Ladner still campaigns for a top slot in our tournament
A couple of you have sent us links to the report at News West 9 who interviewed John Cook, Shane Ladner’s lawyer, in regards to the DD214 about which we have questions in regards to Ladner’s Purple Heart. Cook says that “luckily” they have uncovered Ladner’s DD214 which he signed when he left Fort Benning;
“We were lucky enough to find the original, the one that Shane signed when he walked out of Ft. Benning in Georgia,” he said.
Cook is talking about a military document called a DD 214 that’s given to veterans when they’re released from active duty.
According to the document, Ladner has received several awards including the Purple Heart.
Cook said they sent the papers to be examined by a former document expert of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. In a letter, the expert said the DD 214 is the real deal.
“It’s an original un-altered, no erasers, the word ‘Purple Heart’ specifically was printed on that document by the same laser printer that printed all the information,” Cook said.
NewsWest 9 also reviewed other copies of Ladner’s military and health records. Those documents list and make references to a Purple Heart award.
So, let’s see the orders for the medal. A clerk doesn’t do a mind-meld with the subject of a DD214 when they type up the document – they need to see supporting documentation. I haven’t seen any orders for the medal yet. If the entire DD214 is a forgery, there wouldn’t be evidence of alteration. And what were the result of their search of hospital records in Panama that they promised us? Why hasn’t anyone come forward and verified the incident which resulted in the wound?
Ladner lied about his participation in Just Cause and then altered his story when busted, and then lied that he was told to lie by his commander. I hope they find evidence that this lawyer participated in the scam and hammer his fat, too.
Category: Phony soldiers
I’m rolling my eyes right now. A DD214 is cool and all, but military awards given out during the time frame of Ladner’s claimed service were always accompanied by ORDERS. Especially an award as prestigious as the Purple Heart.
Oops. #1 comment was mine. Didn’t put in my name or email. Lack of attention to detail on my part.
My DD214 had an addendum after I got out of the Corps in ’79 because the PAC was a little “challenged” at the time.
Mr. Cook, do you need another shovel?
As in they asked me what for input….
And…The “Original he signed as he left Ft. Benning” LIE LIE LIE. Once the DD214 is proofed and given to the Servicemember for signature, and the Servicemember signs it, he/she is GIVEN the original along with several copies. My DD214 with original signature(s) is in my safe deposit box to prevent theft or destruction.
That same DD-214 is the one we have already seen that his FOIA Requested information does not back up. His stories as well stink to the high heavans regarding his alleged Purple heart and the circumstances under which it would have been awarded. There are no longer any classified missions from CA during that time period. He would not have gone there alone, so he should have no problems saying who he was with. At least what Unit he was with. Hell most of that was all over by the time he would have got down there as well, except for Drug Interdiction and he was not doing that. That was DEA, other alphabet agencies, and pssibly SEALS or Delta.
He won’t though because he is full of shit and his first 214 from Active Duty would have also shown a Purple Heart. It would have been in his FOIA obtained records.
“by the same laser printer that printed all the information” Really? Laser printers in 1992? Don’t think so.
Just a little question: That typeface is Courier, which, along with Pica, is what you most frequently find on an IBM type ball. I should know, I have an IBM Selectric III, sitting in my teensy-weensy library. (Well, it’s actually a bedroom devoted to my bookcases and jammed full of books, so it’s a library.) That DD214 was created on a typewriter, not on laswer printer output. How can I tell? The type is uneven, which is common in typewriters that are used a lot for specific things like filling out forms. The strikers and the springs that move them when struck develop wear and tear and some keys print just a smidge higher or lower than the others. There is also just a slight difference in the spacing of the M-E-R in ‘merit’ and the S-E-R in ‘service’. There is also a specific spacing between the two back slashes that you get with a typewriter keystroke or a word processing print wheel, and not with a laser printer. Until a few years ago, laser printers were so expensive that they weren’t in common use. While the laser printer was invented in 1969 and became available by 1984, it wasn’t until the price drop that they were cheap enough for anyone, including the DoD to buy them. If any electronic equipment was used to fill in the blanks on this DD214, it was most likely a either an IMB Selectric III or a word processing typewriter with a print wheel, because Operation Just Cause was 1989, not 1999 or 2009. And last, but certainly not least, the typeface itself is a giveaway. It’s the same typeface used on my DD214 done in 1974. My 1970 DD214 was a Sans Serif typeface. If that DD214 of Ladner’s was done on a computer with a laser-printer output hookup, there’s no reason at all to use a typewriter typeface. I’d assume that now there is, like the IRS’s online tax forms, a PDF that simply fills in the blanks as you go. But that kind of thing was not in use in 1989.… Read more »
#8 – I kinda snagged on that also.
The “lawer” has to be in on it. It’s either that or Shane’s telling the truth (bullshit) and his records got screwed up. (yeah, it hurt to even type that last sentence.) But from the outside to someone who doesn’t know much about the Military and falls for the media’s shit, he could have supporters lined up. But we won’t start on the crazies, it’s to early.
This guy is flirting with disbarment if that DD-214 is fake…
@9 Ex, my 214 from 2006 was spit out whole from a laser printer using a type face that looks like it came from a typewriter. At my final out I sat next to a civilian who brought my 214 up on the screen and asked me if everything looked right. I got her to add my two tour dates which were not listed, yet my CIB was. A few awards were missing, but it’s not like I had brought anything with me other than my clearing papers and I just wanted too be done. At first she did want to see orders for my deployment dates, but in the end just took my word for it.
Not saying Ol’Shanes 214 is legit, we all know it’s not.
@1. Yes, the DD 214 is very cool and all but not nearly as cool as the ceremony at which the DD 214 is bestowed. I do wish they would limit the keynote speakers to 10 minutes, though. I don’t know what your experience was, but the 3-star who spoke at my ceremony dragged on so lonf he made us wish we had re-upped.
I can’t wait until I have a DD214.
@Andy – yes, but that was 2006, not 1989-1992. The cost of a desktop laserprinter now is about what an IBM Selectric III cost in the 1970s. I worked at a law firm from 1991 to 2003 and the secretaries were still using Selectrics up until 1997, and even then, none of us had desktop printers until 2001. Those kinds of things have to get so cheap that even the DoD can justify spending the money to buy them.
From 1989 up to about 1995, the cost was in the thousands, the size of the thing was bigger than a dishwasher and everyone had to use the same printer — basically, queue to print, and wait in line.
Were they in general use in the military in 1992? I seriously doubt it.
Twist, when yours is presented, you’ll get a ten-gun salute from a bypassing brigantine.
…”lucky enough to find the original.”.
I think he might mean…lucky enough to find the original FAKE/FORGED DD214.
@ Ex-PH2, I think, but I could be wrong because of the twists and turns this story has taken, the 214 in question that lists his Purple Heart is the one he got when he was demobilized during the war on terror as a Res/NG, and not the one he would have received when he ETSed from his first time on active duty in the 90s. Hell, the 214 I got in 97 was banged out on a typewriter and looks every bit of it.
side note, I was one of those soldiers who couldn’t make his mind up and I ETSed off active duty in 97, went straight into the reserves, ETSed from the reserves in 99, back to active duty in 2000, then out for good in 06.
Ex-PH2, to further back up what you are saying, my DD214 from when I left Active Duty in 1999 was form-printed on a daisy-wheel printer.
However, I did a stint as the Brigade S3’s driver prior to that in 1994/1995, and the brigade S1, S3, and most company HHCs had laser printers in regular production. They were all brand spanking new, and the occasional company training room still had either a dot matrix (which of course we’d easily identify) or even daisy-wheel printer. Even the Brigade TOC had a laser printer for printing Opords in the field. But most of the personnel offices didn’t have licenses for the new-fangled form software that folks were using for 4817s and everything else at the time, so they still rocked old equipment for these functions.
My friend with a mustard stain on his jump wings from Panama had his original DD214 similarly printed on a daisy-wheel printer in 1990 when he left Bragg. The letters are even but are identifiably struck-print vs. done with lasers or ink jets.
FYI – that kind of Courier typeface continued to be available on IBM Wheelwriter and Canon daisy wheels for some time. I still have the Courier 12 wheel from my old Okidata. I just can’t throw things away.
*4187s, rather
The fact that he lied about getting his Purple Heart for Panama, which happened when he was not even in the service tells me all I need to know about Shane Ladner. Toss in the Bull Shit that he says his Commander told him to lie and say that is where he got it… BULL SHIT!
Are there full page copies of all the documents his attorney is parading to the media? would be nice to compare it with the records received via FOIA.
It is possible to have awards be missed on a 214, a lot harder to get things put on that are not in your records….Where did they magically pull this 214 from? No speakers here at work at the moment.
BK, my point is that on Courier on a laser printer, or even on an inkjet printer like mine, doesn’t look like it does when I type up some copy on my typerwriter, or even some of the stuff I have stored in a notebook from the 1990s. There’s a big difference between the PC-driven typeface kerning or spacing and the typewriter/word processor same. And that includes the spacing between words.
So that may be his ‘original’ DD, or it may be doctored somehow — maybe some correction tape that can be typed over. 3M used to make Post-It correction tape. I have a box full of it. It lasts forever. I use it to put title labels on manuscript notebooks, so I can tell them apart instead of muttering “where the hell is that thing I was working on” under my breath.
There’s something just not right about that document, so I’m calling total BS on it.
@13. I only had a Major General speak at my retirement ceremony. But I did get a case of Castrol GTX and a free year’s supply of Rice-a-Roni in addition to all my other retirement goodies.
@14 – Twist – do yourself a favor (you may already know this, but… before you EAS/retire (I don’t know your status), make sure you make a full copy of your service record and medical/dental records. Submit any VA disability claim before you leave the area, and make sure your DD214 is correct – dates/awards, etc. You’ll be glad you did.
@14 via 25: And make sure your medical treatment facility prints out a copy of your entire electronic medical record, not just the stuff that’s maintained in hard copy.
LOL Snake Oil Lawyer wont even look into the camera when he lies.
All the attorney and Ladner spinning these continuing lies is making me dizzy. When can we get the F.B.I. In to look at the documents and have John Cook tell them it’s authentic . So so many lies.
Okay, I know everyone is focusing on the DD 214. But I want to draw everyone back to Ladner’s bio from the Hunt For Heroes event. Ladner described waking up in the hospital in Panama after being injured. “The first person I saw in the hospital was my older brother, Chuck, who was serving with the 5th Infantry Division and had gotten word of my injury. Chuck told me that it had been shrapnel from a grenade that had wounded me and had killed my squad leader.” So he initially said the battle took place in Panama City, but has said that was a lie he was ordered to tell by his superiors. But there are two other big problems for him here, and I wish one of these reporters would ask about this. 1. Who was his squad leader who was killed? Was he killed in the battle with the drug runners? If he’s dead, he’s buried somewhere. Surely he can’t claim that it’s classified to give up a dead guy’s identity? Is there any Army casualty listing from that time period to confirm a soldier was killed in that general time/place? Even if he was killed in a classified mission, they wouldn’t classify the fact he was killed. They would simply call it a training accident or something. Or is going to claim the dead squad leader is part of the cover story too? Why would the make him invent a dead squad leader? 2. I’ve brought it up before, but I’ll say it again. Where is his brother to confirm/deny visiting him in the hospital. If this meeting never took place (which I suspect), what’s the point in adding that to the story. Surely his commanding officer that told him to come up with the cover story, didn’t order him to make up a fake side-story about his brother visiting him? So basically Ladner has admitted he lied about being in Iraq and Somalia. If he were cornered about the stories about his brother and squad leader, my guess is he’ll admit those lies too. If you… Read more »
Brother lives around Gulfport, Mississippi, where most of his family lives. Don’t know if they even know what’s going on with their Hero!
@29 BINGO! ! You win the prize. He is an established liar! If you are in the Atlanta area a d have been to or seen the fundraiser fliers then you would see a multitude of lies not only by this POS but his orgy of supporters. Raising all kinds of money and wonder if any has gone to his poor wife? What a fool idiot! Lie after lie after lie after lie!
@ ex-ph2 the DD214 that shows the purple heart was printed when Ladner left fort Benning in 2005 …..pretty sure of it. @ averageNCO VERY GOOD …PERFECT !! You have to ask this question… If Ladner had his purple heart back in 1991 like he claims, why did he wait till 2009to get his first purple heart plate, to save money on his car tag.He started living in georgia back in 1996 or so … he waited till 2009, thirteen years later ! Let’s think about this. He was still going to Fort Benning till 2004 or 2005. He wouldn’t want to have it seen there ! People may have asked questions, like hey buddy I didn’t know you had a purple heart….. where did you get it ? He would had a lot of people asking to many questions. But remeber his purple heart didn’t show up till his 2004 or 2005 DD214 so you got to wonder why did he wait so long ? Plus what about that … joint service commendation medal with combat distinguishing device “V” that’s a mouth full ! Don’t you have to be in combat for that ?
I’ve also been reading the posts on randy Travis’ Facebook page and would someone explain why some of Ladner’s friends are still supporting him to the extent of becoming insulting! Can they not think for themselves. It’s like a cult!
@33,MilSup, Ted Bundy had his supporters too. I’m sure Shane is a pretty likable guy and probably made a great first impression on some people.And that’s just it, those people only know that part of Shane and what he’s told them. But based off what I know about him, I wouldn’t want to be in the same room as him.
John Cook, what’s the name of the former document expert of the GBI and what did he compare Mr. Ladner’s personal DD-214 to? Inquiring minds are questioning your statements.
reminder to get out and vote! Ladner deserves to win the tourney, his Stolen Valor and lies cost his wife her leg! no other contender actually caused permanent physical damage to another person with their lies. we have some that tried, and even stole money, but Ladner did it all! charity scams, law suit threats (tuesdays at the county court house, right jonn?), changeing his story a dozen times to cover for the pile of lies that only gets deeper and deeper, and to top it all off, his fake PH put him and his wife in a parade that was hit by a train! his wife lost her leg because of his lies and fakery! if that doesnt deserve him the win, i dont know what does
@32. While I think that Ladner’s PH plate was done for personal gain, the amount of time it took him to apply for it isn’t a good indicator. I qualify for a lot of military award license plates too, but I haven’t done it yet.
@ LebbenB: Yep, you are correct and what you said applies to many of us who have never gotten around to claiming what we have earned. However, in this case the timing may be highly significant because it gives us a clue as to when he first began claiming that which he had NOT earned. The idea may have come to him earlier, but he did not act upon it until he had cleared the base at which he would have been more closely scrutinized for making a false claim.
A guy his age claiming a PH in the 90’s would have been unusual, to say the least. Instead, he waited until his claim blended in with the many others who earned them following 9-11.
Pathetic piece of crap. His wife would receive a lot of support if she would separate herself from this scum
#39. That won’t happen. Have you seen how he and his phony friends have circled in like a cult. She don’t get the real information. Only the truth that they tell her. I see them everyday. Strange people -you got to wonder what their plan is……….
A few notes. A Joint Service Commendation Medal can only be issued to someone in a joint (cross service) assignment and billet. Normally only given to Majors and above on a joint staff. With V device it is a real rarity as it is more of a prestige medal rather than an indicator of combat action and other awards are more likely. For an E5 to be awarded one with a “V” device (rather an ARCOM or BSM) is akin to hitting the lottery.
The requirement for the V device is restricted to “in a designated combat area”; however other awards can be given outside of combat area (like a Purple Heart) with permission of the service secretary. It seems unlikely he could have slipped that through as with “V” waiver would have had to have been approved by the SoD.
To the best of my knowledge Honduras was never designated a combat zone therefore he would have been ineligible..
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Combat-Zones
Could it have been a huge cluster? Sure. That still does not explain all the stories or photos of him wearing awards that are not his etc, etc, etc
@38, you hit the nail on the head. He always said his Purple Heart was from wounds he received in Iraq until the fall of 2012. He never mentioned Panama until he applied for the deer hunt in Texas.
Like you, I’m convinced he waited until several years after9/11 because it wasn’t that unusual for an Iraq veteran to have a Purple Heart, but in the mid 90’s for a guy his age, he would have had to have been wounded in desert storm or Somalia. I’m not aware of any other combat zones during that time frame. Of course, he claimed Mogadishu, too.
Ladner could have provided a fake DD-214 from 1994 to the clerk typing out his release from active duty in 2004.
If I remember correctly, my original DD-214 was a basis for extracting some of the information for my second DD-214 on my release from my first deployment.
There are other additions besides the Purple Heart and Joint Commendation with ‘V’ that don’t make sense.
Meritorious Service Medal? Never saw a legitimate one on an E-5.
Six Army Achievement Medals (FOIA shows one)
Joint Achievement Medal (not on FOIA)
Army Commendation Medal (not on FOIA)
And as I have pointed out previously, if he was such a hot-runner, why did it take him 12 years 2 months to make E-5?
I made E-5 on the same day I was awarded my MC Good Conduct (giving me two whole ribbons), and I just did my job.
@9 Ex-PH2, You are right about the typewriter, probably a Selectric. When I went from Army to Air Force I went into Computer Electronics. Worked at a SAC Missile Wing on the first all transistor comm system in the service at the time. Part of the system was the Original IBM Selectric which was a DoD project to IBM to develop for this system. (I saw serial number Selectric 1 at Barksdale AFB where the seven week Selectric overhaul school was taught). We routinely had to service and overhaul the entire Selectric from wear and tear. Wear and tear caused by the type ball being used for repetitive, routine commands sent over and over from the Wing to SAC headquarters. Those letters most used and getting the most abuse wore the quickest. Thus the point is when Admins and others use a Selectric for the same basic information, form after form, all day you can see the wear and misalignments in typed letters. So either it was a perfectly, newly overhauled machine or it was printed from a computer to a laser printer. I say it is modified and printed to a laser printer. Just too perfect for a constantly used typewriter.
All: by the 2003-2004 time frame, the Army was routinely using laser printers to produce DD214s. As I recall, the questionable “DD214” Ladner is using showing his Purple Heart and JSCM w/V dates from the 2004 time frame.
Courier was a standard front on virtually all laser printers from that period. It still is today.
Thus, the font and alignment tells us nada about the document’s veracity. It would have virtually certainly been produced on a laser printer in 2004 – or if it were faked at a later date.
@45. Thanks. I had no idea when they switched to laser printers (they were way after my time in).