veteran’s corner

Tom Krabbenhoft

In the Veteran community there is a plague and epidemic that is not new called Stolen Valor.

Stolen Valor is the act of portraying oneself as a veteran, lying about awards, fabricated war or POW experiences etc. Two Stolen Valor acts have passed in 2005 and 2013 making it a felony. If one makes claims to further themselves financially or gain services falsely, it’s illegal.

Most of the phonies are easy to out as they have confusion of their MOS, job training or locations they served. Example, being a Green Beret just does not just happen. It’s a lengthy process with several steps. Phonies will often say they were fast tracked into elite status because they could shoot well or run fast.        

Some of these fakes just want to melt into service clubs or groups. They want to wrap themselves in the respect being a veteran can bring.

Many of these fakes did serve. They were kicked out or were discipline cases when they served. They seldom have service records like a DD-214s because their service is top secret, sealed, or their service records are at their moms, sisters etc.

98% of these poopbags are elite fighting troops. Mind you only about 3% of people serving are in a combat type capacity. The elite force percentage is much, much smaller than that. The Stolen Valor craze used to be Green Berets, post Bin Laden death phonies like to be Navy SEALS. If you want a laugh and fume look up Don Shipley. Don is a retired navy man; most of his time was spent as a SEAL. He is now devoting his life to outing fake SEALs. He has the entire SEAL database, he will call these fakes or even visit them. Using the Freedom of Information Act he is able to see if these phonies have even served at all. Look up Don if you want a good laugh and be angry at the same time.

I’ve had my own experiences with Stolen Valor poobags. I was attending a group at the VA and one of the participants “Billy” would rapidly talk about things that were suspect. I inquired what unit he was in, he claimed to be in Charlie Co. of a local guard unit I’m very familiar with. He knew nothing about the chain of command of this unit. I name dropped Khafji Iraq, if he fought there, he said yes. Which is strange because Khafji took place in the first Gulf War and is located in Saudi Arabia.

I confronted him and he stammered and stuttered through more lies and backed off his claims. I was chastised by the group leader but outed this guy.

Next week I will cover the harm Stolen Valor causes in many ways.

Anything Veteran related or anything else contact me at 11btwk@gmail.com.