This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Phony soldiers

  • Hillar sentenced to 21 months

    Bill Hillar, arrested in January for perpetrating a fraud on federal law enforcement agencies and students, was sentenced in a maryland courtroom yesterday to 21 months in prison according to the link sent to us by ROS and Just A Grunt to the Washington Post;

    Still, Hillar insisted, he is a patriot who visits Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and goes to airports to greet veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars when they return from tours of duty.

    “It’s very difficult to admit to myself that I’m a fraud,” Hillar said.

    Yeah, well, maybe you’ll come to own that conclusion before your sentence ends, Bill, m’boy. Hillar was busted by some of his students who happened to be veterans and thought the story he told about being the model for the movie “Taken” was a bit fishy.

    Fox News says that Hillar also owes $170,000 dollars to the agencies he defrauded.

    He must pay $170,000 in restitution to the law enforcement and first responder organizations and schools that hired him believing that he had spent 28 years in the U.S. Special Forces, reaching the rank of colonel.

    Well, he owes veterans a debt that can’t be repaid.

  • Major Chris Shane and his Stolen Valor

    Maj. Chris Shane told the Witchita Eagle the white knuckle story about how he chased down and killed an insurgent he suspected had just set off a roadside bomb which had killed young Captain Shawn English, but English’s widow immediately called BS on Shane’s story;

    She said the Army calls what Shaner did “stolen valor,” in using her husband’s death to make himself look heroic. She wants the Army to look into whether Shaner violated Army regulations.

    Lt. Col. Alex Fink, a deputy commander in the 89th Sustainment Brigade, the Wichita-based Army Reserve unit Shaner served in until he recently retired, said the unit is looking into the situation.

    “To me and to my boys, there were a lot of heroes that day, but Chris Shaner wasn’t one of them,” English said of the day her husband was killed.

    According to his unit, Shane was in the unit, but no where near the incident which claimed English’s life.

    But Shaner, now a teacher at Colvin Elementary School, later admitted in an e-mail that he had related an “imagined” version of events. He said he did it because he’s suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because of his Iraq experiences.

    Yeah, the catch-all PTSD excuse. or maybe its because the Major is a Walter Mitty-type who can’t help himself from telling bold-faced lies.

  • “Gunny” Lauve update

    I’m sure you remember the story of “Gunny” Lauve from when I first mentioned him and then when TSO posted about the American Legion’s investigation of the phony. Well, apparently, the National Personnel Records Center can’t find a record of him ever serving;

    The word is that he actually did serve for a few weeks at boot camp and then WWII ended so they let him go home. But if that’s true, it seems that there would be a record of that. We’re checking alternate sources.

  • Another phony soldier and another phony journalist

    Average NCO sends us a link to an article from the Andalusia Star-News in which they admit their error in publishing an article about Cliff Moore, another phony Special Forces soldier;

    The Star-News story on Sat., Aug. 13, stated that Andalusia native Cliff Moore is a member of the U.S. Army special forces had received both the Distinguished Cross and Purple Heart. We confirmed today that The Star-News and others were misled by Moore, his claims, and his photograph.

    MSG Eric A. Hendrix, chief of media relations for the U.S.Army Special Operations Command at Ft. Bragg, released the following statement on Friday:

    “The U.S. Army Special Operations Command has no record of an award of the DSC to any Soldier on August 1, 2011, and no indication that Cliff Moore is actively serving within the command, including at 3rd Special Forces Group as is portrayed in the photo which appeared in [The Andalusia Star-News].”

    So another journalist practices “reverse research” – verifying her story after it’s been published. I can’t find the original story, but I’d sure love to read it if someone finds it.

  • Newspaper retracts awesomest SEAL story

    The Mountain News which published a story about a clown who claimed that he commanded SEAL Team 6 and spent 31 years as a SEAL which we discussed last week, has admitted that perhaps they’d been a bit hasty in trotting out this particular fairy tale;

    A Freedom of Information request to ascertain whether Carl was ever trained as a Navy SEAL was submitted this week. However, Eric Erdmann, Freedom of Information coordinator at the Navy’s base in Coronado, California, said confirmation could not be provided by press time.

    However, Wikipedia, the online Encyclopedia, says SEAL Team 6 was disbanded in 1987 and replaced by a new unit, designated at the Navy’s Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU).

    The final commanding officer of the unit formerly known as SEAL Team 6 listed on that website was Capt. Scott P. Moore, who led the unit from 2004-06, a period that includes the time Carl claimed to have led the unit.

    So basically, they’re admitting that they’re doing their research retroactively. Funny how they discovered Wikipedia after they ran the article. I wish they’d tell us this goof-ass’ name so we can do our own research on him, because at this point, they have no credibility.

    His story was provably false from the first paragraph when he convinced the “journalist” that he went from Parris Island to Coronado. I’m sure the Navy has enough volunteers and they don’t need Marines to be SEALs…and I don’t think a Marine would want to be a sailor, anyway.

    Even when Mountain News gets the FOIA, are they even going to know what they’re reading? They need me on their staff, the buttnuggets.

  • Derik Hembree arrested.

    It seems that Derik Hembree was arrested in Lawton, Okla.

    Derik Hembree was caught in Lawton, Okla. Wednesday night on a felony warrant for the kidnapping of his daughter Brooke. He has been AWOL from Fort Carson since May and his family has been worried about the safety of both him and the baby.

    Colorado Springs Police told TARGET 13 Investigates that Brooke was dropped off at a Lawton, Okla. fire station Tuesday night, with a note with all of her information.

    Brooke’s mother, Nicole Brewer, says her daughter was in good health and will be back in Colorado Thursday night.

    Also it looks like TSO’s fears about him being a crazy vet as a defense being validated.

    She tells TARGET 13 by phone that Hembree was injured in Iraq and that his personality had changed over the last year.

    “He’s been in a lot of pain and I knew the Army has got him on a lot of medication nad that’s when he started to see the change in Derik,” says Calloway.

    Update: I got a hold of author of the post about his past and he said that he would look into his military records. I will post when I get a reply.

    Update X 2

    It seems that the child was in care of the state and it was the state’s opinion that nether parent have full custody.

    Local investigators said previously that Hembree allegedly knocked on the door Tuesday night at a Lawton fire station, handed his daughter to the fireman there and ran away. It is not known why Hembree fled from Colorado with the child, who was in the custody of the Department of Human Services but living with Hembree.

    Colorado Springs authorities would not disclose why the child had been removed from her mother’s care, but a DHS representative said they preferred to place children with a family member before entering the child into foster care.

  • Phony Ranger to pay restitution

    Jose garcia

    The guy, Jose Garcia who we discussed a few months ago when he madehimself a Ranger and then bilked his fellow Connecticut citizens out of a few thousand bucks until he was busted, was in court the other day (From Boston.com);

    The Stamford Advocate reports that 20-year-old Jesus Garcia did not enter a plea during a court appearance Monday. His lawyer told the judge that Garcia is embarrassed and paying back the money is his priority.

    Well, not entering a plea and not admitting to his wrong-doing doesn’t sound like he’s all that contrite. Just returning the money he stole doesn’t fix his situation with veterans. He stolen from us, too, and we want restitution, and the only place we can get restitution is in court. I certainly hope the judge isn’t considering giving him a break after he returns the stolen money.

  • The awesomest SEAL in history (Complete article added)

    Average NCO sends us this link to the most impressive bio of a SEAL, I’ve ever read. To show how smart he is, he didn’t use his real name;

    Carl, who now goes by that assumed name, seldom stays in one place for long and is temporarily staying at an undisclosed location in San Bernardino County, told his story this week to this newspaper.

    It’s a tale of quiet, behind-the-scenes heroism for this descendant of a military family, courage demonstrated in countless fierce battles with a shadowy enemy and on numberless covert nighttime missions. It also includes a medical miracle which Carl attributes to his faith in God.

    Oh, well, if he believes in God, he must be legit. But then he tells the story of how he went from Parris Island to BUD/S;

    Then, when he turned 17, “they came and got me. At midnight on his birthday, “I was off the bus and following the yellow footprints” on the pavement at the Parris Island, S.C., Marine base, he said.

    I didn’t know SEALs used Marines, but he was pals with Dick Marchinko, and he’s the only guy I know who would admit that in public, so his story must be true. Despite the fact that the folks at Free Republic and AR15.com don’t believe him.

    Yeah, you need to read the whole article in order to get the “full retard” effect. The reporter must’ve been intending to pull our collective leg, because no one is so gullible that they’d believe some horseshit like this.

    For those of you who missed the article before they pulled it down; here’s the whole fairy tale below the jump;
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