So there’s this fire fighter guy who is lost in a New Mexico wildfire by the name of Token Adams. He is lost, but his mates weren’t worried about him because of his survival skills as a Navy SEAL;
Officials remain confident explaining Adams is well trained. The Coarsegold, CA native a former hotshot firefighter and Navy trained as a Seal [sic].
Well, they should really worry, because according to Don Shipley he was never a SEAL.
More Navy SEAL reportage;
Adams is originally from Coarsegold and graduated from Yosemite High School. He joined the Navy and was trained to be a Navy Seal.
I don’t know where anyone got the idea that he was a SEAL, but more than likely from Adams himself, although there’s nothing on his Facebook page. I intended to wait until Adams was was found so I’d seem like less of an asshole, but my inherent assholness overtook my common decency. Having said all of that, I hope they find him alive and well, but then he can stop the lie.
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UPDATED: Unfortunately, Token Adam was found dead yesterday. We join his family in their grief, as it appears that he was a brave and honorable father and husband as well as a firefighter. Unfortunately, we’ll never know who said that Adam was a SEAL, we can only authoritatively say that he is/was NOT a SEAL – which is pretty much all that we said from the beginning.
I think the word “assholesomeness” works better than “assholness.”
Granted, it takes a certain amount of assholesomeness to point that out.
Coarsegold! I spent a few years there when I was in grade school. Talk about a small F’n town. They proclaimed there were 1000+ people living there, but I saw maybe 100 ever. And no, I don’t know him, looks like I was there 10 years before he was born.
And who the heck names their kid Token?
I too suffer from inherent assholness. It does inhibit the ability to play well with others.
And how exactly does one get “lost in a wildfire”?
Great.
Another phony SEAL from my hometown. That makes two, must be something in the water.
Whoa back just a bit. This guy is missing, his facebook page doesn’t say anything about it, so where did they get his info? Coworkers? Family? I am suspicious enough of the MSM, who never checks ANYTHING, to want to wait until this man is found before tar and feathering him for claims he may or may not have made. Somebody may have misunderstood something he said.
I’m with Pinto…lets see the guys claim before we roast his chestnuts.
Um, why do they keep saying “trained as”? Just sayin’…
#7. – I think they do that for plausible deniability. “We never said he WAS a SEAL, just that he trained as one…” Which could mean anything from washed out of training to ‘he bought the SEAL workout app for iPhone’. Yes, there is one of those.
@7 Ranger X,
Apparently he can clap his flippers and balance a ball on his nose….*bark, bark, bark, bark*.
😀
Okay, so why exactly would someone spend six plus years as a SEAL and become a firefighter when they got out? I’m thinking of the various career fields that would be a good fit for former Rangers, SEALs, etc., and firefighter?
Nah. Not seeing it.
Holy shit, this guy’s 41? He looks like he just hit puberty!
@7 Ranger X
Well maybe because he can balance a ball on his nose and clap his flippers… *bark* *bark* *bark* *bark*
😀
@7 Ranger X
Well maybe because he can balance a ball on his nose and clap his flippers… *bark* *bark* *bark* *bark*
😀
@7 Ranger X
Well maybe because he can balance a ball on his nose and clap his flippers… *bark* *bark* *bark* *bark*
😀
Dang cookies and computer. UGH!
@11 It could be like the obits in our local paper where pictures from basic training are used for guys in their 60s and 70s.
Has anyone here ever eaten BBQ’d seal meat?
REAL DEAL …
I spent some time at EWTGPAC (Coronado).
Can I be a SEAL now?
Went looking and found Inciweb will have updates on him. I’m gonna hold back, say a prayer that they find him alive.
I agree with Pinto, Streetsweeper, etc.
It could well be that he trained as a SEAL but had medical issues before he could finish training. That’s something worth telling his friends about, and it’s very, very honorable.
Sorry, either you earned the Trident or you didn’t. If he didn’t graduate BUD/S, he can’t call himself a SEAL. Just like if a kid doesn’t finish Nuclear Power School/Prototype and get the NEC, he/she can’t call themselves a nuke. If they didn’t graduate Ranger school, etc., etc…
Well I am hoping this is a misunderstanding since there is nothing on the Facebook…my head tells me not to be naive though so we’ll see how it plays out. Hopefully without a tragic end for his young family.
The only reason you guys beat me to the ‘ball on the nose’ reference is that I was out mowing the lawn.
Now I get to complain because you guys beat me to something I could have said first. This is what I get for being industrious.
You are such scum. All of you.
I didn’t see him calling himself a SEAL. The editor who wrote the headline did that. That kind of mistake happens all the time.
WoW! you’re a total douche bag.
So far, no one has heard him call himself a SEAL. This is only media reporting. Nothing on his Facebook or any other social media that I can find. Once one media outlet gets the story, it can get repeated by others with no verification. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until someone can show where he’s called himself a SEAL.
@8 Yep there is one, I personally like to do the “12 weeks to BUD/S” workouts .. they are insane, it is missing the screaming, fire and getting wet and sandy, but then again … is ok .. is ok .. I’ll survive not having that part right now 😛 LOL!
@24 I don’t think it happens all the time, but if they did, the reporter should apologize ULTRA pronto
Well or maybe .. JUST MAYBE!! he got some urban outfitters clothing?
http://guardianofvalor.com/urban-outfitters-decides-ranger-scroll-fashion-accessory/
The ranger scroll … the … freaking .. ranger … scroll….
Oh come on .. my comment is in revision? but it was a funny comment!!! 🙁
It said “Maybe he bought some clothes from urban outfitters” and had this link:
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1176403_504786649364_1961203121_n.jpg
Typical for this site though to jump the gun and label someone phony and ruin their lives, I can recall at least three individuals this has happened to on here
@30 How would that ruin their lives? unless you based all your life on “being a vet” all you have to do is go and say “hey this is my DD-214 or you can find me here and here” I don’t see how you can “ruin their lives”
@27: By “happens all the time” I meant that headline writers exaggerate in ways that the reporter didn’t intend. I’ve seen it happen a few times.
Back when I was wasting too much time in Wikipedia, I’d see a wiki-editor add some “fact” about an alleged atrocity our troops supposedly committed, and it turns out to be a claim made on a headline was from a quote made by a hostile local. So, even when a reporter attributes a quote properly, the editor makes it appear to be factual.
In this case, a firefighter may once have been in SEAL training, and didn’t complete it for whatever reason (and hey, there’s NOTHING wrong with trying!), and then talked about it honestly with his friends years later. Only the headline makes it appear to be a lie. The article itself doesn’t do that.
For that matter, it’s also possible he went through SERE, and the people he told it to got mixed up. (Or the reporter got it mixed up.) We all know that civilians do that sort of thing. That’s not his fault either.
@27: BTW: Where you say the reporter should apologize, it’s important to understand that the reporter may not have written the headline. Maybe the editor should apologize.
The story itself didn’t say he was a SEAL. It said he had SEAL training, which could still very easily be true. I don’t think Don Shipley has a list of every SEAL candidate.
@30 “I can recall at least three individuals…”
By all means, please do. Who have we “ruined” that wasn’t a poser?
Even if we use his number, 3 out of the several hundred posers we’ve busted is hardly “typical”.
Here, too. So far all we have is a reporter (who can’t spell SEAL) reporting that someone said that he was one. We know what was meant, but in actuality, we have someone reporting that someone said this guy was impersonating an aquatic animal!
@30, Oh really A-Stan Man, what are the names of the so called individuals that TAH have ruined. Would they happen to be Dallas Wittgenfeld, Ronald Mailahn, and Phillip Monkress?
How about you go pound sand a$$ wipe. If it was the fault of the media that is calling Mr. Adams an ex Navy Seal, then why is none of his family or coworkers notifying the media about this?
Actually, what is far more typical A-Stan Man, is a peep coming in here all butthurt after a life changing, well deserved smackdown and claiming sandy vagina victimhood because they got caught being a twatwaffle.
If a peep don’t want to get his “life ruined,” then don’t go around claiming shit you haven’t earned. Any damage in that regard is purely self caused. Simple as that, shitstain.
Forgot to add: Typical, A-Stan Man! Blame others for things people have done to themselves.
@21 Even if you graduate BUD/S you are not a SEAL until you get your MOS and assigned a team (I believe you are still 6 months probation at that time while you are on the team but I might be mistaken) so getting pinned takes around 2 years (again maybe a SEAL or retired SEAL can confirm what I know, I’ve only learned that from conversations and poking around :P)
So, has this guy been found yet?
I recall something to that effect, Lost. Just like being on a submarine doesn’t necessarily make you a bubblehead. Only when you’ve earned your dolphins (about a year process) do you get to call yourself one.
@21 NHS
Claiming to be one and being proud to have at least been trained and washed out seems OK, to me. As long as the “washed out” part is always included. It’s an honor for anyone to have been in that training. I was Army, so what do I know though. Some ex-Army types might see a person as having been in training for the Seals and elaborate a bit on that person’s background due to the respect one gets for simply being there. Might have been guilty of that sort of thing myself before this website got my attention a while back.
I have the same problem, I turn into a full asshole when I run into a phoney
Somebody asked so… The Token Adams case has been updated to include arrival of air unit equipped with infra-red and low light cams to aid ground search.
@43–As long as the “washed out” part is always included.
But it almost never is. That’s like an A-ganger (that’s Auxiliary Division, conventional Machinist Mates) on a submarine claiming he was “nuclear trained” when in fact he failed the Week 6 academic board at NPS–and a LOT of boat A-gangers are in fact “nuke waste.”
Now that I think about it, a lot of the A-gangers were RELIEVED they weren’t nukes any longer.
You are what you SERVED as, the NEC/MOS you held, not some school you went to for a few weeks then washed out of. Were that the case, I should be able to claim myself as a Georgia Tech alumnus even though I didn’t finish my degree there?
@46 Depends on the language. If you said you ‘went to Georgia Tech’ that’s technically true, but the implication is you graduated from it. If you say you ‘took a few classes at G. Tech’, I doubt anyone would have any problem with that. If someone does, say, dive training in BUD/S but for whatever reason fails to make a Team, I could reasonably understand them saying they did SEAL dive training. If they go the next step and say they served as a SEAL, that’s a different story.
Trying, and failing, but celebrating the bits you passed is perfectly fine, provided you aren’t portraying yourself as something you aren’t. For better or worse, though, these ‘false positives’ are pretty rare, though.
@47.
Kind of like a Basic Training washout claiming they did a stint in the military?
Meanwhile ,back at the incident …….we have a missing FireFighter with a wife and child and one one way…..still out there!!!!!! Take that energy and use it in a positive manner such as …….I dont know……like ……FINDING HIM ….. !!!!!!! You a can ask questions later. Sounds like a bunch of talkers and gawkers . Not any DOERS among you.
@48: No, because, again, the implied meaning behind a ‘stint’ is a full enlistment. If someone goes through Sniper school and learns a good deal, but fails at the end, you could say they had training as a sniper -they did!- but you wouldn’t say they WERE a sniper, as that implies active service as one.