Ken Aden; the final nail
JD from Professional Soldiers sent us the final nail for Ken Aden’s coffin. Ken Aden you might remember is/was the Democrat candidate for Congress in Arkansas’ 3rd CD who had a perfectly honorable military career, but felt like he needed to lie and tell his prospective constituents that he was a “Green Beret”. Well, it seems that the Special Warfare Center got tired of all of his BS excuses and accusations that they didn’t know what they were doing, so they rescinded the orders he’s been flashing around with this explanation;
Sir:
Ken Aden attended and was selected during the Special Forces Assessment and Selection, Class 1-08, which ran Oct. 17, 2006 to Nov. 9, 2006. There he was selected for attendance to the Special Forces Qualification Course. He subsequently attended and completed the Warrior Leader Course, Class 5-07 April 26, 2007. Aden entered the SF Medical Sergeant Training June 12, 2007; however, he failed to meet the standards of the course and removed from the course on Oct. 9, 2007 for academic reasons. He completed Survival, Evasion, Resistance and escape training Sept. 16, 2007. He entered the 18B Weapons Sergeant Course, Class 8-07, and was recycled to Class 1-08 for academic reasons. He began Class 1-08 on Oct. 16, 2007 and was relieved from the course April 29, 2008 after failing twice to pass the Light Weapons Exam and Hands-on Mortar Exam.
On June 12, 2008, an erroneous order was issued by the Installation Management Command awarding him the 18B military occupational specialty. After national media attention brought the orders to light, a thorough review of Aden’s records was performed and a subsequent revocation order was issued rescinding the 18B MOS, Order 164-89 on July 3, 2012.
Please see attached order. Note: the blocks are a redaction of Aden’s personally identifiable information.
V/R
Janice Burton
Deputy
Office of Strategic Communications
And a copy of the orders with his PII redacted;
There are now questions being raised about his involvement in his not-for-profit, Citizens4Change, and it seems he was campaigning under an alias while he was in Ohio, not a very good alias, Ken Wade (his middle name), but an alias, nonetheless.
A former Aden supporter emails us;
He basically dropped out of the sky into Dayton, tried to get C4C off the ground, then hit the ‘eject’ button in May 10. Then he starts ‘Residents4Arkansas’ sometime in the fall of ’10.
I am well acquainted personally with Aden. I was a loyal supporter and a [redacted] for his campaign until [a few] months ago when I ran across the alias he used in Dayton. He gave me a lame ass excuse which I didn’t buy for a second. Then, another former staffer and I got together and started comparing notes… by the end of the meeting with him… I knew Aden was a complete fraud.
As a [redacted] Vet, I share your disdain for people of Aden’s ilk. I saw the MOS months ago and thought it rather odd. After the other staffer and I met and compared the stories he had been told and the ones I had been told… we both knew we had made the right decision by resigning. Aden told me that he had completed GB training when I joined the campaign in Oct last year. Virtually everything the guy said was total bullshit.
I tried to alert ‘the powers that be’ here […] months ago, but I was not listened to and told it was ‘nonsense.’ I feel vindicated but at the same time I feel that I and a lot of other people were conned.
Yeah, Arkansas needs to run away from this clown.
ADDED: Notice that the orders making him an 18B were cut after he left the JFKSWC, so he knew they were illegitimate the moment they were cut. Aden also convinced his platoon leader, who happened to be a Sergeant First Class to write him a letter to support his claim that he was an 18B. That Sergeant First Class has since retracted that statement on SOCNET after he discovered that his letter wasn’t being used for legitimate purposes. By the way, his campaign, when they released the letter, told the public that it was written by Aden’s “commanding officer” to give the letter more weight and to fool Aden’s perspective constituents. I thought I should add all of that for some more perspective on the candidate.
Category: Phony soldiers
No. 94:
And what a perfect name for a NON-entity.
(And he or it — CHOSE it !!)
@The Progressive Cop I agree. Now that I’m out of the military I’ve been involved with advocating for progressive causes. I always end up running into a couple of delusional Jack Witty zombies who dutifully pick up their monthly allowance from Mommy and Daddy (who are also paying for their English Lit or Philosophy degree), and still think they understand the world. Sort of like how I’ve yet to run into a Ron Paul sycophant who wasn’t middle class or richer.
Jack Shitty needs to realize that no one here is stifling his free speech.
Here’s the reality:
1. The First Amendment gives you the right to free speech that doesn’t infringe upon the rights of others.
2. The First Amendment ALSO gives others the right to disagree with you and to call you out when you are proven wrong.
3. The First Amendment does NOT give you protection from being offended, nor does it give you protection from the consequences resulting from your exercising of your First Amendment rights.
4. The First Amendment does NOT give you the right to silence opposing viewpoints.
The Supreme Court ruled (correctly) that the Westboro Baptist Church has the right to embark on their disgusting crusade.
Sadly, I can show you Paulians who aren’t middle class or richer, but ARE veterans. That’s what I don’t get.
I’m from NW Arkansas. I’m a proud Democrat. I feel that no matter what career you choose, the military or anything else, you work darn hard for whatever it is, and makes no difference about valor in the military or any other career. Valor is valor, and a lie is a lie, and Mr. Aden lied. Several of us had him nailed from the beginning and did not support him. He never fooled us, truly, even though he did fool some of our other dems. I think because Womack is such an arrogant, know it all politician (votes all for the rich), they were desperate for a nominee in a decidedly right wing district. I’m glad he is found out and if he doesn’t resign from his campaign, then he just makes himself look more than a fool. Most of us are honest, hard working people and won’t settle for some con man to represent us, like Womack does. Don’t judge all of NW Ark. by Ken. Besides that he’s really not from NW Ark. We’re wayyy north from where he’s from. Please make this forum about Ken, not about which oarty is right or wrong. One can ignore remarks if you’re adult, right?
Ozh is right. Many Dems in the NW Arkansas had Aden pegged from the beginning. Aden never had broad support among Dems. He was a loser from the beginning. None of this is a surprise to us.
[…] to “swift boat” him. Last week, his campaign manager quit. And to top it all off, the Army has taken the initiative to issue new orders rescinding what may have been a doctored DD-2…or a clerical error, that had shown Ken as 18B qualified (after I left active duty- the Army changed […]
Thanks for doing the digging on this. When Ken Wade later known as Ken Aden dropped into Dayton I was reminded of the movie “The Music Man”- and although, I supported his efforts and was friendly (us paratroopers generally stick together)I thought he was unbelievably naive.
What always amazed me was his ability to get people to rally around him. He’s by no means a charismatic leader type (by my standards) but- then again- who would have predicted a scrawny guy named Adolph to lead Germany?
The one thing about all this that still bugs me- is Ken isn’t the first liar to run for congress- and most would agree that our congress if full of them now.
I’ve put my post up- following up on my early ones- http://esrati.com/?p=8938
And- it really makes me think we should be looking at this as a swift kick in the butt to try to change the way candidates are selected. Maybe, at a minimum- a background check?
Thanks again for the reporting.