Another Poser exposed, Dick Stoops

The Kansas City Star, a paper I use to read daily when I was stationed up there, put out a great piece out on the whole Stolen Valor issue and some of the great folks working behind the scenes to catch these fake military posers. I, like everyone else believes in the first amendment, but posing as a military hero isn’t “Free Speech” in my book.  By using the rational of Judge Blackborn in CO, I could therefore throw on a black robe and pretend to be a Federal Judge and go give a talk to the bar. How about buying a fake badge at a Police memento convention, making up a set of fake creds that said “FBI” and getting discounts on my gun buys as a “LEO” (Law enforcement Officer) while wearing my suit and badge?  OK, that’s a bad example because there is a law out there that prohibits you from pretending to be a Federal Judge or Agent of the Government and you will be arrested with jail time. 

 How about dressing up like a firemen or police officer?  You’d still get arrested on some charge.  So with that in mind, why isn’t someone arrested for dressing up like a hero in the military and adopting their records? This is the whole basis behind the Stolen Valor law but now with the recent spats of posers arrested, all they seem to receive are light probation sentences. At least they are forever shamed on the internet if someone looks them up.  That’s about it.  Enjoy this piece…

S/F   Taco 

Kansas City Star

July 25, 2010 

Pg. 1

 Watchdogs Labor To Expose Liars About Military Exploits

 By Lee Hill Kavanaugh, The Kansas City Star

 Army Capt. Joshua Howard, a physician’s assistant at Fort Riley, Kan., ran across the newspaper story online about a Korean War veteran who was to be inducted into the Kansas National Guard Hall of Fame.

 In the accompanying photo, the veteran wore a khaki shirt covered with ribbons and medals, black bars and stripes.

 The story told how this veteran had received the military’s No. 2 and 3 awards for valor — the Distinguished Service Cross and the Silver Star — along with two Purple Hearts, one pinned on by Gen. Douglas MacArthur. And how he had been a prisoner of war in Korea for 5½ months.

 But the more Howard read, the more “those medals and his account of it all didn’t add up,” he said.

 He called friends to ask about the different medals. He e-mailed the photo and story. He wanted to know.

 “I work with guys here who have PTSD, soldiers who have lost legs and stuff, and they don’t have these super-cool medals and badges,” Howard said.

 Within days, the veteran’s face stared out from several websites, with other veterans questioning whether he was a real hero or a fake.

 It is a question that is being asked more and more these days.

 “It’s an epidemic of military fakers and liars out there,” said Mary Schantag of Branson, who has made it her job to expose fake POWs.

 So far this year, Schantag and her retired Marine husband, Chuck, have received requests to check almost 8,000 names to verify POW claims. Last year, they ran more than 14,000 names.

 The Schantags, along with Vietnam veteran Doug Sterner of Virginia, are members of the 22-member Stolen Valor Task Force, a group of veterans and military researchers across the country who share information to expose military impostors.

 Self-taught experts, they collect tidbits of information every day from dozens of sources; file Freedom of Information requests; and gather notes from general orders, historical accounts and prisoner of war records. They scrutinize the material, cross-check it with other sources and build databases.

 Their goal is to have a searchable repository of all earned medals of valor. A place where the public can read stories about heroes who otherwise might be forgotten.

 Every one of the task force members knew a real hero who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

 And every one has vowed to stop those who would steal another’s valor.

 It was task force members who pushed Congress to approve the 2006 Stolen Valor Act, which strengthened existing laws covering the unauthorized wearing of or laying claim to military decorations. The act made it a crime to lie about one’s military service.

 The law is being challenged on First Amendment free speech grounds in several states. It was upheld in California. But last week in Colorado, a federal judge dismissed a case against a man who falsely claimed he was a Marine captain who had been wounded while serving in Iraq and had received a Purple Heart and a Silver Star.

 U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn said the law unconstitutionally punished speech based on its content without a compelling government interest to justify the restriction. The decision set precedent only in Colorado, but it may open up more challenges nationwide.

 Out of the thousands of people who have lied about or exaggerated their service, Sterner said, only about 55 have been prosecuted for false valor claims, and most have not received stiff punishments.

 Last month, federal prosecutors agreed to drop a Stolen Valor charge against Timothy J. Watkins of Kansas City, North, if he completed 18 months of pretrial supervision without a problem. As part of the diversion agreement, Watkins agreed that he had lied about his military history and receiving the Purple Heart and Silver Star.

 Some may look at these cases and ask: What’s the big deal? Who cares if the stories aren’t true? What harm is done?

 But many veterans are outraged every time a military faker is exposed. They see a crime against the honor of those who really did charge up hills, wipe out machine-gun positions, drag wounded buddies to safety and endure terrible wounds — or even death.

 Every valor award comes at a very high cost, said John V. Lilyea, a retired Army sergeant first class in West Virginia who runs the website This Ain’t Hell, But You Can See It From Here.

 “We’re so tired of these guys who say they’re heroes and they’re really fakers,” he said.

 Lilyea said he has had to tell grieving families that a loved one could not be buried with military honors because he had lied about his service.

 “If we catch them while they’re alive, they have a chance to explain it and maybe redeem themselves,” he said.

 ***

 The Schantags, who split their time between homes in Branson and Skidmore, Mo., founded the POW Network ( www.pownetwork.org ).

 The nonprofit is not affiliated with the government, nor is it paid for its work. Mary Schantag said the operation functions solely on donations. It is a labor of love for the couple.

 And there is plenty of labor to do.

 Twenty years ago, the Schantags considered two dozen names a year to be a high number. Now they get about three dozen requests a day.

 On certain days of the year, the phone rings nearly nonstop.

 “The three worst days for us are the days after Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Veterans Day,” Mary Schantag said.

 Prime days for reminiscing about past glories — real or not.

 When the Schantags started this work in 1989, their goal was only to find missing former POWs. But something happened along the way.

 “We started finding out about a lot of phonies and fakers,” she said.

 Sterner believes in heroes. He believes in their ability to inspire. He believes their stories should be told, remembered and treasured.

 But the military, while keeping miles of paper records, had never put them into a searchable online database.

 So Sterner set out to create his own. Over the past 16 years, he has compiled in one database all the information he could find on the recipients of the military’s top three awards for valor: the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross (including the Navy Cross and Air Force Cross) and the Silver Star.

 It is slow, slogging work. Last year, with donations not keeping up with costs, he nearly had to close it down. But the Military Times newspaper saw its value and bought the database from him. Sterner is now its main curator.

 The database — at www.militarytimes.com/hallofvalor — is easily searchable, with every Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross citation from every war the U.S. has fought in. (The compilation of Silver Stars is not yet complete.)

 The process of tracking down military records is daunting. Some information is buried in the files of an entire unit instead of those of individuals. Some records were lost in a 1973 fire in a military records center in St. Louis.

 But Sterner has made a home in cyberspace for the really big honors. Future generations can read what their loved ones did, Sterner said, “so we won’t forget.”

 A few years ago, Sterner helped a Kansas City woman confirm her deceased father’s heroism. Twenty-three years after his death, the family received a funeral for him with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.

 But what Sterner started as a way to help the public remember military heroes has become the go-to resource for verifying or disproving accounts of valor.

 “I have never found Doug’s site to be inaccurate,” said Tom Cottone Jr., a former FBI agent in Washington, D.C.

 Cottone, who retired two years ago, spent 14 years ferreting out military impostors, focusing mostly on those who falsely claimed to be Medal of Honor recipients. Sterner, he said, “is extremely careful and diligent when he puts someone’s record on the site.”

 And if someone’s name is not there, that says a lot, too.

 ***

 The Korean veteran’s story, published in April in a Kansas newspaper, illustrates how fast an account can spread, catching the eyes of veterans and watchdogs within days.

 The story told about the veteran’s pending induction into the Kansas National Guard Hall of Fame, an honor for which he had been nominated by city officials and others in his hometown.

 He is a local hero, representing veterans in parades and the honor guard, playing taps, folding the flag to present to widows at funerals.

 He also is in poor health, his family says. (The Kansas City Star is not publishing his name because he has not been charged under the Stolen Valor Act.)

 The story included, word for word, two sentences from the framed medal citations the veteran displayed in his office.

Watchdog groups and other veterans pored over the photograph, scrutinizing the medals. Some filed Freedom of Information requests to corroborate or expose his claims, searching archives and the National Personnel Records Center and reports for general order numbers from the citations for his Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star.

 No one found any evidence that the Kansan had received the awards he claimed, or been a POW, or even seen combat. His records indicated he was in Korea about a month.

 “This guy … had so many red flags I couldn’t believe that no one had questioned him before,” Mary Schantag said.

 “The first thing everybody noticed was that (he) refused to show proof of his records. Most guys, despite being reluctant, will show what they did because it means so much. … It costs so much in human terms to get these awards.

 “He showed it only to his family and the friends who went into his office … until he was (to be) inducted into the hall of fame.”

 Other veterans said they asked the Kansan to release his military records with his privacy sections redacted. It would still show his awards and honors.

 He refused, they said.

 Officials at the Guard Hall of Fame said the veteran told them that he had asked the military to not put his honors on his records because he did not deserve them.

 That made veterans doubt his story more.

 Meanwhile, in Topeka, Doug Jacobs, board president of the Guard Hall of Fame, started his own investigation, calling and writing military offices, trying to get the elusive records to “prove this man’s innocence,” he said.

 Days later, Jacobs received a phone message from Arlington, Va.

 The voice was that of Sterner. The Star had asked Sterner to run through his database two sentences from the veteran’s Distinguished Service Cross, or DSC, citation.

 From the 812 DSC narratives from the Korean War, the computer made one hit: a word-for-word match with a passage describing one man’s heroism.

 And it was not the Kansas veteran’s.

 It was that of Army Sgt. 1st Class Richard J. Hartnett, who had gone back to Pennsylvania after the war and died in 2003.

 The Star then called back the reporter who had written the original story. The reporter had taped the hourlong interview and had photocopied the medal citations from the nominee’s office wall.

 As The Star began to read Hartnett’s entire citation, the other reporter gasped. Except for the name, date and location, they were identical.

 Sterner then ran the Kansan’s Silver Star citation through the same screening process. Again, just one hit.

 This one came from another DSC citation. The recipient: Army Cpl. Fabian Nieves-Laguer. He was a member of the famous “Borinqueneers,” the 65th Infantry Regiment from Puerto Rico.

It took Sterner’s computer 14 seconds to make the match.

 “Gosh, he didn’t even bother to write his own wording,” said Sterner. “This shows so clearly the value in a database that documents these awards.

 “Without it, this would have taken months or even years to find, and that’s if we would have ever found it.”

 The Star tried to talk to the Kansas veteran, but he did not return calls.

 ***

 In her home in Jonestown, Pa., Delores Hartnett, widow of Richard Hartnett, listened as The Star told her how another man appeared to have adopted her husband’s medal citation as his own.

 She was speechless at first.

 Her husband rarely talked about his service in Korea, she said. But after the Korean War, he enlisted in the Pennsylvania National Guard, serving for 25 years. He once told her that he did what he had to do to serve his country.

 The couple had five children and seven grandchildren. She does not visit his grave on Memorial Day because “he’s in my heart every day, every moment,” she said.

 But she can imagine what her husband would have said about a case of stolen valor.

 “To steal someone else’s heroics, what they fought for, and watched friends die for, this is absolutely pitiful … pitiful, pitiful, pitiful!”

 ***

Jacobs of the Guard Hall of Fame said recently that the Kansas veteran’s family has withdrawn his nomination. He will not be inducted into the hall.

 The hall has changed its rules regarding information that emerges after a nominee’s induction has been announced, Jacobs said. Before, there was no provision to prevent a nominee who had been accepted from being inducted.

 Mary Schantag said she has forwarded information about the veteran to the FBI. Not just his name, but a folder with everything the Schantags gathered.

 “That’s standard for us. It’s against the law to wear a medal that you didn’t earn because they come at such a high human cost.

 “You know, if these people told just one lie, they might get away with it. But they’ve got to be better and more than everyone else.

 “What they fail to understand is that just by serving and doing what they were told to do, whether they saw combat or sat behind the scenes in an office, is extraordinary.

 “That’s good enough to be a hero.”

 A harrowing narrative of bravery

 Here is an excerpt from Richard J. Hartnett’s Distinguished Service Cross citation:

 Sergeant First Class Hartnett distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action against enemy aggressor forces in the vicinity of Chorwon, Korea, on 29 September 1951.

 On that date, Sergeant Hartnett’s company was assigned the mission of attacking a numerically superior hostile force occupying well-fortified hill positions.

 Commanding the lead squad of this assault, Sergeant Hartnett had maneuvered his men to within a few yards of the enemy emplacements when a heavy volume of machine-gun fire halted their advance.

 Unhesitatingly, Sergeant Hartnett charged directly into the intense enemy fire, hurling grenades and firing his rifle. His aggressive action neutralized the hostile emplacement, but his attack also attracted the attention of the enemy troops occupying another bunker who immediately directed their fire against the friendly force.

 Sergeant Hartnett single-handedly assaulted the emplacement, this time destroying its weapon and killing the occupants. Observing another enemy position, he fearlessly charged a third time and eliminated it.

 His courageous actions were directly responsible for the collapse of the enemy defenses and enabled his company to take its objective with a minimum of casualties.

 The psychology of a great temptation — embellishment

 We are all likely to embroider personal stories to make ourselves appear a bit brighter or funnier or more interesting than we think we are, said John Wisner, a psychiatrist at the University of Kansas Hospital.

 “That’s human nature. It’s a tremendous human temptation,” he said.

 But people cross the line on deception when they can’t understand the value of telling the truth, or they get caught up in living a story that isn’t true, Wisner said.

 “Oftentimes people do it for love or esteem from other people,” he said. “There are people who can’t allow themselves to be perceived as who they are and have to make things up. They feel empty and hollow as who they are and have to embellish.”

 Military service is a particularly attractive way to boost one’s image, Wisner said.

 “It implies machismo and bravery. For the average American, military service is the one way available to show valor.”

 Wisner was on staff at the Kansas City VA Medical Center more than 20 years. He met many who acted heroically and were wounded in the line of duty. Rarely did he find someone who exaggerated what he had done.

 “If they talk about it, they do it with a degree of humility and even reluctance,” Wisner said.

Tags: Doug Sterner, John Lilyea, Mary Schantag, Poser Military, Stolen Valor, This ain't hell

Phelps…who wants to go postal on him?

Our Lives, Our Fortunes, Our Sacred Honor by Rush Limbaugh Jr.

It was a glorious morning. The sun was shining and the wind was from the southeast. Up especially early, a tall bony, redheaded young Virginian found time to buy a new thermometer, for which he paid three pounds, fifteen shillings. He also bought gloves for Martha, his wife, who was ill at home.

Thomas Jefferson arrived early at the statehouse. The temperature was 72.5 degrees and the horseflies weren’t nearly so bad at that hour. It was a lovely room, very large, with gleaming white walls. The chairs were comfortable. Facing the single door were two brass fireplaces, but they would not be used today.

The moment the door was shut, and it was always kept locked, the room became an oven. The tall windows were shut, so that loud quarreling voices could not be heard by passersby. Small openings atop the windows allowed a slight stir of air, and also a large number of horseflies. Jefferson records that “the horseflies were dexterous in finding necks, and the silk of stocking was nothing to them.” All discussion was punctuated by the slap of hands on necks.

On the wall at the back, facing the President’s desk, was a panoply-consisting of a drum, swords, and banners seized from Fort Ticonderoga the previous year. Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold had captured the place, shouting that they were taking it “in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!”

Now Congress got to work, promptly taking up an emergency measure about which there was discussion but no dissention. “Resolved: That an application be made to the Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania for a supply of flints for the troops at New York.”

Then Congress transformed itself into a committee of the whole. The Declaration of Independence was read aloud once more, and debate resumed. Though Jefferson was the best writer of all of them, he had been somewhat verbose. Congress hacked the excess away. They did a good job, as a side-by-side comparison of the rough draft and the final text shows. They cut the phrase “by a self-assumed power.” “Climb” was replaced by “must read,” then “must” was eliminated, then the whole sentence, and soon the whole paragraph was cut. Jefferson groaned as they continued what he later called “their depredations.” “Inherent and inalienable rights” came out “certain unalienable rights,” and to this day no one knows who suggested the elegant change.

A total of 86 alterations were made. Almost 500 words were eliminated, leaving 1,337. At last, after three days of wrangling, the document was put to a vote.

Here in this hall Patrick Henry had once thundered: ” I am no longer a Virginian, Sir, but an American.” But today the loud, sometimes bitter argument stilled, and without fanfare the vote was taken from north to south by colonies, as was the custom. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

There were no trumpets blown. No one stood on his chair and cheered. The afternoon was waning and Congress had no thought of delaying the full calendar of routine business on its hands. For several hours they worked on many other problems before adjourning for the day.

Much To Lose

What kind of men were the 56 signers who adopted the Declaration of Independence and who, by their signing, committed an act of treason against the crown? To each of you the names Franklin, Adams, Hancock, and Jefferson are almost as familiar as household words. Most of us, however, know nothing of the other signers. Who were they? What happened to them?

I imagine that many of you are somewhat surprised at the names not there: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry. All were elsewhere.

Ben Franklin was the only really old man. Eighteen were under 40; three were in their 20s. Of the 56 almost half -24- were judges and lawyers. Eleven were merchants, 9 were landowners and farmers, and the remaining 12 were doctors, ministers, and politicians.

With only a few exceptions, such as Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, these were men of substantial property. All but two had families. The vast majority were men of education and standing in their communities. They had economic security as few men had in the 18th century.

Each had more to lose from revolution than he had to gain by it. John Hancock, one of the richest men in America, already had a price of 500 pounds on his head. He signed in enormous letters so “that his Majesty could now read his name without glasses and could now double the reward.” Ben Franklin wryly noted: “Indeed we must all hang together, otherwise we shall most assuredly hang separately.” Fat Benjamin Harrison of Virginia told tiny Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts: “With me it will all be over in a minute, but you , you will be dancing on air an hour after I am gone.

These men knew what they risked. The penalty for treason was death by hanging. And remember: a great British fleet was already at anchor in New York Harbor.

They were sober men. There were no dreamy-eyed intellectuals or draft card burners here. They were far from hot-eyed fanatics, yammering for an explosion. They simply asked for the status quo. It was change they resisted. It was equality with the mother country they desired. It was taxation with representation they sought. They were all conservatives, yet they rebelled.

It was principle, not property, that had brought these men to Philadelphia. Two of them became presidents of the United States. Seven of them became state governors. One died in office as vice president of the United States. Several would go on to be U.S. Senators. One, the richest man in America, in 1828 founded the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. One, a delegate from Philadelphia, was the only real poet, musician and philosopher of the signers (it was he, Francis Hopkinson – not Betsy Ross who designed the United States flag).

Richard Henry Lee, A delegate from Virginia, had introduced the resolution to adopt the Declaration of Independence in June of 1776. He was prophetic in his concluding remarks:

“Why then sir, why do we longer delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her arise not to devastate and to conquer but to reestablish the reign of peace and law. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She demands of us a living example of freedom that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repost. If we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the American Legislatures of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the side of all of those whose memory has been and ever will be dear to virtuous men and good citizens.”

Though the resolution was formally adopted July 4, it was not until July 8 that two of the states authorized their delegates to sign, and it was not until August 2 that the signers met at Philadelphia to actually put their names to the Declaration.

William Ellery, delegate from Rhode Island, was curious to see the signers’ faces as they committed this supreme act of personal courage. He saw some men sign quickly, “but in no face was he able to discern real fear.” Stephan Hopkins, Ellery’s colleague from Rhode Island, was a man past 60. As he signed with a shaking pen, he declared: “My hand trembles, but my heart does not.”

“Most glorious service”

Even before the list was published, the British marked down every member of Congress suspected of having put his name to treason. All of them became the objects of vicious manhunts. Some were taken. Some, like Jefferson, had narrow escapes. All who had property or families near British strongholds suffered.

– Francis Lewis, New York delegate saw his home plundered and his estates in what is now Harlem, completely destroyed by British soldiers. Mrs. Lewis was captured and treated with great brutality. Though she was later exchanged for two British prisoners through the efforts of Congress, she died from the effects of her abuse.

– William Floyd, another New York delegate, was able to escape with his wife and children across Long Island Sound to Connecticut, where they lived as refugees without income for seven years. When they came home they found a devastated ruin.

– Philips Livingstone had all his great holdings in New York confiscated and his family driven out of their home. Livingstone died in 1778 still working in Congress for the cause.

– Louis Morris, the fourth New York delegate, saw all his timber, crops, and livestock taken. For seven years he was barred from his home and family.

– John Hart of Trenton, New Jersey, risked his life to return home to see his dying wife. Hessian soldiers rode after him, and he escaped in the woods. While his wife lay on her deathbed, the soldiers ruined his farm and wrecked his homestead. Hart, 65, slept in caves and woods as he was hunted across the countryside. When at long last, emaciated by hardship, he was able to sneak home, he found his wife had already been buried, and his 13 children taken away. He never saw them again. He died a broken man in 1779, without ever finding his family.

– Dr. John Witherspoon, signer, was president of the College of New Jersey, later called Princeton. The British occupied the town of Princeton, and billeted troops in the college. They trampled and burned the finest college library in the country.

– Judge Richard Stockton, another New Jersey delegate signer, had rushed back to his estate in an effort to evacuate his wife and children. The family found refuge with friends, but a Tory sympathizer betrayed them. Judge Stockton was pulled from bed in the night and brutally beaten by the arresting soldiers. Thrown into a common jail, he was deliberately starved. Congress finally arranged for Stockton’s parole, but his health was ruined. The judge was released as an invalid, when he could no longer harm the British cause. He returned home to find his estate looted and did not live to see the triumph of the revolution. His family was forced to live off charity.

– Robert Morris, merchant prince of Philadelphia, delegate and signer, met Washington’s appeals and pleas for money year after year. He made and raised arms and provisions which made it possible for Washington to cross the Delaware at Trenton. In the process he lost 150 ships at sea, bleeding his own fortune and credit almost dry.

– George Clymer, Pennsylvania signer, escaped with his family from their home, but their property was completely destroyed by the British in the Germantown and Brandywine campaigns.

– Dr. Benjamin Rush, also from Pennsylvania, was forced to flee to Maryland. As a heroic surgeon with the army, Rush had several narrow escapes.

– John Martin, a Tory in his views previous to the debate, lived in a strongly loyalist area of Pennsylvania. When he came out for independence, most of his neighbors and even some of his relatives ostracized him. He was a sensitive and troubled man, and many believed this action killed him. When he died in 1777, his last words to his tormentors were: “Tell them that they will live to see the hour when they shall acknowledge it [the signing] to have been the most glorious service that I have ever rendered to my country.”

– William Ellery, Rhode Island delegate, saw his property and home burned to the ground.

– Thomas Lynch, Jr., South Carolina delegate, had his health broken from privation and exposures while serving as a company commander in the military. His doctors ordered him to seek a cure in the West Indies and on the voyage he and his young bride were drowned at sea.

– Edward Rutledge, Arthur Middleton, and Thomas Heyward, Jr., the other three South Carolina signers, were taken by the British in the siege of Charleston. They were carried as prisoners of war to St. Augustine, Florida, where they were singled out for indignities. They were exchanged at the end of the war, the British in the meantime having completely devastated their large landholdings and estates.

– Thomas Nelson, signer of Virginia, was at the front in command of the Virginia military forces. With British General Charles Cornwallis in Yorktown, fire from 70 heavy American guns began to destroy Yorktown piece by piece. Lord Cornwallis and his staff moved their headquarters into Nelson’s palatial home. While American cannonballs were making a shambles of the town, the house of Governor Nelson remained untouched. Nelson turned in rage to the American gunners and asked, “Why do you spare my home?” They replied, “Sir, out of respect to you.” Nelson cried, “Give me the cannon!” and fired on his magnificent home himself, smashing it to bits. But Nelson’s sacrifice was not quite over. He had raised $2 million for the Revolutionary cause by pledging his own estates. When the loans came due, a newer peacetime Congress refused to honor them, and Nelson’s property was forfeited. He was never reimbursed. He died, impoverished, a few years later at the age of 50.

Lives, fortunes, honor Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire families. One lost his 13 children. Two wives were brutally treated. All were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Yet not one defected or went back on his pledged word. Their honor, and the nation they sacrificed so much to create is still intact.

And, finally, there is the New Jersey Signer, Abraham Clark.

He gave two sons to the officer corps in the Revolutionary Army. They were captured and sent to that infamous British prison hulk afloat in New York Harbor known as the hell ship “Jersey,” where 11,000 American captives were to die. The younger Clarks were treated with a special brutality because of their father. One was put in solitary and given no food. With the end almost in sight with the war almost won, no one could have blamed Abraham Clark for acceding to the British request when they offered him his sons’ lives if he would recant and come out for the King and Parliament. The utter despair in this man’s heart, the anguish in his very soul, must reach out to each and every one of us down through 200 years with the answer: “No.”

The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence proved by their every deed that they made no idle boast when they composed the most magnificent curtain line in history. “And for the support of this Declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

“MilKooks” United against MY Ego

“Per Mike Yon on Facebook: If we are going to make a success out of this war, must start squeezing out and choking off the irresponsible “sources.” People who care will start writing letters to editors/producers who link to websites such as Blackfive and Mudville Gazette. Must start telling mainstream sources that when they link to milkooks, we stop paying attention. Please leave comments at mainstream message boards encouraging people to ignore milkooks.
    There are some good milblogs who should get more attention (such as Small Wars Journal), but others need to be choked off. We have a tough, bloody war ahead, and should refuse to put up with this nonsense. The information battlefront is half the battlespace, and you are in it. Please fight hard from your position.
    It’s time to get active. I will get back to the war and focus there. On the home front, please choke off Blackfive and Mudville Gazette. When you see links to them from MSM sites, please contact editors and producers, and also leave public comments that responsible people do not listen to milkooks.
    Get active and help win the war.”

 I have a friend Chuck over at TCoveride 

who is one helluva guy and someone I would trust with my families life.  He is an Army Officer who has paid the price for this war over and over as he endured the operations to get himself repaired.  To top it off, he is heading back to Iraq here shortly; a choice of his and it makes me proud to say I know him.

Recently there is a war of words going on between a former Army guy who fancies himself as a war reporter and different MilBloggers. He relies on donations to support his trips since his hasn’t been sponsored by any national papers.  This person has coined us “MilKooks” because we don’t agree with his cavalier attitude, lack of respect towards the folks in charge, OPSEC violations and many other things that cause him to have a tantrum like my five year old.

The funny thing is, most of us have gone over and done/seen things that we don’t write about.  I have lots of memories of the dead and wounded we funneled through TQ in 05 but to me, that type stuff feeds the ego of the chuckleheads and I don’t want to disrespect the families of the men who paid the ultimate price.  I think my time, while not as a door kicker, but in my small job there as the Air Boss, made a difference and allows me to say I was there!

Afghanistan was a different tour, bloodless compared to Iraq for me, with visits all over the country to visit the different ANP (Afghan National Police) outpost. The threat of IED’s was very real for me there, a fear that lead to many prayers that if it happens, please make it fast and take care of my family.  I’m not sure I would have the strength to endure what Chuck went through which you will see on his site. (With positive guys like Chuck around me, it would be easier though to cope)

I say all this so that the general public understands that the GreyHawks at Mudville Gazette and guys at BlackFive, two of the power houses mentioned are on the side of our troops and supporters and when they say something, it’s with lots of forethought (and fact checking) to make sure you as the public are informed over here in the states. 

I’ll close out with these thoughts as I leave to go attend to my four kids… Also, here is Photo of a REAL WAR CORRESPONDENT. I’m not sure the man claiming to be a reporter will get the same accolades if his time comes.

Semper Fi,

Taco

Tags: BlackFive, Michael Yon, MilKooks, Mudville Gazette, TCoveride

Some Writers need to understand OPSEC

Folks, I have sat back and watched an interesting fight evolve between Michael Yon and a group of mil bloggers who I like and admire.  The latest post by Yon on the weaknesses of a certain base in Afghanistan in my opinion is irresponsible and Yon being a former Army guy should know better!  Mr. Greyhawk from the Mudville Gazette is a guy I believe to possess a slow burn when it comes to his temper but this latest post by Yon about releasing prisoners has him torqued while his 3CAB post has others fuming, and I mean pissed off rightly so.

 I had one tour in Iraq in 05 next to Fallujah and if I were to point out soft points of that base or my base on my web page at that time, I would be up on charges.  All the people who support him with money might as well start giving it to Green Peace because I doubt that this guy will ever see another embed EVER!!

 While I was in Afghanistan in 08, I was stationed in Kabul, but I always wrote about being in Kandahar for safety reasons.  OPSEC rules are in place for a reason and for the supporters of Mr. Yon who don’t understand this; it’s to keep folks from dying.  He could have easily edited the email deleting the key notes to keep the bad guys from even guessing its whereabouts and then contacting the command with this info.  He chose to spray and pray this errant email on his site with no consideration for the consequences of the guys over there.  It’s easy to drop a dime when you know that you will never feel the effects of it while you get foot massages in Thailand. 

For any of you parents out there with children serving in Iraq or Afghanistan and you hear that any reporter who would publish info like this on a public site like Facebook, and is going to join their outfit as an embed, I strongly urge you to write to the commands and beg them to reconsider. I want everyone to know this is coming from a Marine Officer whose greatest concern was getting a Marine or Soldier hurt by what I wrote. Safety folks, there is a war out there with real bad guys who would love nothing more then to cut the head off your son, brother, sister, or dad.

 Semper Fi, Taco

UPDATE on M.Y.

Folks, I was at the beach with the family when I discovered that Mr. Greyhawk and CJ had sent bogus emails to Mr. Yon pretending to be soldiers over in the war and it appears that Mr. Yon published these letters with no fact checking at all of the sources.  This makes me chuckle a bit as I think of what hate he must have for those guys now.  I am a nobody, thus haven’t been singled out for attacks by his masses which is fine by me, but a buddy Chuck over at TCoverride has put a letter out to his fans that really shows a lot of restraint and thought… Please enjoy his piece, I think he’s a poet!

Tags: gullible, Mr. Yon, Mudville Gazette, OPSEC, Security, Yonbots

The Saga of Sgt Richard E. Owen

This Memorial day, I wanted to take a moment to remember all those who have served and protected our great country for the last 235 plus years!  Below is a link to a neat story that my mom (who I am very proud of!) wrote about Sgt Owen whose plane went down on D-Day over France.  This project was started by Mark Seavey over at The Burn Pit and a great read on this special day.  Thanks to my Mom and Dad for all their effort in tweaking this PDF below and all the volunteers who helped put this together so that you could enjoy it. Also thanks to Marcus, my website Guru for helping me out!!!

Semper Fi

Taco

The Saga of Sgt Richard E. Owen

Brothers at War on Showtime Monday May 31st 8pm

Dear MilBloggers,

As we get ready to honor our service members for Memorial Day, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for continuing to tell their stories.  Your blogs pay tribute to them by letting us all know more about their sacrifices, achievements and service on behalf of us all.
 
Thank you again for the support you have given Brothers at War.  I wanted to share with you that Showtime has decided to make the National Television Premiere of Brothers at War at 8 PM on Memorial Day!
 
This ever greater exposure and viewing of the film means that the accurate portrait of our American Military Families is reaching an ever greater audience.  It is my hope that audiences are as inspired by the people I got to know and those I got to know better on my journey into the lives of my two brothers.  All of their experiences leave me humbled and deeply appreciative.

For your readers who are not able to watch it on Showtime or would like to own it and see the DVD extras we have set up the keycode “Memorial” for a 20% discount at brothersatwarmovie.com for them.

Thank you again for your support, and I hope you all have wonderful Memorial Day Weekends.

My best,
 
Jake Rademacher

Director / Producer
Brothersatwarmovie.com

Andrew Diabo the Poser loses his house!!

Andrew “Andy” Diabo the Fake/Phony/Imposter Marine and his wife Evelynn, lost their house outside of Philly PA when it went on the auction block yesterday.  I joked that a real Vet should win the bid on the house for 50K, but no one bid on it.  With no bids, GMAC bought the deed for $892.00 total!! They can now go in and fix the house or raze it to start again.  Larry King wrote a great piece on it here at Philly.com

Bogus Marine’s Dream home sold at auction: By Larry King

Bogus Marine’s dream home sold at auction

“The dream home of the dreamt-up Marine was sold Friday at a Bucks County sheriff’s sale.

The unfinished McMansion of Andrew A. Diabo – having sat abandoned and decaying for a decade while debts of $530,942 piled up – was claimed by his lender, GMAC Mortgage, for $892 in costs.

For years, Diabo, 38, had held unhappy neighbors, creditors, and township officials at bay by portraying himself as a decorated, wounded Marine pilot on constant deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But as The Inquirer reported last month, it was a ruse he had parlayed into sympathetic stories in the local media, free legal help, and kid-gloves treatment by Tinicum Township regulators.

Diabo also used his fake military past to win a six-figure position with a Florida-based government contractor, according to documents obtained by The Inquirer.

Diabo’s claim was officially debunked in March by military investigators in Washington, who found that the Canadian-born software expert had never been a Marine.

The finding prompted an ongoing federal criminal probe into Diabo, who seems nowhere to be found. In March, after being sent a cease-and-desist letter from the military, he vanished from Bucks County with his wife and young son.

Documents from the Marine Corps Inspector General’s Office show Diabo was hired in 2008 as a Philadelphia-based senior computer consultant for Complete Inspection Systems Inc. of Indiatlantic, Fla.

A company letter dated March 1, 2008, describes the firm as a government contractor with projects for the Treasury Department, the National Security Agency, and Fortune 500 companies.

The same letter describes Diabo as “a senior Marine Corps commissioned officer who had served our country . . . so unselfishly in recent years,” adding that the company can “learn and benefit [from] . . . his leadership capabilities.”

A job description lists annual base pay of $120,000, a 401(k) package, medical benefits, and bonus programs. Company president Gary Parish did not return phone messages seeking comment.

It is illegal to falsely claim military service for personal benefit. It is also against federal law to falsely claim military honors or medals.

Diabo allegedly displayed Silver Star and Purple Heart plaques on a wall of his apartment along the Delaware River in Upper Black Eddy.”

Diabo took off and is currently hiding out in Canada, possibly running wounded Vet scams up there. I doubt that he will be able to cross the border without one of our guys at the customs stall diverting him to a small room for a little one on one.

I promised his orders and today, you will see them, thanks to the FOIA.  He submitted false Gov’t documents to GMAC claiming that he was mobilized to the war.  When I first looked at these things, It was apparent that they were fake.  They had a US Navy header and address (yes the Marine Corps is a Dept of the Navy, the Men’s Dept!) and if he was a Marine, well enough said.  The address is a building at Pearl Harbor that housings the MWR office and a Pizza Hut/Subway

Then as you go through them line for line, all the mistakes begin to stand out.  To a civilian who may only see Military orders once every blue moon, they might pass muster. But, to anyone in the Military that deals with them often, they scream FAKE!  Basically, it looks as though he maybe found a set of Army orders and added USMC here and there to make them sort of Marineish.  I sent them to an Army buddy in the Pentagon who just laughed at them. He agreed that they must have come from some old set of Army orders but all of the font and as we call Naval Correspondence settings were incorrect.

I’m going to leave it at that so that next poser doesn’t use this post to make better orders. Just know that your fake orders will come across folks who know what to look for and they will be vetted.  Oh by the way, while the crime of Stolen Valor is a slap on the wrist in my mind, submitting fake orders and  you could be looking at up to 3 years in jail!    OOOOOOpppsss, big mistake uh?

Then he used his scam to get a job with Complete Inspections Systems, a computer company in Florida.  He touted his experience as a Senior Marine Corps Officer who has served our country and could pass on his great leadership skills, blah, blah, blah.  Diabo claimed he was making $120K a year there. This letter was a forgery as well.  Diabo, as you hide in your hole up in Canada, NJ or NY, know that folks are looking for you and you haven’t fallen off their radar yet.  I guess you could say that you are an HVT and if you were a real Marine, you would know what that means.  Good luck Poser.

Semper Fi,

Taco

Tags: Andrew Diabo, Fake Marine, fake Orders, House sold, Philly PA, Poser, Stolen Valor

Two Brothers at War, Incredible Movie…

Brothers at War:  Two Brothers went to fight. One went to find out why.

Not since I watched “Ross Kemp in Afghanistan” have I been glued to a war story like “Brothers at War.”  This is an amazing story of one enormous and patriotic family as filmed by the oldest brother Jake Rademacher.  His two younger brothers are both in the Army, giving a terrific perspective from both the Officer and Enlisted side as they face multiple deployments over in Iraq.

Jake, decided to find out what the war was all about from behind the lens of his camera and his approach of incorporating the family back home followed by the deployment gives some insight into what a spouse in the Military goes through.  Isaac, a West Point Grad, exudes the rock hard demeanor of a seasoned warrior, but when his little girl is hugging him, he returns to the average “Daddy” that deeply misses his wife and children but knows a higher duty which calls him to serve. 

When a deployment is scheduled for a service member, lots of horrible things go through one’s mind like “Will this be the last time I see everyone? Will I get wounded?” There are lots of prayers said to the almighty for a safe and speedy return.  Unfortunately, you have to snap your mind into combat mode to prep you for the trip which can make you seem distant to loved ones.

Watching Jake begin his journey, I can feel the same tension that he had going over.  Arriving in Kuwait after 12 hours in the air and a long day, the endless rides in blacked out buses to finally arrive on a US compound is documented well.  It’s hot there in Kuwait and humid too! Much like sitting in your garage in the summertime with the dryer on full blast while you hold the exhaust vent in your face and at the same time, toss sand in front of you.

He covers the little things well in this film, things that had happened to me both times on my trips to Iraq and Afghanistan.  Tension is convoyed well without theatrical drama or music, giving you as the viewer an insight into what your son or neighbor probably went through on their tour there.

There are a couple of highlights of the movie really struck a cord with me and I could write a whole book on them, but when you watch it, you’ll understand.

-Having to take a leak while traveling in the back of a Striker vehicle.  It’s so damn hot that you try to hydrate with a gallon of water before your missions and then the nerves hit and you have to go.  Jake knows experienced this the hard way with needles slicing his kidneys with each jarring motion of the vehicle.

-While Jake is attached to a sniper company, the banter back and forth between a sniper and his spotter is like being with your two crazy frat brothers who always make you laugh.

-Jake catching a IED explosion on film during a patrol with the Iraqi Army and their Marine mentor.  I’m yelling at the TV “Jake get the hell down!!! What the hell are you doing standing there in the middle of the frigging road filming, the bastards are going to start shooting!! Get down!!”  Jake figures out pretty fast that the insurgents have now launched their second attack with AK-47’s and gets out of harms way, but not before bullets are snapping all around him all of which are caught on film.

This movie is the raw deal. The language is laced with the spicy vernacular so common among men over there and there are scenes not for the faint of heart that show the compassion of our guys in the face of danger as they treat wounded friends.  The reunions home with the families are well documented too giving this film one of the best all inclusive views of war from start to finish. 

I met Jake at the Mil Blog Conference and have really enjoyed his company via phone calls and emails.  He has given me a promo code that takes two dollars off for you and it will be donated to Soldiers/Angels, a charity that I really like.  I think you will find this movie fascinating and if you are able to pick up a copy, please consider it.

Semper Fi,

Taco

Tags: Army Embed, Jake Rademacher, Ross Kemp, Two brothers at war

Billy Elvin Shelton; Phony Soldier

John from “This ain’t Hell, but you can see it from here” has uncovered another poser. This one hurts because he is the inspiration for Marcus Lattrell to become a Navy Seal. After pretending to have three tours under his belt in Special Forces, records show he had one in VN as a truck driver. Unless there are two Billy E. Shelton’s in the Army, these records seem to indicate that he has joined the ranks of “Posers” across the United States.
Go read this.
Billy Elvin Shelton; phony soldier

I’m sure you’ve read the book “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10“, the story of Navy SEAL Marcus Lattrell and his fateful mission in Afghanistan in 2005. You might remember this passage from page 57 of the book;  You can  read the rest at “This Ain’t Hell”

Tags: Billy Shelton, Fake Special Forces, Lone Survivor, Stolen Valor