Augusto Alarcon; needless embellishment
Someone sent us their work on this fellow, Augusto Alarcon. He tried to join a military veterans’ motorcycle club and they had doubts about him, so they came to us. He showed them this DD214 to join them;
The trigger on this document, is down in block #25 where the separation code is “KFN” which means that the discharge was issued in lieu of a court martial. He took a discharge instead of facing a court martial. But, block 24 says that the discharge was “honorable”. Since his last unit was 3/60th Infantry at Ft Jackson, SC – a basic training company – you can make guesses as to why he was discharged.
According to his FOIA, much of the entries on that discharge is true – he was awarded a Purple Heart, he did earn a Combat Infantryman Badge and an Expert Infantryman Badge. He was airborne, he was free-fall qualified, he was air assault qualified.
However, he doesn’t have a Bronze Star for Valor, he didn’t attend Ranger School, he was busted to E-1 when he was discharged, he wasn’t an E-7 at the time he was discharged. Another trigger is in the primary specialty block #11, if he was an E-7 Sergeant First Class, the MOS would have been 11B4P not 11B3P (a Staff Sergeant, E-6)
Category: Phony soldiers, Valor Vultures
E7 to E1? It usually takes more than just a slight fuckup to get that, maybe a flagrant 350-10 Violation among other things?
*OOPS!*, 350-6.
I knew a guy that was bounced from E6 to E1, plus six months all expenses paid stay at the Camp Pendleton Correctional Facility. He got busted for a porn charge, my spidey senses think it was kiddie porn.
If I recall correctly, an OTH discharge includes an automatic reduction to E1. The guy took a voluntary OTH in lieu of court-martial.
I guess the evidence was overwhelming and a fast exit with nothing was preferable to breaking rocks out there in Kansas.
He shouldn’t have put his pen in company ink
It gets them every time
OTH= Shitbag.
Another dude kicked out.
I am sure he will be claiming the PTSD for a discharge upgrade.
His ERB is pretty suspect IMHO
I see nothing on his assignment record that would afford him the oppprtunity for MFF school
That’s not a school they send people to for shits and giggles
Yeah….that seemed like a red flag to me too.
No free fall school in his school section, and do they let you goto F2F, with basic jump wings?
He was stationed at Bragg. It’s at least theoretically possible his attending the MFF course was a case of “right place/right time/need to fill a quota or we’ll never get another one” and he was the one who got lucky.
Alternatively, maybe he was buddies with the Bn Training NCO and they called in a favor to get him a slot. Or managed to slip him into a class that had a “no show”.
More problematic for me is the fact that there’s no campaign or expeditionary medal listed on his DD214. Not sure how he managed a PH and a CIB without serving in-theater during OEF or OIF, given his actual dates of service.
Or far more likely he or his buddy had iPERMS access and added whatever he wanted
You do not go to MFF unless you are in a coded position requiring the school. This isn’t one of those “right place right time” or “buddy hookup” schools
I know what you meant, but others may not. It was eMILPO access, not iPERMS. iPERMS is where the OMPF (AMHRR) is kept, but eMILPO (now IPPS-A) is where you add schools completed for them to show up on the ERB (now SRB). Alphabet soup. Hell, for some schools, that access is reserved at HRC.
Its been a few years
I agree, he must’ve just happened to have a current HALO/SCUBA physical ready in case he got a hook up to attend a course that he wasn’t in a coded position to attend in the first place. Sarc
“It’s at least theoretically possible his attending the MFF course was a case of “right place/right time/need to fill a quota or we’ll never get another one” and he was the one who got lucky.”
Agreed…just saw it as out of the ordinary, not impossible per se.
Then the school is ignoring it’s own guidance which states emphatically that the person attending must be assigned to or pending assignment to a duty position coded for this school.
The point I’m trying to make is that for a person with his duty assignments the MFF school is as odd as him attending an Advanced Baking Course at Fort Lee or an Apache Armaments Maintenace Course
Haha. My AIT in ’67 was the Field Mobile Bakery at Fort Lee. Most memorable was the bus trip across the mountains. Sitting front right-side, I was out over the gorge on each left-handed curve. Not much traffic there now– bypassed now by interstates.
^^5 The MFF course is at Yuma Proving Ground, AZ. The chances of him having a coded slot with his assignments are 0.
Thats how I got into Recondo School when I was in a Signal Battalion. Right place, Right time and We Have To Send Somebody.
Is it normal to be busted down and assigned to Ft Jax on the way out?
It appears that he was “On the Trail” at Fort Jax when he got busted, likely for Trainee Abuse which could include doing the Horizontal Shuffle with Female Trainees.
Ah, ok I read the story wrong then. I thought he got caught waving his little head in the air, got busted and was sitting at Ft. Jax on the way out.
more to the point, his ERB has zero deployment time on it.
The time in section 1 indicates only his time in Hawaii.
In looking at my own ERB, I note that each entry in section 1 has a corresponding assignment entry in section IX….
Elements of the 25th ID served in Iraq during OIF. I don’t know the unit history so I can’t discuss particulars or dates, but I do remember seeing subordinate elements of the 25th there at the same time I was in theater. His unit in Hawaii might have been one of those.
However, in that case he’d rate either the GWOTEM or ICM, depending on his precise dates of service. Neither is listed on his FOIA reply or ERB. And based on his service dates, he’d pretty much have to have deployed to either OIF or OEF to have been awarded a CIB. A DIEMS of 1992 is after both Panama and the Gulf War, and I don’t believe any CIBs were awarded for operations in the Balkans during the 1990s.
correct, but the ERB should show that as a new assignment line with a new location in Iraq.
The entry in Section I corresponds to an entry in Section IX or it is in error.
That neither section show time in IZ or AF, that means he did not go.
Hondo, ERB says 2-27 IN which is 3rd BDE which was redcon1/deployed to Afghanistan at the time. It was 2nd BDE 25th ID that was in Iraq at that time, JAN 04 – FEB 05.
Note: those were disorganized times in the 25th Infantry Dimension, I know there was a gap between start of OIF and approved medals. The GWOTEM was something you had to select in lieu of the ICM.
Regardless of what is going on here this dude f***ed up somehow, somewhere.
I recognize this dude, probably from Kemo’o Bar.
Sounds like he lost his brown round hat and then some.
Probably was banging one of his trainees. Ft. Jackson is notorious for that, or at least used to be.
Exactly ^^^^^
Two dirt bags I served with at Bragg were last seen in an artists court room renderings on 60 minuets around 1996. Both were at Fort Jackson. One was actually caught with his pants down in the act at the C.Q desk. He rated out everybody to avoid jail and a DD. That POS used to rite my NCOERs and talk ethics.
ex-OS2:
Here’s another one for ya…
Cleared hot.
Cocksucker.
The suspect 214 appears to have been typed on two different typewriters. I wonder if he copied his real 214, whited out some stuff, typed in some good stuff and then made a copy of that document. Anyway it definitely looks to be gundecked.
I saw that also… if an Admin guy/gal did that, they would be digging ditches somewhere far, far away for that crap.
funny thing, they don’t do them on a typewriter anymore. When I got out back in 06, I reviewed my 214 on a computer screen, then all the copies came out of a laser jet and I signed it. I guess they keep that typewriter style font for tradition?
Andy11M – Do you remember seeing them done with an OCR ball on a IMB Selectric II or III?
I worked with a YN2 for two years – he said the reason that they did the “new” ones in Times New Roman was for archiving purposes (electronic scanning) – the font was supposed to scan “cleaner” than with the other fonts.
HMCS, the first time I got out in 97, they did my 214 on a typewriter, when I saw a mistake in the awards I think, some Spc sighed deeply and rolled his eyes, took my 214 and left the room, then came back about 20 min later with my corrected 214. by the time I returned to active duty in 2000, I think the change to electronic was in full swing. I have a few old award Certs from the 90’s, you can tell some clerk did them on a typewriter by the spacing. All my awards post 2000 are neat and perfectly spaced. Same for my NCOERs, all done on a computer and spat out in the same classic typewriter font.
As for the font being used for archival reasons, I just assumed they did it for that classic look and it’s what people expected to see instead of say Helvetica.
You can tell the difference between a typewriter typeface and computer typeface.
With a typewriter typeface or font, even with the IBM Selectric type balls, the spacing is exactly the same between letters. It’s the reason you were told to double space at the end of a sentence on a typewriter.
This was to make it easier to read the typewriter print.
With computer type fonts, word processing software puts a proportional space between letters, eliminating the need to double space at the end of a sentence.
It’s entirely possible that if Alarcon had access to OCR scanning software, he could scan an editable copy of his original DD214, and delete what he didn’t want, and enter what he did want without making it appear odd to the uninformed viewer. There is, however, a noticeable difference in the actual size of the font on the altered DD214. If you put the two together, it’s quite plain that he did alter the copy and made a simple mistake by not matching the type size of the original entries in those bottom blocks.
Well, yes . . . and no.
Most computer-generated fonts are indeed proportionally spaced – Times New Roman, Calibri, and Arial being examples (the first is the older MS Word default font of “Bush fake memo” era fame, while the second is the current MS Word default font). However, there are still a few computer fonts that are monospaced. Courier New happens to be one of them, if I recall correctly. I’m pretty sure that’s what’s used on DD214s these days.
Courier New is scalable (e.g., can be made pretty close to arbitrarily large or small), but I’m pretty sure that it’s also monospaced – which means that each character is precisely the same width, including the space character. That was how a typewriter operated.
Why that one was chosen for DD214’s is a good question. I’d guess “tradition”, but I don’t really know.
Not all DDs were typed in Courier. I don’t know where that notion comes from.
I have both of mine. One is in Elite 72 and the other is in Letter Gothic.
Having some admin responsibilities, and being the gundecker-in-charge, I learned some quick ways to spot the work of other, less talented, gundeckers. The very simplest was to turn the page upside down. Without getting bogged down I’m the meaning of the words you can view them for uniformity, evenness, the darkness or strike force of the characters. The words themselves are like the trees which obscure the view of the forest. Upside down words that have been altered or inserted become clear for what they are, not what they say.
My point, Ex-PH2, is that Courier New appears to be the font used by the automated DD214 software that has been in use by the Army since circa 2000 – and that that is a monospaced font. It thus can be simulated to some degree by a typewriter using Courier 12 font – or by someone using MS Word and Courier New font, then doing a cut/paste job with a photocopier.
Why that font was chosen for the DD214 software is anyone’s guess. Personally, I’d have suggested using a proportionally-spaced and less common font (or maybe paying MicroSoft to make a modified version of some proportionally-spaced scalable font licensed only to the USG) to make forgery more difficult.
There’s something else that isn’t as obvious to others as it is to me: if Courier New is going to be used to fake something, even in an OCR-scanned document, the person doing the scanning has to know how to scale the type to the right point size or it won’t match.
That much is obvious in those bottom blocks on Alarcon’s faked-up DD214. And unless you have a type scale left over from doing typesetting, you either do a trial and error to match the original size, or you make the blatant error that he did.
Too bad. So sad.
Lol, I used those to write up Atta Boys when I did a few months at HQ. Had a one line screen and everything. We were jammin hi tek
I think my first 214 was printed on edible paper in 1992, it was so damned thin and illegible, but I HAD to go to the courthouse in Palm Beach County immediately to put it on file said my NCOs.
Honorable service, Purple Heart, CIB, EIB, Airborne, Free Fall, Air Assault and he throws it all in the shitter for some reason. Guy had a good career ahead of him and fucked it up by the numbers it looks like.
Based on his MOS and assignment record I question a few of the things you listed actually
I agree O-4E. Just going by Jonn’s summation.
Sounds a little odd to me too but I’ve met some guys that had a bunch of badges for no earthly reason I could think of. One guy was assigned to HQ Admin in my Signal Battalion and the pulls would come across his desk first for slots. Guess who got picked on a slightly suspicious regularity.
The difference in pay is roughly $3K a month, times 50%, is about $1500 a month, times 12 months times a life expectancy of 35-45 years (assuming he is presently 40-45 y/o) equals, oh, roughly $1500 x 12 x 35 = $622,000.
OMG, over $600K for dipping his wick. Man, I hope it was worth it.
Now he is Google famous for all the wrong reasons. Well, at least he gets about $800 a month, with benefits, for taking a plea. Base pay for an E-1 is right at $1600/month, regardless of TIS. Well, really, if you’re still an E-1 after two years, you probably should be shown the exit. No doubt they had enough to give him bad paper with no benefits or his lawyer would have told him to opt for the court martial.
Wonder if he had a retirement ceremony? With a cake? I had a cake with stuff written on it. You know, the usual ‘him good guy’ stuff. I’m thinking he had no cake and no ceremony.
Per his actual DD214 (2nd one posted in the article), he was discharged – not retired.
Yeah. This mofo ain’t drawing a pension or holding a blue ID
I stand corrected. How did I miss that? I don’t even drink anymore. THAT might be the problem.
That makes it even more of a problem (for him). It’s like working for 20 +/- years for a company and getting a termination letter. If that isn’t bad enough, they blackball you so you can’t ever get another job.
That roll in the hay will cost him over a million dollars. Damn
I did a redhead friend of mine once. Yeah, those 4hrs were worth it
Wonder if Augusto lost his gusto when he was busted?
And the crowd roared its approval
Thank you, thank you very much. Oh, you’re too kind.
All that bling and he was on the trail too. Do your two years yelling at pvts and you are pretty much guaranteed a promotion and assignment of choice after. At least the members of this MC seem to be on the up and up and don’t take every yahoos word that want’s to join.
NO BSM or ARCOM as a deployment award?
Why are all these asshats trying to be “bikers” or joining bike clubs? Maybe they want to be around the real men they try to claim to be?
I’ve wondered that, too.
The bikes make a lot of noise and don’t use as much gas as a car, so you can announce your presence at a somewhat modest cost.
There’s always a bunch of noisemakers on the highways now, especially with summer coming on.
It makes the rider/owner look free and independent of the mundane world like jobs and households needs and sort of like a maverick. You know, no ties, nothing holding you down.
The clubs frequently do things like accompany funerals, which gives the riders status.
And, yeah, the ‘real men’ thing – it’s imaginary, but it’s there at the back of the mind.
No offense to anyone, but, I love riding my bike, sometimes it just really helps me. I’ve never felt the need yet to get leathered up, wear my awards and join a club. One day I might, just not yet. I wear my awards mainly three times a year, memorial day, veterans day and sometimes the 4th of July.
Looking over this tool’s ERB, there’s another thing that makes me go, “Huh?”
His ERB gives his DIEMS (Date Initially Entered Military Service) as 920611. However, the schools sections list two schools with a 1991 completion date.
I’m wondering how he managed that. Seems to me that says he attended those two schools before he ever joined the US military. And if I recall correctly, and individual’s DIEMS date – once established – never changes.
correct…but if his DIEMS is in 1992, what was he doing between that date and his BASD in 2000?
The fact that none of that service is on the ERB makes my Sergeant Major senses tingle…stuff missing from an ERB usually indicates either a monumental screw up at PAC or someone hiding stuff (or more commonly, both).
According to the FOIA reply, he was in the RC – NG and/or USAR – from 19870825 to 19950829. He was in the USAR Control Group from 19900819 to 19950829. So his DIEMS date on his ERB appears suspect (as well as other pre-2000 dates).
His actual DD214 (2nd one above) shows about 5 1/2 months active duty time prior to 2000. That had to have been while he was in the RC – my guess would be IET and AIT, plus maybe a bit of other training. No AFRM w/M device, so very likely no mob for DS/DS. Or maybe he got called up and sent home early for cause – and wasn’t deemed eligible for one.
Yeah, there are TONS of questions about this guy’s records. I’m beginning to wonder just how much of his “official” record is BS.
I see dudes like this all of the time out here in the Great NW.
Professional Bullshit Artists.
They can go and on with their BS because they have been around the system. They generally like to style themselves as heroes of the community through advocacy, helping other Vets and the like. And the shitbags generally flock to them until someone with a little integrity and an Honorable Discharge show up.
Then they go silent.
I hate these guys worse than straight-up all-out Posers as these dudes give the rest of us Vets a bad name.
And he has the beard, tattoos and shades. The shades being the most important.
They (shades) hide his “1000 Yard Stare” as he has yet to perfect it.
I imagine the only time he pulls them off is when he is either high passing a joint or attempting to find his tiny cock when he takes a leak.
What a felcher.
I had a former E7 soldier once. He developed a bad alcohol problem around his 18th year. In the space of two years he got four DUI’s. He left the service as an E3. The BC felt bad for him and let him retire.