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

Category: Phony soldiers

  • Thoughts on Blumenthal News Conference

    You can watch the news conference on Real Clear Politics here (thanks to TSO for the link).

    First of all, it is kinda of ironic that Blumenthal was defending himself against allegations that he lied about serving overseas in a combat zone in a VFW hall. Everybody knows that to be a member of the VFW you have to serve overseas in a combat zone.  In my opinion, he had no business setting foot in a VFW hall.

    Blumenthal surrounded himself with veterans (mostly Marines) and one spoke defended Blumenthal against the allegations he lied before Blumenthal spoke. On the Fox News feed, I heard a lot of “hooahs” and no “oorahs”. Marines don’t say “hooah” and most of the vets I saw on screen were Marines. Seem strange to anybody else?

    Blumenthal starts out by emphasizing he “volunteered” to serve in the Marine Corps reserve. In a technical sense, yes. However, it is clear that for five years (from 1965 to 1970) he avoided serving in an active-duty unit that could have been sent to Vietnam. In 1970, he did not receive a deferment and that is the year he joined the Marine Corps Reserve.

    Blumenthal then admits to a “few misplaced words” and that he misspoke “on a few occasions”. I guess  a “few ocassions” means eight times, including in print news articles that he didn’t make an effort to correct. He also stated he “regrets” those words. Yeah, I would regret them too when my lies become national news.

    Blumenthal then took questions and in response to one question he chastises the New York Times for barely mentioning his reserve service and deingrating the Reserves in its article. Here are some excerpts from the New York Times article, you decide if they barely mention his reserve service:

    “In 1970, with his last deferment in jeopardy, he landed a coveted spot in the Marine Reserve, which virtually guaranteed that he would not be sent to Vietnam. He joined a unit in Washington that conducted drills and other exercises and focused on local projects, like fixing a campground and organizing a Toys for Tots drive.”

    “He said he had tried to stick to a consistent way of describing his military experience: that he served as a member of the United State Marine Corps Reserve during the Vietnam era.”

    “In April 1970, Mr. Blumenthal secured a spot in the Marine Corps Reserve, which was regarded as a safe harbor for those who did not want to go to war.”

    “Mr. Blumenthal landed in the Fourth Civil Affairs Group in Washington, whose members included the well-connected in Washington. At the time, the unit was not associated with the kind of hardship of traditional fighting units, according to Marine reports from the period and interviews with about a half-dozen men who served in the unit during the Vietnam years.”

    The Times also posted this picture of Blumenthal in his blues:

    Obviously, they didn’t ignore his service in the Reserves. Now on the issue of deningrating the reserves during the Vietnam War, it is a fact that (with a very few exceptions) the vast majority of reserve and National Guard units did not deploy to Vietnam. Service in those units was seen by many as a way of avoiding service overseas. That is indisputable.

  • The double standard

    TSO and I were having an email conversation about this so I thought I’d share

    Let’s pretend for a minute that Richard Blumenthal didn’t lie to Connecticut about his military service in Vietnam. He got five deferments from the draft while he was in college – not that there’s anything wrong with that. I’ve always said on this blog that deferments were common in the era of the draft – five deferments is about right for someone to attend college. And in an era when all military service was disparaged, Blumenthal joined

    But let’s look at how the Democrats have traditionally addressed deferments and service in the Reserves, shall we?. Dick Cheney had five deferments and we heard about for eight years. Blumenthal’s deferments were 1965 to 1970 – while we had combat troops in Vietnam. Cheney’s deferments were all before 1965, while there were no ground combat forces in Vietnam.

    Dan Quayle got hammered during the GHW Bush years because his Vietnam Era time was spent in the Reserves like Blumenthal. GW Bush was a pilot in the Texas National Guard and we heard about it for eight years.

    More recently, I wrote about Gordon Duff’s attack on SC Congressman Joe Wilson who had five deferments and served in the Guard and Reserves.

    Now the Washington Post is reporting that the national Democrats are lining up behind Blumenthal;

    Yet national Dems think he’ll survive this, because he has also repeatedly been accurate in representing his record. They hope this will persuade people to see his previous quotes as screw ups, rather than deliberate attempts to mislead. Indeed, don’t be surprised if more examples of him accurately discussing his record surface before long

    Like I said, I don’t care about deferments or Reserve service, but looking at recent history, Democrats do….so why are they standing behind this guy?

  • Blumenthal Campaign Denies He Lied About Vietnam Service

    From the Atlantic:

    “The New York Times story is an outrageous distortion of Dick Blumenthal’s record of service,” Blumenthal’s campaign manager, Mindy Myers, said in a statement.

    “Unlike many of his peers, Dick Blumenthal voluntarily joined the Marine Corps Reserves in 1970 and served for six months in Parris Island, SC and six years in the reserves. He received no special treatment from anyone.”

    “Voluntarily” my ass. He got five deferments in five years to avoid service in Vietnam and when he couldn’t get anymore, he joined a reserve unit he knew wasn’t going to deploy (which isn’t true today-4th Civil Affairs Group is getting deployed a lot).

    Blumenthal is having a press conference today at 2 pm ET to discuss these charges (i.e. trying to kill the story).

    The video (he says he was in Vietnam around 0:35):

  • Phony Vietnam Vet In Connecticut Senate Race

    Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D) has made veterans issues and his supposed service in Vietnam a centerpiece of his campaign to replace Senator Chris Dodd as a senator from Connecticut. Quite frequently, Blumenthal speaks before veterans groups and often discusses the problems that he and other Vietnam Vets faced when they returned to civilian life. In many occasion, he gets quite emotional about the subject and burst into tears.

    The problem is he never went to Vietnam. According to the NY Times and Washington Post, Blumenthal got five deferments between 1965 and 1970 to avoid service in Vietnam. During those years, he was able to go to Harvard and even get a job working for the Nixon administration. In 1970, when his deferments ran out, he joined the Marine Corps Reserve and served with the 4th Civil Affairs Group in Washington, D.C. The closest he got to combat in Vietnam was repairing playgrounds in southeast Washington, D.C.

    Instead of backing away from this turd, the Democrats have gone on the attack and blamed Republicans (specifically Linda McMahon) for the reports about Blumenthal’s service:

    Eric Schultz, communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, blamed Republicans for the report. In particular, he said, former World Wrestling Entertainment executive Linda McMahon, one of several Republicans running for the seat.

    “It’s no surprise Republicans would want to smear Dick Blumenthal, considering all of the debauchery at [WWE] under Linda McMahon’s watch,” Schultz said.

    Yeah, because the Washington Post and New York Times are in the pocket of the Republican Party. Whether this even puts Connecticut into play for the Republicans remains to be seen. Dodd was seen as weak before he announced he wasn’t running, however Blumenthal is (or was) extremely popular in Connecticut and was seen as a stronger candidate against  than Dodd.

    The New York Times did its homework on this guy and has a pretty good breakdown of his service records and what he actually did in the Marine Corps here. This is probably going to be the only time I am going to recommend you read the New York Times.

    Here is a video of Blumenthal talking about veterans’ issues and saying he went to Vietnam:

    Jonn added: Links to Dave in Texas and Uncle Jimbo on the subject.

  • Matthis: I may be a rapist, but so are you

    Paul sent us a link to some hipie chick’s website in which she gives dating advice. She copied from Matthis’ Facebook page a typical “Matthis-as-victim” missive about him being better than the rest of us;

    Feels like the anti-war libel machine’s firing up again. It hurts being called a rapist for being the only one in IVAW to describe military sex culture in honest and self-incriminating terms. Read ‘confessions of a war resister’ for clarity on my story.
    It makes me very uncomfortable too, and very ashamed. The shitty thing is, I know just about every male who’s ever been in the military has at least one similar experience, but boys are too afraid to be men and tell the truth about their penises.

    It was rape, no matter what the law says.

    People gotta deal with this. Acts like what I did are normalized rape and cannot be excused. I’m ashamed of myself. Other’s should be ashamed for me.

    But part of why this is so hard for people is because it’s very widespread, both in and out of the military. Prostitution and pornography have become normalized in our society. If I’m a rapist than 40% of the male population in the U.S. have or will be rapists. Within the military, I believe this percentage would be staggaringly higher, and certainly there is a total awareness of its existence. So if this is rape, which it is, what does that mean on a broader scale?
    What sucks is people’s lack of awareness of how critical this is and their willingness to use someone’s story against them, ignoring the issues and projecting their fears instead.

    I’m not a rapist, but that was rape, and rape is happening on a broad scale, and we have a responsibility to stop it.

    Now, did you follow that line of logic – “I raped, but I’m not a rapist, you should feel ashamed for me. 40 Percent of American men rape (don’t ask me for statistics, just accept my hyperbole as fact) a staggeringly high rate of military men rape (because i say so). I’m not a rapist, but I rape women and it’s more than likely your fault. I’m just a victim in all of this because, because, because…well, just because I’m cool enough to come out and admit it.”

    First of all, no one on this side of pro-troops movement is calling Matthis a rapist. He’d better check to see who is saying that stuff – I’m just addressing the issue now because Matthis has brought the issue to the surface. Since he’s in his late twenties, i think it’s about time he stopped blaming everyone else for him being a failure and a sociopath and start accepting some responsibility. By trying to make us all rapists for his childish behavior, Matthis is making himself look foolish.

    It’s like Red Foreman used to say “Your life is hard because you’re a dumbass”.

  • Wrong time, wrong place

    So this guy, Michael Frisoli, was out strolling around town in his Marine First Sergeant uniform when he happened to stroll by a real Marine First Sergeant who happened to be a cop, too. (From Telegram.com by way of Air Force Forums)

    Worcester police Sgt. Timothy M. Watts had been working a detail at the Irish Times when Mr. Frisoli caught his eye about 11:30 p.m. one night in June or July 2008. Sgt. Watts, 46, is a Marine who has been around. He was a convoy commander in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2005 and served at embassies in Niger and Honduras.

    Sgt. Watts noticed not only an “extremely overweight” man who would have been out of compliance with Marine Corps appearance and uniform standards, but a display of ribbons that “was nothing less than extraordinary.”

    So fatboy appeared in court for the stolen valor charge in January, then he got arrested for possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia in April. Like our friend Doug Sterner says there’s always something else for them to get busted on if they’re wearing phony uniforms. This guy has been getting away with it for nearly a decade though. Making public appearances with politicians, collecting “Toys for Tots”.

    Among the reasons the state police were interested is because Mr. Frisoli appeared on state police Web pages through his work on Toys for Tots.

    And no one bothered to ask why this Marine was such a fat fuck?

  • A well-deserved salute to Mr. Doug Sterner

    mr-doug-sterner

    Just A Grunt sent us a link to a Washington Post story about Mr. Doug Sterner. Some of you who hung around here this weekend might recognize his name as one of our commenters.

    At times, the database has been his only job, and an unpaid one at that. He’s fallen behind on rent and bills. Friends have urged him to slow down. But he continues, driven by a desire to prevent “the real heroes” from “being lost to history.”

    In 2008, the Military Times bought Sterner’s database for $250,000, allowing him to devote himself mainly to the project. His list is so comprehensive that FBI agents routinely rely on him. “He would be my first source to go to,” Cottone said. “He’s invaluable.”

    While we’ve never met, Mr. Sterner and I have shared some email communications. Like the good folks at POW Net, Mr. Sterner has been in the shadows of some of our phony soldiers stories. I’m sure he’s a bit embarrassed by the Washington Post article, humble guy that he is, but he’s probably one of the most important people in the battle against fakes and phonies. Mr. Sterner practically wrote the Stolen Valor Act and created the Home of Heroes database.

    Every time his name pops up in my inbox, I’m humbled by the thought that such a fine veteran and American bothers to read our humble blog. Last week I almost went weak in my knees when a reporter told me that Mr. Sterner had recommended This Ain’t Hell and our research to him.

    Thanks to Just A Grunt for providing us at TAH with this opportunity to thank Mr. Sterner for his difficult and selfless labors.

  • Phony SEAL gets 27 months

    robert-warren-phony-seal

    Meet Robert Warren. This pudgy turd (I can say that now that I’ve lost 40 pounds in the last six months) passed himself off as a SEAL for years and defrauded the VA for some of your tax money. Another victim of the Stolen Valor Act which punished him for taking advantage of his first amendment right to be the biggest jackass he wants to be. From the Military Times;

    Warren was found guilty of six counts of wire fraud, four counts of mail fraud, one count of making false statements and one count of Social Security fraud. He admitted to fraudulently receiving $166,116 in veterans’ benefits and $114,045 in Social Security benefits.

    His disablity? He claimed PTSD – that ought to piss off some guy named MOTHAX at The Burn Pit after his piece the other day about the difficulty of diagnosing PTSD which makes it easy for phonies to fake;

    Warren told VA officials in 2002 he hadn’t worked in four years and couldn’t work around people or in public. He submitted forged statements in support of his claim, court records show. Warren was awarded a 100 percent service-connected disability and granted the same through Social Security two years later.

    As the picture shows, Warren didn’t just do it for the bennies – you can’t see it, but I cropped out the beer he’s holding so you can see the crap he’s pinned on his party clothes. The picture is too fuzzy to make out his party favors, though.

    Anyone want to make the case for a victimless crime?