{"id":107602,"date":"2020-11-25T09:01:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T14:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=107602"},"modified":"2020-11-25T09:01:00","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T14:01:00","slug":"phonies-among-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=107602","title":{"rendered":"Phonies Among Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rumor has it that the Stolen Valor cases are stacking up.\u00a0 We have received ONE recent FOIA request from NPRC that was submitted back in April 2020.\u00a0 We are still waiting for other FOIA results before that case is complete but hopefully, it is a sign of things to come.\u00a0 We didn’t know if the NPRC was going to go through backlogs or have everyone resubmit.\u00a0 Hard to draw conclusions with one result, but it is a sign of hope.<\/p>\n

So, we have a couple of cases that need written up and presented here.\u00a0 One later today and perhaps one for Friday or Monday, so please check back.\u00a0 \u00a0 The one we will present later this morning is interesting.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, just to wet your whistle – The FairField Sun Times writes about a local veterans group that discovered one of their own was fibbing about a Purple Heart.\u00a0 They gathered on the street as they contemplated what to do.\u00a0 They were flabbergasted.<\/p>\n

VETERANS POST: Purple Heart Phony<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

by Freddy Groves<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

With snow expected that afternoon, I suspected the veteran crew might not have shown up outside the coffee shop, but there they were, socially distanced around the sidewalk. And they were in the middle of a hot conversation when I stepped up.<\/p>\n

The topic was a guy who had potentially faked his military history and worse, had claimed he was a Purple Heart recipient, this time right here at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s in our VFW. We took him in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs to be brought down, if he\u2019s a liar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, do I make the call? I\u2019ll be calling in a favor if I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group took a vote, going around the circle. It was 100% to find out once and for all if their fellow veteran was indeed a liar and a thief.<\/p>\n

The main guy slid a phone out of his pocket, stabbed in a number, said a few words, listened and then hung up.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t repeat here his exact angry words, but the summary was: Their friend and fellow veteran had lied. He hadn\u2019t served where he\u2019d claimed he had, hadn\u2019t had the MOS he\u2019d claimed he had, and he certainly had not earned a Purple Heart.<\/p>\n

MOS is a code that identifies the job someone has in the military. This particular veteran had worked in supply at a small CONUS base. Unless he\u2019d gotten a paper cut while stocking shelves, he\u2019d never been wounded. Somewhere there was a faked DD-214.<\/p>\n

I tossed my coffee cup in the trash and walked away, leaving the group to their collective misery while they explored just how they\u2019d been taken in. I\u2019d heard the story too many times. Veterans and those who\u2019d never served claiming benefits, medals and admiration they never earned, enjoying a higher-level Priority Group at a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center, telling tall tales.<\/p>\n

Eventually they get caught, like this phony just did, by people who pay attention to their gut feelings. The Stolen Valor Act would take it from there.<\/p>\n

(c) 2020 King Features Synd., Inc.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is a disheartening feeling when one realizes they were lied to if indeed this was the case.<\/p>\n

I hate to rain on the parade, but I don’t think “The Stolen Valor Act will take it from there.”\u00a0 Someone has to report it and someone in law enforcement or the DA’s office would have to see merit in the case to pursue it.\u00a0 Maybe joining the VFW could be interpreted as something of value gained – perhaps there were other gains not mentioned in the article.<\/p>\n

If you get wind of a phony, please do not throw your coffee in the trash out of disgust.\u00a0 The phony will never know you performed this act and it’s a waste of a perfectly good cup of coffee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rumor has it that the Stolen Valor cases are stacking up.\u00a0 We have received ONE recent … Phonies Among Us<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":663,"featured_media":107603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461,408,183],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-purple-heart","category-stolen-valor","category-stolen-valor-act"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107602","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\/663"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107602"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107604,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107602\/revisions\/107604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/107603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}