Nations stole his father’s valor
We first discussed Grady Wayne Nations back in June, and today the Navy Times updates the story in a link sent to us by Kevin. Unfortunately, it’s behind a pay wall.
The younger Nations, now 43 and a first class aviation ordnanceman in the Navy Reserve, was convicted Aug. 28 by a court-martial of seven officers for unlawfully wearing his father’s medal. He also was found guilty of making false official statements — he somehow managed to work his father’s medal citation into his personnel record.
So I guess that’s how the citation had signatures on it from officers who served in the 60s.
Nations will receive no jail time for his fakery, which included donning the medal during funerals and wearing the ribbon daily. He will be reduced in rank to E-1 and dishonorably discharged, at which point he will forfeit all pay and allowances.
“We have a responsibility to ensure our sailors uphold the highest standards, and to hold them accountable when they fail to do so,” said Cmdr. Alvin “Flex” Plexico, spokesman for Navy Recruiting Command.
Yeah, and they also uncovered some other criminals at that particular recruiting unit;
The fallout from his conviction has left the future of Cmdr. Sheryl Tannahill, commanding officer of Navy Operational Support Center Nashville, Tenn., in doubt.
Her testimony under oath revealed her relationship with Nations may have been unduly familiar and violated the Navy’s fraternization standards. Nations was working under Tannahill’s command while serving as a recruiter assigned to Navy Recruiting District Nashville.
Tannahill is under investigation for her relationship with Nations, confirmed Cmdr. Tom Cotton, spokesman for Navy Reserve Forces Command. Capt. George Whitbred, head of Navy Region Midwest Reserve Component Command, initiated the investigation after the Nations trial.
An O-6 has been assigned to lead the investigation, Cotton said.
And, apparently, even people who know better fall for the “it’s classified” lie;
It was in 2011 that [Lt. Cmdr. Johnny Kelly] first noticed Nations wearing a DFC ribbon.
“He said he got it on active duty while serving with the Air Force, but that it was classified, and he couldn’t talk about it,” Kelly told Navy Times. “Seems the classified excuse is used a lot by people faking awards. But at the time I let it go — but it never sat well with me.”
Nations also discussed the award with Cmdr. Matthew Grahl, the former NOSC Nashville CO, according to the investigation.
“I asked [Nations] how he earned the award,” Grahl reportedly said. “He replied with a cryptic answer of something he did during [Operation] Desert Storm as part of VRC-40 with some SEALs. Seemed odd to me, as I was in VRC-40 from 1996 to 1999, and any work we did with the SEALs was purely training para-drops and we weren’t trained in any of the operational aspects of a SEAL insertion.”
Despite his reservations, Grahl testified at the trial that he had no reason to doubt Nations because of his stellar performance record.
So those of you who tried to defend Nations in the first discussion, I don’t think this is the outcome you were telling us to wait for.
Category: Phony soldiers
Wait..What, somebody was defending this guy even after he shot up the “it’s classified” red star cluster?
A dishonorable discharge will sure as hell look good on any of his future civilian job prospects.
NICE!
E-6 to E-1 and a big chicken dinner. My that’s a long fall from grace.
Well earned, it seems. 🙂
I’m betting we’ll see this shitbag again. Now that the worst (legally) has happened to him, why wouldn’t he go on being a shitbag?
I do not think people really understand the future impact of a DD (BCD). Once you start turning over rocks all kinds of odd things start crawling out.
@1, Oh yes! Navy Wave, Thor, Milpride and Enigma 4 You, were firm believers in this P.O.S. Where are they now?
Nik (@5) I’m certain you are right. This (bad) apple has obviously fallen far from the tree. He couldn’t even carry his father’s jock strap.
JUSTICE IS SERVED. This “never was” has spread such bullshit that he has started believing himself.
When is this turd going to surface with ALL KINDS of medals – once he’s finally discharged and all? I’ll bet this isn’t the last we’ve seen of him.
Did I ever tell you guys about the Olympic Gold Medal I won.
Sorry, it’s classified.
@ Chief .. we won’t hear from them again … they were probably either relatives or Grady himself.
Now lets go after the Naval Officer he was banging! If that was the case! If that was not the case. Let’s go after her for being an idiot!
Master Chief, wish I had served with you while I was on active duty…
I’m certain you are right. I think our Navy Times reporter is on her tail (I mean trail). I’m uncertain about the banging but she is certainly guilty of the idiot charge! As they say, every NOSC (I mean village) needs one.
Anyone stupid enough to get on the stand and be a character witness for someone of this caliber knowing what she knew in advance deserves whatever comes her way.
Should make for interesting reading in the future. Let the chips fall!
Rog that Chief!
A small point: a DD is substantially worse than a BCD when it comes to post-employment and other effects. One example: a person with a DD is prohibited by the VA from burial in a National Cemetery. Someone with a BCD may or may not qualify, depending on the determination of the VA Regional Office. The same is in general true for all VA benefits.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42324.pdf
13….Yep! Good for him (DD) , good for the Navy and most of all… good for my morale!
Dishorable Discharge (DD) or as I have called it a “Dirty Dick” is of course as it sounds. It is a no go on everything.
The Bad Conduct Discharge (BCD) or as I referred to it as the “Big Chicken Dinner” is really not so bad and can be upgraded after time and proving you are worthy. The difference lies in “Conduct”
The BCD is often applied to lets say “Good Performers” whose conduct resulted in a discharge.
BLUF: BCD is bad. DD is really bad.
FINALLY! A turd got what he deserved! Thank you Naval Reserve.
4 year vet. Call me wrong. The abbreviations for US Navy Commander ( CDR ) and Lieutenant Commander ( LCDR ) are butchered here like most other places. This stuff was beaten into my head in boot camp (1970).
Yes this puke should be in jail.
[…] Tannahill, who was the commanding officer of recruiter, Aviation Ordnanceman 1st Class (AW/NAC) Grady Nations, who was court martialed for wearing an unearned Distinguished Flying Cross. During the court martial, it was revealed that […]
@7 I was an advocate of giving him the benefit of due process before attacking him in a public manner. He has had his day in court and deserves what is coming his way. As for where am I now, I am back in good ole NC after a trip to PA, LA (Lower Alabama) and Florida.
Nations was a serving member of our Military, I firmly believe that service members should hold themselves to a higher standard, Nations in his Career seemed to have been a model sailor. He is known to me th
Good idea to stop, Enigma. He was already convicted, and hopefully his wife dumped his cheating ass.
(sorry hit a button and posted before I was done)
he is known to me thru a Mutual friend who believed in him. I have no doubt now as to his guilt nor does my friend. However I will always be and advocate of Justice thru due process.
@20 I hope so too.
She is not even a 5 on at the 12th month of a 13 month deployment. Also, not enough Congac in ten years for me.
@ 19 & 22. Due process only works when all the players are playing by the rules. This P.O.S. had his CO fooled and was basically hiding under her skirt. I still can’t believe that she bought his line of shit.
Seem’s to me that the E’s and O’s at the command had enough of his shit. Since they couldn’t reel in this highly decorated, confidential, almost a seal through the chain of command they were left with no other choice. They didn’t write the story, they asked if he was authorized to wear the medal(s). Navy Times did the rest. Investigative reporting has been around for a long time. Maybe not the best in every situation but it definately has it’s place. Nixon, Clinton, Hoover. Nations will not be the last.
Both of these losers will get their just rewards. As a CO you don’t give awards, recommend early promotions and then get on the stand at a Court Martial and lie to cover for a P.O.S. like Nations. Makes me wonder just what he had on his CO to make her do this.
I can’t wait for the final chapter. Being relieved of command is one thing – what’s next…..
Due process is a legal construct that encompasses both substance and procedure. It has nothing whatsoever to do with me or anyone else saying, “The SOB is guilty as sin.”
DP goes to fairness in process, not correctness in outcome. Thus, with all DP extended to a defendant, the innocent are sometimes convicted and the guilty found to be not.
u get what u give…shud b in kansas pounding rocks
I hate seeing the results of the trial. A number of those facts were unknown to me, but since they provided more support for the prosecution I kind of have to feel the need to ring the idiot’s neck. I would have done it myself had it happen during the time I was around, but I would have done it through the chain of command, even going over the CO when needed. The Lt. went outside the chain and public to boot. I would have his ass as well, just at the unit level. He’s one of the slimy types that have no business in shoulder boards. I still have little need to hop on board with the “let’s shoot him” gang. Reason is simple. While this act is reprehensible, I also look at the deeds I know first hand about. At least twice that I know of, He got volunteers from the guard to go almost a 1000 miles(Each way) to perform military funeral honors because the military would not do it. They did it on their own dime and he covered the hotels and meals. I saw him stay over regularly and help E-2’s and 1’s with their advancement exam study. He also would spend about 20hrs a week,after hours,to help training. He took the guard to a new level of precision. (he took 2 much credit for this, the change was started by an RP2 and MC1, but he really polished it). When Nashville flooded, he got guard members to volunteer for sandbagging areas for about 36 straight hours. I did hear about issues with him and the CDR from the newspapers, but never saw it due to the time-line of events. The events of the trial and speculation occurred after I left. After the facts that have came out, I am all for punishment, but when you have have someone that put themselves out for others in the service and the community in general,their loss is not for celebration. With the exception of stolen honor, which is pissing me off more and more, this was someone… Read more »
BTW, Nothing he has done excuses the act of wearing an unearned medal, but I do not think jail time is needed when one takes into account other actions that benefited the Navy. Now if the charge of Frat plays out in a negative manner, this may need to be revisited again. Either way, I will not convict someone based on an article in a magazine. Oh and chief, I would hope you too would have given the benefit of the doubt to a sailor you only had seen in a positive light until you had the full information. I am still not sure how he became a recruiter. I just don’t see him as one. I also still don’t buy going public instead of the up the chain. I actually found out about this from one of the music industry PR people the LT. had contacted… of course I am sure you have no problem with that either even though it was before the conviction.
A true embarrassment to our military. Hope you get the max and, good luck finding a job with a dishonorable DD-214…rot in you know where…maybe you can write a song about it from Levenworth……..hope so
Time to do a shake down! Keep the good “true sailors” and deep six the wanna b’s.
This idiot, and his baby’ momma, decided to align with my ex-husband and attempt to humiliate me in the midst of losing my son (LAS) last year. I had NO idea that he was involved in this kind of drama! Seeing that the Navy sees no use in assigning 1 CACO per parent, in the circumstance of divorce (and a bitter one at that), he and his psycho concubine … plus my vengeful ex-husband … managed to turn my son’s honorable funeral process into a circus! I hope this man and his entourage burn in hell!
This case was horseshit from the beginning. The two clowns that accused this man, one of has quit and the other is pretty close to it. This man is not a fraud. He ran the number 1 navy ceremonial honors team in the area. He did over 1500 funeral honors and CACO. Before you make alleged allegations about this man make sure you know the whole truth. The whole truth is he still has the utmost respect from people that higher power than these people that accused. He also served with people who testified for him saying this was bs and he earned those medals. The judge also saw too it that this case was bs and this case will be looked at by the appellate court. Have a nice day
NavyAviator@32, noone is disputing his service as a CACO. The issue at hand is that he fraudulently wore an award that he was not entitled to wear. When confronted, he came up with some convulated stories to cover his tracks. He showed extremely poor judgment and a total lack of integrity and leadership by undertaking this endeavor. If you truly are a Navy Aviator, you would know how im;portant integrity is within the military community. Since you claim that we do not “know the whole truth”, please enlighten us. Was the “whole truth presented at his court martial to prevent this travesty of besmirching a fine upstanding military memeber? Your post implies that he was entitled to the award. If you can present any evidence that he was entitled to the award, which for some reason was signed off by personnel serving during the Vietnam War, this entire community of this blog will be more than willing to help you free this innocent man. So, the ball is in your court……
It’s coming up on sixty hours since NavyAviator posted that we haven’t gotten “the whole story” yet. And I tell you, when he/she does post that irrefutable proof, we, along with the entire US Navy, will be apologizing. Until then, we wait. And wait. And wait……
NavyAviator: my gosh, you’re right! And apparently Nations has figured out how to do time travel, too – since his DFC certificate dates from the 1960s!
Either that, or he’s a low-life who decided to steal his own father’s military honors and decorations and pass them off as his own.
Frankly, I know which I’m betting is the case. YMMV.
Unprofessional this turd is.
CA, CACO, etc duty aside.
A senior NCO should know better.
Fucking clown.
To:GoldStarMom615: First I want to say I am sorry to hear about your son. Second, I am AO1 Nations (as you put it” babys momma and I have never met you nor was I ever around you, your ex-husband,or the funeral. I did however see the video and from what I seen the Navy Honor Guard honored your son with the upmost respect.
I have watched AO1 Nations for 8 years give 100% to the Navy. He was always there supporting his shipmates,training them to be the best they could be and going way beyond the call of duty. His evaluations speak for his honor, duty and commitment to the Navy. Some of you that are commenting and that testified are the same people that went to him when you needed something done or wanted him to run his own music equipment for your retirements!!! He is not guilty, it does not matter what Navy Times printed or what the verdict was at the trial. It’s not over yet!! Navy Times got their information from a LT. My opion he should not be a LT., to me he is a coward and was jealous and had a personal agenda or he wouldn’t have gone directly to Navy Times.
“Denial”: it’s not just a river in Egypt . . . .
If Nations is not guilty, jep, then I’m sure you can give us a believable explanation of how his father’s Vietnam-era DFC certificate got into Nation’s military records. However, unless and until you do that the logical explanation is precisely what the court-martial found: Nations was a liar and a fraud.
He may have been stellar in other respects. But that’s also irrelevant regarding what Nations was accused and convicted of doing.
Hey jep. You’ve got some nerve addresing GoldStarMom615. She is entitled to say anything she wants. You are not, at least not to her.
JEP, as previously stated, nobody here has a problem with his actions as a CACO. He stood accused and was convicted of wearing an unauthorized award. In the military, that is a big no-no. If you have proof that a LT lied under oath during the court martial, please notify your local NCIS agent and/or JAG office for appropriate legal action. There has been several postings on this board from defenders of Grady Nations stating that he was entitled to the award, but when asked how he was able to get an award that was written over forty years ago into his records, they suddenly go into blackout drive and complete radio silence. As I have said before, and everyone who regularly posts her will agree, if someone can provide a logical explantion on the circumstances of how HIS FATHERS AWARD was entered into his records, we will all aopologize.
And on a seperate note, in comment 37, you say that you are A01 Nations, but in the following comment, you refer to him in the third person. Are you trying to pull a “I am Sparticus” on us?
Hack, jep actually said I am AO1 Nations Baby’s momma. The parentheses and qoute marks were jacked up, and threw off the sentence. Only saying that because I had to read it a few times to make sure I had it right. Threw me off for a minute.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled blog…
Hack Stone: in comment 37 above, I think jep was trying to say that she is Nations’ “baby momma” – e.g., his girlfriend. That would also imply that jep is hardly an impartial observer due to being involved in a close personal relationship with Nations. But I could be wrong.
Thanks, guys. It’s all about the punctuation. Reminds me of the Benny Hill skit.
Actress: Stop!, What’s that up in the road? A head!
Benny Hill (as film director): Cut! No! No! No!It’s “Stop! What’s that in the road ahead?”
jep–try to remember the old (Navy) adage:
One thousand attaboys are automatically negated by one aw shit.
Also keep in mind the other old adage:
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
FORMER PO Nations seems to have forgotten those.
To: Air Cav, the last I new this is a few country and I have
the right to say what I want and the right to address it to whom I want. Just
as GoldStarMom615 did and all of you do. I simply replied to her
post that was ridiculous because what she posted was not correct.
I know 100 percent that AO1 Nations, whom is still a
AO1 in the Navy. He was the best CACO contact that command
will ever have and he always handled his CACO duty with
the upmost respect and honor. As for the other remarks regarding
AO1, I will not go into details about the case, except to say it
isn’t over yet!
@46.
Jep,
Not only are you a turd, your a fraud.
You know jack shit about Gold Star Moms (Families).
Bring it bitch.
I never new this was a few country
@46.
What was your Naval Rank?
TP1?
Turd Pusher First Class?
Maggot.
Uh, Jep? Did you miss this part of the OP?
He will be reduced in rank to E-1 and dishonorably discharged, at which point he will forfeit all pay and allowances.
Doesn’t sound like he’s still in the Navy to me.