The stolen valor of Sergeant Major Andrew F. Underwood
AndyFMF sends us a link to the US Army Court of Criminal Appeals in the case of Sergeant Major Andrew F. Underwood, who was also a CID (Criminal Investigations Division) agent. The brief doesn’t go into details about the case except to say that he was convicted of wearing unauthorized decorations and badges, and “false swearing”. Underwood was initially sentenced to a year in prison and a bad-conduct discharge (know to those of us who don’t have one of those as a “Big Chicken Dinner”). The appellate court reduced his prison time to thirty days but still stuck him with the BCD.
The argument in the court brief is whether or not he should get the BCD or not. The dissenting judge thinks that, since he had twenty years of honorable service before he stole some valor, he shouldn’t get the BCD. The judge also says that it was the Army’s fault that he stole valor, since someone put the awards in his personnel jacket (the brief doesn’t say what those awards were and I can’t find anything in a Google search) without any coercion from the Smadge. He just didn’t try to correct his records and then wore the unearned decorations. The court ultimately upheld the sentence.
But, I guess this is instructive to the strap-hangers around here as to why we get so upset over stolen valor – this what we get to do to people who steal valor when the civilian courts aren’t involved. More than twenty years of honorable service were flushed down the toilet just by not speaking up about errors in his records.
Category: Phony soldiers
SGM…ought to know more than anyone. See ya!
What truly galled me was the dissenting argument that an inaccurate record is akin to hitting the lottery. If the MOH mysteriously appeared in my record, I am under no obligation to correct my record. According to Judge Martin, wearing the “accoutrement” is okay as long as there is enough honorable service to outweigh my poor decision.
The Army in last couple years have made roadkill of senior ranking soldiers playing PX commando…a one star got booted out & a fmr CSM of Walter Reed was retired as a SSG. Fmr SGM Underwood, as an investigator, should have known better than anyone…what a hell of a price to pay.
No pity here!
This guy should be the epitome of integrity in the Army. He is a SGM and a CID agent. Fuck him and his twenty years of honorable service. Some choices have life-long consequences. Piece of shit.
Yeah, I understand that with as many pieces of paper (or virtual pieces of paper) as float around the military system that honest mistakes will be made from time to time. However, there are some mistakes which simply should never be made, and many which could be quickly corrected if each of us kept a close eye on our own records.
Any chance that the fool who made the “mistake” in the records could maybe share in the punishment?
I got a Kuwaiti Liberation Medal, i never figured that one out, as I did.t deploy to the Gulf until Jan 94.
Well, what was he wearing that was unauthorized? If it was something like an ARCOM with 3 clusters but he only earned 2, or something like foreign jump wings that DA doesn’t recognize then I’d wonder who he pissed off. But something like a Silver Star or a ranger tab I’d remember earning.
I’m not excusing the guy by any means but if there was a perfect case to describe the double standard regarding enlisted and officers this would be it.
@9: Gen. William E. Ward intentionally defrauded the US government while in service for hundreds of thousands of dollars and still get retirement. Good ol’ boy club pays off.
lurkersteve: the linked court documents show six (6) specifications of wearing an unauthorized award or decoration. I don’t think it was just a case of an extra OLC.
FatCircles0311: not always. As Devtun pointed out, BG Roger Duff got tossed w/o his retirement for doing much the same as this guy (unearned BSM w/V, Purple Heart, Pathfinder Badge, Master Parachutists Badge, Combat Infantryman’s Badge w/star, the Iraq Campaign Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, and Southwest Asia Service Medal). He managed a plea deal that spared him jail time – by waiving his retirement benefits. He “retired” as a Major, but gets no retirement pay.
http://www.militarycorruption.com/genduff.htm
In case you’re wondering why no bad discharge for Duff: for officers, a BCD isn’t an option – it’s either dismissal (equivalent of a DD) or nothing when it comes to a punitive discharge. Why no dismissal? Same reason as no DD for this SGM would be my guess.
One of you attorney or JAG types need to chime in.
Now that some sort of legal precedence has been established, can others slime into the courtroom and use a similar arguement in future cases, and perhaps have the sentence reduced?
(Obviously, this would apply to those still on active duty whose “service records” are “screwed up”.
If he was livin’ a lie, it wasn’t “20 years of honorable service”… But I do feel sorry for the guy that he felt he had to cheat…
Now, since he’s a proven liar, all his CID cases will need to be reviewed, too…
And since my time in service didn’t even rate that red Nat’l Defense ribbon, even with every third week standind SAC Alert ready to go rip someone a “special” surprise, the former SGM does not rate any violin music.
SCREW him!! He, of all Senior Nco’s, being a CID Agent, should have known the consequences for what he did! When it comes to slimeballs like him “sympathy” is simply a word found in the dictionary somewhere between “S**T” and “syphilis”!!
One of my Soldiers had an “AFGCM” pop up on his ERB. Sure enough, somehow this 3-year Specialist with no prior service “received” an Air Force Good Conduct Medal. He wasn’t a 20+ year SGM and still knew to ask what it was and how to get it removed.
From what I’ve seen and heard, the ERB (and ORB) (which replaced the 2-1 file for active duty Soldiers) is fairly easy to exploit–find a willing Human Resources Specialist and have them add whatever awards and schools you’re missing. Copies of training certificates and award orders should be provided, but I’m sure there are plenty of Soldiers out there who have added both earned and unearned items without proper documentation. There is also the possibility that the clerk tasked with updating records isn’t the smartest tool, causing (for example) SAPR to become Sapper or the EIB to become a CIB.
Anyone with more than a day in the service knows what they’ve earned. Even if it starts to get fuzzy, most good Soldiers have a “love me book” or equivalent containing everything we’ve gotten and done. Squared-away NCOs should have copies of everything scanned into their Official Military Personnel File (OMPF), which is only a few clicks away so long as one has internet access. In short, this former CSM knew what he was doing–deliberately trying to deceive others. He probably had some decent post-retirement job prospects before this. Now, he may struggle to find employment at McDonalds.
I returned from a deployment last year and had some things on my DD 214 that I thought were accurate. ARCAM, OSR, AFRM. Despite having them on my DD 214 an excellent Specialist conducted a records review and told me that I didn’t rate some of the appurtenances on them. Then he cited the regulations to me, a 1SG. I replaced the OLCs and numerals on my rack because the Specialist was correct. Despite the fact that I had a DD 214 and memorandums to wave around, I thanked him for making sure that I didn’t look like an ass, though I’m certain no one else would have caught the discrepancies.
Prior to that another of my Specialists, that had once trained with the Honor Guard, came to my office and I asked him to look at my DA photo with a critical eye. He corrected a misplaced badge. Parachutist wings were above my ribbons along with a CMB. Group 4 badges may not be worn above the ribbons with badges of groups 1, 2 or 3. But that’s the way we wore them in my battalion in the 82d. I was wrong. I made certain that my ASU was correct when I returned CONUS.
Tactful corrections are welcome. I can count the times that I’ve corrected someone regarding a Jungle Expert or Recondo patch during the mid 90’s and each time it was some arrogant or ignorant response that left me shaking my head as I walked away.
We had some S-Shop Rangers in one of my units. They got caught pretty quick.
@18 I think it’s a pity we can’t use “Wall-to Wall Counseling” in the Army like they used to! But HEY, like my Momma always said, “It’s the thought that counts”, and as I think about it, YEAH, we can use it, but it’s harder to get away with it than it used to be!
@5 scalpel- couldn’t say it any better!
A CSM knows better then to wear medals/awards/badges that he knows he didn’t earn. I have no sympathy for him.
A CSM doing that deserves everything they give him.
Turd.
Typical.
How much time did he spend in TRADOC?
Curious?
I’ll assume this was a blatant “you never got this thing,” but I’ve heard of massive problems with DD214s showing stuff it shouldn’t or vice versa. I just realized (almost eight years after I got out of the reserves) that my dd214 has no deployment stuff on it except for dates overseas. No Iraqi freedom, No CAR, No expeditionary, no nothing. It didn’t even have my pistol or rifle badges listed.
Trying to get that corrected now, it was like a hidden parting gift from the big green weenie.
There’s a big difference between something erroneously going on your records, and you making the decision to actually wear it! I look over my ORB a few times a year just to see if anything has changed. It’s usually assignment dates that are off and need to be adjusted, but one of my friends had nearly his entire ORB wiped out for no reason. It took him going to the PSB for a couple hours to fix, but that’s the soldiers’s job to keep an eye on their stuff.
@JohnnyReb thats probably because you never went to Iraq and never got a CAR. Read what you sign. I hear this all the time I should have gotten a PH, CAR, CIB, or a bikini wax more than likely you did not rate it or you would have it on your 214.
You people should be ashamed to yourself
Everyone makes mistakes. You should Look in your own closet Before You judge someone else.
Gee, Anon. Yeah, I really, really, really need to practice that looking ashamed to myself thingy.
We did not judge this clown. You did not judge this clown. He was judged by a lawfully appointed US Army Court of Criminal Appeals. That means that the clown was confirmed by them to be a criminal. He had already been judged to be a criminal.
And if I catch you trying to see what is in my closet, you will not likely appreciate the outcome of your criminal activity.
@27 – I looked in my closet, saw a bunch of shirts, trousers, levis, shoes, boots, etc… Did I miss anything, you stupid moron?
Turd-bucket idiot.
@27, MUST you let us know how illiterate you are right up front?
I still have my boot camp-era uniform. What’s in YOUR closet, sport?
[…] The stolen valor of Sergeant Major Andrew F. Underwood […]
[…] A few months ago, we talked a little about Sergeant Major Andrew F. Underwood, who was a CID agent and whom the Army busted for stolen valor while he was still on active duty. At the time we weren’t really sure what he had done, only that some military judges were really mad at him. Well, TSO, who heads our huge legal department, got some of the records of the proceedings and here are a couple of relevant passages; […]
[…] 10) Andrew “25 Years and a Big Chicken Dinner” Underwood […]
D’oh!
[Removed by the guy who pays the bills]