{"id":101964,"date":"2020-07-09T08:10:19","date_gmt":"2020-07-09T12:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=101964"},"modified":"2022-01-13T20:31:15","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T01:31:15","slug":"gunny-ange-truck-driving-marine-hero-not-so-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=101964","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Gunny&#8221; Ange &#8211; Truck Driving Marine Hero &#8211; Not So Fast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/gunny.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-101965 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/gunny-233x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"233\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/gunny-233x300.jpg 233w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/gunny-259x333.jpg 259w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/gunny.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 233px) 100vw, 233px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I received a lot of inquiries about this guy recently.\u00a0 He goes by Keli Ange (56 y\/o) and a few refer to him as &#8220;Gunny&#8221; for some reason.<\/p>\n<p>He was the company&#8217;s poster boy for Red Friday.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-red-friday.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-101972\" src=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-red-friday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-red-friday.jpg 1648w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-red-friday-300x218.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-red-friday-768x559.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-red-friday-457x333.jpg 457w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ange was recently praised by his trucking company, <a href=\"https:\/\/schneider.com\/\">Schneider National<\/a>, as their 2020 &#8220;Ride of Pride&#8221; driver.\u00a0 The <a href=\"https:\/\/schneiderjobs.com\/blog\/culture\/2020-ride-of-pride-driver-gunny-ange?fbclid=IwAR13lIKPas8ZUZrYZ5amIfW-YisftlXEBVg4NEwm1MDehf9YRbgVfNE_QkI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">article<\/a> has since been removed from the website after the company started looking into the situation.\u00a0 We can only conclude that what they discovered did not support what was posted.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/gunny-ange-ride-of-pride-article.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-101966\" src=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/gunny-ange-ride-of-pride-article.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"529\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/gunny-ange-ride-of-pride-article.jpg 4024w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/gunny-ange-ride-of-pride-article-300x265.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/gunny-ange-ride-of-pride-article-768x677.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/gunny-ange-ride-of-pride-article-378x333.jpg 378w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>So, just to recap, Ange claimed that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He joined the Marines at 16 with approval from his parents<\/li>\n<li>His mother was a retired two-star Marine Corps general<\/li>\n<li>He became a USMC drill instructor<\/li>\n<li>He trained to become a Reconnaissance Scout Sniper<\/li>\n<li>He was badly injured in combat<\/li>\n<li>He retired early after 22 years<\/li>\n<li>He was called back to active duty again and was injured\/wounded in 2005<\/li>\n<li>As a result of these wounds, he became a disabled combat veteran and did 7 years of rehabilitation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We did a preliminary sweep for background on Ange, and found that he did in fact serve in the Marine Corps under his previous birth name of &#8216;Kelly Helmer Thompson.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/thompson-dodmanpower-redacted.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-101977\" src=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/thompson-dodmanpower-redacted-250x333.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/thompson-dodmanpower-redacted-250x333.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/thompson-dodmanpower-redacted-226x300.jpg 226w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/thompson-dodmanpower-redacted-768x1021.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/thompson-dodmanpower-redacted.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Since the National Personnel Records Center is operating under restrictions due to COVID-19, we will not get his official records back until they clear out the backlog of pending requests.\u00a0 \u00a0We are posting this because there are some doubts about the claims.\u00a0 We could not find any other active duty service in DoD Manpower Data Center (SCRA) for Thompson.\u00a0 That said, this database is not 100% reliable when it comes to reserve service and he did say he was recalled to active duty in 2005.\u00a0 This is rare to pull a retiree back on active duty unless there is some special skillset needed.<\/p>\n<p>His prior addresses do not support living near a Marine Corps base, but he could have been in the Reserve and the address records do not go that far back, but certainly, they encompass some of the time he claimed to have served in the USMC.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-address-history-redacted.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-101976\" src=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-address-history-redacted-271x333.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"492\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-address-history-redacted-271x333.jpg 271w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-address-history-redacted-244x300.jpg 244w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-address-history-redacted-768x945.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-address-history-redacted.jpg 902w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In 1995, when he was convicted of theft, he went by the name &#8216;Kelly Helmer Thompson.&#8217;\u00a0 In 2009, he pled guilty to &#8220;Intimidate\/Threat\/Harass W\/Phone (Dv)&#8221; and went by the name &#8220;Keli Ange.&#8221; A &#8220;Disorderly Conduct &#8211; Disturbance (Dv)&#8221; charge was dropped with having the same date. I suspect he pled down to a lesser charge.\u00a0 In 2004, he was found guilty of fishing without a license and went by the name &#8220;Kelly H. Thompson&#8221; so he changed his name somewhere between 2004 and 2009.<\/p>\n<p>His aliases are listed as: Keri H Thompson, Kelly Helmer Thompson, Kelly Heimer Thompson, Kelly H Thompson, Kelly H Thompson, Kelly Thompson, Keli Heimer Thompson, Keli Heimer Thompson, Keli Heimer Thompson, and Keli F Ange.<\/p>\n<p>Several Marine Recon types, one an instructor, doubted Ange&#8217;s claim of being a recon\/sniper due to never hearing of him.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-recon.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-101971\" src=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-recon-300x140.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"186\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-recon-300x140.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-recon-500x233.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-recon-315x145.jpg 315w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-recon.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A photo of him in 2007 taken from his Flickr account (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/25571630@N04\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">muscleup71<\/a>) shows a neck tattoo which is a no-no in the Marine Corps.\u00a0 Perhaps he got the tattoo after he got out of the Marines?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-2007.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-101980 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-2007-500x329.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"329\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-2007-500x329.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-2007-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-2007-768x505.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-2007.jpg 821w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Then, there is the claim about his mother being a two-star Marine Corps general.\u00a0 Ange&#8217;s mother died in 2008 and her burial records show&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-mother.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-101969\" src=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-mother.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"712\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-mother.jpg 887w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-mother-190x300.jpg 190w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-mother-768x1215.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/ange-mother-211x333.jpg 211w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #999999;\">&#8230; her burial records show<\/span>&#8230; that she was a homemaker with a High School education.\u00a0 That seems to be a far cry from claims that she attained the rank of a two-star Marine Corps general without having a college degree.\u00a0 \u00a0 She apparently was more proud of being a &#8216;homemaker&#8217; than a retired &#8216;two-star Marine Corps general.&#8217;\u00a0 There is no reason whatsoever that any woman should not be proud of raising her family above all else.\u00a0 But, one would think a mention of something trivial like her being one of only a small handful of women to ever become a Marine Corps General could be found.<\/p>\n<p>I can find no listing for her in that very, very small group.<\/p>\n<p>I certainly don&#8217;t mean to disparage the mother at all, but Keli or Kelly brought her into the story.<\/p>\n<p>There are just so many red flags with this entire case that it was difficult to wait for his records to come back from the NPRC &#8211; not knowing when the NPRC returns to full service.\u00a0 We have also filed with the USMC to account for service beyond the mid-1990s, but we suspect that will be returned as a referral to NPRC.<\/p>\n<p>At this point, it is safe to say that it is incumbent upon Ange\/Thompson to prove his claims.\u00a0 From what we gathered, and admit don&#8217;t have the full picture, it doesn&#8217;t look good.<\/p>\n<p>The fact is,\u00a0 he is a Veteran and a Marine.\u00a0 Why he is spewing all this other grabasstic nonsense about his service is beyond me.\u00a0 He served when most wouldn&#8217;t.\u00a0 I suspect he should have just been proud of what he actually did do instead of embellishing his service beyond recognition.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I received a lot of inquiries about this guy recently.\u00a0 He goes by Keli Ange (56 &hellip; <a title=\"&#8220;Gunny&#8221; Ange &#8211; Truck Driving Marine Hero &#8211; Not So Fast\" class=\"hm-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=101964\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8220;Gunny&#8221; Ange &#8211; Truck Driving Marine Hero &#8211; Not So Fast<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":667,"featured_media":101965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[586,184,396,585,391],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-combat-wounded","category-marine-corps","category-marinecorpsposer","category-marine-recon","category-valorvultures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/667"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=101964"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101983,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101964\/revisions\/101983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/101965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=101964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=101964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=101964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}