Wouldn't work for me. I retired in 2005, besides the service member is given a 214 upon separation...
As I currently do and will always do, warn people most of the war stories you hear are pure B.S.
Posted on 04/30/2006 2:26:19 PM PDT by SandRat
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. Faking American medals of honor is apparently a growth industry.
In fact, federal authorities now say there are more Medal of Honor impostors than actual living recipients.----
(Excerpt) Read more at kold.com ...
A DD215 is issued when something is added to a DD214 or the DD214 is changed by BUPERS/AG/whateverit is for the AF.
Wouldn't work for me. I retired in 2005, besides the service member is given a 214 upon separation...
As I currently do and will always do, warn people most of the war stories you hear are pure B.S.
Oh, Okay, so a DD215 is what Kerry has?
first a DD214 and then JimmieCartah authorized him to get a DD215. That's why we want him to sign the SF180 so that we all can see what he's hiding. We think we know and it would be a real corker. Just ask 69-69TonkinGulfYachtClub to fill you in.
WoW!What an eye opener!
One of my little favorites is to simply ask them about their work uniform.
I've had guys tell me they can't remember what division they were in while doing their heroic infantry combat.
Another bust is asking the Spec ops phonies about jump school, that throws them.
As a retiree you would be very good at this, most phonies know about the big items like the armament, but they don't know about the little daily life feel, that any veteran from any branch of the service has plenty of memories of.
Same here. I can spot more phonies since I read the book than before, like people claiming to be POW's in Vietnam. I can just go the back of Stolen Valor and check their name against the official DOD Vietnam POW list and I never spot their names. B.G. Burkett also has published a Vietnam Medal of Honor Recepient list, a Distinguished Service Cross List, Navy Cross List and Air Force Cross List from the Vietnam War in the back of Stolen Valor
Just ask some one claiming to have served in Vietnam how Bien Hoa is pronounced!!! How they answer that can really get your suspicions up.
Stolen Valor also has a website; below is the link:
Burkett has sure busted a lot of phonies over the years. He's also taught D.A.'s throughout the country to ferret out false cases of PTSD claimed as a legal defense by defendants to get out of whatever crime they committed by showing D.A.'s how to obtain the defendents real service records (if they were even in the service to begin with). He has personally taken witness stands throughout the country to testify that defendants claiming PTSD from Vietnam were never in Vietnam to begin with or if they were there, never saw any combat, by producing the defendants real service records or showing the person was never in the service to begin with.
I befriended him and then started asking questions.
He had no photos or records, a brand new jungle green uniform that would not have been issued at the time he claims he was there, virtually no knowledge of Vietnam or the slang we spoke at the time...and he claims that his mission was so hush-hush that it is all still classified.
If it was so classified, I resaoned, why was he blabbing about it at the bar?
I confronted him with my doubts and the guy went ballistic.
Not wanting to get myself in trouble, I refrained from clobbering the guy.
I would like to expose him publically, but I'm unsure how to do it without getting into legal trouble and maybe, just maybe, he might have been there, although I'm 99.9% sure he's a fraud.
I know Special Forces, POWS's and the Seals have association websites that has a "phonies" section. If the guy is claiming to be a former SF, you can try their websites. I don't have their websites links handy, but I do know that you can report phonies on their websites and they can check the guy out or refer your inquiry to someone that will check this indivdual out. You can probably find their websites listed on Google, Yahoo, etc.
You can also go to stolenvalor.com . B.G. Burkett, the author of "Stolen Valor", has a link on how to obtain anyones service records thru a Freedom of Information Act Request. If you haven't read Stolen Valor, I suggest you do so. It is a very good read. Below is the link to the Stolen Valor Website link:
bump
Same here. They never bother to do a simple FOIA request on these individuals, especially those who are getting "late" medals. They could've saved themselves a lot of embarrassment and handwringing if they checked out the individual first. They probably saw some political advantage being around these phonies, like they are friendly towards veterans or something like that.
As far as collecting VA Benefits, that has turned into a cottage industry. That is why, along with their dress and demeanors, that Burkett calls these folks "professional veterans". The VVA and others put out how to pamphlets on getting VA disability benefits, even on what to say to the doctor doing your C&P exam. I think their pamphlet is titled "Your Guide to Tax-Free Living".
As far as PTSD goes, Burkett did point out that he does in fact believe that these medical professionals have a vested interest in getting as many veterans rated for PTSD as possible; i.e. keeping there jobs. Even when they know the guy is a phoney, they won't report them. Even if they did, the VA Inspector Generals Office would probably do nothing anyways, for the same reason as the medical professionals. The VA loses funding if these phoney PTSD patients were ever publicly acknowledged phonies by the VA and stripped of their benefits.
It's the little day to day stuff that me and my fellow retirees would lock-on to really quick, especially when you have "been there and done that". Good method, I'll think I'll use it.
Yep. I was a mechanic. Just did my best to fix broken howitzers. I was never involved with the CIA, in fact to the best of my knowledge I never saw a "spook" in my year in country. Never was a POW, although I did meet one several years later after they were released. Never did met a MOH winner, although I pride myself on being a friend of Ernie Savage, who I think really deserves a MOH.
Heard about them while TDY in Bosnia, while stationed at Ft Meade, but I never have meet one. I think they are a myth... :-)
BTTT
How true!!!
If you don't know, one of the common explanations for no proof of military exploits is that fire, but the destroyed records have nothing to do with most veterans, also they have largly been rebuilt
That can be a real explanation though - I know because that's exactly what happened to mine. I enlisted in St. Louis, Mo. in July '63, when I tried to get a V.A. loan in '76 I was told that my records had been destroyed in that fire. I finally got approved when they found my record on micro film in Washington, D.C. It just took a lot longer than normal to get approved because the gov. doesn't get in a hurry about such things.
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