Category: Phony soldiers

Our buddy, Doug Sterner writes to tell us that a despicable character, by the name of George Gsell who falsely claimed to have earned an Air Force cross has decided to take Virginia TV station WTKR to court because of their report on Stolen Valor which included Gsell and his stolen valor;

Here is the FOIA on Gsell from POW Network;

Am I doing this because I hope to get my ass sued, too? Maybe a little, but I don’t think Gsell has the cojones to face me across the table at discovery.

Peg McNichol, the Canton Patch editor emails to let us know that the Ray Schepansky saga has a conclusion. Schepansky, you might remember, was the Plymouth, Michigan teacher who was arrested for attempting to bring hand gun and ammunition in two loaded magazines on school property where he taught. He then mitigated his bad behavior by explaining to police that he was a special forces major with a harroing war-making past.

The fact that he drove a Kia made me suspcious of his tale and, as always, my suspicions were borne out.

Anyway, here’s what his punishment is, according to Peg;

As part of the 2-year probation, Judge Allen ordered Schepansky to attend anger-management training and undergo a psychological evaluation.

Also, Schepansky must:

Not own, possess or use weapons and ammunition.
Not visit Plymouth-Canton school property or contact school employees.
Pay more than $1,000 in costs:
$240 for the cost of probation supervision
$600 for court fees
$130 crime victim fee
$68 state-minimum court cost.

Apparently. according to Schepansky’s lawyer, TAH’s investigation into his military record hurt his case;

The court case shed light on claims Schepansky made that he was a U.S. Army Ranger and Special Forces member as well as inconsistencies on his job application to the district.

Convertino said in a phone interview Monday that news of Schepansky’s military fabrication hurt the case, calling it “all the more unfortunate” because his actual U.S. Army record was a good one.

I’ll add at this point that I made sure that the Wayne County prosecutor’s office knew about his phony claims so he couldn’t hide behind the “loony vet” stereotype.

Unfortunately, Schepansky can still teach in Michigan, although not at Plymouth High School Let’s see if he can get a job without faking his military recoed next time.

Past Schepansky links;

Raymond Schepansky, phony SF Major teacher

Phony SF major Schepansky fired

More Schepansky antics

Schepansky resigns after being fired

Canton Patch: How to Verify Military Claims

We first dicussed Ralph “Cotton” Lawson back in August when we discovered an article about him and his “Most Interesting Life” of winning the Second World War ll by his lonesome. Well, here we sit months later an the newspaper that ran the original story, finally comes out and tells the real story;

The Union Daily Times contacted the U.S. Department of Defense for clarification. Lt. Cmdr. Alana Garas of the Navy Office of Information in Washington, D.C. provided the following summary: “He joined our Navy Aug. 13, 1941 and served until Aug. 13, 1947. He was discharged as an RM1 (Radioman 1st class). His NAVPERS-553 (DD-214) states he ‘served on’ the S.S. Challenger, COMFLTAIRWING 17 (aboard the Cumberland Sound), S.S. Oregonian, U.S.S. Melville, U.S.S. Pine Island, U.S.S. Rehoboth and Acorn 45 in the Philippines.” Garas also addressed the status of Lawson’s awards.

“His awards include the American Defense Ribbon, American Theatre Ribbon, Philippine Liberation Medal, Good Conduct Medal Japanese Occupation Ribbon, European Theater Ribbon and the World War II Victory Medal – NO Navy Cross and NO Purple Heart,” she stated.

Does this mean there is no record of Ralph Lawson serving as a pilot? “Based on the information that was available in Mr. Lawson’s record, no,” Garas stated. “If Mr. Lawson had been a naval aviator, I believe information regarding flight school and the date he was designated as a naval aviator would have been included.” The Aug. 13 story also stated, “Lawson had already acquired two years worth of college credit while serving, and when he returned, he earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Newberry College.” “In order to be a naval aviator (pilot), one must be a commissioned naval offi-cer,” Garas stated. “If Mr. Lawson had not entered the Navy with a degree, he would not have been commissioned.

So after that, authoritative information from the Navy, why would the “journalist” even include a convoluted explanation from “Cotton”?

“In ’47 they let me go back to an enlisted rank so I could get out and go back to school,” Lawson said. “So that’s what I did. I went to Wofford. I could have stayed in and retired, but I didn’t want to stay that long.” In addition to his discharge papers, Lawson has printed information con-firming his story, which he said was a copy of his ship’s log.

“I understand that some of the records could have gotten lost,” he said. “We were hopping from one island to the next.” Lawson also said he has no idea why records of his service as a naval aviator cannot be located.

“People are going to believe what they want to believe anyway,” he said.

Yeah, all officers really want to back to being enlisted so they can get oout of the military sooner, I’m sure none of them thought to simply resign their commission.

Now, I understand that journalists have to provde both sides of the story, but this doofus doesn’t even take the column inches it would take to call Bullshit on Larson. And lets him get in the last word. Old fools are the worst fools.

Thanks to UpNorth for the link.

TSO strikes again. He sent me a link on Fox News telling women they should date returning veterans. Aside from the fact that most women don’t need to be told to veterans, take a look at their model for the picture;

Yeah, a Special forces patch and no jump wings and no Green Beret, no DUI on his cap or his shoulders. Yeah, i know he might be one of those protected species of people assigned to Special Forces units who are nasty legs like veterinary dietitians who get to call themselves Special Warfare. But what are the odds, someone assigned to an Airborne unit with no need to be jump qualified? And no Unit Crest?

OK, let me have it. Let’s see if I care.

A couple of folks have sent me the link to a confrontation in Portland’s Occupy protest in which the police questioned a guy who called himself an “acting Gunnery Sergeant” – I guess that gives him an escape, since he was acting. Anyway, the clown had an airsoft pistol in his holster and a K-Bar…because ya know REAL Marines are always walking around in public with that bull shit, right?

Karlen picked up on these deficiencies;

Chevrons are incorrectly placed
Cover looks worse than a first week recruit
Wearing black boots
Has an airsoft pistol and knife attached at the waist

Someone posted this at Reddit;

I’m a former Marine who attended to protest today, and saw the police “disarm” him. I use quotes because the gun was an airsoft gun. I approached him and questioned him on who he was, what he was doing, etc. He identified himself as “Acting” MstGySgt Patterson (promoted under the authority of a Capt Nicholas Holtz), and said his unit was 3/1 MARSOC, 1st Company, based out of the Pentagon in Virginia. He reported he’d been in the Marine Corps for 7 years, and that his actual pay grade was E-7. He didn’t have much in the way of answers when I asked why he was wearing non-uniform boots, how he made E-7 in seven years and what “Acting MstGySgt” meant, why his chevrons weren’t positioned properly on his collar, why he didn’t have his military ID, what exactly “3/1 MARSOC” meant, when they started numbering companies, when captains gained E-9 promotion authority, why he was wearing utilities off-base and off duty against regs, or when they moved the Pentagon to Virginia and started basing combat units out of it. He became extremely agitated when I started pressing him on what his real story was. I suggested that there were probably enough Marines downtown that would instantly see through his crap disguise that it might not be a good idea to hang around. He left in a hurry.

James sent us these photos;
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About a hundred of you guys sent me a link to the article that announces that the Supreme Court is taking up the Stolen Valor Act, so I guess you want to discuss it;

The case arose from the prosecution of Xavier Alvarez under a 2005 law, the Stolen Valor Act. Mr. Alvarez, an elected member of the board of directors of a water district in Southern California, described his background at a public meeting in 2007.

“I’m a retired Marine of 25 years,” he said. “I retired in the year 2001. Back in 1987, I was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. I got wounded many times by the same guy.”

Everyone who sent the link thinks this is a good sign that the USSC is taking the case. I don’t. I’m pretty sure we’re going to see the stupidest shit that ever came out of the Supreme Court. They’re all going to throw us under the bus.

On the upside, TAH will have an eye witness report to the arguments and the American Legion is filing an amicus brief in the case.