Thomas Jefferson Allen; medic embellisher

| April 17, 2014

allen_thomas_j_III_IWS - DAPMIS Photo

Someone sent us Thomas Jefferson Allen III, who was a medic in the Army Army Reserve who was called to active service twice, according to his FOIA. As you can see in the picture above, he wears a Purple Heart and either a Combat Action Badge or Combat Medic Badge, it’s difficult for me to tell from the picture, not that it matters really because he has neither in his FOIA.

Thomas Jefferson Allen FOIA

When confronted about the Purple Heart, he presented this set of orders;

allen_thomas_ph._1jpg

On the face of things, the orders look legitimate, the only problem is that A Co. 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry wasn’t in Iraq on the date for which the Purple Heart was awarded, February 2, 2008. Neither was it in Iraq on the date of the orders, August 22, 2008. In fact, 2008 was one of the few years that 4/31st Infantry wasn’t in Iraq. In 2007, they suffered 28 KIAs, and left in November 2007 after a fifteen month tour. Then they returned to Iraq in Oct. 2009 closing out our presence in Iraq in June 2010.

His military occupational specialty was as a medic with additional identifier for Ears, Nose and Throat (ENT) not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just that it would seem to be difficult to get a Purple Heart in the clinic. I’m thinking he got called to active duty once in 2006 and again in 2008 (two “M” devices on his AFRM). He deployed in 2006 (he’s wearing a 1st Division combat thingie on his pocket), then went back on active duty in 2008, but didn’t deploy. However, since the Iraq war was winding down, he decided that he needed some combat awards. A Purple Heart and a CMB or CAB would always look nice. What I don’t get, though, is that’s his official photo – did he think that no one on the board would notice?

And is that a Multinational Force and Observer Medal at the bottom? There are nine medals in his FOIA and 13 on his uniform.

Category: Phony soldiers

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A Proud Infidel®

And an E6 to boot. Is he still in? If so, it all needs to start with a good “rug dance” in the 1SG’s Office.

DIRTBALL!

thebesig

Originally posted by A Proud Infidel:

And an E6 to boot. Is he still in? If so, it all needs to start with a good “rug dance” in the 1SG’s Office.

DIRTBALL!

Yes, he’s in AKO. It showed up at the bottom of my screen, and something else covered his profile. But he’s listed as “Thomas Jefferson Allen” in the reserves. The photo on his profile looks similar to what’s on this page.

Time to find his reserve unit. 😀

A Proud Infidel®™

OOHH, GAME ON!!! >:D

Abngramps

Oops, if it turns out he is taking liberties with not only his photo, but the memorandum as well, this is gonna hurt (my sides from laughter) over him throwing away a good career. What. An. Idiot.

A Proud Infidel®

I wonder if this one will “Wickre” on us, or will he fizzle like Cheesy D. Dukey?

FatCircles0311

Ladies, contain yourselves…..

Valkyrie

Contained.

Toasty Coastie

Slightly contained..just a little dribbling over the side.

Ex-344MP

Ahhh the ladies of TAH. You guys are the best 🙂

Old Trooper

Yeah; what he said!

Beretverde

Forgery of a federal document. FBI’s jurisdiction. Good luck with those “50%ers” (50% great 50% totally WORTHLESS).

rb325th

That would be the CMB, Combat Medic Badge on his uniform.
Actually went to the trouble to forge orders for an award, on a date his supposed Unit was not even in Iraq. Brilliant!!! Wonder if he has similar orders for the CMB and other awards not on his FOIA.

Uncle Marty

This is this Soldier’s DA Photo.

EVERYONE knows that the CSMs at the promotion boards review both the ERB and DA Photo. If it doesn’t match, they dig deeper.

As for the Unit on the orders, it doesn’t have to be the unit that he was assigned to in theater. If a later unit, approves the award, of which he has to provide evidence, his medical records, they can do the paperwork.

The 1st ID badge, even though it has been put out that you are supposed to wear the patch that you are directly assigned to, a lot still wear a higher command patch.

Also his tie looks like absolute garbage, Photo lab tech missed that one.

rb325th

If another Unit awarded him the PH, wouldn’t the Header be for that Unit?
The Header is still wrong for the Unit in question, as it places them in Iraq at a time that they were not there.
I only received one Medal from a Unit I was not “assigned to”, but the orders came from that Unit(and were written that way) not the one I had been assigned to.

Twist

I’m assuming it would be the unit he got wounded with would be on the header.

Club Manager

First thing that caught my eye was the tie. Maybe the photo lab tech is wise beyond his years and intentionally let it be hoping it would draw attention.

Michael

That is the best fake award document I’ve ever seen. That’s the bad thing about sites like TAH. The posers learn.

Toasty Coastie

Perhaps Duke of Denial Visconi should take notes 😀

**Hat tip to Ex-PH2 for that title**

Doc Savage

Jonn..that is an MFO ribbon on the bottom.

AND….if he has an EENT identifier, depending on when he went through the school, then he didn’t go through the entire medic course, he went through General Medical Orientation (GMO) and was sent up the hill to finish his schooling as an EENT tech, so its highly unlikely he was placed in a position s a combat medic, and was indeed in a clinic.

When the 91 series MOS’s were consolidated, many of the original MOS’s became identifiers without sending the specialists back to school…they simply became 91W ( add an identifier)…though, I do not think this was done when it was reassigned as a 68 series MOS.

Twist

Yep, that is a MFO ribbon. I have two of them. The sad thing is that we have seen posers pretend to have that ribbon and you have to work really hard to get an award with lower precidence.

Doc Savage

Twist….I have the same ribbon…South Camp was in my opinion one of the best kept secrets in the Army.

Twist

Two words…Wild Geese. I don’t know if it was still there when you were there but it was the British bar that sold beer for 50 cents, but that was in the 90s when AD units were still doing MFO. I was at CP 3C. Which one were you at?

Doc Savage

Twist…I know the wild geese VERY well…I spent my birthday there…and celebrated earning my EFMB at peacekeeper range.

I was at CP 3-D, right across from the Egyptian police Academy…we were right on the waters edge at the port.

Doc Savage

btw..it was still 50 cent beers…..I was there from late July 97 thru Early Jan 97 with the 2/27 inf out of the 25th ID

Doc Savage

just read that…should have been late july 96 to Jan 97

Twist

I was there July 97 – January 98 and July 98 – January 99.

Ironsides

As of ’10 the price of a pint was $1.00 at the Wild Geese. Same at the Hungarian and Italian bars, too. South Camp hasn’t really changed a bit in decades.

LebbenB

If this joker worked in a clinic, I’d really like to see a set of orders for the CFMB.

From AR 600-8-200:
“Over the years, there has been some confusion concerning the phrase “…in direct support of an infantry unit…”. The CMB is intended for, and awarded to, those medical personnel who accompany the infantryman into combat. … During the World War II era, medical support for infantry units in combat was provided by the medical detachments and companies of battalions and regiments. These medical personnel and units were termed direct support. This concept lasted until Vietnam. Today, medical personnel are assigned as organic personnel to infantry companies and are regarded as participants as opposed to being categorized as those providing direct medical support. For example, medical personnel serving in division-level medical companies, ground ambulance and medical clearing companies, mobile-Army surgical hospital, combat-support hospital, field hospitals, and aero-medical evacuation units are not eligible for the CMB. The sole criteria that qualifies medical personnel for award of the CMB is to be assigned or attached to an infantry unit engaged in active ground combat. Medical personnel other than those medics organic to infantry units may qualify only if they serve as medical personnel accompanying infantrymen…”

Ex-344MP

You know what I hate? Posers who take valor from good, honest troops.

Our medic earned his Combat Medic Badge many times over while we were there.

I was also at Rustimiyah, if any of you know that dump (literally). We had a hospital there that was 1 of 2 that fed into Ballad.

There was quite the stink on base when those Docs in the hospital wanted to claim they were eligible for their combat medic badges after a mortar attack, it got so bad apparently that word filtered down to the troops that their command put out a memo that said IDF didn’t count unless it landed basically on top of them.

I was an MP working as the 91st MP Battalion Targeting NCO and saw the memo (sipernet email)
come across to our Battalion Cmndr, who then decided to read it out in our TOC, because we were having our own issues with the Fobbits trying to get CABS for IDF on the other side of the base from them.

Just my 2 cents.

LebbenB

There was a similar push by some folks at Camp Victory back in 05 because of all the celebratory gunfire that erupted just outside the camp when the Iraqi national soccer team beat the Saudis. My RTO said it best when we found out (literally) what the shooting was about, “Hell Sar’ent, next time we get in fight with the guys instead of throwing grenades we should throw soccer balls.”

Ex-344MP

Lol. That’s funny. We closed down Rustimiyah and moved to Victory, that soccer ball comment was still being used in 09. 🙂

LebbenB

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I’m still in contact with that guy. I’m going to call him and tell him his comment became part of Camp Victory lore.

Ex-344MP

Lol. You should. It definitely made the rounds, it’s one of those comments that alleviates the stress of the moment.

T1B

I remember that night! I was at FOB Hawk (just outside of ECP 3 of Liberty). No idea what was going on – actually pretty damned tense until our IA partners explained what was going on.

ArmyATC

Lebben, Holy crap!! I remember that night. I was working traffic out of Taji when the shit erupted all around us. Pilots were frantic, wondering what the hell was going on. It only took a moment to realize that none of the fire was directed at us and only a few minutes to find out the Iraqi national team had won. I told flights to climb a bit higher and avoid population centers for the next few hours.

LebbenB

When we rolled over to check on the staff primaries (we were the PSD for them), we found the Three underneath his hootch in skivvies and IBA. To quote our august Secretary of State, the image was “Seared into my brain.” I think that’s the root cause of my PTSD. The horror, the horror.

Scalpel Shepherd

I remember that night well. Pretty funny watching people freak out for no reason.

GoldenDragon

Camp Victory was Camp Liberty by 2005.

LebbenB

You have it the other way around. By 2005 Victory, Liberty, BIAP and all the other smaller facilities around them were referred to as Victory Base Complex.

Ex-344MP

Forgot to add, I’m not a fobbit. I was out the wire for half my tour until it was decided I had used all my luck up after getting hit 3 times in the space of 30 days and coming out of it in pretty good shape.

Just saying is all. Any one who went out the wire knows how the Fobbits liked to exaggerate their experience over there.

🙂

Twist

I had a day where we hit 3 IEDs in 4 hours.

LebbenB

DUDE!

Twist

Nobody really got hurt. Our medic caught a small piece of shrapnel. I was talking shit to him about how he was going to get a PH for a small scratch. An hour later I took a couple small pieces of shrapnel. His first words to me were “ain’t karma a bitch”. Neither one of us got a PH.

LebbenB

Glad to read that none of y’all got seriously fucked up.

Still, 3 in four hours? That’s a bad day in anybody’s book.

Twist

After re-reading that it looks like I’m talking shit and having a dick measuring contest. That was not my intent.

LebbenB

Didn’t take it that way. No worries.

Green Thumb

“You know what I hate? Posers who take valor from good, honest troops.”

And here I was thinking it was gay cowboys, ankle boots and pinkie rings.

Don H.

The GMO course was discontinued when they went to the ASI producing courses. Human Resources Command decided there were too many low density MOS, so the ASI was a better method of tracking individuals. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. At Bragg, for example, anybody with a “P” ASI who showed up at the Replacement Battalion would get sent to Division, regardless of tehir other ASIs. You can imagine the havoc this caused the 44th MED.

It also required that, in order to remain competative, those with ASIs had to take 68B leadership assignments. So even with the ENT ASI, he could have been assigned as a platoon sergeant or a squad leader in a division.

And it is possible to get wounded, or even killed, in a clinic. 82nd lost a doc in a rocket attack on one of their clinics; the 28th Combat Support Hospital had a nurse KIA in ~2008 from a mortar. And my CSH sent personnel outside the wire on supply runs, etc.

But let’s focus on the CMB. There are two requirements to be awarded the CMB–first, you must have been assigned or attached to a medical unit organic to an infantry or armor unit of brigade or smaller (in teh new BDE organization, the medical company of the briagde support battalion would count; the FSB in a DISCOM under the old organization wouldn’t). And secondly, you had to provide treatment to the wounded while under fire. So does he meet both of those requirements? To me, that is the question that needs to really be answered. You see a lot of medics who wore a divisional combat patch from early in teh war whose unit may have been supporting a division; it wasn’t until 2007 that tehy issued the directive that you wore the shoulder patch that your unit wore in peacetime. So don’t let the 1st ID CSIB distract you; I knew a MED BN commander who wore an SF combat patch from when his BN was deployed to Afghanistan. It’s one of the reasons they changed the guidance–too much combat patch shopping.

Hondo

Don H: agreed that medics in clinics can get legitimate PHs. IDF doesn’t care about MOS.

However, best I can tell it’s kinda hard to get a PH in Iraq in 2008 without also qualifying for the ICM.

This guy’s FOIA doesn’t show an ICM – or a PH, for that matter, or the CMB. And the GWOTEM wasn’t awarded for service in Iraq after Apr 2005.

Twist

I am not defending this poser, but it is possible to get awarded the PH when your unit is not in theater. My PH that was denied had to be sent back to theater to get approved. If it had been awarded the date on the orders would have been at a time that my unit was not in theater.

Hondo

Twist: that is indeed possible. But it raises questions here.

1. The action and date of award both occurred while he was serving on active duty. Presumably at least the former occurred while he was in Iraq.
2. On the orders, he’s shown assigned to a unit that was not in-theater on the date of the action concerned. It’s possible he was injured, was sent back to rCONUS and, received the award there – but in that case, I think the SNL should show current unit of assignment at its current location in CONUS vice showing him still in Iraq.
3. HRC Alexandria issued the orders, not a field command. Field commands (2-star level, if I recall correctly) typically had PH approval authority at that time. That brings up the question of why HRC was involved at all.
4. The PH does not appear on his FOIA reply from NPRC. He was awarded the PH more than 3 months before he was discharged from that tour in Dec 2008. I’d think it would have been on his discharge DD214 – and thus would be listed on his FOIA reply.

I guess it’s time to figure out how to do a FOIA to HRC asking for a SSN-redacted copy of a particular set of award orders. Fortunately, we have the orders number and date of the orders in question. (smile)

Regarding his other awards: he’s wearing two others that are suspect. The bottom outboard two are the Army Reserve Components Overseas Training Ribbon (ARCOTR) and the MFO Medal. Neither appears on his FOIA reply from NPRC. If they’re legit, they should indeed be there.

And it also looks like he’s wearing his NCOPDR way out of order.

Bobo

Hondo, I’ll defer to your knowledge in the awards area, but playing devil’s advocate, the FOIA gives his end date of service as 2008, but he’s still in AKO and the DA photo was taken in 2012. Is it possible that someone at HRC missed something that might have happened from 08-12, so the awards reflect it but the paperwork doesn’t? Granted, that doesn’t solve the problem with the PH orders.

Given that, there are still a few things that are problematic.

1. He isn’t wearing his AFRM, so you can’t tell how many he’s claiming, but there should be 3, not 2, if he did MFO (the mobilization in 2006, 2008, and MFO).

2. On the 2006 mobilization, if he went to OIF or OEF, he came back early. No one mobilizes an RC soldier to deploy into a combat some for 3 months. The training and travel time would eat up too much of the mobilization. I’m guessing that he was state side.

3. Why is he indicating combat with the 1 ID and not 10th MTN? I know that the training teams in Afghanistan fell under 1 ID and a lot of the guys there opted to wear that patch, but I can’t imagine a 10th MTN guy wearing a 1 ID patch.

Just a few observations. We’ll see where this one goes.

Hondo

Bobo: the PH “orders” above appear to be dated 26 Aug 2008 (hard to tell the year, but that’s what it looks like – maybe). They give the date of action as 2 Feb 2008 (that is fairly clear). He was on active duty at the time (he DEMOBed on 9 Dec 2008 according to NPRC). So that PH should be on his Dec 2008 DD214 – along with an ICM. Both are absent. You’ve touched on a pet peeve of mine re: the AFRM. Since the mid-1990s there has been no such thing as 1st Award, 2nd Award, etc . . . , of the AFRM. It’s probably the most common error I see on NPRC FOIA replies. Prior to the creation of the M device, using those terms made sense. In that era, the AFRM was strictly awarded for 10 years qualifying RC service in a 12 year period. The 1st Award was bare ribbon; the 2nd Award had the Bronze Hourglass, 3rd Award, Silver; and 4th Award (yes, 40 years service in the RC was and still is possible), Gold. With the creation of the “M” device (after Desert Storm in the mid-1990s – 1994 or 1995, I think), a second criteria for award of the AFRM now existed: mobilization. The terms “1st Award”, “2nd Award”, etc . . . were now meaningless, as they did not clearly identify what was being awarded. The practice of awarding the AFRM “bare” ceased. The medal was thereafter always awarded with at least one device (M or hourglass). The hourglasses were redesignated Bronze (1st 10 year qual period), Silver (2nd 10 year qual period), Gold (3rd 10 year qual period). A 4th 10 year qual period now is recognized with both Gold and Bronze hourglasses. It is NOT correct any more to say “AFRM (Nth Award)”; that is ambiguous, as it does not unambiguously identify the Award and its appurtenances. The correct entry is either “AFRM w/Bronze Hourglass” or “AFRM w/M Device”. Similarly, “AFRM (2nd Award)” is not correct, as that could refer to any one of three different possibilities.… Read more »

John Robert Mallernee

Hondo, Et Alii:

My Armed Forces Reserve Medal doesn’t have a device on it.

It came from the Department of the Army (?) and was awarded at a Disabled American Veterans ceremony.

LebbenB

His distinctive branch affiliation insignia is also crooked.

Ya gotta be all balls and no brains to put all that fake shit on your uniform for a DA Photo. Talk about going all in. I’m surprised he isn’t rockin’ the long tab, claiming to be an 18D.

A Proud Infidel®™

At least he isn’t rocking a Sniper Tab!!

Hondo

Sh!t, I can’t believe I almost missed this one.

He’s sporting the GWOTEM, which per the FOIA reply from NPRC he rates. However, he also seems to be sporting the ICM.

There’s no ICM listed on his FOIA reply.

The GWOTEM wasn’t awarded for service in Iraq during either of his tours of active duty (Jul-Oct 2006 and Jan-Dec 2008). The ICM was in effect then for all service in Iraq.

Even if he was stationed in Kuwait and went on a single “day trip” to Iraq, he’d rate the ICM if he was WIA there. That would be the result of being engaged by the enemy, which is an automatic qualifier for the ICM regardless of amount of time spent in Iraq (para 2-17d.(1), AR 600-8-22).

I’m guessing one or both of his tours was to a clinic in the CENTCOM AOR, but not in Iraq. My guess is he was assigned to either Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, or Camp Ali As Saliyah, Qatar. I believe both had smallish health clinics.

His FOIA reply also doesn’t show the NCOPDR he’s sporting (out of order, no less) – but that one’s plausible, and I’m willing to chalk that one up as NPRC or the folks preparing his last DD214 missing it.

LebbenB

Although out of order, he rates the NCOPDR because he passed the Warrior Leader’s Course.

Ex-344MP

Wasn’t the global war on terrorism medal awarded to all Army military after 9/11 and then superceded by the Iraq Combat medal later on?

LebbenB

Initially there were two GWOT awards – The service ribbon and the GWOT Expeditionary Medal. The Expeditionary Medal was replaced by the Afghan Campaign Ribbon and the ICM.

LebbenB

I hate it when I forget stuff.

Additionally, the GWOT service ribbon is a warm body award – if you were in the service from 9/11 onward, you qualified for the ribbon (like the NDSM.) you had to be deployed to AFG in order to qualify for the Expeditionary Medal.

Ex-344MP

That’s what I thought. There was a lot of confusion on whether you could wear both or just the ICM at least in my unit.

Ex-344MP

On another note for all the posers out there, your not as smart as the collected knowledge here at TAH.

Why fight when you know you’ll lose?

T1B

It’s possible to have been awarded both for service in OIF, but it would require two tours – one prior to the creation of the ICM and one after. By doing so, one can’t add service stars to the ICM for campaign participation during the period of the GWOTEM.

ArmyATC

Yes, but that service would have had to have ben before about mid to late 2005. The ICM came out around that time and the GWOTEM wasn’t given past then. So if he served in Iraq or Afghanistan prior to mid 2005 and then another tour after, he could rate both. But his deployments were after 2005, so he didn’t have a choice and wouldn’t have received the GOWTEM for either country.

T1B

ArmyATC: True. I was replying to Ex-344MP’s post about confusion in his unit about wearing both, not about specifically about this Allen guy. I should have clarified.

SIGO

I don’t think this is accurate. On my DD214 from my tour in Baghdad from Nov 2008 to Oct 2009, I was awarded the ICM with two campaign stars and the GWOTEM.

T1B

We were awarded the GWOTEM for OEF in 2003, prior to the creation of the ICM and ACM. After the ICM and ACM came about, you could elect to keep the GWOTEM if you had received it for OIF/OEF or replace it with the appropriate campaign medal.

Hondo

Ex-344MP: negative.

There are two GWOT medals – the GWOT Expeditionary Medal and the GWOT Service Medal.

The GWOT Service Medal was issued to all who served “in support of GWOT” after 11 Sep 2001 for 30 consecutive/60 nonconsecutive days or longer. This has been interpreted by DA to mean pretty much any active duty service after IET.

The GWOT Expeditionary Medal was indeed initially awarded for service in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, in early 2005 separate campaign medals for both Iraq and Afghanistan were instituted. Personnel originally awarded the GWOT Expeditionary Medal for service in Afghanistan or Iraq have the option of (1) keeping it, or (2) turning it in for the ACM or ICM.

All tours in Afghanistan or Iraq after a specified date in 2005 (late Apr, as I recall) are awarded the campaign medal. Split tours (one with qualifying service on either side of the “cut date”) get one or the other – but not both.

It’s possible to qualify for two medals with one tour. One way is a formally-documented change of duty and location. Other ways include documented periodic TDY of 60+ total days or by continuous TDY for 30+ to a campaign medal area while based in the GWOTEM area. Being engaged in combat also qualifies an individual for the campaign medal, regardless of duration. However, pre-deployment RSO&I in Kuwait prior to deploying to Iraq does NOT qualify for the GWOTEM. That’s considered prep training incident to deployment, and the period is deemed covered by the campaign medal.

More details can be found on HRC’s public web site.

Ex-344MP

Thanx Hondo.

Refer to my above comment about the knowledge here on this blog. 🙂

Hondo

Ex-344MP: yeah, the collective experience and knowledge here is relatively large. Collectively, the TAH readers can pretty much tell what “right looks like” virtually all of the time. And if there’s a legit “corner case” that applies, chances are pretty good someone among the readers has seen it or knows about it.

SIGO

I have both on my DD214. I served in Iraq from Nov 2008-2009. This was put on my DD214 by the Mob Station. I was a Guardsman

68W58

As Saliyah does have a small clinic, but Arifjan’s is significantly larger-more like a small rural hospital here in the states.

Hondo

68W58: thanks. Only was at Arifjan and As Saliyah for short periods, but thought I remembered both had clinics. Never set foot in either, so I didn’t know how large either was.

bman

Vietnam vet, 91b20, I thought you had to actually be in a combat situation to get the CMB?

Green Thumb

Could he have been at a Field Hospital or EMEDS facility that was mortared?

Hondo

Hard to see how that could happen without him also getting an ICM, Green Thumb.

His FOIA reply from NPRC doesn’t list an ICM. And it says he served 2006 and later, after the ACM and ICM had been established – so if he served in Iraq, he’d not receive the GWOTEM for that tour.

LebbenB

The FOIA definitely asks more questions than it answers, that’s for sure.

Green Thumb

I agree. Good points. Did not even think about the Campaign Medal.

ArmyATC

The GWOTEM makes a bit of sense. If he had deployed to the ME and been posted at one of the camps in Kuwait, he would rate the GWOTEM and not the ICM. I suspect that’s closer to the truth. He was most likely at Arifjan or one of the other camps.

John Robert Mallernee

As I recall (correctly?), during the war in the old Republic of Viet Nam, medics would routinely be rotated between assignments in the field and duty in a field hospital.

A friend of mine was a combat medic with a Purple Heart, who later worked in a field hospital.

Remember when those Army nurses were killed (I think there were seven of them) when a 122 millimeter rocket hit their hospital?

One of our veterans here at the Armed Forces Retirement Home was a Navy Corpsman, trained as an X-ray technician, but in the old Republic of Viet Nam was assigned to a Marine Corps infantry unit.

Kinda old ET1

Thats my thought as well, since that describes my 2005-2006 mob. I deployed with NAVELSF Customs Battalion PAPA.
We had one company stationed at Balad, they recieved the ICM. The rest of us down in Kuwait recieved the GWOTEM.

Drc

So I had this happen to me a few times. I had a short naval career as a Corpsman (3.5 years). Took a year to get a medboard and I rarely wore my dress uniform but I had numerous POGs telling me how jealous they where that I had a Purple Heart and CAR. The real question is why would anyone want to lie about having a PH or in this guys case a CMB as well? Getting blown up hurt! It was not cool, it was not glorious, it actually kind of sucked. It’s not like I was storming the beaches of Normandy fighting Nazis. I was driving back to our COP and ran over an IED. I always took offense and still do to posers bc clearly they have some small penis complex. What made up for it when I had some POG telling me they wish they had a PH and my HMC stepped in and ripped the guy a new asshole.

Former 11B

My 214 has the GWOT-EM because my deployment happened before the ICM came out, but if I ever had a reason to wear my ribbon rack again I’d ditch the EM ribbon in favor of the ICM with relevant campaign stars.

ArmyATC

You have the option of getting the GWOTEM changed to the ICM.

Twist

My question is why anyone would be jelous of a Purple Heart? Before my first deployment my wife told me if I came back with one that she would kick my ass.

Twist

to clarify, I wasn’t trivializing the award. I meant why would anyone want the pain that goes with earning the Purple Heart.

Hondo

I understand what you mean, Twist.

Before my deployment, my spouse and I were going somewhere. The car ahead had PH license plates.

I was told, “You don’t need to come home with one of those.”

ChipNASA

Agreed there Drc….

I have 2 MSMs and there is NO way I want anything higher…I’m proud of those and above it is a PH and I’d rather not have received that.
God Bless you for your service and I’m glad you’re still around to post.

68W58

I had a platoon leader once who said that he didn’t want any award that started with a color: no purple or bronze or silver-it meant you had had a bad day (he has a meritorious BSM, but his point is still well taken).

Hondo

I’m guessing he never heard the Vietnam-era derogatory term for the ARCOM, then. (smile)

David

as in the infamous “green w…”?

Hondo

Yessiree Bob – or in this case, Dave. (smile)

Sparks

Hondo…So you’re saying my “thanks for showing up…green weenie award” was handed out a wee bit too freely! 😀 Who knew? 😀

Sparks

Hondo…I saw so many green weenies I thought they went below the NDSM on the rack. 😀

3/17 Air Cav

Sparks…..I feel left out! No “Green weenie” on my DD 214. Was there a length of time you had to serve to get one?

Hondo

Sparks, my favorite “green weenie” story ever (I wasn’t quite old enough to serve in Vietnam) was one I read about the Son Tay Raid.

After the raid, decorations were awarded to virtually ALCON. Reputedly a number of participants were originally to get ARCOMs.

The account I read said that one of the senior participants (Simons, if I recall correctly) heard about that. He then reputedly told someone well above him in the chain-of-command something to the effect of, “The SECDEF better come up with some Bronze and Silver Stars – if he tries to give any of my guys the ‘green weenie’ for that operation they’re likely to shove it right up his . . . . ”

Allegedly, no one received an ARCOM for that operation.

From the accounts I’ve heard/read about Simons, I can absolutely believe that story. (smile)

Sparks

Hondo I remember hearing the same stories. I heard it changed and was embellished over time but you hit the meat of it pretty well. Although there were DSCs, AFCs, SSs and DSMs awarded if all I heard is correct.

NavCWORet

So, he can be awarded the PH after his deployment if it was done in error, but he’d have to submit all kinds of paperwork to do that. Can he provide any of that paperwork ? Some of it requires a GO signature/review.

LebbenB

Does anybody have a clue as to what unit this pole smoking fake belongs to?

MrBill

I’ll bet he’s still in the USAR. Although the FOIA says he was discharged in 2009, that photo was taken in 2012. (The date format on official photos is year-month-day.)

LebbenB

At the end of a reservist’s stint on active duty, he/she gets discharged from active service and goes back into the reserves. That’s why he has three discharge dates on his FOIA.

LebbenB

At the end of a reservist’s stint on active duty, he/she gets discharged from active service and goes back into the reserves. That’s why he has three discharge dates on his FOIA.

MrBill

The thing that confused me was the use of the word “discharged”, as opposed to REFRAD. Maybe that’s just the way they do the FOIAs?

Toasty Coastie

So what time are the Puppets coming? I’ve made dinner for us, Cajun Meatloaf with mashed Sweet Potatoes and Steamed Green Beans with Jalapenos and Pimentos with a lovely Spicy Mushrooma nd Brown Gravy. There’s Chipotle Popcorn and a choice of beverages too.

Oh and I made cookies for the Puppets….

The Turd kind…

John Robert Mallernee

Comrades in Arms: As you folks know, I occasionally play, “Devil’s Advocate”, in response to seeing similar cases and/or allegations posted at this web site. Yes, it is very possible for a veteran to have additional military awards which are not listed on the DD-214. The United States Army is a huge bureaucracy, just like any other super megalithic government bureaucracy, and personnel clerks are ordinary human beings with poor literary skills (i.e., they can’t SPELL common English words, and some of them, due to “Affirmative Action”, can’t even be understood when they speak). Personally, I have five (05) awards from the United States Army that are not listed in my DD-214, plus two (02) diplomas not listed in my DD-214 and/or Form 20, from courses completed many years ago when I was serving in the Utah State Guard (which is your true “Minuteman Militia”, NOT the National Guard, which is merely another component of the United States Army). Two (02) of those awards are for my unit in the Republic of Viet Nam, the 501st Signal Battalion (Airmobile) of the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile), i.e., the Meritorious Service Medal Unit Award and the Republic of Viet Nam Civic Action Honor Medal Unit Award. I would never have known about those unit awards if I hadn’t discovered it when reading the Turner Publishing history book, “101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION ‘SCREAMING EAGLES'”, by Colonel Robert Jones. I was surprised to be awarded the Armed Forces Reserve Medal at a Disabled American Veterans ceremony, and honestly thought that somebody had made a mistake, since almost all of my military service had been active duty, with only a few months in the Utah National Guard. But, when I researched the criteria, I learned that when calculating ANY service in a reserve component, no matter how brief, active duty time is included. A few years ago, the Korean Defense Service Medal was authorized, and the criteria stipulated that it would be the responsibility of each service to locate and award the medal to eligible veterans, which we all know ain’t gonna happen, due to the… Read more »

John Robert Mallernee

I forgot to include yet ANOTHER military award received many years after my military service ended, and that is my official Recognition of Cold War Service certificate, now framed and displayed on the wall of my room.

Even though authorized by Congress, the Department of Defense has not yet approved awarding the Cold War Victory Medal.

Never the less, Cold War veterans serving in the Louisiana National Guard are authorized to wear the Cold War Victory Medal.

Cold War veterans in the Alaska National Guard may wear the ribbon, but not the medal.

ArmyATC

IIRC, state awards earned in the National Guard won’t show up on a DD-214, neither will certificates and letters of appreciation. State awards will be on a NBG-22.

3/17 Air Cav

John…….during my time as a US in the U S Army, 18 Aug. 1970 to 19 Jan. 1972 the Army as I knew it was inept, poorly led, with poor morale across the board.

My DD 214 is a series of wrong dates and in some cases, awards. My promotion to E-5 has the date of my E-4 promotion. I have no promotion orders to E-5 in my file. I flew for approx. six months as a door gunner with the Air Cav. Yet I have no crew member wings on my DD 214.

It’s not that I’m looking for awards and attaboys. I’m just saying The Army as I knew it during the time of my service, was one fucked up mess

John Robert Mallernee

If valor can be stolen, can it also be purchased, traded, or sold on the open market?

If so, I think I can make a tidy little profit purchasing valor from you guys, and after marking up the price, including shipping and handling, and sales tax, I could soon have lots of money to impress females with!

What do you think?

What would be a good name for this new enterprise?

HS Sophomore

Perhaps All Points Logistics.

HS Sophomore

I would imagine they’re already focus grouping the idea.

SFC Raikkonen

Well, I found him in the global and it is showing he is assigned to USARMY Reserve 100 Div Ops Spt. 4th BDE 10th BN 108th REGT.

I have no idea where that’s located but I’m emailing one of the Medic Platoon Sergeants from the mailing list right now. Hopefully, we will see a result. I’ll keep you posted.

-SFC Raikkonen