Hero wannabes’ photographic imagination

Sierra Vista Herald, Sierra Vista Arizona ^ | Feb 26, 2006 | Lee Basnar

[SandRat]

Retired Army officer Drew Dix and I met at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga., in 1969. As former noncommissioned officers who had received direct commissions, we became acquainted while attending the Infantry Officer Basic Course. Staff Sergeant Dix earned the Medal of Honor (MOH) in Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive, and President Lyndon Johnson had presented the medal to him in the White House shortly before we met. Dix tells his remarkable story in his book, “The Rescue of River City.”

The former Special Forces soldier is one of the calmest men I’ve ever known, but he was agitated when he called to talk with me about imposters. He loves soldiers and veterans, but he detests the phony heroes who brag about their imagined exploits in Vietnam. Dix says the phonies are “wannabes with photographic imagination.”

Many who served in Vietnam have met men who allege they performed clandestine missions in Southeast Asia. Some claim they were awarded the MOH under a different name because of the secrecy of their missions. Most profess to have been “Green Berets,” so-called because of the distinctive headgear that was adopted in the 1960s. Real Special Forces soldiers seldom refer to themselves as green berets, Dix said. Other wannabes claim they were Navy SEALS. Regardless of their claims, they say they can’t talk about their experiences because their missions were secret.

Many Vietnam-era soldiers who served in elite units still network with each other, and even if they haven’t met, they know the names of their compatriots. They often uncover phonies by asking them to identify the Special Forces or SEAL class they trained with and by requiring the imposters to name some of their classmates.

The incident that tripped Dix’s trigger involved a resident of Cochise County. The imposter reported someone he thought was a phony. Turns out that the man he reported was a real former Special Forces soldier, and the wannabe ended up being exposed.

The president of the Special Forces Association is taking action to expel the phony from the local chapter, according to Dix.

Although the phonies’ claims seem trivial, they detract from the heroic efforts of the ordinary Vietnam combat soldiers. The “grunts,” as infantrymen refer to themselves, performed admirably, for the most part, day after day in the jungles and rice paddies of Vietnam. They earned their Combat Infantryman Badge, and many were true heroes whose exploits weren’t recorded. Consequently, they didn’t receive well-deserved awards for bravery. Many who served well and returned to civilian life were draftees. Most Vietnam vets seldom talk about their experiences.

The phonies weren’t ordinary grunts. Such a claim wouldn’t elevate them to hero status, in their view. Therefore, the pseudo-heroes can’t talk about their secret missions, but they want everyone to believe they were special. Many of them never went to Vietnam, or, if they did, they never served in the field. “The wannabes tell better stories than we do,” Dix said.

Dix mentioned an incident he observed during a MOH convention in Branson, Mo. A man in a wheel chair wheeled himself into the foyer of the convention hall. An FBI agent challenged the man, asking him where he was going. When the man said he was attending the convention, the agent — who apparently recognized the phony in the wheelchair — said, “No, you’re not.” When the man insisted, the agent told him to leave or he would be forcefully removed from the building. The wannabe in the wheelchair stood up and strode away.

Drew and I chatted about the current war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not all recipients of valor awards serve in the combat arms. “Some of the heroes in our current war are truck drivers and military policemen,” he said.

A few clandestine warriors may be employed on secret missions in both theaters of operation, and we may never hear about their exploits. However, phonies and wannabes will emerge from the current war just as they did from the Vietnam era. Uncovering today’s phonies will be a task for today’s soldiers.

Hundreds of phonies claim to be Vietnam War heroes. At least two of those wannabes reside in Cochise County. Some of us know their names.

[Old Sarge]

Not all recipients of valor awards serve in the combat arms. “Some of the heroes in our current war are truck drivers and military policemen,”

The American people don't believe that for a minute. The "Warrior Caste" is alive and well over here. If you're not pulling a trigger or kicking in a door, you wasting a real soldier's oxygen.

It's a dirty little secret.

[F-117A]

Some serve as Senator from Massachusetts!

[SandRat]

Ping

[ConsentofGoverned]

Probly posted many times, but if we had the internet back in the 70's how different would the history of War in Vietnam have been..When I got back and heard the stories of the liar's like Kerry and his VNVAW groups - I was accepting of them because hey I did not serve with the guys who spoke and did not have a way to check with other vets about what was being said..The current group of war vets has the ability to correct the history of their war and expose the lies we never could.

[fightin kentuckian]

Awww, come on. Don't tease me. Name names.

[pabianice]

Not all recipients of valor awards serve in the combat arms. “Some of the heroes in our current war are truck drivers and military policemen,” The American people don't believe that for a minute. The "Warrior Caste" is alive and well over here. If you're not pulling a trigger or kicking in a door, you wasting a real soldier's oxygen. It's a dirty little secret.

That's a bit harsh. Those of us who flew recon in Vietnam feel we also served.

[SandRat]

Not as secret as some think. Those that have served whether in combat arms or or not understand it and respect it; hence such adoring nicknames bestowed on the non-cambat arms types as "Loggie-Doggie", "AG-Puke", "REMF", "PX-Warror", "Saigon-Warrior", and a few more that might get us banned from FR for using.

[SandRat]

If we'd had the Internet then, the whole outcome would have been different I think.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Curious that the US can award US Veterans status to Royal Lao military while ignoring pilots from Air America, CAT, etc. who were mainly American civilians who went in harm's way.

[PeteB570]

TOC TOAD

[SandRat]

Cable-Ape

[Grampa Dave]

FYI, gentlemen.

Travis exposed a phoney Seal in the 2004 election.

[MeanWestTexan]

"If you're not pulling a trigger or kicking in a door, you wasting a real soldier's oxygen."

Whatever. My ground crew kept me alive and my bird in the action through hard, non-stop, often very dangerous (like refueling us while being sniped at via hand-pumped 52 gal drums) work.

You know that not every RE is a REMF.

[Triggerhippie]

If you're not pulling a trigger or kicking in a door, you wasting a real soldier's oxygen.

I think the convoy guards that were "just" driving down the road protecting us did the mission just as much as the marines in Fallujah or the 4th ID farther north...

[MonroeDNA]

Cool!!!!

[DJ Taylor]

Every once in a while, these phonies will become so brazen they will even give interviews to reporters, as did this guy. Shortly after this interview appeared in the Hendersonville (NC) newspaper, the Special Forces Association exposed this man as a phony who was never in either Special Forces or in Vietnam. Not surprisingly, much of this man's resume was also fabricated. The Sheriff who this man worked for was a Vietnam Veteran who served as a door gunner in Vietnam and had never suspected that this guy had been lying to him. Needless to say, the phony was fired.


If I were posting this interview, I would have to give it a double Barf Alert. http://www.hendersonvillenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040628/EXTRAS02/406280327/1034

[the invisib1e hand]

cool screenname.

[Grampa Dave]

Travis spotted this phoney and reported the situation on Free Republic.

The guy was a complete fraud re being a Seal in Nam.

[Squantos]

Too easy to check class dates etc and 3 minutes of conversation will out a poser easily .....fools folly. Had a troop tell me once he was EOD in the Navy....I asked when he went to the school and he said he bypassed EOD school due the fact he was a BB stackin ammo ape and knew all about munitions already so he wasn't required to go to the school........:o)

I fired him for lying.....

Doom on this trash.....

[Tijeras_Slim]

Everybody knows you always cut the red wire. He must have been a rotten liar.

[Search4Truth]

Can anyone suggest a short line of questioning that a non-vet could use to expose a poser? I'm running into men more and more who say they are vets, but my gut tells me otherwise.

[MonroeDNA]

Although ex-AF, I have to admit I would likely wet my pants in most of the situations these guys have been through. I have a lot of respect for Trav and Squantos (I'd rather be behind both when it comes to...)

[Squantos]

LOL.....I figured if he'd lie about that then his reliability program requirements was a moot issue. He was actually dumb enough to put our company down as a reference and the headhunter in the front office always made sure I talked to this POS's potential employer who'd call the company asking about him.....dummer than a sack of wet kittens that boy was.

[Stonewall Jackson]

I had a guy try to tell me some similar tall tales last spring. He claimed that he was a veteran of the recently disbanded 75th Ranger Division, that he is the seventh highest decorated veteran currently alive, and that he had a master electrician's license.

The first two claims were just stupid, since our store is only fifteen miles from Ft. Knox and nearly half of our employees are former military, and the third claim was easily exposed by calling Frankfort and inquiring about the status of his license.

He quit about ten minutes before we could fire him for falsifying his application.

[Squantos]

That's all that's needed.....fire em, shun em, let em know when they act like heros they are treated like the zeros they really are.......

[darkwing104]

I had to pause before posting here. One thing struck me is this line...its the truth.

Many who served well and returned to civilian life were draftees. Most Vietnam vets seldom talk about their experiences.

I didn't hear too much from Vietnam Vets till I came home from a tour in Bosnia. I've been to the Gulf twice previous but it the Bosnia tour was the key for them.

They open up and told me their stories I never knew about. It was something they would only tell fellow Vets. Outside of that I would of never heard a thing. The former POWs are the ones I have the most respect for I consider it a rite of passage.

As for my personal experiences I don't consider it big deal. Done a few things got a few medals, time to put that behind me, support the kids (Current vets), and enjoy life and the freedom these guy defended.

In my personal experience is about 75% of the guys who publicly brag about war stories are phony...The quiet ones I admire, their stories are the ones I want to hear.

[U S Army EOD]

I never fire a shot at anyone during my tour in Vietnam or in the DMZ in Korea.

[U S Army EOD]

One senator I know can tell you of the time he spent in Cambodia.

[Dick Vomer]

john f'ing kerry must be crapping his pants

[Stonewall Jackson]

Yes, indeed.

I lost a good friend and coworker almost two years ago in Iraq. He was commanding a convoy that ran into an ambush when they entered a town that they thought the Spanish were controlling (this was when their new prime minister decided to pull their troops out immediately). Rob managed to get everyone to safety, but he bled to death from his wounds.

After that, I have no patience or tolerance for these wannabes.

[U S Army EOD]

You should have given him some wood, a hammer and nails, thrown him in the local river and told him to build the a bird house under water.

[operation clinton cleanup]

When the man insisted, the agent told him to leave or he would be forcefully removed from the building. The wannabe in the wheelchair stood up and strode away.

That agent deserves a medal... and an honorary M.D. Degree for healing an invalid!

[Senator Bedfellow]

If you're not pulling a trigger or kicking in a door, you wasting a real soldier's oxygen.

If the truck driver doesn't do his job making deliveries, you're gonna look pretty stupid kicking in that door with nothing more than your d*** in your hands.

The door-kickers and trigger-pullers are the tip of the spear, no doubt about it, but the reason the tip of the spear is effective is because of the weight behind it. Not every MOS is drenched in glory, but there aren't many that are unnecessary.

[Squantos]

LOL........

[darkwing104]

DD Form 214s are a good lie detector also...

[VOA]

I took the liberty of adding:
Keyword: STOLENVALOR

(for the forum, that keyword is named after the book on exposing wannabe finks)

[verity]

"you're gonna look pretty stupid kicking in that door with nothing more than your d*** in your hands."

Those inside will be disabled by laughter.

[Dick Vomer]

Whatever. My ground crew kept me alive and my bird in the action through hard, non-stop, often very dangerous (like refueling us while being sniped at via hand-pumped 52 gal drums) work.

team effort, amen brother. Patton was quoted as saying the truck drivers, engineers and others were as valuable to the outcome of the war as any tanker or foot soldier.

friend of mine had a son killed when the wheel exploded on a blackhawk he was servicing. What can you say except "your son saved the lives of the flight crew and operators every time they flew"....

I don't mind anybody telling us they served....

it's just when they tell of the (sad voice) (fake 1000...maybe even 2000 yard stare)"yep, I've seen the Valley of Death"..

..3 Purple Hearts (no scars or limp), a couple of Bronze Stars with the "special B" not the V for valor...

...or "I was a Green Beret on special assignment with SEAL Team 13 while on TDY from Force Recon after teaching in the School of the Americas, but before I spent a Christmas in Cambodia that is BURNED into my mind."

or "heck son, I taught Carlos Hathcock how to shoot a 51 caliber sniper rifle...er 50,51..52 whatever it takes..".

hardy-har-har....

The phony "hero" cheapens the lives and sacrifices of the men who didn't make it back. I've seen men that are actually embarrassed about getting "Purple Hearts" for lacerations while they are in sick bay with men that have been mangled, blinded and disfigured.

Men want to be honored, but those men will never EVER be honorable. Its the same as being "given" respect as opposed to "earning" respect.

We'd all like to be Audy Murphy or James Day.... google these names and read about "heroic" action.

Hell I'd be honored just to have served in their units....... but of course I probably would have been killed....lol...hanging around MOH winners in combat is usually not the safest place in the world.

[darkwing104]

john f'ing kerry must be crapping his pants

He probably wants a Medal for that also.

[Casloy]

I van pooled for a time with a fairly large group. When they found out I was a Vietnam veteran one of them said, "hey, John there in the front seat is a Vietnam veteran and he served during the same time you were there in 1970." I asked him where he served and he told me it was near the Cambodian border, which is where I served. I asked him a few questions and it was obvious he didn't want to talk about it. Then someone piped up and said, "tell him about the time your basecamp was over-run and your unit was almost wiped out." Then he really started trying to change the subject so I pushed. He told some details and I said, "funny, I don't recall any unit being almost wiped out in the that region in 1970," and there was dead silence. Furthermore, some of his details led me to believe he hadn't even been in Vietnam. When we were alone I told him I didn't know if he was in Vietnam or not, but that it was not so cool to make up a war record, and he said nothing. I saw some action in Vietnam, but nothing like what the men who served in 65 through 69 saw. It would be dishonorable in the extreme to try and pretend my experiences were equal to what many of those brave men experienced in Ia Drang Valley or in countless other bloody engagements. I still gather regularly with guys I served with in Vietnam, and we hold nothing in greater disdain than men who make up their war record. It's disgraceful.

By coincidence, my father served with Drew Dix in Can Tho, Vietnam and told me frequently about this man's incredible courage. I think I have heard the story of his rescue of the American women about 20 times. It's till a great story, and would make a great movie. What made him a true hero was his humility about the whole affair. I think he just thought he was doing his job.

[Casloy]

That's a bit harsh. Those of us who flew recon in Vietnam feel we also served.

Absolutely, there was no safe job in Vietnam. Flying recon put you at great risk of being shot down and captured. I was most anxious when we used to do "eagle flights," jumping from one LZ to another and being exposed to ground fire. At least once we were on the ground we felt we could find cover.

[SkyPilot]

Veterans' Web Sites Expose Pseudo Heroes, Phony Honors

Some excellent links in the above article.

[Casloy]

Ask him where he served and what he did. Then open your eyes wide and say "I'll be damned, you might have known my brother, he was in the same place at the same time. I've got to get you two together." If his response is less than enthusiastic, you probably have a phony.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"DD Form 214s are a good lie detector also"

Yep!

Gets them everytime.

Not too long ago, on FR, someone accussed me of having never served.

So as "proof" for this FReeper I had Neil E. Wright of VetsCoR
"verify" who I was since VetsCoR has a copy of my DD 214
on file.

[BluH2o]

Going back maybe 10 years, I happened on a obituary in our local paper ... here in southwestern Ohio. The individual mentioned in the fairly long obit was retired Navy who had succumbed to cancer at a relatively young age. The obit mentioned he had served with the Navy SEAL teams in Vietnam and among several awards mentioned, the Navy Cross was the most prominent. Having, at that time, just finished the book 'Point Man' by Chief James Watson and Kevin Dockery (a book about Watson's experience in the UDT/SEAL's) and knowing Watson was now the curator of the UDT/SEAL museum in Fort Pierce, FL ... I faxed the obit with a short cover letter to him. Thinking the obit was legit and knowing very few are awarded the Navy Cross, if Watson didn't already know about the deceased, he would want to. The next day I get a call from Watson thanking me for the information ... stating that he knew all the SEAL Navy Cross recipients and this guy wasn't one of them, in fact he did a cursory name check of east & west coast SEAL teams and didn't show the name on any roster.
Called the newspaper and spoke to the writer of the obit, he said he didn't verify the info having received it from the son of the deceased who was a career Navy guy currently serving. No further action was taken as it would serve no real purpose ...

[darkwing104]

Cool Tonk!
Do they keep a copy of anyone?
Just in case I get challenged?

[Search4Truth]

Roger that!

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

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[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"Do they keep a copy of anyone?
Just in case I get challenged?"

It's part of the application process when you join VetsCoR

Everyone has to submit their DD 214, unless they are still on Active Duty.