Another phony Vietnam vet politician
Republican Mayor John Spodofora is being investigated by his own party on whether he embellished his Vietnam-era service record according to the Ashbury Park Press. Here’s what his website says;
According to the APP, the “Medal of Valor” was awarded to Spodofora by a hunting club. Of course, there is no US military medal by that name.
There is no question Spodofora, 66, served in the Navy for seven years from 1966 to 1973, at the time of the Vietnam War.
A public record of his military service obtained from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, indicates Spodofora was assigned to submarine duty and was in the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas, but there is no documented evidence he ever served in Vietnam.
Spodofora contends there is a good reason for that: He was a spy, a self-described “spook,” he said.
“There are two issues here,” Spodofora said. “One, I was in Naval intelligence. Two, I have Vietnam veteran status from the (Department of Defense) … I never said I was stationed in Vietnam.”
Yeah, we call it “Vietnam Era” service in order to differentiate ourselves from veterans who served in Vietnam so as not to confuse civilians. And he was in the Navy’s secret squirrel (or some other more aquatic rodent – otter, maybe?) battalion;
Spodofora declined to say whether he was ever in Vietnam. But even if he never stepped foot in Southeast Asia, Spodofora said he would still be permitted to call himself a Vietnam veteran based on the number of years he served and the fact that his service coincided with the war.
“I worked in a position while in the Navy that prohibits me from discussing any mission, ship, submarine, time or location I was in while serving,” Spodofora said. “I cannot violate classified information to give any specific information. … I only claim I was a Vietnam veteran, which I am, according to the government.”
Yeah, forty years after the war, his missions are still secret. Most classified information is de-classified after 25 years. I’m surprised his records didn’t burn up in a fire, or something, too.
Spodofora said he planned to contact Rep. Jon Runyan, R-N.J., in an effort to have his military record declassified.
Yeah, do that, especially since Congress doesn’t de-class secrets.
The record of Spodofora’s service indicates he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and Good Conduct Medal. There is no Vietnam Service Medal listed.
Anyone who served at least one day in support of military operations, including aboard a Naval vessel off the Vietnamese coast, would be eligible for the Vietnam Service Medal, according to the Navy.
Yeah, well, his Vietnam Service Medal was classified, too, I’m sure, because we didn’t want the communists to know that there was one more guy in Vietnam.
Martha Kremer said she remembers Spodofora would commiserate with her husband about his Vietnam War service and his survivor’s guilt.
Fuckstick. I guess at this point, I should highlight the fact again that it’s the Republican Party calling the douchenozzle out – unlike when Blumenthal was caught calling himself a Vietnam veteran in the 2010 elections and the Democrats were making excuses for him.
Thanks to ROS for the link.
Category: Phony soldiers
These spies… spec ops guys are real doozies! A Vietnam Medal of Valor awardee…? Again a real doozy! What a maroon!
But Jonn, he is a Republican!!!!
I thought this site was a right wing soap box that only went after democrats and liberals. I am greatly disappointed that my so called echo chamber is being cracked.
I had a TS clearance for my job. Originally it was a Secret/NoForn clearance, but was upgraded when I was assigned to the ASW Operations Center.
When I was discharged, I had to sign a statement understanding that not only could I not discuss classified material, but was prohibited from traveling to a whole host of countries for a period of 10 years.
So, 10 years for what was basically ASW Intel work, which I guarantee you was every bit as classified as the Mayor’s work.
I do think that he is taking things quite a bit too far with this whole secret squirrel stuff.
Damn Jonn… Ruin a perfectly fine Saturday why don’t ya?
Time for me to come clean…. I worked with the SEALS for a while. It was on Guam and we were spear fishing for grouper. I can’t say any more about that. That is the cover story don’t ya know. The DOD has the records.
BTW, where were these shitheads 30 years ago when even REAL Vietnam veterans were keeping a low profile???
“Martha Kremer said she remembers Spodofora would commiserate with her husband about his Vietnam War service and his survivor’s guilt.”
Reminds me of the link Street posted in regards to Sir Ducksalot last eve wherein a poster commented about his disappearance that maybe he’d been suffering from PTSD and had to get away from it all. Oh, glorious Hollywood stereotypes……
Glad its Republicans who’re taking care of business. He’ll be gone for good in short order.
And his name sounds like a fungus, thus there seems to be a fungus among us!
(At least I amuse myself.)
AW1 Tim #3: Had a TS clearance here as well. Remind me to tell you about hugging purple warheads… NOT that I ever did!
The restraint I’m demonstrating by not making a remark on “hugging purple warheads” should earn me a medal.
By his logic, I am a Iraq war vet because I joined during it. That is bull shit but he isn’t the first or last politician to claim fake military service.
ROS #9: Wasn’t sexy or kinky… I CAN say that swapping warheads required the occasional “hugging”. The process itself was rather pedestrian. Turn screw X one half turn. Monitor says “Proceed”, etc.
Another TS Viet Nam ERA vet here.
Yeah, so there is some confusion among civilians about that era thing, and have on plenty of occasions had to explain the differance. But it really doesn’t take a lot of words to do it. And it’s well worth the little bit of effort it takes.
Was this clown SSS/SS? (Super Secret Squirrel/Squid Service) With that “special medal” he is elevated to the Super Duper class, right??
Maybe he should have campaigned with a ribbon rack like that Air Force chick was sporting when she would show up at a supermarket opening looking all Audie Murphy, except hers was on civvies?
The restraint I’m demonstrating by not making a remark on “hugging purple warheads” should earn me a medal.
Here, have a Medal of Valor. We’ve got a bunch of ’em just laying around.
I’ll wear it proudly……..right next to my High Priestess of Armed Yoga medal.
ROS #15: Damn… No Like button?
I’m petitioning Jonn to install one. We may have to promise him a Pimp Daddy of Diction ribbon.
Sign me up, ROS, this place needs a Like button.
Ugh, if his SERVICE was so secret it was all classified then wouldnt his Medal of Valor be under the table as well? It really grinds on me when I hear people lying and it is worse when they served but work up the record.
For everyone… I was a US Army SPECIALIST (E-4) trained and served as a PARACHUTE RIGGER (Quartermaster) and was in Desert Shield/Storm because I was cross trained in rations control since there were too many GD riggers at Bragg so I was dishing out MRE/Water/Sundry/Food for the 82nd Airborne Division out there in the desert. Lots of fun scares and warnings in my 6 months as a guest of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia but never had to fire my rifle and only fought BOREDOM.
I am PROUD to have served, I am PROUD to have done my job as inglorious as it may appear and I couldn’t give a rats ass if someone who did or didn’t serve doesn’t suck in his/her breath when I talk about it. That service was FOR them but ABOUT me and who I became because of it.
Old Trooper #13, that was Connie Pollich
@ #19 – Hey….I like the newbie! Atta boy, tell it like it is!
yeah, and I was the door gunner on the Space Shuttle.
Damn, Sparkey, I thought that we finally had ourselves a bubblehead poser.
Another self esteem case.
Douchebag is the mayor of the next town over from me. Can’t wait for the next VFW meeting.
#15 ROS… wadiminit… you’re a woman?
#15 “High Priestess of Armed Yoga”???
COOL!!! 🙂
Get your shit straight… the Medal of Valor was awarded by the Rebel Alliance at the Battle of Yavin. Everyone knows that.
#26- For at least the last few years, Dave. 😀
PN, you have not LIVED until you’ve done combat yoga. Oh, for raelly.
Or “really” for those who have not been consuming Belhaven.
Jonn–to be fair, a lot of boat ops are still classified, at least the ones that weren’t reported on by the NY Times (see: USS Dace.)
As Bubblehead Ray and nucsnipe will attest, we signed Page 13 statements saying we’d not discuss a lot of what we did on ops. I don’t recall any expiration date. But to be fair, a lot of that was as with anything else–shitloads of boredom for weeks and months on end.
Now, as to the mayor’s statements, just because I was in during DS/DS, there’s no fucking way in hell I’d ever claim to be a Desert Storm vet because 1–I never got any of the theatre awards (SWA/Kuwait Liberation), and 2–I was never there. I know guys who were on the Chicago and Louisville who DID get both those awards, and who WERE there. So no, mayor–cut the bullshit, mkay?
NHSparky,
Like I said, same with me because we had to have data on you guys as well as intel on everyone/everything else. The one problem with writing book, the real reason that it’s taking forever is talking over some stuff with other folks in the food chain to make sure it’s okay to talk about some stuff.
The only expiration date I had was the 10-year prohibition of traveling to certain countries.
And no, I have no problem with you and me taking some stuff to our graves, even decades down the pike.
What is wrong with admitting your service? Mine, during the Cold War was uneventful, but I served and was willing to go if so called. These MoFos make me sick!
I look at it this way–all this guy has is an NDSM and GCM. No Expeditionary Medal, no “fish” (Qualified in Submarines breast insignia), no unit award, nothing? Really?
Seven years in and two awards? Something stinks, man.
@33, same here. Mine was in Germany, 66-68, the most exciting thing that happened was an ammo dump that blew up, outside Aschaffenburg. Strange what those domestic disputes will end up as. But, I did my time and I’m still proud of it.
Richard “When I was a young Marine returning from Vietnam” Blumenthal is one of my Senators! Just another guy given a “pass” for his stupid statement. After all, it’s Connecticut, so it’s just a big yawn to everyone here.
The only jungle Dick Blumenthal got near during the Vietnam War was the Jungle Gym that was installed by his reserve unit during a community service project.
Ah…the days when the Guard and the Reserves served as a “safe haven” for professional athletes, politicians kids (Our former awesome Senator, Chris Dodd was a CT National Guard member when their only deployment was to FT Devens, MA!) and oh yeah….future Senators who couldn’t get a deferment!
@#34 – 6 years in the Navy (84-90), got out as an MT2(SS). One of about 30 in my promotion year to promote off of the rating exam and not STAR. My rack consisted of my dolphins, SSBN deterent patrol badge with some stars, a GSM, a Sea Service with some stars, and an Expert Pistol medal. Granted, his lack of a sea service ribbon and expeditionary medal for the claimed exploits make the stary less than probable, but, if I hadn’t spent extra time at the range, I’d have walked out of the Navy with just a medal and a ribbon plus the fish and boomer pin.
So he got a Firewatch Ribbon and he was a good boy while he wore the uniform, presumably. Thats all??? Sorry. I wouldn’t brag about that either. Damn sure wouldn’t put it on my resume’.
Yeah, there are certain boat pictures I will not take to work to put on my “I Love Me Wall” at work, even if it is a SCIF. The only explanation for a guy that (maybe) served on boats that does not have Sea Service ribbon or his fish, is that he was a Cinema Tech; I didn’t get my fish till I had rode several boats and pure “bad luck” led me to getting a Sea Service ribbon (Road Trip 2002). It also explains why he is trying to be Mr Spooky Spook.
CTIC(SS) (Ret)
IIRC, the Sea Service Ribbon wasn’t approved until 1978 or so, and then awards backdated to 1976, or something like that. So it’s likely he wouldn’t have had one. That’s not an excuse for his being a flaming maroon, but just something to consider.
@40 Ah, roger that. It’d be nice to see his 214.
And Flaming Maroon is a great name for a band….
[…] sticks to his phony guns March 20th, 2012 We mentioned secret squirrel, John Spodofora, the mayor of Stafford Township, NJ earlier this month. He’s been sticking to […]
Even so, Tim–even our spooks got Expeditionary Medals for our Ops. Had he ridden a boat for a Spec Op he should have had at least that.
See the other thread. NO training outside of rate.
[…] election website has been taken down. Of course, this should serve as an example to Democrats as an example of how […]
[…] Spodofora back in the race March 27th, 2012 We discussed John Spodofora, Stafford, NJ mayor here, here and here in the last few weeks. During his press conference last week, he announced that he […]
People, I see a lot of confusing remarks that seem to be coming from individuals who have never had the “privilege” of being “government property” and following orders from superiors you must obey but sometimes you just do not trust. I was also ordered to follow a certain protocol upon separation from the NAVY similar to what I read here, no travel to the “offending” countries and no divulging my experiences to any “public institution”. Whatever that exactly means!There was more but not related to the comments or the article here. I do not understand where some of you people get your information from. Do you just google it? If so you are being deprived of the thrill of having ever dealt with some “dick waving” asshole who is completely lost to military mind sets and conditioning and so therefor will order you to do and act in ways that can not be discovered with an internet search! It is disheartening to read some of the comments here as it is clear you have never served back in a time when it was acceptable to ignore a persons civil rights and physically abuse them if need be to perfect order and compliance with military “rules”. Yes “nancy boy’s” they could beat your ass bloody and you had recourse none! If you defended yourself you would be slapped with a insubordination writ, court marshaled and set to the brig. Things were different and it is a matter of fact that if you served in any branch of the military during the Vietnam Campaign you were issued a “National Defense” medal that made you a “Vietnam Era” Serviceman! You did not have to have been in any of the many countries in support of the Vietnam Campaign or in Vietnam at all. You would still be “Vietnam Era” Serviceman. There were no Servicewomen then, in fact you called a superior officer who was female “Sir”! There was no feminist bullshit back then so do not bother to correct my use of the title Serviceman. We were all called Serviceman, nobody cared about… Read more »
You need to check your history, Lt Georges, before you start throwing fingers in here. For one thing the 1973 fire was in Missouri, not Indiana, and your records weren’t touched by the fire. From the National Archives;
The records affected:
Army Personnel discharged November 1, 1912 to January 1, 1960 80%
Air Force Personnel discharged September 25, 1947 to January 1, 1964
(with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.) 75%
And no one EVER called a female officer “Sir”, you stupid fucknut.
I dunno. I served during that era and have never claimed to have been IN VietNam. I did serve in the era and have the NDSM for it because I served in defense of my country. Seems like it actually has a couple of stars on it, too, for other conflicts following.
Quite a few of us here lived through that era, most of us in the military. So, to which generation are you addressing your criticism?
Georges: you did see Spodofora’s FOIA report concerning his military records, right? The one that shows where he served – and doesn’t show ANY service in Vietnam whatsoever?
http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=29204
As well as Spodofora’s later admission that he was lying his ass off when he claimed to be a Vietnam Vet?
http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=29212
As Jonn noted above: the 1973 fire was in St Louis, MO – not Indiana. It was at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), not some “NAVPRS depot”. And virtually no Navy or USMC records were destroyed in that fire, only Army and USAF records. Best estimates are that at most 2 or 3 dozen USN/USMC/USCG records being worked on in 6th floor offices at the time of the fire may have been affected. That’s it.
http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/fire-1973.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Personnel_Records_Center_fire#Navy_and_Marine_Corps_records
Assuming the name and Navy Serial Number you posted above are legit, that should be enough to submit a FOIA and see what records the NPRC has about your service – and what they say.
Well, la-de-da. I put in my time, two hitches in the Navy DURING the Vietnam war, but because I was a SERVICEWOMAN, I wasn’t sent over there. Combat zone, you know. Army nurses yes, WAVES no. So that makes me a Vietnam-era vet, by anyone’s definition. Still have my dogtags and one set of dress dark blues issued to me and tailored in boot camp. All of us recruits got a gedunk medal issued on graduation.
What else was there? Oh, yeah. I never called ANY female officer ‘sir’. It was ‘ma’am’. Got that, pigsticker?
Nobody cared what your sex was back then? On what planet? All I ever heard from sailors was sexist remarks. What a load of crap.
Oh, yeah, Hondo: the serial number, if it is real, simply means that he was recruit number 170696.
My serial number ends with 97. There were four other girls with me. There serial numbers ended in sequence after mine: 98, 99, 00, 01, all with W after the last digit. The issuance of those serial numbers by the Navy ended in 1972.
Ex-PH2: correct. Since it’s a “B” series service number it dates from Vietnam. And if it actually is his service number, it also means the NPRC should be able to fairly easily locate his records in response to a FOIA request.