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

Category: Phony soldiers

  • Sputtering “Rock” Harris

    The story about faux-Ranger Harris continues today in the Eastern North Carolina Today. Despite the fact that most of the Rangers who were in Mogadishu say that Harris was never a member of the unit, Harris mitigates his dishonesty by claiming the journalist wasn’t listening to him;

    Harris said he had 316 confirmed sniper kills, all of which were in the last three years of his service. “I think you had the number of confirmed kills wrong. … I must have been talking about my overall unit,” Harris told the reporter Tuesday. A review of the interview, recorded on a voice recorder, showed he did, in fact, say 316. [Actual Ranger Raleigh] Cash and [actual Ranger Matt] Eversmann said there’s no truth in the unit having 316 confirmed kills, either. Cash said he believed the record for confirmed sniper kills was about 90 for an individual, and that happened during the Vietnam War.

    And Harris’ current job is now in jeopardy;

    A supervisor at Down East Protection Services said he reviewed Harris’ DD214 before he was hired and did not suspect it could have been false.

    The journalist got schooled in spotting phonies;

    “What I did was what they call black ops, and there’s not a lot said about it,” Harris said then. “None of that is ever made public record.”

    [Actual Ranger Raleigh] Cash said he has heard of about 10 people falsely claiming to have been in Mogadishu and many use “black ops” as a cover.

    “That’s poser 101 — black ops, secret missions, there’s no record of it,” Cash said. “If you ever hear that, that person is completely full of poop. That kind of stuff doesn’t happen. There’s a record. There’s always a record.”

    Another flag is the “my records were burned in the National Archives fire”.

    Our buddy, Doug Sterner chimes in;

    Harris claimed his DD214 stated he had won two Silver Stars, which cannot be true, according to Sterner. “There have only been two people since the Vietnam War who have received two Silver Stars,” Sterner said. “Only one was in the Army … and he was killed in action.”

    So, unless Harris is now claiming he was killed in combat, it ain’t him.

  • Jeff “Rock” Harris in his hidey hole

    William sends us a link to the Greensboro News-Record (a reprint of the Fayetteville Observer article) which reports today what we all knew yesterday in the first two minutes of reading Jeffrey “Rock” Harris’ fantasy about his exploits as a phony Ranger;

    On Tuesday, the Free Press removed the story from its website.

    “It’s bogus,” Managing Editor Bryan Hanks said. “The guy is a fake. We’re certain.”

    Attempts by the Observer to reach Harris for this story were unsuccessful.

    Yeah, the Observer really should leave the abortion of a story up along with the pictures of Harris. Are they going door-to-door clipping the article out of the print editions? They need to leave the article on the internet so Harris’ future prospective employers can read it.

    Hanks, the Free Press managing editor, said the article was removed from the newspaper’s website after its accuracy began to be questioned Tuesday morning. Hanks said the newspaper intends to publish a follow-up article on Harris but had spoken to “three solid sources,” including [Mark Bowden, author of “Black Hawk Down”], who refute Harris’ account of his military career.

    The Free Press replaced the Harris article with a statement on its website that said “questions have arisen about the accuracy of information provided by the primary source” in the article.

    I’m sure the police would give a bank robber a pass after interviewing his accomplices. So much for journalistic skepticism. But Harris played the role that journalists come to expect – the damaged goods guy who was influenced by his horrible experiences forced on him by the generals and politicians.

    I hope someone finds him and stomps a mudhole in his ass.

  • Kicking ass the Old Media won’t

    Kicking ass the Old Media won’t

    You’ve probably already seen this doofus on the countless other blogs and forums like our friends at Blackfive and SOCNET. Zero sent me the link last night and the first thing I did was send it to the folks at POW Network. Mary mailed back to expect a retraction and here it is. But the guy just got greedy.

    What the hell use is 54 ARCOMs and AAMs? You’d think that after 12 or so, they’d let him trade them up for an MSM or something. Over the period of my career, I got three of each…I had twelve years in before I got my first ARCOM – and I always got them for stupid shit like running the 3ID’s EIB test site or being TAC NCO of a platoon of cadets who won honor platoon at 1st Region’s summer camp at Bragg. The closer you work to the flag pole, the more likely you’re going to get an ARCOM or an AAM – especially if you’re an infantryman.

    But Jeff “Rock” Harris, the “executive security specialist” who works at a company which installs alarm systems (not the kind of security where he actually protects executives like he wants you to believe) also wants you think that he has 316 confirmed sniper kills in the last three years of his service – isn’t that like one every third day? No wonder Clinton’s military was running out of ammo.

    He also gives Christians a reason to want him bruised and bloody in an ass kicking;

    Medical experts still aren’t completely sure how he overcame his paralysis, but Harris, a member of Grace Fellowship Baptist Church, credits it all to God.

    “The day I left Walter Reed (Army Medical Center), they said I would have maybe an 8 percent chance (to walk again),” Harris said. “I never accepted that. … I’m a very blessed guy.”

    The guy gave the “journalist” enough fodder to check and she didn’t.

    “I don’t pass a soldier without saying ‘thank you,’ ” he said. “I don’t tell them who I am. I just tell him ‘thank you.’ ”

    Yeah, I’d keep not telling them who you are after this little bit fame you’ve earned on the internet. This kind of horseshit is the reason that real soldiers don’t tell their stories. Most of those medals that he claimed could have been verified on the internet if the “journalist” hadn’t been in such a hurry to rush her stupid story to cover the front of her paper.

    Thanks to all of the folks who sent me the link today. I was waiting for the FOIA, but I guess you folks want to talk about it. It pisses me off mightily that they dragged my friend’s name into it, too.

    The whole article is below the jump;
    (more…)

  • Richard Ortega, real life soup sandwch

    Our own AverageNCO emails that he’s been working with our buddy Doug Sterner on outing Richard Ortega and the story appears in the Air Force Times today;

    The 88-year-old retired chief master sergeant, in his dress uniform, regales crowds with his memories of fighting on D-Day, flying bombing missions over Korea and serving as a special operator during the Vietnam War. The awards on his coat include two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars with ‘V’ devices and seven Purple Hearts.

    His daughter, Rachael Ortega Bateman, wrote a book about her father’s service. The title reflects her admiration for him: “My Hero … My Dad: Echoes from the Battlefield.”

    According to the National Archives and Records Administration he really did serve in many of the places he claims, but I guess he didn’t think the Army rewarded him properly for his service;

    Ortega has six Purple Hearts, two Silver Stars and four Bronze Stars, according to a 2003 article in the Orlando Sentinel. Several newspaper articles from this year put the number of Purple Hearts at seven.

    His dress uniform tells another story.

    He wears a Silver Star Medal ribbon with an oak leaf cluster, a Bronze Star Medal with valor ribbon with three oak leaf clusters and a Purple Heart ribbon with four oak leaf clusters.

    The two Silver Stars do not appear on the personnel record provided by the National Archives and Records Administration.

    The article goes on to list several other discrepancies.

    Ortega’s service was indeed exemplary, and he didn’t need to embellish his career, but here he is stealing the valor of his fellow warriors. Not only that, but look at how his daughter found out.

  • Ultimate phony soldier sentenced

    Back in April, I wrote about Yupeng Deng, the ultimate phony soldier who not only didn’t have a military career, but recruited other phonies and built a whole unit of Chinese nationals who hoped that by joining the ranks of phonies, they would achieve US citizenship.

    Well he pleaded guilty yesterday;

    Deng pleaded guilty to one count each of theft, manufacturing deceptive government documents and counterfeiting an official government seal, and a Los Angeles County judge sentenced him immediately.

    Deng also pleaded guilty to felony possession of child pornography, which stemmed from a computer search by authorities investigating the military scam. He was sentenced to 16 months for that charge, but the time will be served concurrently with the rest of his sentence.

    Besides the prison sentence, Deng was ordered to pay about $200,000 in restitution. Ten other counts were dismissed as part of a plea deal.

    This is how he was finally busted;

    Walnut city councilman and U.S. Army veteran Joaquin Lim sensed something was amiss when he saw Deng’s troops at civic events held by the Chinese immigrant community. At a flag-raising ceremony honoring a Chinese holiday, Lim stopped one of the recruits and asked to see his military ID.

    “There were actually typos on the ID card,” Lim said. “Right away, I knew something was wrong.”

    It was another veteran who discovered the large-scale plot to defraud his own countrymen. We know phonys when we see them, so it’s our responsibility to report it, since not many others will take the time.

    Thanks to John for the link.

  • Lane Bryant-sized phony at JFK

    Meet Rock Diaz from Long Island who tried to scam the airlines out of a free upgrade for his flight and to get VIP treatment. According to the New York Post;

    Rock Diaz, 22, of Freeport, has a history of pretending to be a military man to get VIP treatment, cops said — he once even smooth-talked his way into a jetliner’s cockpit, where he was photographed sitting at the controls wearing a goofy grin.

    The mile-high huckster was finally brought to earth Friday afternoon when a sharp-eyed customs official at JFK asked him his rank — and he gave an answer that didn’t match the insignia on the uniform he was wearing.

    How sharp-eyed do you have to be to spot a plus-sized phony. he looks like he ate a real soldier. According to Perth Now;

    Diaz – who sources said never served in the military – also had a black POW patch on his sleeve, which an actual soldier would never wear in that spot, the sources said. His dog tags were comically engraved with the words, “USA Marines Corp.”

    The Spanish-speaking Diaz said that he did nothing wrong and blamed any confusion on a language barrier.

    “I never asked to get upgraded. The stewardess offered me a new seat, and I asked why. They explained it to me in English, and I did not understand,” Diaz said. “I moved where they told me to sit.”

    He was charged with second-degree impersonation.

    Yeah, he didn’t do anything wrong only expressing his freedom to say and act however he wants. I’m sure his cell mate will enjoy the fact that he does whatever he’s told.

    Thanks to 1AirCav69 for the link.

  • Phony obituary

    Ed sends us a link to an obituary written by a son about his father, James Manwill Robertson, who by all appearances looks like a good Christian man, until you get to this part;

    Jim graduated from BYU with a BA in Spanish, after which he served in the Air Force for 8 years as a pilot and Captain. He flew over 150 missions and was twice awarded the Air Force Cross for his heroic efforts.

    So a quick glance at Doug Sterner’s “Home of Heroes” shows that no one by that name was ever awarded even one Air Force Cross. So this guy’s right to free speech can now haunt his family – unless the son just made it up and threw it in the obituary.

  • VA’s Operation Stolen Valor

    The Department of Veterans’ Affairs claims they’re getting serious about chasing down criminals who impersonate heroes in order to get VA benefits, according to ABC News. I find that real hard to believe.

    Someone in one state did a survey of the number of people receiving benefits for being former POWs. The Department of Defense counted 16 in that particular state and the state was paying benefits to over 600 to the tune of $36,000/year/veteran.

    I’ve volunteered to do the leg work for the VA, Mary at POW Network has also volunteered, but they’re not interested in busting phonies so badly that they’ll actually look for them. So who do they think they’re fooling?

    Busting phony POWs is the easiest thing that the VA can do to erase phonies from their rolls by comparing DoD’s list of POWs to the the VA’s list. How hard is that? But the VA won’t release the list of who they’re paying for being POWs.

    I know there are people from the DVA reading this right now – if you’re serious, prove it.