Thomas Joseph Heben; phony Special Forces dude
There was a tag-team match recently with Scotty, Guardian of Valor, SOFREP, and Professional Soldiers to take down Thomas Joseph Heben, the brother of a real life SEAL, Christopher Heben (famous for when he was shot chasing a thief in Ohio). Thomas even fooled his brother with his fakery. He pretended to be a Staff Sergeant in the Special Forces, when in reality, he had failed out of the Special Forces Q-Course and he’d gone AWOL. His real FOIA looks like this;
He’d used his fakery to get work and to attract women, which was his undoing, apparently, when an ex-girlfriend blew him in to the Stolen Valor community.
Thomas admitted to his fakery and his apology can be read at any of the links above. Thanks to those folks for letting us know when the smoke cleared.
Category: Phony soldiers
So, he didn’t pass SF, went AWOL, and thought it would be okay to claim being SF in the private sector where there are absolutely no veterans or people who know how to look up anything?
Or have a brother who happens to be a SEAL. WOW. That takes self imposed dick stompage to a new level. Nice apology, but too bad, so sad. Enjoy the burn.
He’s a giant dickbag, and even with his apology, I feel bad for his family and his brother.
Give-A-Fuck-About-Him-O-Meter…..???
Yeah, I’m not getting anything here 😀
AWOL Shitbird…’nuff said…
Roger that.
F’n A, Thumb.
Bergdahl wannabe…
Another member of the Special Feces community
I feel sorry for his family and particularly his brother. What an embarrassment.
Exactly my first thought.
Great minds think alike. 😉
How did his brother not see this?
Dunno. That’s a good question — my guess is that he didn’t look any further than the fact that this was his brother.
While I appreciate his apology. My sympathies lie with his brother and family. He will have to live this out himself and it will not be easy.
I read what he wrote, it seems to be from the heart and with remorse.
My response would be dont do this shit again. Lead a good and productive life and learn from this mistake.
You will be watched, good luck in the future and to say what you wrote is a display of real courage.
To my fellow commentors, he has apologized. It seems genuine. Give him the benefit of the doubt and keep a watchful eye. I will be.
Enigma4you…Here-Here. Well said and I agree. He is going to have a tough roe to hoe from this. He knows he will be scrutinized for a long time coming.
“Give him the benefit of the doubt and keep a watchful eye. I will be.”
In short, “Trust, but verify”
We needs pics of said ex gf to see if it was worth it.
I just read the apology too. Well, I read most of it. Actually, I read some of it. Okay, okay, I lasted about five or six lines. What got me was that it was in the form of a memo, as if it was an official communiqué of some sort. but did you see the subject line, the “Re?”
It reads, “Uncomfortable Subject.” Uncomfortable subject? For whom? I’ll tell you for whom: for him, that’s who. And that’s why I did a half-assed job of reading the content. Why should I read another I-got-caught-after-years-of-lying-so-here’s-your-apology-and-now-leave-me-alone letters? Screw him.
A pity on so many levels….chief among them is the fact that this poser shares the same page with SSGT Pitts and the Straight and Stalwart story.
2/17 Air Cav…I get your points. Well received. It is just my hope that despite his writing style, he is sincere. It is at least out there for the world to see, which is good. Yea he was a bad soldier, AWOL, posing and all things considered. I’m not trying to cut him slack for what he did. Not much slack in my “slack drawer” for his type. But, if he sticks to the intent of his statement and comes clean with family and friends personally, which at this point he will have to, that’s a big load to bear for the rest of his life. This will follow him forever. I guess my sense of deserved punishment is sometimes tempered with a bit of allowed mercy. If indeed the mercy is warranted. I believe, in just my one humble, butt hole’s with of opinion, he does warrant that mercy from me. I can speak for no one else though and am not trying to. He made an awful bed for himself. He’ll have a lot of years ahead to lie in it. But as I began 2/17, I do see your points well.
Every single time I went soft on someone, I lived to regret it. Not most of the time. Not some of the time. Every. Single. Time. So, I’m done. That certainly doesn’t mean you and others should see things my way. I hope you are right and he’s sincere and finds a way to make amends.
2/17 Air Cav…I see you point and position. Well taken.
In my mind this is one of those times where the guy has admitted he was a fake. He did so in a way that the world can see. I am not going to nit pick the format of that letter or the choice of words.
We are grown men and women. Each and every one of us have done things in our past that we now regret. Each and every one of us have learned from a mistake.
His apology was sincere and written with emotion. To continue to hound him after a real apology crosses a line of morality that I am not willing to make.
Outing these fools that pretend to be something is not about exposing the fake, it is about showing a truth. Its about protecting history.
TO kick a man while he is down and trying to get up is not something I will do. Its not something I will stand by and let others do with out taking action.
I agree with 2/17, to a degree. Trust is earned.
while he apologized. Good ok. this shouldn’t mean it’s all good. He has a long road to walk until he’s clean again…at least for vets, and probably his brother.
I have a sister in law (my wife’s sister) like this. Three kids three different guys. Every time I bail her out of trouble, put her through college, helped her with the kids while she worked. Now she’s about to do it again with a 4rth guy…..well the gravy train ended. You can only forgive so much before they need to learn completely on their own.
Step one in this guy’s walk is complete. He has a long road to go though.
Good point.
Enigma4you:
“I am not going to nit pick the format of that letter or the choice of words.”
Good. Don’t. Does that mean that I shouldn’t? It wasn’t a letter. It was a memo. And word choice matters, doesn’t it? After all, you are assigning great weight to his words. Why is it not okay with you that I don’t? And no, I’m not done. You say, “His apology was sincere and written with emotion.” So are some 16-year old girl’s diary entries. So what?
If he’s down, he put himself there, no one else did. He’s not a victim. He deliberately and purposefully claimed things not his. He apologized. Most do when they are caught. You are damn near making this guy out to be heroic and worthy of our admiration, by the sounds of things. And that is way too much. You made yousrelf clear. I hope I did, too. And that’s that unless we want to chase our respective tails in circles.
How did his Navy SEAL brother not spot his fake fuckery?
It’s not at all uncommon for brothers, particularly if there are a few years separating them in age, to not actually spend much face time if one of them is busy building a career, or being deployed on the other side of the world. And the poser may have taken precautions when around his real deal bother, and the rest of the family.
Who knows. Cons get very good at conning people, even family members. Whatever the circumstances, the family is not responsible for any of it unless they knowingly helped perpetuate the lie.
I wasn’t implicating his brother in his lies. I was just wondering how his brother did not see it. Your possible explanation seems the most likely
I can remember a time in the ’90s when my brother and I were finally able to meet up and have a few beers. First time we had seen each other in maybe 5 years. And even then it was in Dublin… we couldn’t seem to be at the same place on the same continent. Today? Been over 5 since I have seen him in the flesh. It happens.
Blood is thicker than water. What was he going to do? Out his own? Every family has at least one knucklehead in it. Usually, it’s kept within the family. In this case, we all know which one it is.
Plus, who knows what Mom did or didn’t know. Why break her heart if silence can avoid it.
I say he goes 10 rounds with Don Shipley’s hair and he’s off the hook.
Ouch!!! At least he took it like a man.
I am in complete agreement. I am a 10 year (just for today) “12 stepper” My 4th, 5th, 8th, and 9th steps ALL involved owning up to mucho scumbaggery. Not just owning up to it but looking folks in the eyes and saying I was responsible and I was sorry. It was very painful but fundamental in moving ahead. This cat has more huevos than the entire starting lineup of the next tourney. Heck, to me that pulled him out of that line-up. My own opinion, of course. If I had a brother who was a SEAL and I ditched the Q course, well I can easily see myself in his shoes. That is the 1st time I can honestly say that about one of the folks who earned a write up at TAH.
What this guy has earned with his apology is the opportunity to prove that it was real. Only time will show us the sincerity of that apology. He is now in a holding pattern, a step above wallowing in the lies, but not yet at the redemption phase of his rehabilitation.
The decision to live honorably from now on is his. We can encourage him to select honor instead of more lies, but we cannot know which choice he makes until later.
We shall see.
OWB: Yep. This notion that a sudden apology issued when he is caught is alone sufficient to make it all right is silly. To borrow from the 12-step approach, the question is how many times did the drunk say “I’m sorry” to those he hurt over the drinking years? He always meant it. He was always sincere–every time he repeated it. I say he has as much time to prove his reformation as he did maintaining the lies.
Of all the busted phonies, I seriously doubt he will morph again into the high speed-low drag soldier he once claimed. No matter what he says, he will always be a thief and a truth molester…not a barracks thief, but a Stolen Valor thief.
As for the job he got for his lies and claims…did he produce forged documents (eg DD214?). If so…he is a criminal. Not a charged criminal…but a criminal just the same.
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