Category: Phony soldiers

Thomas Prasenski was featured in an Albany Times-Union article a few months ago in which they discuss the circumstances of his discharge from the Army. According to the article, he either maliciously or carelessly shot another soldier, Army Reservist Staff Sergeant Dwayne Cole, who is now permanently disabled as a result.

The bullet, lodged in his spine, just missed his jugular vein. Cole has been confined to a wheelchair ever since, paralyzed from the chest down, with use of only his left arm.

Prasenski, on the other hand, has gone on to lead a celebrated life. Despite a bad conduct discharge, as Army records show, he is the commander of the regional Military Order of the Purple Heart, Chapter 446, in Albany and an honored guest at many area Purple Heart ceremonies. In July, he was the first to drive into a newly designated parking spot for Purple Heart recipients in Schenectady. In August he and other veterans were honored at Purple Heart Day in Malta.

On both occasions, he stood with elected officials including Congressman Paul Tonko, state Sen. Jim Tedisco, Assembly members Angelo Santabarbara and Carrie Woerner.

Since the article published, Prasenski has been ejected from MOPH, and questions about his Purple Heart arose.

So we filed for a FOIA;

Apparently, he showed MOPH a set of orders for his Purple Heart in order to get into the organization;

It may be that because I’m so cynical, but these orders don’t look right to me. They’re for a wound which occurred in June, 2006. Looking at the discharge forms, he left Iraq the first time in 2005 and returned in 2007, so I don’t know how he could be wounded in 2006. Secondly, the orders number just doesn’t look right. Dates always catch these guys up.

The article says that Prasenski was evacuated for the time he was injured in an IED incident, and that may be true, but his injuries didn’t merit a Purple Heart, looking at his records. So I guess he decided to award one to himself.

It’s good to see MOPH get proactive on this one.

In October, we first reported on David Meier, a candidate for mayor of Flint, Michigan who thought that a claim of earning a Medal of Honor in Vietnam would move him to the head of the field of 18 candidates. Of course, that backfired and, after he doubled down on his ridiculous claims, finally announced he would quit campaigning and drop out of the race.

Well, just like taking care of business in the latrine, our business isn’t done until we do the paperwork. We filed for a FOIA request on Meier’s records. The National Personnel Records Center responded “Who?”

Apparently, he isn’t only a liar, he’s a coward who avoided service in Vietnam. He was born in 1950, so he was eligible for military service during the Vietnam era, but he wasn’t man enough to step up until 40 years later when he did so with bogus claims. Since he lives in Flint, I’m sure his only service during Vietnam was replete with controlled substances and involved bra-less, hairy-legged women with unshaven armpits.

Our partners at Military Phonies share their work with us on this fellow Mike Kavanagh who claims to be a Navy SEAL in social media conversations;

The real deal SEALs at Military Phonies couldn’t find Mike in the SEAL database so they got his FOIA;

Their summary of his career;

As we wander through these records we can come to a few conclusions. We have found at least three Navy NECs awarded. He attended an EOD Scuba Diver school in Key West and was given NEC 5345 (Scuba Diver). A follow-on school called EOD/Technical Escort is next on the list but shows an N/A in the completed box with no NEC awarded. He then reports to the USS Bowen DE 1079 for duty as an Electricians Mate third class. Two years later (1973) Mike goes to Second Class Diver school and earns the NEC 5343. He was an E5 in 1975 and by 1978 he was earning NEC 5311 (Saturation Diver) and it appears his records show him as an E6. During that year his records show him receiving two blocks of dive training with one being 17 weeks long and the other 14 weeks in duration. That’s why its confusing that he would be released from the Navy the following year. Those types of schools usually require an extension of guaranteed service. His official records show he was discharged as an E4. The DD214 he provided to us shows he was discharged as an E6. We have no explanation for this discrepancy. There is no record of Kavanagh ever attending SEAL Training or even being near a SEAL Command. He shows no SEAL or EOD Navy Enlisted Codes in is records. He also shows no record of service in Vietnam.

Someone sent us their work on this fellow Edwin Tingstrom who claims that he was a a combat infantryman in Vietnam. As you can see from his uniform, he’s wearing a Combat Infantryman Badge, parachutist wings and a Purple Heart;

In a local news story, he told that journalist that he was special forces in Vietnam;

He signed up for the Army in April 1965, joining the 5th Special Forces Group, or the Green Berets. At the end of that year, at the age of 18, he was shipped off to Vietnam.

“It was a scary time,” he said. “When you take a small-town person and put them into something as large as war, it’s both terrifying and exhilarating. But the biggest emphasis is on terrifying.”

During his 18-month tour, the soldier had several close calls, including a serious case of malaria. Once, a mortar round exploded just 35 feet from him, leaving the infantryman with shrapnel wounds, a concussion and the loss of hearing in his right ear. More devastating, though, was losing two high school buddies from back home.

Tingstrom returned from Vietnam in May 1967 but was deployed six months later to Germany to serve on a special task force charged with drug enforcement.

In June 1974, he left the Army, partly because he’d had enough and partly because of psychological issues that have plagued him since Vietnam. The hostile reception veterans received when they came home, plus the memories of war, made transitioning back to civilian life challenging.

He told another the same thing;

Ed Tingstrom, 65, served in the Army Special Forces during the Vietnam War.

Every Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and also during funerals for members of the military, he and other volunteers comprise a color guard and march with the American flag.

The names of two of Tingstrom’s friends are inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., and he thinks about them every day and hopes others will honor their service and sacrifice.

“People need to understand that the brave men and women who took up arms in defense of the country were there because they needed to give something back to America for all the freedoms that they have enjoyed.”

“They were there because they believed in America.”

His records show that he was in Vietnam April 1966 – March 1967. He wasn’t an infantryman or in an infantry unit, he was a clerk in a Psyop Company – not 5th Special Forces. But his records says that he was awarded a CIB. I wonder how a clerk could get a CIB. Well, I don’t really wonder.

He also never attended jump school, nor was he awarded a Purple Heart. He had a break in service and reenlisted to be an MP in Germany – an odd choice since he wants to adorn himself with infantry accoutrements.

And, oh, he’s wearing the blue infantry cord on the wrong shoulder. A real infantryman would never do that. Everyone wants to be an infantryman until it’s time to do infantry stuff. He should cough up some orders for that CIB.

Our partners at Military Phonies share their work on this fellow, Kelly Martin Silveria who claims that he was wounded as a Navy SEAL in Vietnam. Yes, there is a vest and a motorcycle involved;

He did an interview in which he tells the reporter that he caught the “Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome” from a bullet (or words to that effect);

The Navy doesn’t remember it like that, though. He was an Aviation Ordnancemen (E-4) (1968 – 72) – except for that time in 1969 when he was a cook, and he did serve in Vietnam with Attack Squadron 55 (AKTRON-55), but no Purple Hearts.

Someone sent us their work on this fellow, Darrel Zimmerman, who claimed to be a combat veteran and a POW of the Korean War.

He joined the Army right after the Second World War on November 5th, 1945 and he trained as an auto mechanic. He was discharged three years later;

He immediately reenlisted and when the Korean War started in 1950, he was stationed in Camp Roberts, California as a stock clerk. The following year, he went AWOL and got tossed into a confinement facility;

The following year, he went to Japan, as close as he got to the Korean War;

He completed his term of service and immediately reenlisted again;

Then, as a supply clerk, in 1962, he was caught stealing stuff from the Army, court martialed, imprisoned for 6 months and discharged;

This is what his records say he earned in the way of awards;

Compare those with what he’s wearing in the picture above. I guess that he figures the time he spent in a confinement facility in California during the Korean War qualifies him as a POW of the Korean War.

Everyone wants to wear jump wings, but no one wants to lug the parachute to the turn-in point on the drop zone.

The folks at Guardians of the Green Beret share their work on John David Dykes with us. Mr Dykes wants people to believe that he was a Special Forces Medical Sergeant. He uses Bob Neener certificates, bumper stickers and tattoos to convince the public of that fantasy;

It looks like he began his military career as a medic in the National Guard, then he went active duty and became an infantryman stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington. Then he went to jump school, and Fort Bragg, where he promptly went AWOL and became a deserter. After he was punished, he went AWOL again while the 82d was deploying to Desert Storm – they kicked his ass to the curb when he came back from deserting in the face of the enemy. Somehow or another, he joined the Guard again, despite his General Discharge. He became a Construction Equipment Operator.

No Special Forces training or assignments unless he did it while he was a deserter.

Sj sends us a link to the story of Ricky Ball in Greenville, North Carolina who was sentenced to eight years in prison for impersonating a State Bureau of Investigation agent.

Ricky Ball, 40, pleaded guilty in September to lesser charges after facing a four-count indictment in August. He was sentenced Tuesday to eight years in federal prison plus an addition three years of supervised release.

According to the US Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina’s Office, Ball — who worked as a loss prevention officer at Sears — told an intern at the Greenville Fire Department he worked as an SBI agent and could get her parking tickets dismissed.

At the time he was impersonating a law enforcement officer, he was on probation in Virginia from impersonating a Navy SEAL. He was also arrested for being a felon in possession of a firearm. So much fail in this story from Sears’ hiring practices to ineffective gun control laws. Don Shipley busted Ball two years ago for his SEAL claims. He actually fooled some SEALs into believing that he was legit, according to Don.