Category: Stolen Valor Act

TSO tells us that the Senate passed the 2013 version of the Stolen Valor Act, less than a year after the original was struck down by the US Supreme Court as a violation of the First Amendment guarantees to free speech. There are no links yet, so I guess we’ll have to go on his word. Meanwhile, Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) praises the Senate for it’s passage of the bill by unanimous consent;

“Our nation can never fully express our gratitude for all that our men and women in uniform have experienced on our behalf. Their acts of valor helped ensure the safety and security of our nation, and the honor of their awards should never be compromised. I would like to thank my good friend and fellow Nevadan, Congressman Joe Heck, for his leadership in the House on this issue and look forward to the bill moving to President Obama for signature,” said Senator Dean Heller.

The bill passed on Monday in the House and now heads to the White House before it becomes the law of the land. They passed the text of the House’s version which reads thusly;

SEC. 2. FRAUDULENT REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT RECEIPT OF MILITARY DECORATIONS OR MEDALS.

(a) In General- Section 704 of title 18, United States Code, is amended–

(1) in subsection (a), by striking `wears,’; and

(2) so that subsection (b) reads as follows:

`(b) Fraudulent Representations About Receipt of Military Decorations or Medals- Whoever, with intent to obtain money, property, or other tangible benefit, fraudulently holds oneself out to be a recipient of a decoration or medal described in subsection (c)(2) or (d) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than one year, or both.’.

(b) Addition of Certain Other Medals- Section 704(d) of title 18, United States Code, is amended–

(1) by striking `If a decoration’ and inserting the following:

`(1) IN GENERAL- If a decoration’;

(2) by inserting `a combat badge,’ after `1129 of title 10,’; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

`(2) COMBAT BADGE DEFINED- In this subsection, the term `combat badge’ means a Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Combat Action Badge, Combat Medical Badge, Combat Action Ribbon, or Combat Action Medal.’.

(c) Conforming Amendment- Section 704 of title 18, United States Code, is amended in each of subsections (c)(1) and (d) by striking `or (b)’.

Here’s a link to 18 USC 704 as it currently exists for your edification.

The Associated Press reports that the House has passed the latest version of the Stolen Valor Act in a 390-3 vote. 40 members of Congress didn’t vote, the three who voted against it were Justin Amash (R-MI), Paul Broun (R-GA), and Thomas Massie (R-KY). Here’s the roll call vote.

This is probably the best bill that we could get, considering that the Supreme Court said that last version violated the First Amendment. But, as I’ve said in the past the bill, is just a lawyer employment act. The bill, which amends Section 704 of title 18, United States Code, says;

Fraudulent Representations About Receipt of Military Decorations or Medals- Whoever, with intent to obtain money, property, or other tangible benefit, fraudulently holds oneself out to be a recipient of a decoration or medal described in subsection (c)(2) or (d) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than one year, or both.’

What is a “tangible benefit”? Can it include scoring with a hot chick in a bar with whom you wouldn’t have had a shot without your phony SEAL persona? I’ve had two car salesmen tell me they were Special Forces in order to convince me that I should buy a car from them. Is that a tangible benefit?

There is a bill in the Senate, S.210, with similar language awaiting a vote. The bill certainly won’t hinder our work here at This Ain’t Hell, mostly because of the ambiguous language. The Valor thieves misinterpreted the Supreme Court’s decision, you can count on them thinking they’re smarter than Congress, too.

From Jonn: Since everyone is sending me this in emails, I’ve bumped it up from when we first posted it in September last year so you don’t think I’m ignoring your emails.

Hilarious.

Chip sends us a link to an article in the Marine Corps Times by Rick Maze which tells us that the second iteration of the Stolen Valor Act was caught in the reconciliation committee after passing in the Senate and the House;

Missing from the [2013 defense policy bill] is Stolen Valor Act legislation that would allow criminal charges to be brought against anyone who profits, directly or indirectly, from lying about military service or military medals received for valor. House and Senate negotiators were unable to reach agreement on details of exactly what acts should be a crime and how to punish the acts, aides said.

As I said when this bill was being written, it’s a lawyer employment act as it stands. What constitutes value. One might argue that using someone else’s valor to put a twinkle in a young girl’s eye is of a certain value. I guess there were too many lawyers in the reconciliation committee for them to arrive at a reasonable solution.

A couple of weeks ago, a young soldier wrote us tell about a former member of her unit who had appeared in the news by the name of Jannah Ebner who had spun a yarn a few years ago on her local public radio station in Milwaukee. WUWM had published Ebner’s story about how she’d been injured in an IED attack in Iraq in 2004 but she felt fortunate because she’d lost members of her unit, blah, blah, blah. The young lady who contacted us said Ebner was a PAC clerk who never went out on convoys, that Ebner had never left the wire, that on the day she was injured, there had been no attack, that no one had been killed that day.

So, I contacted Erin Toner the author of the article. Erin told me that a dozen or so members of the unit, the 619th Transportation Company, had contacted her about the phony tales of Jannah Ebner. The radio station confronted Ebner with the charges of her fellow soldiers and she admitted to her lies. Toner and her editor decided to pull the article, unfortunately, they pulled it before I had a chance to screen copy it, so you’ll have to take my word for it.

But, Erin did an interview with me about the stolen valor thieves we encounter, because she was pretty upset that she’d been had and it published today.

One website that investigates questionable military stories is called, “This Ain’t Hell, But You Can See it From Here.” Administrator John Lilyea says he gets tips from friends and family of service members, and from troops deployed all over the world.

“They run across these stories in their hometown newspapers or hear them on the radio or see them on television and they email us. We get about 10 tips a week from people, sometimes too many for us to handle,” Lilyea says.

Lilyea says he requests military records from the government using the Freedom of Information Act and in nearly all cases he investigates, the stories were fabricated. Lilyea spent 20 years in the Army and worries the liars present a poor image of the military.

“Because eventually everybody gets caught, if not by our blog then by the media somewhere. And it just makes us all look like liars. We can’t go in a bar and sit with our friends and tell our stories without somebody thinking that we’re lying because they’re so prolific,” Lilyea says.

You can hear parts of our interview in this 5 minute radio show segment;

After saying for years that a website with a complete list of valor awards is impractical, the Department of Defense is proving it. Our buddy, Doug Sterner sends us a link to an article which charges that more than 60 awards of Silver Star medals are missing.

Doug tells us in an email;

The 62 missing SS recipients include FIFTEEN men whose awards are posthumous, which concerns me even more than the others for if anything, we need to properly remember those who died heroically. Of the 15 missing from the DoD website (valor.defense.mil), four of them WERE listed on the other database (the one that compromised the MOH/DSC SSNs) [Brostrom, Lindskog, Weeks, Worrell]. At least TWO of these have buildings named for them at Fort Benning , at least two are buried at Arlington with headstones denoting their Silver Star, one is a West Point Graduate, and at least one has a U.S. Post Office Named for him.

NOTE: THESE all deal with ARMY Silver Stars. There are a few missing from the other services, including 1 DSC not listed and 1 Navy Cross not listed, but the Army Silver Stars represent the worst of it.

Who could have guessed that a team of bureaucrats would make mistakes? It seems to me that the government could have done better by buying the database that Doug has been working on for over a decade and checking his work rather than starting over. But you’d think the quality of their work would be marginally better since they have better access to the information to be inputted. But no one has ever accused the government of taking advantage of their strengths.

If you remember Bryan H. Austin, a guy we featured back in July, and he’s still generating “I know this guy” stories months later in the comments at that post. Well, the guy who busted him at the Milwaukee airport and an Army Staff Sergeant sent us the story of how he busted him.

Apparently, this diligent sergeant spotted Austin in ACUs in the passenger area and wearing LTC rank amongst other accouterments and asked him for ID.

He was wearing ACUs and the rank of LT. Colonel. He also had the Special Forces tab on both sleeves of his uniform, one over the 82nd (left side) and another over the 101st airborne patches. He looked to be maybe 20 years old and had brand new ACUs on and boots.

I approached him and in a respectful manner asked what unit he was with and he said the 82nd, I asked what SF unit he was with prior to going to the 82nd and he said none so I asked how did he get that SF tab and he stated “I went to school for it”.

He also was wearing an air assault badge, no airborne badge though, you can’t make it through the Q course without being airborne.

So I asked for his ID and his mom who was with him (another girl about 16 was with them also) she told me to go away and leave him alone, and he stated she was in the army also, I said good let’s see your ID also and I showed them mine…. They gathered their belongings (we were in the food court) and walked away, she asked someone in the food court to call security and I said “yes and call the police”.

So I followed them and when the Milwaukee Sheriff showed up I explained what was was going on and explained what his ID should look like as the cop never served, he comes back to me (told me to wait away from them and wouldn’t let me see the ID). 2 minutes later a I watched him as he shakes this scumbag’s hand and tells me to leave them alone!!!!

I asked the cop about the ID and he said that the “soldier” showed him an older plastic ID that was his old ID is and is waiting for a new one (the cop informed me it was an plastic one that did not look like mine). I asked the cop what was the rank and he told me to “let it go” they have sick child they are taking for flight for an operation to St. Louis.

I said I am sorry for the little girl…and explained to him (and showed my ID again) that I have 16 years’ service and this is bullshit… He (the cop) tells me I need to back off or I will find myself in trouble for cursing in public when kids are present.

I then respectfully asked him if he was seriously threatening me with action when the dirt bag over there is the law breaker. I told him I have lost friends wearing that uniform and this punk dishonors it.

He then again warned me to let it go or I will be in trouble.

Kid’s name tape said Austin, I got a picture of him from a distance but no other info.

Incredible how the cop handled this, I told him I needed to see the ID but he would not allow it. I planned to follow up with PD when I got back home. The USO at the airport was floored and said they would work with me to get the supervisor for this cop.

They were traveling to St. Louis MO, I called the St. Louis FBI office and they were confused about any Stolen Valor act and told me to call back later when they were open???

That’s the same reaction I got from the Baltimore FBI office when I tried to get General Baxter busted. And they told me I have too much time on my hands to do all of that research.

Anyway, our intrepid sergeant contacted CID when he got to his base, who put him in touch with the Green Bay FBI office who followed up on Austin and sent our sergeant this email;

Thank you for confronting him at the Milwaukee airport in January. Without your actions, we would not have known about Austin’s criminal activity. Unfortunately, because of the misguided Supreme Court ruling last week, we will probably not be able to charge him with any federal crime.

The good news is that during my investigation, Bryan consented to a search of his computer. Evidence of him secretly videotaping his girlfriend coming out of the shower, tanning bed and other compromising situations were found. This is a felony in the state of Wisconsin. He has been charged with eleven felony counts in Brown County.

So, persistence paid off. The CID agent says he explained to the Milwaukee Airport sheriff’s deputies about his responsibilities, too.