{"id":152873,"date":"2024-02-05T07:50:37","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T12:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=152873"},"modified":"2024-02-05T12:30:54","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T17:30:54","slug":"jon-vigue-the-broken-willy-beirut-bombing-survivor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=152873","title":{"rendered":"Jon Vigue – Another Phony Beirut Bombing Survivor"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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\"\"<\/a>
Jonathan Vigue<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

The folks at Military Phony<\/a> send us their work on Jonathan Mark Vigue<\/a>. Vigue comes to us from Ellijay, Georgia. At the time of this post, February 2024, Vigue is 65 years old.

Vigue appears to have recently passed away. GoFundMe<\/a>

Vigue has embraced a Santa Claus image complete with the nickname “Semper Fi Santa.” \"\"<\/a> Vigue has been referred to as “Gunny” but this could be just a nickname vs. any claim of rank. In this post, he also posted the logo of the Beirut Veterans of American (BVA) which is an organization in support of those that served in Beirut, Lebanon.\u00a0 \u00a0I am\u00a0 a Lifetime\u00a0 Member\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 BVA…\u00a0 I do\u00a0 not know\u00a0 any\u00a0 Vigue.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

NOTE: It were challenges with outlining all of the claims of Jonathan Vigue because they were all over the place. We will start with the claims of length of service, then whether he was wounded in Beirut, Lebanon or not.<\/blockquote>\r\n

YEARS OF SERVICE<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

In the Facebook profile on a page for Jon Vigue, it claims 1977-1998 and he retired, which would give him 21 years. \"\"<\/a>
However, in this 1997 article, there was a claim that Vigue served for 14 years.

https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/archive\/1997\/10\/26\/beirut-bombing-changed-marine-s-life-forever\/<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Here is the article in its original format: Tampa Bay Times Article<\/a>

\"\"<\/a> It also claimed in the article that he was not wounded. It claims he was in Beirut at the time of the Marine Barracks Bombing in 1983. In this more recent article, it is claimed that Vigue was in the Marine Barracks building when it was hit.\u00a0 I was there until the very last Marine left to head home… I do not know Vigue.

https:\/\/www.timescourier.com\/local\/semper-fi-santa-will-be-checking-his-mail-all-year-round<\/a>

\"\"<\/a>
COMBAT WOUNDED
<\/strong> In a Facebook post in 2018, Vigue claims he was in the Marine Barracks building in Beirut in 1983 when it exploded, and he was wounded quite severely.

\"\"<\/a> Vigue repeated this same post in 2022. \"\"<\/a> Vigue claims that he was awarded the Purple Heart from President Reagan in the following Facebook post, as with the Facebook post in 2018. \"\"<\/a> Then, another post on Facebook claims to be Combat Wounded, but it is unclear if this is tied to Beirut, Lebanon. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

. . . . .<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

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ACTIONS CONDUCTED BY MILITARY PHONIES<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Jonathan Vigue’s military records were ordered through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. We filed with the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC).<\/p>\r\n

. . . . .<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

FOIA RESULTS<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n

NATIONAL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER<\/strong> (NPRC)<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a>
FOIA Results – NPRC – Summary Sheet – Jonathan Vigue<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n
\u00a0<\/div>\r\nNOTE: We will discuss this more, but it appears that the NPRC only listed Vigue’s active duty for his second enlistment. The DoD Manpower Data Center \/ SCRA results below captured the dates correctly.\r\n
\"\"<\/a>
FOIA Results – NPRC – Assignments – Jonathan Vigue<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

. . . . .<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

OTHER RECORDS<\/strong> (DoD Manpower Data Center \/ SCRA)<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a>
DoD Manpower Data Center (SCRA) – Jonathan Vigue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

. . . . .<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY<\/h3>\r\n

TIMELINE<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

There is much discussion about the timeline for Vigue – which is provided for your reading pleasure over on Military Phony<\/a>.\u00a0 The bottom line is that Vigue appears to have went to boot camp in 1977 after high school, then went in some reserve status while he went to college in Arizona. He joined the police force in Fairfield, Maine in January 1982, then enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1983. Other than being on active duty for boot camp in 1977, it appears his active duty started in 1983 and that fact is supported across all records.<\/p>\r\n

STORY<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

In Vigue’s Facebook post, he implies that Forrester, Elliot and Hart were in his unit. Forrester was a Combat Engineer (1371) and would have been billeted with the Combat Engineers. Hart was a Food Service Specialist (3381) and would have been billeted with Food Service. Elliot was a Hospital Corpsman (8404) and would have been billeted with H&S Medical.<\/p>\r\n

RANK<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

The NPRC summary sheet states a final rank of Sergeant (E-5). As stated, we don’t know if the “Gunny” (E-7) reference was a nickname.<\/p>\r\n

ASSIGNMENTS<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

There is nothing in Vigue’s records to suggest he was in Beirut, Lebanon. He was with 2nd Battalion\/2nd Marines at Camp Lejeune, NC according to his assignments.<\/p>\r\n

MOS<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Vigue did not have the required military training to be Recon (0321) or Sniper. He loosely referred to himself and his unit as being “Counter-Snipers” while in Beirut in 1983, so may not have been formally claiming the MOS. He was an 0351 – Anti-Tank Assaultman. He does not have the supportive “Scuba Bubble” or “Jump Wings” as one would expect with a Force Recon Marine.<\/p>\r\n

PURPLE HEARTS & COMBAT ACTION RIBBONS
<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Vigue’s records do not support the claims that he has a Purple Heart. Also, there are no Combat Action Ribbons (CARs) listed. Claims of either one of these medals are covered in the Stolen Valor Act of 2013.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

AWARDS<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

The awards on the summary sheet from NPRC do not support Vigue’s claims of combat or being in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

SUMMARY<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

If Jonathan Vigue has used any of these claims to gain anything of value, he could violate the Stolen Valor Act.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

So, the entire story claimed by Jonathan Vigue about his daring-do while in Beirut does not appear to be supported by his service records. He may have hurt his wiener, but it was not in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

I don’t know Jonathan Vigue.\u00a0 I would love to take clowns like this guy out to sea and throw them in the water with a bunch of Dive Gear so he can demonstrate how he earned his Scuba Bubble.\u00a0 We just came back from diving the West Wall off Cabo Roho, PR\u00a0 and Jonathan Vigue was not there.\u00a0 It seems Bubble Boy did earn his Marine Corps EGA. Why that alone is not enough for him to be proud of is beyond my understanding.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Jonn would have loved to talk with him about his fictitious experiences in Jump School.\u00a0 I miss those moments.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

In any event, Bubble Boy has probably been spewing his bloviated\u00a0 nonsense for so long most of the people around him assume it may be true.\u00a0 Living a lie around those who have come to love you… must really suck.\u00a0 My advise is for<\/del> would have been for him to show he still has<\/del> had a pair and stop parading around with that Combat Wounded Plate and man up to to his lies.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":654,"featured_media":152874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[481,482,184,396,585,461,699,700,391],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beirut","category-lebanon","category-marine-corps","category-marinecorpsposer","category-marine-recon","category-purple-heart","category-recon","category-sniper","category-valorvultures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152873","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\/654"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=152873"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152893,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152873\/revisions\/152893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/152874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=152873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=152873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=152873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}