Posted on 01/24/2014 2:12:21 PM PST by MarkBsnr
Peterborough’s David Jeffrey Dodd said he is a retired member of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, haunted by the scenes of his overseas experiences when his platoon was bombed and a female soldier died in his arms.
“She was an incredible Soldier. I lost 4 good soldiers and she was one!,” Dodd posted on the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) Association Facebook page Sunday.
“I’m coming into a hard time of year (feb sucks bc that’s when it happened)…. I can’t sleep most nights because I see s--t in my dreams.”
It would be a gut-wrenching story, if it were true.
But there’s a major problem. Nobody who has served with the Patricias appears to know Dodd or know anyone who does.
Even more peculiar, the Patricias have never lost a female soldier in the manner Dodd described.
Those two inconsistencies sparked an online firestorm on the Facebook thread, with up to 900 comments now posted, questioning who Dodd was and why he made the comments he did.
Retired soldier Bill Finlayson was one of those irked by Dodd’s posting.
The PPCLI Association has about 1,800 members including both active and retired Patricias ranging in rank from privates to colonels, he explained.
“Between the 1,800 guys, we pretty much know every single person that has ever served with PPCLI that’s still alive,” he explained. “That was what led the guys right away to say this guy has to be a phoney. These guys are like a pack of wild dogs when it comes to protecting their own.”
Both The Examiner and the Toronto Sun made repeated attempts to reach Dodd at his home in Peterborough Tuesday. He has not responded to requests for an interview.
Shortly after the posting Dodd appears to have deleted his Facebook account, or at least changed the settings from public to private. He appears to have also deleted his LinkedIn account where his listed experience included infantry soldier and armoured crewman in the Canadian Forces from 1996 to 2006.
The allegations that Dodd has never served with the PPCLI raise eyebrows in Peterborough, where he has served as the co-sergeant at arms at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 52. He has told The Examiner in past stories that he was a Master Cpl. retired from active duty with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and he has been photographed on at least two occasions wearing what appears to be a peacekeeping medal and wearing a PPCLI hat badge on his beret.
Multiple sources have provided The Examiner with what appears to be Dodd’s military service records, material that has also been posted in the association’s Facebook thread.
The records, which have not been verified as official, show that David Jeffrey Dodd enrolled in the Regular Force on Jan. 25, 1999; reported to CFRS St. Jean, Quebec on Jan. 28, 1999; reported to LFWA Wainwright, Alta. on June 11, 1999 and was voluntarily released 11 days later on June 22, 1999.
He later enrolled in the Ontario Regiment June 11, 2002, but the records indicate he never achieved infantry qualification, never took part in operational tours and never reached a rank higher than corporal.
The Peterborough Legion branch has been made aware of the allegations and has started its own investigation.
“We’re dealing with that at the moment. At this point, there is an investigation going on and I’m not at liberty to speak to that at the moment,” Branch 52 first vice-president Joel Chandler said Tuesday.
“We take (the allegations) seriously, but until the investigation goes on, there is really no way of knowing the outcome.”
The PPCLI Association is also investigating.
Southwest Ontario branch president Paul Hale, who has served 30 years with the Patricias including eight overseas tours in places such as Cyprus, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Angola and South Africa, is expected to arrive in Peterborough Wednesday.
“At this time and based on the information I have, Mr. Dodd is not and has never been a member of the PPCLI,” he said. “I am not sure why he wishes to pass himself off as a member of the PPCLI. I have no idea what Mr. Dodd’s motivation is. That’s why I’d like to meet with him and find out from him what’s going on.”
If Dodd has never served with The Patricias, it begs the question – whose medals has he been wearing?
The Examiner photographed him during the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Peterborough Cenotaph in November. The photo shows him wearing Legion medals on the right of his chest and what appear to be service medals on the left of his chest and a PPCLI badge on his beret.
“Medals you’ve earned, you wear on the left, over your heart,” Hale said.
He was wearing the same medals on his left chest in November 2010 in a photograph with Jo-Anne and Alan McLaren, the parents of Cpl. Mark McLaren who died in the line of duty in Afghanistan on Dec. 5, 2006.
If the PPCLI Association investigation reveals Dodd is misstating his true military record there are real concerns.
It is against the law in Canada to wear military medals one has not earned.
It’s also a slap in the face to those who have put their lives on the line serving their country, Finlayson said.
“This is just wrong.”
In new America, wrong is right.
Prison time would be appropriate. Let him earn a “Purple Heart” or CIB or equivalent in prison.
“He’s a lumberjack and he’s OK, he sleeps all night and he works all day.”
In America you could be prosecuted, at least if you do it for profit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Valor_Act_of_2013
In America, we have a constitutional right under the 1st Amendment to tell every sort of lie, provided it is not a fraudulent scheme to make money.
Good one, MB. Thanks.
Sergeant Preston of the Yukon: “Well King, it looks like this case is closed.”
“Stolen Valor” ping....
“In America, we have a constitutional right under the 1st Amendment to tell every sort of lie, provided it is not a fraudulent scheme to make money.”
So why aren’t all the politicians in jail?
Minor British royal, who gave up the titles to marry a "commoner" naval officer. Picture of her inspecting the troops, and a more formal portrait:
Who are the two ladies behind her dressed like rabbits?
I have no idea ... the phenomenon of high-bred British ladies wearing ridiculous hats is apparently not new.
More to the topic, this stolen-valor dingbat deserves a swift kick in the butt from every single living member and veteran of the Patricias ... and an extra kick for each of the Regiment’s dead.
He was just recounting his Video Game experiences. ;~((
One would be amazed at how many people claim to have prior combat experience. We have a local group of Vietnam Vet’s (sadly are numbers sre deminishing) and have run into many who claim to be Vietnam Veterans who never set foot on that soil. About two years ago we had one that claimed to be with the 101st and he told a pretty good story but he failed to remember some key details that anybody who served with the 101st in Vietnam would have known. When pressed for answers he left the group and it was later we found out that while he was in the Army he never left US soil. Any time I see a man boast or brag about his service in Vietnam he’s either crazy or lying. Those of us that served realize there’s nothing to brag about and rarely do we even discuss it. I’m sorry but my service in Vietnam was not the high point of my life, just a point I’d like to leave behind. My wife and daughters know very little of my time spent in the A Shau.
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