didn’t.

“What I got was a man bragging about what he had done in the military and what he knows that we don’t,” White wrote. “He did not ONCE say that he was a reservist and he left the opinion that he had been serving on the front lines [instead of] being a glorified paper pusher.”

White then backed Hasner with a $100 donation.

McCalister’s stump speech seems to be working. He’s at the front of a crowded pack of Republicans, according to polls that nevertheless show half of voters haven’t picked a candidate. With a strong speaking style, he can capture the attention of a room full of Republicans.

In one typical speech available on YouTube, McCalister stressed his active duty when he addressed the Volusia 9.12 Project on Jan. 28. “I did it all: private E1 active duty; I was an active-duty colonel. In the guards, reserves, active duty. My best works are no doubt when I had that uniform on,” he said.

In the speech, McCalister also noted he’s a “war college graduate.” Though some have thought the Army reservist attended the Army War College, he actually completed a distance-learning degree with the Air Force’s war college. McCalister said he needed “top secret clearance” to attend, but an Air College spokesman said that wasn’t the case for the distance-learning program.

McCalister also mentions he attended The Command and General Staff College as part of his military record and took a leadership program at Harvard University. He seldom mentions the names of the civilian schools where he received undergraduate degrees and a Ph.D., Southeast Missouri State University and The Union Institute, a distance learning center, respectively.

McCalister teaches graduate courses at two other distance-learning colleges, Everglades University and the University of Phoenix. They paid him about $53,000 and $3,600, respectively, according to his most recent financial disclosures filed last year. McCalister earned another $53,000 working for Ventiv Pharma, a prescription-drug company, which he doesn’t mention by name, either.

“I’ve worked in healthcare for many years,” he said on the campaign trail. “I’ve worked with every teaching hospital in Florida and every medical school.”

In his standard stump speech, McCalister also says he’s a small businessman because he owns a palm-tree farm. His campaign, though, acknowledges he hasn’t sold any trees from his farm, which is at his home and provides him a roughly $940 yearly agricultural property-tax break, according to the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser.

As pressure has mounted from vets, McCalister has emphasized his tree farm business more and toned down mention of “black ops” and his military service, judging by his strong performance at a Saturday candidate forum hosted by the Florida Family Policy Council.

McCalister, a political newcomer who has never held office, stood out for his direct style. It’s a trademark of his campaign, which has the slogan “tired of fake politicians stretching the truth?” The campaign has also described him as a “hard-charging, conservative colonel.”

When asked about the Stolen Valor allegations and his repeated statements that he “testified before Congress” on national security issues, McCalister wasn’t so plain-spoken.

“I did not say ‘testify before Congress,’ ” McCalister said, a direct contradiction of his recorded statements from two other events. His campaign website also suggested he gave “expert” testimony before lawmakers.

“We’re releasing the military documents that identify what my job duties and my performances were,” he said. “So I’m going to leave it at that.”

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Universal Soldier says:

August 24, 2011 at 00:30

Fake Soldier Pleads Guilty to Impersonation

A 20-year-old woman from Cass Lake, Minn., who claimed to have just returned from being wounded in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army but actually was in school in Cloquet, Minn., pleaded guilty on Monday to impersonating an officer.

Wearing combat fatigues, Elizabeth McKenzie had been feted in February in a special ceremony in Cass Lake in which the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Honor Guard gave her a blanket and eagle feather to honor her as a female warrior, even though she isn’t a tribal member. The gathering included a tribal drum ceremony and a reception line.

Accepting the town’s gratitude, the 2009 graduate of Cass Lake High School talked about the close calls she’d had and a war injury that brought her home. She led the march in the high school gym, carrying the American flag.

Police became suspicious after a college recruiter heard of her story and told police McKenzie had been attending classes in Cloquet during the period she claimed to have been deployed. In fact, McKenzie had never been injured, had never been to Afghanistan and had never even been in the Army.

McKenzie was scheduled to go on trial this week in Cass County before she entered her plea. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 21. She could not be reached for comment.

McKenzie said in an earlier interview that she wore the uniform of a relative during the ceremony to honor his service. She said at the time that she still hoped to join the military some day.

When it was revealed that McKenzie was an imposter, the little town felt duped.

“Overall, there was a lot of disappointment,” said Pike Bay Township Police Chief Zeb Hemsworth, who charged McKenzie with impersonating an officer, a misdemeanor. “But basically, you can’t blame anybody in the community for trusting somebody. The bottom line is that she lied and the community as a whole didn’t question it — and shouldn’t have to question it.”

Before a departure ceremony last year that was held at the town’s American Legion hall, she posed in an Army battle dress uniform and told supporters she would be serving overseas with the Army’s 302nd Battalion, 16th Regiment Military Police, an apparently fictional unit.

She said she’d done her basic training at Fort Leonard Wood and had 11 weeks of advanced training. She said she’d helped with flooding cleanup in Fargo, N.D., and after a tornado hit Wadena, Minn.

Hemsworth said on Monday that he was there for the welcome home ceremony and remembers feeling skeptical about her credentials. “There was a little something in the back of my head, but I didn’t want to listen to it,” he said.

During the homecoming ceremony, some veterans had also noticed that details of her uniform looked askew, though they’d kept their thoughts to themselves. The chevrons signifying her rank were different on her cap from her blouse, and neither was for the rank of private first class, which she claimed to hold.

Confronted by police about her military papers, she could not produce them. Hemsworth said there was no evidence that McKenzie used the scam to benefit herself, which could have elevated the charges against her. “It looks like she was just interested in some attention,” he said.

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"Papa-Juliet" says:

August 17, 2011 at 00:18

“I have never served in the military so this is something [I] would not understand…
[I] can’t even say [I] can imagine…
[F]or [I] have never walked in those shoes…”

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Universal Soldier says:

June 24, 2011 at 21:49

One more reason for this page to be part of this blog site:

Man Accused of Posing as Air Force General

A Tucson man is being jailed until his July arraignment on suspicion he posed as a two-star general to get onto Southern Arizona’s largest military installation.

Jeffery Lee Bennett, 46, is accused of donning a U.S. Air Force uniform with the rank of major general and entering the Fort Huachuca Army post in Sierra Vista on two occasions in March and April.

He’s also accused of possessing a fake military identification card and of knowingly putting a phony Department of Defense vehicle sticker on the silver Volkswagen used to drive past the fort’s guard gates.

While dressed as a general, the suspect went shopping at the fort’s commissary and post exchange and bought $62 worth of groceries and tax-free items, federal court records say.

A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson claims Bennett told two FBI agents “that he falsely claimed to be a major general” and had “obtained rank, uniform and medals that he used to portray himself” as such.

A federal grand jury in Tucson on Wednesday returned a seven-count indictment against Bennett, said a news release Thursday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix.

The seven counts are all felony offenses. The most serious charge, entry by false pretenses to real property of the United States with the intent to commit a felony, carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.

Bennett is being held in custody until his July 8 arraignment. He was deemed to be a flight risk with no ties to the community, court records show.

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And the beat goes on…

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Universal Soldier says:

June 23, 2011 at 09:29

As if I needed another reason or justification:

Man Charged With Being Fake Army Ranger, Larceny

A Greenwich man picked to speak at a Memorial Day event in town about his four tours of duty in Afghanistan turned out to be a fraud, police said.

Jesus M. Garcia, 20, wore a military uniform in public. He claimed he had been wounded while in the Middle East. And he asked friends, family and the public for money to help pay for medical services and other costs.

But Garcia was never actually in the U.S. Army as he had claimed, police said.

Garcia didn’t get a chance to speak at the Memorial Day event, and now, he finds himself in a lot of legal trouble.

On Thursday, Greenwich police arrested Garcia, on a warrant for larceny charges and for impersonating a member of the military, according to police spokesman Lt. Kraig Gray.

After an investigation by Greenwich police, military officials confirmed that Garcia had never been in the Army, Gray said in a news release.

Despite the fact he never served, Garcia, who also lists a residence in Hopewell Junction, N.Y., portrayed himself as a former Army Ranger who had been wounded in combat.

Garcia’s deceit started to unravel when he met with Greenwich Police Captain James Heavey on May 27, before Garcia was set to speak at the Memorial Day ceremony.

Heavey said that during conversations with Garcia it became apparent that he was a fraud, police said.

An officer began an investigation and Garcia provided a false name and date of birth to him. Garcia was arrested that day and charged with interfering with an officer.

As the investigation into Garcia continued, police said they learned that there were two financial victims of his fraud. They also learned of other incidents where Garcia had publicly posed in uniform as a Soldier, including on his Facebook page.

Police said they discovered that Garcia split his time living between his two homes and was able to explain his extended absences from his Greenwich residence while he was in Hopewell Junction as military-related and vice versa.

Garcia, who lives in an apartment on Armstrong Court while in Greenwich, was charged with felony fifth-degree larceny, sixth-degree larceny, four counts of fraudulent use of military insignia and false representation of an armed forces uniform.

Garcia was released after posting $2,500 bond and is set to appear in Superior Court in Stamford on June 24.

****************************************************************
Getting the picture yet?

Reply
- Andrea says:
  
  March 29, 2012 at 17:05
  
  County Republicans land guest speakers for this week’s Lincoln Day edinnr: Tim Griffin, who announced last weekend that he won’t run for Senate, and Sen. Kim Hendren, who seriously needs to end his run for Senate. (Harrison Daily
  
  Reply
Universal Soldier says:

May 24, 2011 at 21:31

In case there was still a doubt as to my motivation for this page:

Security Expert’s SF Record Questioned

Jess “Skip” Hall, founder of a Birmingham, Ala.-based security and training company called “Hollow Point,” doesn’t mince words about wanna-bes who pretend to be more than they are. He uses the language of a former Green Beret and Vietnam combat veteran. “There are many fakes and so-called experts in everything today,” he says in the opening page to his blog, “starting [with] the individual in the White House.”
On his website, Hall lists a number of qualifications and experiences beneath his photo, including “5th SF SOG A Team Leader, Vietnam.” Another page includes an image of an “unofficial” 5th SOG patch from Vietnam — a skull wearing a Green Beret — and beneath it reads: “Skip Hall’s Unit Patch.” But there’s a problem with Hall’s apparent outrage over phonies: He might be one too. A retired Green Beret says Hall’s Special Forces and Vietnam combat claims do not check out. “He was a clerk typist and he spent all his time in Korea,” said Jeff “JD” Hinton, who routinely ferrets out and exposes phony war heroes on his website, ProfessionalSoldiers.com. “He never went to Vietnam.” Hall’s military records, copies of which he provided to Military.com, show he was initially trained as a repairman for crypto equipment at Fort Monmouth, N.J., in 1966. Some months later, he was reassigned to Fort Dix, N.J., and trained as a clerk typist. Hall did not respond to Military.com’s requests for an interview or comment. As of late Monday afternoon, his blog page and the Hollow Point website were down. A message on the Hollow Point page stated it was removed because information had been added to the site without Hall’s approval. “We express our appoligies [sic] for any misinformation this may have caused. Mr. Hall does not represent anyone in the military and makes no representation that he was previously affiliated or part of the U.S. Army, Special Forces or any other organization or agency.” In addition to Vietnam and Korea, Hall also claims to have served in the Middle East, to have worked as a Defense Department contractor, and that — at 63 — he was the world’s oldest Mixed Martial Arts fighter. And he was the oldest fighter until 71-year-old Dr. John J. “Gray Wolf” Williams came on the scene a few years ago.
At the time Hall retired from mixed martial arts in March 2008, he was profiled by NBC Sports writer Mike Chiappetta who mentioned Hall’s combat experience. It was that article that put Hinton on the hunt for Hall’s official records. “One of our own [veterans] found him, actually found the article from MSNBC, and that started the ball rolling,” Hinton said. “We’ve been looking into his past and did the FOIA [Freedom of Information Act request] and it came back with ‘Clerk Typist’ ” for his Army job. Hinton offers no opinion on any of the other achievements that Hall claims; he only cares about is Hall’s claims regarding the Special Forces and combat in Vietnam. Hinton, who retired from Army Special Forces as a master sergeant, uses official sources and personal connections in the Special Forces community to uncover phonies. Late last year, he exposed William G. Hillar, an instructor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and widely known expert in human trafficking, as a fraud. Hillar had claimed to be a retired Army Special Forces colonel. Hillar pleaded guilty in March to a charge of lying about his military background and experience on his application for work at the University of Oregon. He could get 20 years in jail when he returns to court for sentencing in July. Hinton said he was not the only one investigating Hall’s background. The Alabama man had also come under the scrutiny of Chuck and Mary Schantag of P.O.W. Network. “Someone asks, we file for records, we pass those back and what happens happens,” the Schantags said in an email to Military.com. They said the reports of possible phonies go up and down, depending on the season. “50 phony SEALs a day for awhile,” they said. “Slowed a bit, but Memorial Day is just around the corner and reports will skyrocket again.”

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Universal Soldier says:

May 10, 2011 at 01:05

If there is any doubt of my motive for listing my credential’s, an example:

Local pastor made up elaborate Navy SEAL tale

In the wake of the dramatic Navy SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound earlier this month, it was perhaps to be expected that some expansive soul would step forward to claim the prestige of a fabricated tour as a SEAL for himself. Such tall tales are not uncommon, after all, amid high-profile military actions.

This time the exposed fabricator was a preacher–though people who monitor this brand of public lie note that members of the clergy are often tempted into such misrepresentations. More curious still, the prevaricator in question seems to have lifted at least some details of his account from the 1992 Steven Seagal SEAL-themed blockbuster, “Under Siege.”

Yes, as his area newspaper, the central Pennsylvania Patriot-News, pulled together a dispatch on the exploits of the elite Navy operation, Jim Moats, the pastor at Christian Bible Fellowship Church in Newville, Penn., spun some fantastical details of his alleged time as a Navy SEAL during the Vietnam War.

Moats told his church for five years that he was a former SEAL, and even once wore the elite program’s gold Trident medal around town. He elaborated on that tale when his local paper contacted him last week as it was reporting a story about the rigors of SEAL training in the wake of the SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound.

Among other things, Moats said he was subjected to waterboarding when he trained at Little Creek Amphibious Base in Virginia Beach in 1971 and was assigned dishwashing duty for his bad attitude. “I had almost no discipline. I was as wild as they came. That was my nemesis,” he told the paper. “They weren’t looking for a guy who brags to everyone he is a SEAL. They wanted somebody who was ready but had an inner confidence and didn’t have a braggadocio attitude.”

Several former SEALs wrote into The Patriot-News casting doubt on the reverend’s account of his service.

“We deal with these guys all the time, especially the clergy. It’s amazing how many of the clergy are involved in those lies to build that flock up,” said retired SEAL Don Shipley. Shipley also speculated the waterboarding and kitchen details came from the action depicted in “Under Siege.”

Moats fessed up to his whopper, and admitted he bought the Trident medal at a military surplus store. “I never was in a class, I never served as an actual SEAL. It was my dream. … I don’t even know if I would have met the qualifications. I never knew what the qualifications were,” he told the Patriot-News. Moats did serve in the Navy from 1970-74, but did not fight in Vietnam.

The paper, meanwhile, is unapologetic for printing Moats’ prevarications.

“The Patriot-News regularly interviews veterans to tell their stories. We do not regularly ask those we interview for proof of their service, believing these men and women would not lie and dishonor those who have fought bravely defending our country,” the paper said in a special note to readers about the incident.

The practice of claiming false military credentials is by no means confined to comparatively lesser known public figures such as Moats. Accusations of exaggeration and lies about military service dogged the last election cycle. In 2008, Senate candidates Mark Kirk and Richard Blumenthal were called out for exaggerating their military service, though both still won their races. Kirk’s web site said he served “in Operation Iraqi Freedom,” when he was serving stateside, and Blumenthal incorrectly suggested he served in Vietnam. And it’s not just politicians. In 1996, the Navy’s top officer committed suicide after he learned Newsweek was looking into why he wore two small bronze valor pins, which signify acts of valor in combat. He wore the pins even though he was never awarded them.

In 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Stolen Valor Act into law–legislation that made it a federal crime to claim false military honors. A recent federal appellate court ruling determined that the law’s provisions were an unconstitutional abridgment of free speech. A version of the same legislation is now before Congress, with language designed to avoid the free-speech quandaries raised by the 2005 law.

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Any question’s?

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- Tommaso says:
  
  March 29, 2012 at 08:53
  
  extra money no. They are classified as eitehr with or without dependents no matter how many and he already has dependents. They also have eye coverage. and mental health coverage.
  
  Reply
Universal Soldier says:

February 8, 2011 at 04:35

These certificates are not posted here to brag, show-off, nor belittle anyone that served in our military or not. They are here to show a degree of credibility, I’ve done more than my fair share in the defense of our great Nation, I would do it all again, even if I knew what the outcome would be, and to show that “I can talk the talk because I’ve walked the walk”. And, frankly, in all humility I can honestly say that I’m amazed everyday that I wake up when I consider all that I’ve seen, done, and sacrificed…

Reply
- Shamila says:
  
  March 29, 2012 at 03:04
  
  He won’t get anything extra pyiwase. He is already getting dependent BAH since you are married. There is no other extra pay.He can put in for annual leave when the baby is born. It can be granted or declined just like any other leave. Most commands will absolutely grant him leave for his child’s birth.
  
  Reply
Universal Soldier says:

January 13, 2011 at 09:08

There was more that I could have presented here, but Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita ‘intervened’ and swept away most of my award certificates, and the few possession’s the Mrs. and I had (we don’t do the materialism thing). The worst loss were the ‘one of a kind’ picture’s we both had, that were obviously, priceless. We don’t have time-machines to go back in time to retake those moment’s in time, that were eternally frozen in time via the picture’s…

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