Ken Aden, the phony “Green Beret” congressional candidate; Part III
Ken Aden, the Democrat running for Congress who claims to be a “green beret”. Tim was able to finagle a copy of the DD214 from someone somewhere while the campaign was doing it’s best to keep it out of our hands. We discussed Aden and his tomfoolery here and here earlier this month. But here’s his complete DD214 and you’ll see why they only released half of it on that Blue Arkansas blog.
You’ll notice that in blocks #13 and #18 there is no Special Forces tab listed. Also in block #14 there’s no Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) which would be necessary for him to call himself a “Green Beret”. We’ve been in contact with the folks at the Special Warfare Center and they have no record of his attendance at the school.
Aden and his staff could have mitigated this by simply admitting in the beginning that he’s not a “Green Beret”, but they’re absolutely sticking to this obviously fallacious line. This is only going to get worse before it gets better.
Of course, if Aden comes up with some documentation, or he can point me to his class picture, I’ll retract this whole thing, but clinging to an obviously altered DD214 isn’t going to get that done.
Loads of thanks to Tim who been very tenacious and relentless in regards to getting these documents. Oh, yeah, the only thing I did to his DD214 is erase his birth date, because I don’t want him to have his identity stolen or anything.
Category: Phony soldiers
Guam, Japan, 5 Westpacs, and the PI.
For starters.
Bottom line, there are so many “errors” in the part of Aden’s 214 which don’t match up to any of his claims, and that’s just the part that he shows, and not the entire 214.
The fact that he won’t release the whole thing kinda tells me he knows he’s busted.
Shrike? Do you understand the irony of your accusing the community here of failing at due diligence when you really have no idea just how much due diligence is done around here?
Funny. And a little sad. Evidently hasty conclusions are OK when you are the making them?
Sorry sparkles but in looking at his DD-214 it looks like he has 8 years 10 months and 20 days active service and 6 months of reserve time..did I misread that or did you?
No dispute from me on the 18 series MOS, I agree with you.
Dont know definitively about the NDSM because you cant tell by the DD-214 what his original entry date was. He has service time that precedes this DD-214 probably from when he was AR or ARNG when he wouldnt have gotten a DD-214. But it does look like he should only have one.
As for the GCM, if he has almost 9 years of active service, he could have been awarded three GCMs. GCMs are not handled in the Army and National Guard the way they are in the Navy and USMC.
I am typing slow because your Navy …I didnt let anything slide on my DD-214..now repeat that again s l o w e r so you understand it. My retirement awards were not, I repeat not, approved yet when I transitioned to retirement and I got them after. Get it now? I should have had someone with your vast experience counseling me though obviously…how dare I take transitional leave when I could have stayed to male sure a bit of colored ribbon was on my DD-214!
“Bottom line, there are so many “errors” in the part of Aden’s 214 which don’t match up to any of his claims, and that’s just the part that he shows, and not the entire 214.
The fact that he won’t release the whole thing kinda tells me he knows he’s busted.”
Now that I agree with.
“Shrike? Do you understand the irony of your accusing the community here of failing at due diligence when you really have no idea just how much due diligence is done around here?
Funny. And a little sad. Evidently hasty conclusions are OK when you are the making them?”
Sorry OWB, if your going to characterize something as fraudulent you better make sure its right or dont you agree with that? Several of the accusations against this guy seem to be substantiated and several are demonstrably false and others would have the same things on their DD-214. Seems to me some of you are using a shot gun when a knife would do.
You are typing slower? Huh? Are you a fucking idiot?
Any case the SF are on this also. It was only a matter of time.
http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38138
So, Shrike, I guess that would be, “No, I don’t see the irony.”
Got it.
Nice…Steadfast. Your not only dimwitted you have no sense of humor.
And OWB; nice comeback without answering anything or addressing any of the issues.
I am glad Aden was smoked out and I hope he suffers the shame and humiliation he deserves let alone any legal consequences. Its really a shame this guy couldnt be proud of what he did accomplish instead of stealing the accomplishments of others.
Shrike–no, he does not rate a second NDSM.
http://valorguardians.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Aden-FOIA.jpg
Dates don’t qualify. Again, another division guy claiming to be something he’s not.
It’s like me claiming to be a SEAL just because some of them rode my boat a few times or that I did a couple of schools at Coronado.
I am typing slow because your Navy …I didnt let anything slide on my DD-214..now repeat that again s l o w e r so you understand it. My retirement awards were not, I repeat not, approved yet when I transitioned to retirement and I got them after.
This nuclear-trained submariner 99QT nuke doesn’t care how fast or slow you type, mkay?
I too got a “thanks for playing” Navy Achievement Medal. Even shows up online, but had to put in for a DD-215 because I too signed my 214 at Port Hueneme before I went on 50-odd days terminal leave.
Not here to start a dick-measuring contest, but do please keep in mind that even though I was never Army/Marines, I’ve been around long enough to garner a few nuggets here and there from my grunt bretheren.
I’ve even got a few knuckle scrapes.
Harsh words flying around TAH today. We should all take IQ tests, then have a blogwide bareknuckle smoker!
Shrike: Based on his FOIA, Aden has considerably more than 9 years of Active duty. His FOIA (see link in post 59 above) shows he served on Active Duty three separate times: once for 4 mo 14 days, once for 10 months 19 days, and the third time for 8 years exactly. That adds to 9 years 3 months 3 days, give or take a day. The DD214 Aden provided appears to omit his first period of active duty entirely.
I’d also have to see documentation to buy Aden rating 3 GCMs. Aden’s first two periods of active duty are each less than 1 year. Therefore, per Army regulations neither of these would qualify Aden for the GCM unless one of them was terminated by early release due to physical disability.
Also per Army regs, qualifying service for the GCM must be continuous. Any service interrupted by a break in service of more than 24 hours cannot be “carried forward” and combined with later service. Aden’s breaks in service were each of considerably longer than 24 hours.
Aden’s final period of active duty was 8 years in duration. That period is enough for Aden to qualify for 2 GCMs, not 3. Therefore, the only way Aden legitimately can have 3 GCMs is if one of his earlier periods of active duty were terminated by reason of physical disability. I’d have to see some documentation before I’d buy that. And if that’s the case, it also raises the question of how Aden managed to qualify medically for enlistment at a later date.
Has it ever happened that you felt very positive about someone being a fraud and you turned out to be wrong? How certain are you all that this is true? Who is able to check with the “schoolhouse” and verify the education? Can I as a civilian? I’m not trying to be accusatory. I’m just trying to eliminate any doubt.
Hondo – back in the day, when Guardsmen entered service, the first 4 months was for training and included basic and some OJT time back at the unit. The second chunk of months (sometimes even years, depending) would be for a technical school.
While not common it is also not particularly unusual for Guardmen to go active for a tour or two or a career.
Lots of variables and I have no idea if any of this applies to this guy. But that would be my guess to explain the first two active duty periods, with membership in the Guard in between those periods and following the second. There would be a specific order issued from his TAG’s office to show when he terminated his Guard service.
OWB: I reasonably familiar with the fact that Reserve Component personnel serve occasional (or more often) tours on active duty these days. For the last 22+ years of my career, I was in the Army Reserve. I spent more time on active duty than not between 9/11 and mandatory retirement in mid-2009. My guess is that Aden’s first period of active duty was Infantry basic plus mortar AIT as ARNG initial entry training. I’m pretty sure that that’s about the right length of time for those, plus probably jump school. (Jump school is 3 weeks; it isn’t listed on his DD214 as a school, while the others he attended and completed after he went on active duty seem to be there.) However, my specialty wasn’t infantry, so one of the infantry vets here will have to advise if the time required for those 3 training courses would exceed about 19 weeks. My guess for the second period would be that it was almost certainly mobilization for CONUS Operation Noble Eagle support, with termination short of 1 year due to end of mission. The dates are a match for that, and many local infrastructure security missions were tasked to local ARNG units. In particular, I’m pretty sure the MN ARNG would have gotten the mission to provide security enhancements at the MSP IAP many airports and/or other key facilities. in MN I was on active duty at that time (different mission) and I seem to remember that many of the ARNG ONE support missions terminated short of 1 year. But that was now nearly 10 years ago, and I’m not sure how accurate my memory is concerning such details from that period. — break — Olive Oil: it has apparently been confirmed with JFK Special Warfare Center (they run the SFQC, which one must pass before one is awarded an 18-series MOS and can call oneself a “Green Beret”) that Aden was a washout. No completion of SFQC = “NOT a Green Beret”. Period. (See the “ProfessionalSoldiers.com” link in comment 56 above and the comments to the 2nd Aden story on… Read more »
I thought Mark Kirkwood was the only politician who embroidered his own record while he was running for office. However, he was publicly called out on it and shut his silly mouth. He is now recovering from a severe stroke.
Do these silly politicians not understand bad karma?
Apoplexy caused by GUILT —
priceless JUSTICE .
Army Pulls Candidate’s Mistakenly-Awarded SF MOS
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2012/07/04/army-pulls-candidates-mistakenly-awarded-sf-mos.html?ESRC=army-a.nl
Jonn: in their story, MilitaryTimes.com also had the decency to give you credit for breaking the story.