The Cronkite News Service tells the story of Glen Lacroix who was the University of Arizona Veterans Education and Transition Services (VETS) student director and a Pat Tillman Foundation Scholar. Apparently, the former Army Sergeant embellished his career in order to get himself a slot among the Tillman Foundation students.
The Tillman Foundation canceled his scholarship earlier this year, citing “misleading and inaccurate” information in his application, and that statements he made about his service – that he served in Iraq and Afghanistan and was wounded three times there – are inconsistent with Army records.
From the Arizona Daily Star;
In an AP story from 2011, among others, Lacroix gave details of meeting Tillman, a former NFL player turned Army Ranger, while serving with Special Operations in Afghanistan in 2004. He also claimed a role in the Jessica Lynch rescue mission in Iraq in the spring of 2003, and that he was injured in both theaters.
Lacroix’s awards record states that he is a decorated soldier who served in Korea and Kosovo, including a mission for which he volunteered so a younger soldier could stay home for “family stability.”
He does not, however, have a record of a Purple Heart. Also missing is the Global War on Terror Expeditionary Medal.
Back to the Cronkite News story;
Lacroix does have the Global War on Terror Service Medal. However, Army spokesman Raymond Gall said this medal, by definition, indicates service outside the areas for which the expeditionary medal is given, explicitly, therefore, not Iraq or Afghanistan.
The Fort Huachuca-based units Lacroix served in during 2003 and 2004 “are training battalions,” Gall said, and that while it’s possible Lacroix “might have been sent to brief them on something or train them on something,” Gall said “he would not have been sent to fight side by side with them.”
It is “very unlikely” that Lacroix went overseas at all in 2003, Gall said, especially directly attached to a Special Operations unit.
I talked with Chad Garland, the author of the Cronkite article and he told me that Lacroix hasn’t returned phone calls or email inquiries, so that pretty much tells me that he has nothing to add to the story. Garland continues;
It’s not as if Lacroix’s service record with the Army was less than exemplary. Those records show that Lacroix spent more than 13 years as a soldier, serving almost six years as an infantryman, with duty in Korea and Kosovo, before training as a counterintelligence agent at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., from November 1997 to March 1998.
Awards records show that Lacroix earned Army Airborne and Air Assault badges. But while Lacroix served with a special forces unit, Gall said, he did not have the “tabs” associated with being a special forces operator.
Lacroix was one of 59 Tillman Scholars in 2010. I wonder who got bumped so he could get his scholarship?
13 years in with service in ROK and Kosovo, and he had to make up shit about OIF and OEF and fake awards…pathetic…
His false claims nullify all the good things he may have accomplished, reducing him to the common “Poser” status. I have long felt that those posers who had no military service are only ignorant, they should have known better; while those posers who did actually serve, are stupid, selfish, idiots. They knew better.
Beating Green Thumb to the punchline= TURD
The listing of his medals, from the first link, are (highly) suspicious. Three NDSMs, two MSMs, seven AAMs, four NATO medals, etc…. High-speed or brown-noser, I don’t know….
Another cockroach gets chased out of the baseboard, eh? Well, at least he was found out.
I’m just glad that someone caught up with him and stopped his nonsense for now, but how much of this nonsense is he going to go on promoting, just to get stuff?
So what really happened is he came into the Army just as Clinton was elected, spent the do nothing 90s as a 11B never getting to go to war and doing peace enforcement. Then switched to intel long before the war on terror started and he was trapped in a support roll when we got into a shooting war. How these guys avoid detection is beyond me, especially among a large group of vets like this Tillman Scholar program.
I don’t know what a National Defense Service Ribbon is (first link, sidebar, “National Defense Service Ribbon (3 awards)”), but I know he ain’t qualified for 3 x NDSMs – just two. I mean, it’s twice as many as I have, but dude wasn’t serving in 1974…
While many Vets have the GI Bill, marriages, kids, insurance , employment, wounds, emotional readjustment issues and other obligations/issues/challenges make school very challenging.
And shitbags like this show up and steal scholarship money with BS tales.
Busted a turd the other day; very similar. Claims he was an Iraqi Vet (he was) and had the PTSD. Asked what he did. He was NG 63 series (flywheel mechanic). He then proceeded to tell me that we were similar and being Vets we had a bond, etc.
I told him I was an AD IN Officer and to fuck off. We are not the same. We were similar ages, that was it.
I told the maggot to be careful with his story. Although he did not claim SV, he was really pushing that envelope. Its moot anyways, he was fired from his Vet Office position a few months later. Seems like I heard that not only was he doing a shitty job, but his records displayed “inconsistency. This clown was bullshitting the school staff with his tales. It appears someone educated them.
I saw him the other day and started toward him to find out for myself. This maggot saw me an beat feet the other way. I followed him into a building but lost him.Then it dawned on me what a loser I was for trying to chase this fool down. His time is coming.
But word has it that everyone knows. Cool to fool in a timespan you could measure on an egg timer.
Anyway, I digress. Back to reading.
The last sentence says it all:
“Lacroix was one of 59 Tillman Scholars in 2010. I wonder who got bumped so he could get his scholarship?”
He should be required to pay back the tuition cost he received as part of the scholarship. Then, go to the Tillman family and formally apologize for beging a dirt bag.
You can bet your ass that he was going to use the Tillman Scholarship award to enhance his resume. Not as prestigious as a Rhodes scholarship, but it must carry some glamour. A man without honor. Restitution is in order at the least. Jail for theft by deception works too. I hope the Tillman foundation goes after him.
Correct me is im wrong but didnt tillman die in 03, not 04. I seem to recall when I was at RIP im 03 that he had already been killed.
Nope, I was wrong.
It is statements like “Green Thumb” made here that leads to people lying about their service. By somehow thinking that your service record makes you “more” of a vet, or “better” b/c you did a different job in theater than someone else is ridiculous. The wheel mech may have been a shitbag, but your terminology and attacks on him in the beginning of your statement do not accurately show that you judged him on anything other than the fact that you think you are better than him b/c of the jobs you both were told to do. Little clue in, he deployed, you have no idea what he experienced, you have no idea what he experienced before he got there and how the two things interacted. Just as he does not have that information on you. While in, I too looked down on everyone around me b/c they did not have the coords or tabs that made them worthy of praise. God did not make the sky blue for them afterall. However, having been out for a bit, working with vets from all services and working hand in hand with PTSD support groups I have come to realize that everyone is affected, and everyone’s story matters to them.
As to Glen Lacroix, Those commenting that Glen did this for only personal gain show a glaring lack of knowledge on the subject. The man spent five years at the University helping build the most successful SVSO in the nation. If he lied about some of his history, that is indeed terrible. But as a community we should be looking at WHY he did and not attacking one of our own. He spent many hours working to prevent things such as suicides. Personally I know he was involved in no less than 3 talk downs of veterans attending the UA. As far as the quote from Nancy”You never lie about yourself”, that is the ideal situation. I have met more Scout Snipers and Recon members after I got out of the military than I think have ever processed through the military as a whole. We should be taking a look at the military “warrior” culture that forces veterans getting out to think less of themselves if they were admin or a cook and not infantry or special forces. What we are seeing is a symptom of the problem and ignoring the actual problem. Bottom line is Glen Lacroix is a veteran, and needs our help instead of our ostracization.
@7: Sounds like you had nothing to do with the “educating” of Mr. PTSD’s bosses. Must’ve happened by osmosis or Google-fu or sumthin.
@14 I have to disagree on a few points. I’m a 20-year veteran, but have never come close to combat. I’ve always served in training and support roles, even during my deployments. I’ve served/trained alongside real-deal operators: PJ’s, SF, SEALs, and have never been ridiculed for being a “non-warrior”. The reason is because I’ve never tried to pretend to be something I’m not. From my experience operators only really look down on support personnel when they try to impersonate operators. And if you follow the Stolen Valor issue as long as many of us have, you’ll learn that it’s often part of a larger issue with the individual. The lies always seem to grow until the individual is caught, and often lead to more serious anti-social behavior. Sorry, not pity for him here. Regardless of how much “good” he did, folks like Mr. Lacroix always end up with victims of fraud in their wake.
@16 I both agree and disagree. We work with Dr. Michael Marks, lead PTSD psych for the VA system. We see 100-200 veterans a day on a campus that houses roughly 1000 veterans at any one time going to school. Initially when the V.E.T.S. office went into play there was a huge disparagy between OEF/OIF veterans and their attitudes towards the other veterans in the community. And even within the subset members who were admin were still being called “pogs” by the grunts/redlegs. We hosted the veteran’s in higher education conference and stories were shared from across the nation that were similar in nature.
Do not get me wrong, there is no excuse for lying, there is nothing that can be done for the people that are hurt when people do lie, but as a community we have to be able to look at these people and figure out how to not only help them, but help prevent more cases from cropping up.
Steven – the point is that no matter what he has done for others, no matter how repectable his service record was; he will now and forever be the dirtbag that lied about Tillman. Why embelish? And no this isn’t a ‘misunderstanding’ or a mistake, it’s lies that he got away with and continued to embellish and spread for years.
I get real tired of the Grunt VS Pog, because I am a mother to both (and having many ‘adopted’ service men and women too). I get what you are saying Steven that Grunts get a certain level of respect above others. But you know what – they EARN it. They DESERVE it.
While many I know have spent deployments in Kuwait or Bagram (country club living), I know many young men who lived under horrible conditions overseas in remote COPs, fighting for their lives.
Something I have noticed, maybe others have? The ones that were really in the $hit, they don’t talk much about it, and certainly never brag.
@14.
“and everyone’s story matters to them”.
Just like everyone is unique. I get it.
Maybe if you knew him and the backstory, you would be a little more careful playing the “equality” card and popping off at the mouth.
Most folks can read between the lines. Give it a try next time.
That being said, I did not knock his service. I just stated we had nothing in common. Did he deploy, yes. Was he pushing the envelope, yes. Did his PEERS THAT DEPLOYED WITH HIM call him out, yes. In his job, did he screw up GI Bill benefits for deserving folks, yes. Should he have been terminated, yes.
Imagine a turd scamming (not SV, but potential embellishment to the uninitiated) everyone with his “claims” of PTSD as a CSS guy while men are “walking” around missing legs and arms. Really?
Not only was this clown an unprofessional slob, he bullshitted administration into thing he was something else. And what part of the “inconsistent” records did you choose to overlook?
We all deployed, yes. Were some jobs inherently more difficult that others, yes. Unfortunately, attitudes such as yours minimize the men (and women in some cases) that stepped across that wire and came back missing something, physical, emotional and mental. And when clowns come back claiming the “PTSD” from the “Combat Tire Changes”, I am somewhat suspect until I get the backstory. Not to mention pulling the wool over the inexperienced civilians eyes.
Unfortunately in this dude’s case, there was no significant backstory.
You know, folks like you really should step back.
You may not like my approach or style Steve T., but I assure, I give a damn.
We’re not trying to pile on Steven. PTSD IS REAL! And the folks’ on this blog don’t argue that only triple tabbed SF soldiers pulling triggers for a living can get it. I don’t doubt there a genuine cases of PTSD for folks who never went outside the wire. But I do have an issue when folks us PTSD as an excuse for Stolen Valor. I’ll agree that folks guilty of Stolen Valor do tend to share some common mental defects. But here’s the thing, we see the same defects among Stolen Valor perps who never served in the military, and those who have served. Both non-vets, actual vets who embelish, seem to have some bizarre need for attention and recognition that they feed with their Stolen Valor lies. If the non-vets don’t get to use PTSD as an excuse for their lies, neither do the actual vets. And I’m 100% sure that at some point during one of my deployments, an operator came inside the wire and thought of me as a POG. You know what? He(or she) earned the right to say it. I know my job is important, but I also know my idea of a bad day, and his/hers are miles apart. That “warrior mentality” that may look down upon those in support roles, is the exact attitude I want my front-line brothers and sisters to have. So someone called me a POG? Boo Hoo, I’ll get over it. I just need to do my job, complete my mission, and not pretend to be something I’m not.
I guess my problem here is I am too close to the situation. On paper this looks really bad, the reality is much different (still bad). Glen was/is a friend, he helped me personally through some shit when I first got to Tucson in ’09 and started school. He was a mentor as well as a friend. His apparent lies have hurt a lot of close friends of mine, and me as well, yet we all are working on helping him b/c we see something else. We know he was not walking around telling anyone who would listen about him being a “badass”. We pushed him in front of the camera and the reporters b/c none of us wanted to talk about our experiences. None of us here expected our small club to become a national icon at the collegiate level, a partner school with Tillman foundation. I guess in some small part some of us feel to blame that it got to this level. Some of his stories raised red flags and we all passed it off as “fishing” stories and never gave more thought to it.
I am not going to get involved in this argument further b/c it does none of us any good. My concern is and will always be the health and well being of the veterans around me, like I said in my first post, I have met more scout snipers etc since I got out and started school than exists throughout the history of the services. We need to find a way to fix our own to prevent these incidents from happening time and time again. I think Matt said it best on the quote that Chad put on his article,
“He’s not a monster, he’s not a demon, he’s not a bad guy,” Randle said. “I didn’t know Sgt. 1st Class Lacroix, I knew Glen – and Glen’s a decent guy.”
When I see bugs like Glen in my garden, I step on them.
This guy is a maggot and deserves to be stepped on.
@14….I don’t give a rats ass what a great guy his is. Bottom line he is a phony and a thief.
Steven T: have to agree with beretverde. At this point, the guy has been proven to be a liar, and may indeed be guilty of fraud.
It’s possible for thieves and fraudsters to reform. However, at this point reform needs to be shown through deeds vice merely claimed.
Agreed Hondo. Can’t ignore his actual military record… counterintelligence is the art of lying for a set of objectives. Compassion? That’s for you to decide, but this guy’s no average joe.
I would say this is just the tip of the ice berg, I would venture to guess there is a whole lot more fixing to come out about this situation… a whole lot more… Hondo, 100%, Mack, 100%, Green Thumb, 100%… frag out…