{"id":70547,"date":"2017-02-26T10:41:49","date_gmt":"2017-02-26T15:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=70547"},"modified":"2022-01-23T22:53:20","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T03:53:20","slug":"john-deal-embellishing-corpsman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=70547","title":{"rendered":"John Deal; embellishing corpsman"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On January 29, 1991, Saddam Hussein tried to start the ground war on the Saudi Arabian border with Kuwait when he sent three armored columns towards Kafji, Saudi Arabia. On their way to the evacuated resort town, they bumped into a battalion-sized Light Armored Infantry (LAI) element of the 1st Marine Division at Um Hjul who called the place OP-4. The small Marine force held back the 5 battalions of Iraqi armor and infantry with the help of allied air forces. 3 C-130 gunships, four A-10s, two F16s and two F-15Es arrived on station to stop the Iraqi advance. However, the engagement wasn’t without tragedy on the side of the Marines. Two Light Armored Vehicles (LAVs) were destroyed and 11 Marines lost their lives in two “friendly fire” incidents. One LAV was struck by friendly surface fire, the other by a malfunctioning Maverick missile fired by an A-10.<\/p>\n

As it happens with men who have a shared experience, the Marines of Op-2, Op-4 and Op-6 maintained close contact through the years. This fellow John Deal infiltrated their ranks claiming that he had been there that night and had narrowly escaped being killed. He claimed friendships with many of the deceased. He took advantage of that kinsmanship by bumming money from the Marines using heart-breaking stories of infirmed children and missed child support payments, which eventually added up to thousands of dollars and probably bought his motorcycle.<\/p>\n

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Some of the Marines began doubting his stories and further investigated Deal’s past. He had been a Navy corpsman who served with a Fleet Marine Force and he had served in Desert Storm, but he wasn’t at any of the OPs which had been engaged during the battle at Kafji;<\/p>\n

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Notice that there is no Combat Action Ribbon even though there is a Southwest Asia Service Medal.<\/p>\n

He did come clean in this video;<\/p>\n