The dates have to be in certain windows as well. IIRC, if you were eligible for the National Defense Service Medal, indicating service during a period of conflict, you were eligible.
Posted on 08/15/2004 10:21:58 AM PDT by TaxPayer2000
Man had claimed he was a major during Vietnam
The Associated Press
WEST BEND — Local veterans feel betrayed after finding out a man they knew who claimed he was a decorated Marine had not served a day in the Marines.
Michael W. Schuster claimed he was a major in the Marines in Vietnam. He also had memberships in the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion and regularly served as a bugler at military funerals.
“According to our personnel records, Mr. Michael W. Schuster has never served in the Marine Corps,” Capt. Daniel J. McSweeney, a public affairs officer at Marine headquarters in Washington D.C., said Friday.
Contacted at home by a reporter, Schuster refused to discuss the matter.
“I’ll be making no comment to any media whatsoever,” said Schuster, 51, who also resigned last week from the local VFW and American Legion posts.
Local veterans turned to him to be a keynote speaker at city’s Memorial Day observance because of his reputation for being a good speaker.
“What’s really disgusting is how he deceived all of those people who came to the Memorial Day event,” said Terrence Vrana, an organizer of the city’s Memorial Day event and former commander of VFW Post 8656. “Guys like that steal the honor of those who actually served in the military.”
Schuster claimed that his discharge papers were “sealed because he was in covert operations” while in Vietnam, Vrana said.
No proof of military service was required when Schuster joined the American Legion in West Bend four years ago, said Dean Schatz, the local post’s first vice commander and an organizer of the Memorial Day observance.
Before the event, some veterans voiced their suspicions, but Schuster was allowed to speak because “there was no proof that he wasn’t what he said he was,” Schatz said.
Vrana said he became suspicious of Schuster’s claims after he refused requests to show his military discharge documents.
Another red flag came when Schuster’s failed to properly arrange the 20 or so military ribbons on his uniform when he served as a bugler at veterans’ funerals, Vrana said.
This guy is a MAJOR SCUMBAG!!!
Then they shouldn't vote for him in November. :)
Where's the outrage over Kerry and his fake military record? Oh, right. Nobody's going to cover that in the MSM.
Really isnt a dd-214 a requirement? I had to present one with quals to get in the VFW
I'm a life member of the VFW, DAV, and American Legion. I had to produce a DD214 to join the VFW and American Legion, and then produce it again when I transferred posts after moving. VFW looks for certain overseas campaign ribbons. Legion wants a minimal amount of active duty time, and an honorable discharge. DAV just asks for your VA Claim number, not the DD214.
Another thing - DD214s for people who did strange and wondrous things whilst on active duty are not sealed. There really isn't anything on the document that might be classified. Time in service, time in, time out, awards and decs, rank and organization when separated, and quality of discharge. Even completely "black" outfits, assuming that is the one from which you separated, have "white" designators. No references whatsoever to strange and wondrous goings on.
I wonder how / who this guy BS'd to get in in the first place. Anybody who was actually listening to this tale should have thrown down the BS flag.
agree with everything you wrote. Additionally, if this fraud wore ribbons normally awarded for bravery, he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and given a felony conviction.
Exactly a little judicious reworking a copy of a real DD-214 and you can recreate a blank one
and fill in anything you want...fake the signature at the bottom...and voila...
You are now a war hero (of the Kerry persuasion that is)
People desire recognition WITHOUT ACCOMPLISHMENT.....lying is an expedient way to get the recognition you crave...without fear of failure at the attempt...or worse in the case of war hero
The little white cross at Arlington...where all the real heroes lie......
THE ONLY PLACE HEROES LIE.....IS UNDER THE LITTLE WHITE CROSSES
Someone need his ass kicked royally! To hell with P.C. socialist laws that try to stop solid American citizens from enacting justice directly.
I other words, you insult me, I break your nose!
USMC
1969-1981
And in foxholes.
Just for factual reference, there are no "little white crosses" in Arlington, the cross or star of david is etched on the tombstone.
When I was discharged, it was required that I record my DD214 in the County Court House when I got home. If the DD214 isn't recorded and noted on the back, I would say it is fake.
People can forge those documents. I have seen it done.
The dates have to be in certain windows as well. IIRC, if you were eligible for the National Defense Service Medal, indicating service during a period of conflict, you were eligible.
Have you ever heard of a Marine who, upon being discharged I think maybe 15-20 years ago, didn't even know what a DD-214 was when you referred to it in conversation? I know one such person.
Sorta reminds me of another psuedo hero of the Nam war.
I don't know what drives people to lie like this.
Well, I'd say you know another one now, me. I was released from Marine Corps active duty 12/67 and from the inactive reserve 11/69 and at the time I never heard of a DD 214. I only heard of it when VA said I needed one.
ditto...
Some who protested with Kerry said they Nam Vets and it was found out later some was in Service and some who was never went to Nam as they said they did. And some who was never in service at all. I remember reading this years ago.
It turns out, the more he listened to this guy talk, it became apparent that his 'classified, special operations missions' from the Vietnam era were totally fabricated. He would even lie, to the Green Beret, about details of HALO jumping and a number of other things that he clearly did not have first hand knowledge of.
His supspicious grew over the course of a year, and finally, after his father in law was about to leave after a week long stay (and a long week of tall tales), the Green Beret approached him in the driveway and confronted him over it. The father in law didn't respond, just lowered his head and left, and they haven't spoken since.
His wife was floored. She had no idea, for years and years, that her father was just making those stories up out of thin air. The Green Hat was amazed that anyone would even do such a thing, but discovered, in the course of his online reseaching of the tall tales, that this sort of thing happens all the time.
Wrong.
I'm a loan officer and we do lots of VA loans so I work with DD214's every day. Many people's DD214's are not recorded in the courthouse. They just take it home and put it in a safe place with their important papers.
I clearly said that I was instructed to record mine. I did.
That was in May of 1961. I know from being in the service that "many" did not listen to the the instructions they were given. Also "many" did not follow the instructions they were given.
Maybe some weren't given the same instruction. I was given that very emphatically.
(Your mileage may vary.)
please disregard my post #19, apparently this is not a picture of Arlington National Cemetary as I thought.
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