Ernest “Gabe” Hetrick; phony SF commo sergeant
Someone sent us their work on this fellow, Ernest “Gabe” Hetrick who claims to be a Special Forces Commo sergeant in his LinkedIn profile;
The local media did a story about him that claims that he “survived” Desert Storm, participated in numerous dangerous assignments;
Well, the NPRC says that he “survived” Desert Storm from the safety of Fort Gordon where he was going through his initial training during that period. He was stationed at Fort Ord, California, Berlin, Germany, Fort Riley, Kansas, and Hanau, Germany. No Special Forces training, no parachute training. It could be possible that he was provided support in the Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo theater, but there’s nothing that indicates that he was in Turkey or Iraq. His LinkedIn profile says that he was an 18E, but there’s nothing that indicates that he was anything other than a 31K radio repairman. The NPRC also says that he wasn’t a sergeant either – he got out as a specialist (E-4). There’s a picture of him out on the town wearing a jacket with a stylized 82d patch, and an Air Assault Badge, too. No he wasn’t in the 82d Airborne Division nor did he attend Air Assault School.
Looking at his eye, he was probably medically retired for the baseball bat injury that he describes in the article and his military career was cut short because of that injury, but it certainly doesn’t look like he was Special Forces qualified like he claims.
Category: Phony soldiers, Valor Vultures
Gawd, there sure are a lot of these phony douchebags floating around. Public shaming is the only way to stop this shit.
Yeah, Gabe, here is our 44th since the first of the year. We have about 900 on our “Stolen Valor” page.
I’m confused, your article say he didn’t attend Air Assault School but on his 214 it says he has the Air Assault Badge. Can you earn one without attending the school? Or is this another case of a guy getting the Clerk/Typist to add something in to his 214?
Sorry, I missed that. Thanks.
It’s possible he did attend AAS. A TDY-and-return for a short school might not show up on the record of assignments (it would show up in the mil training section of the DA20, but that wasn’t provided – a summary of his training was provided instead). And I also seem to remember hearing that the AAS did a few “traveling courses” during the 1990s (I might be confusing that with Airborne school, so I could be wrong).
Per the 1995 Army Awards reg (AR 600-8-22, dated 25 Feb 1995), a local course that followed the TRADOC POI could qualify an individual for the Air Assault Badge. Separate Brigade and Division Commanders had award authority under such circumstances. So it’s also theoretically possible his unit (or a nearby one) held a local course and he got qualified that way.
It may have evolved from the mobile training environment where instructors from Campbell went TDY, but there are actually full blown schools at these locations: https://atrrs.army.mil/atrrscc/course.aspx
When I was stationed at Fort Ord, the 7th I.D. had there own Air Assault school. According to his assignments he was in 7/15th F.A. Divarty got alot of the slots for the air assault school. I was in 6/8th F.A., was slated to go and never went due to some last minute changes.
Hi,
I came across your site researching this fraud Gabe Hetrick. Unfortunately, he’s dating my best friend whose in serious denial! So, I have a few questions if you can assist me.
1. Who verifies this sites information on fraudulent info?
2. Where else can I fact check this idiot… specifically his military info.
Thank you for your time!
Stacey
Sburton393@gmail.com
Stacey, hopefully you read my comment from June and have since changed your thoughts on Gabe. Your bf is not in denial, she sees Gabe the way she should.
You know nothing about Gabe, you don’t know how his life has been or what he has been through as a child and as an adult, idiot.
I’m sure your BF would love him regardless, sounds like a little jealousy to me, loser.
Another turd that got 7/15 Field Artillery confused with the 75th Infantry.
First one was a M*A*S*H helicopter mechanic and now it’s a wire dog.
Get ready for a Red Forman type ass kicking.
There is a difference between radio repairmen and wiredogs, at least in the Marine Corps. Wire school is where the guys who flunked out of radio repair school ended up.
In the Army, you could be both. I was a 31E, Field Radio Repaired. But I can’t count the number of times I was stringing wire and hooking up SB22 switchboards and field phones for FTXs.
Finally, a radio repairman embellisher. My life is complete now. If he wants to put a cherry on his shit sundae, try adding micro-miniature soldering to the mix. Micro-miniature solderers are the snipers of the comm maintenance field.
Personally, I was quite happy working with Comms. You always face at least one issue a week that challenges you to resolve.
For example, I was able to get a full period termination from around the Azores to Norfolk without needing to tune day and night freqs. That was bad ass, and I’m sorry, some people have the fortitude to be in special ops, some people have the fortitude for making sure that you could talk about us but you won’t talk without us.
I’m very proud of what I did, and I just wonder why people can’t realize that all of us has a part to play.
LDO that is bad ass. I’m a former 05BS / 18E and one of my proudest moments as the FNG on my first ODA was making a multiple skip HF shot from Kenya back to Ft Bragg in 1984. It wasn’t a 5X5 signal but strong enough to copy a 120 group morse code message and reply back. The old AN/PRC-74B such fond memories. So many variables to successful comms, Tm Sgt did not want to hear any shit about solar storms or antenna theory and radio wave propogation problems affecting comms.
As to Old Lying Ass Dishonest Gabe here .._. .._ _._. _._ _._ _
_ _ _ .._ !!!!
LDOCommo, this comment late to the party. Recall working a full period termination between Keflavik, Iceland and ship we were onboard, USS Charles F Adams, vicinity Bahamas. This was 1988 I think. Had ZBZ5 comms both ways and onboard the transmitter was a URT-24, with all of maybe 50 watts forward power out. Full period termination nowadays sounds like something that is performed at a family planning clinic.
Being commo, he’ll understand this: Foxtrot Uniform. Out.
I prefer Golf Foxtrot Yankee, personally. But Foxtrot Uniform works too.
You don’t have to be commo to understand that. Everybody in the service should.
Bravo India November Golf Oscar.
He’s Eight Tango Foxtrot Uniform!
I’m not following the pics. They don’t appear to be the same fellow. The young soldier has some serious ears. The older guy does not. I’m ruling out staples. Don’t think they are the same guy. Or did I miss something?
Maybe Daniel Bernath photoshopped his ears.
Plastic surgery is also a possibility. Some people pony up the $$$ to feed their vanity, just like some people lie about their military career for the same reason.
He got fat.
Ears dissappear when body weight goes up.
Cav, I get the same impression. His right ear is quite prominently sticking out in both of the early pictures and the old guy pictures they are not even close to the same unless he taped that bad boy down. Look at his nose also, does not look the same as the young guy pictured in either pictures. Weird. Could this guy be the ultimate poser and not only lying about his service but even his identity? That might be a first.
Although the nose could be explained by the baseball bat incident I guess.
Actually the baseball bat came across his face and broke every bone in his face and most of his skull. Knowing this, would it be fair to say that he would suffer from a traumatic brain injury today? Possibly this injury has caused him some problems? Not the same kid he was, confused at times, delusional a bit. His face has been removed 11 times and he is mostly blind now. Suffers from some tremendous headaches most days. Pain pills for them are very strong, could affect his thoughts. Does any of this sound feasible to you? I’m sure Yef (WTF name) and Big Guy MK75 Gunner are surely high ranking heroes of several wars themselves and today spend much of their time drinking beer and sitting on their computers bad mouthing wounded warriors. Know what you’re talking about before you slam another soldier. He was injured very badly and suffers everyday. I’m sorry for what he has claimed, he may very well believe it but his military career was nothing to be ashamed of so the only reason I can see is it comes from his injuries.
Did you good ole boys get fat too? We’ll never know will we? Shame on all of you and Gabe.
What comrades you are.
The name tag on the BDUs reads “Hetrick”.
Jonn: As in “He Trick” ?
😉
Hmm. Looking at his record of assignments, it appears he enlisted in the ARNG and went straight to Basic Training on 13 June 1990 – and graduated from Basic literally the day after Iraq invaded Kuwait. The next entry in his record of assignments is an enlistment to go to Signal AIT on 10 April 1991 – or about 6 weeks after the shooting in Desert Storm had stopped.
Sounds more to me like he rode out Desert Storm at home – e.g., in the ARNG/not on active duty – then applied to serve on active duty after it was clear the war was over. But maybe I’m wrong.
He did apparently have a rotation thru the SWASM area at some point, as he has the SWASM with 1 campaign star. I’d guess he did that while assigned to Germany, probably in support of one of the actions in the early/mid 1990s. He also apparently supported the Balkans at some point, since he has the AFSM and the NATO Medal. Probably was sent to support those as part of a comm support “package”.
Freaking tool. Even if he opted to “sit out” Desert Storm, he still had erfectly honorable service afterwards. And he had to go p!ss all over it by embellishing.
Next we’ll hear how some clerk screwed up his records.
See, while at basic he was scouted by the Rangers because of his warrior skills and subsequently selected to attend the condensed versions of Ranger School, Jump School and Air Assault School (because there was a high demand and shortage of his skill set, apparently). Afterwards, he was immediately deployed to Iraq and joined up with his unit.
Did I miss anything?
Yeah – reality. By a mile. (smile)
It says there he have the air assault badge, but it is mentioned between ribbons instead of being at the end as it is in the ERB.
Something amiss or is this the way it used to be back in the day?
I wouldn’t read too much into that. When he got out (1997), I believe most of those entries on the DD214 were made manually by the clerk rather than automatically by software.
Apparently he did his secret squirrel training between Basic and AIT (records sealed ya know) and then sent to commo school as a cover.
Or he was just your normal NG Split-Option trainee who made up shit.
The first scenario sounds cooler…
That eye is a new weapon he is testing for the Special Forces.
When he has too much to drink, it is rumored that he removes the eye unit and lets Marines skull ____ him. Hey… $20 is $20!
I too survived Desert Storm from the safety of my barracks at Fort Ord. Lots of hours watching CNN and making care packages for my buddy in the 101st. This prick could have at least made someone a care package!
He doesn’t appear to have been on active duty for either Desert Shield or the shooting part of Desert Storm, OldManchu. See my comment above.
Right on/ I saw your post. Good detail. Least he could do is make a care package for someone while he sat around lusting for what he knew he could never achieve.
Really – what a redneck hillbilly comment that was. You are one of those intelligent types aren’t you, you know the ones that walk around in t-shirts that say ‘I’ve been to Pikes Peak and Fed the Reindeer’ (or maybe Homer Simpson shirt with ‘Best Beer Drinking Daddy in the World’) either way it quite easy to tell you are a degenerate.
Pleading ignorance.
How did he earn the SWA and Kuwait Liberation?
SWA- Eligibility, August 2, 1990 – November 30, 1995.
Kuwait Liberation Medal-Eligibility, 2 August 1990-31 August 1993
Thanks, MK75Gunner.
So do you think his time in Germany and Stateside might have qualified for both, i.e. possibly a short deployment in those AO providing support?
That is what is confusing.
Kuwait Liberation went to just about anyone on active duty at the time. I served with a number of E-6s and above who had the full compliment of Desert Shield/Storm medals who – because they served in submarines – were no where near the shooting. As for the SWASM, I’m pretty sure you had to be in-theater to earn that.
I knew a couple of guys on Chicago back in the day, and that was one thing. The fact that a boat 2 years after the fact could pull that set kinda torqued me.
Yeah, turns out the naval area of eligibility for even the Saudi KLM was fairly large – larger than I remembered (Persian Gulf, Red Sea, the part of the Arabian Sea north of 10 N lat and west of 68 E lon, and Gulf of Aden). But the period of eligibility for the Saudi KLM was very short: 17 Jan to 28 Feb 1991. The Kuwaiti version was awarded until Aug 1993.
Regarding being “in-theater” for the SWASM, yes – but “in theater” was defined rather broadly. It included the airspace/land/territorial waters of Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates; the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, and Gulf of Aden; and the Arabian Sea north of 10 N lat and west of 68 E lon – until Nov 1995. For 17 Jan thru 11 Apr 1991, US personnel in Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Syria and Jordan (land/airspace/terr waters) directly supporting combat operations also qualified.
KLM was in-theater also. I was on shore duty for that war.
True – but there were two different KLMs, awarded under different criteria. The Saudi version’s eligibility criteria was significantly “tighter” than the Kuwaiti version, both geographically and temporally.
I though I’d made that clear in my comments here (above and below), but apparently I didn’t.
Is this really how you spend your time? Speculating on someone’s career? Why don’t you get one.
The SWASM was awarded for service in a rather large geographical area (essentially the Persian Gulf plus most surrounding countries) until the end of Nov 1995. The last SWASM campaign was 12 Apr 1991 thru 30 Nov 1995.
The Kuwaiti version of the KLM was awarded for service in essentially the same area until the end of Aug 1993.
This guy has the Kuwaiti KLM and the SWASM with 1 campaign star. That means he he did a 30+ day support rotation in the defined area of eligibility between 12 Apr 1991 and 31 August 1993, which would qualify him for both.
The lack of the Saudi KLM indicates he was NOT there for the shooting. That medal was authorized for service during a rather short period of time – 17 Jan to 28 Feb 1991 – and for a more restrictive geographical area. Or, in plain terms: for service during the shooting war in an area where one was at least arguably at risk.
Thanks, Hondo. Your post came up after I wrote MK75Gunner.
You’re welcome. Looking at his assignments again, it appears he got sent to provide temp support for operations in SWA while assigned to the Berlin Bde. Makes sense – he arrived there in late 1992 (well after German reunification). I’m guessing things were generally somewhat less “busy” for the Berlin Bde in 1992/1993 than they were before and immediately after reunification. (smile)
Tough part was deciding which beer hall to hit that night…I was in Munich during DS so I know of what I speak 🙂 .
Goatee with no mustage’ … LEGIT!
I can see this turd working the switchboard at All-Points Logistics.
He has the training….
Another idiot that shit all over his honorable service by playing the “Call of Booty – Special Feces Warrior” game.
You’re GOOGLE famous now, Gabe!
linked in has been scrubbed 🙁
Dammit, so close! I am still waiting for a guy to parade around as a COMM guy. This one seems to be the opposite though. Almost…
[/he still a fuckstain]
6 years and still couldn’t get past E-4.
That’s some high speed shit right there.
Maybe he did get past E4, SEA.
He apparently did a Balkans rotation, almost certainly early-on in 1996 or 1997 (NATO Medal). I’m guessing there were lots of opportunities for a new SGT/E5 to “step on it” and lose a stripe during such a rotation.
It’s even theoretically possible that such a reduction might have been the result of an incident involving a baseball bat or similar item, which in turn led to a medical retirement. Not saying that’s the case; don’t know one way or the other. But it’s a possibility.
actually he was in a softball game and got hit that he lost his eye and what gets me is under his mos training or rotation it has a 20 identifier for nco but on his awards there is no ncos/pldc ribbon
I have known gabe since the early 1990’s we started out in the same iowa guard unit, our unit wasn’t activated for the gulf war but a handful of us did volunteer to go with other guard units there was about 5 of us that deployed and I went active a few years after that. the next time I seen gabe was in Tuzla Bosnia and he was a E-4 and that was in 1996 beforee I rotated back stateside. the next time I seen him was at a American legion dinner and when I seen him he had a blackcap instructors hat on and a ranger tab and sta-brite E-7 rank on it. I had asked him if he was tabbed he said he was double tabbed and had been stationed in bad tolz with the 10th SF when all the time I had heard he was in Hanau and berlin so stories never added up so that’s when I seen his pages especially his linkden page that said he is a retied SF commo SGT. now that’s also when I found the local news article about his bullshit war heroics on top of what he posted online so I got in touch with a very good mentor of mine who is a retired CSM with 30n years of service and most of which was in the special ops community although not a special forces tabbed solider him self he had spent a fair amount of time as a RANGER and in JSOC. I gave him the info and thru a contact he got back with me and let me know that there was no one by that name that had been to either Q-course Ranger course or even jump school, so that was verified thru actual SF branch officials in DC. and what got me thinking as well was when reading the online fiction there was the jobs posted, especially the security mngt positions and now if your goanna make the jobs up ya might want to find out exactly when the company started because thru contacting them… Read more »
Thanks, christopher. You answered a lot of questions that were floating in my head, especially Gabe being a Deputy Commander of a VFW in Berlin (wasn’t even sure if one existed and was wondering how someone that young elected). Appreciate the information and The Rest of The Story.
Ghey Gabe here is more like Deputy Commanding Turd.
Btw his linkden page is still up. And all his pics from Facebook were scubbed