Philly Magazine conned by phony Marine (Updated with article)
TSO sends a link he was sent about Philadelphia Magazine who did an article “The War Within” about a Marine struggling with life after the Corps. I didn’t read the original article before they pulled it down out of embarrassment but I did find a cached copy of the first page. I think I would have called BS as soon as I saw that the dude thinks he killed 2200 people – that would have been one person every day for over six years straight, or six people a day for a year. The math isn’t in his favor.
But Philly Mag published two apologies for being taken in by a friendly fellow. One from Tom McGrath and another by the author, Anthony Gargano about how they were taken in by a guy with a ton of stories. McGrath says that after they started getting some comments on the article, they confronted “Tree Pruner”;
Then, in a series of phone calls, email exchanges, and text messages, Gargano and I confronted the subject of the article, John P. Boudreau, who was also its main source. (He was identified in the story as “the Tree Pruner.”) In a series of conversations on Wednesday and Thursday, Boudreau, who claims a residence in Chester County, acknowledged that much of what he had told Gargano over the preceding several months—information he had also confirmed to Philadelphia magazine’s fact-checker—was either embellished or flat-out fabricated.
As soon as I saw his name and read that he was claiming to be a Marine, I fired it off to some of our Marine friends who told us that there’s no record of him. It took me two minutes to get a response. You can read some of the comments in the cached copy to see what some of the claims were – he used a .40 caliber sniper rifle and TOW missiles to take out his targets, he recovered the bodies of two dead SEALs in a war that didn’t have any SEALs killed (Desert Storm).
They believed him because he was a nice guy and not a pest – I had this discussion last night. Most sociopaths are just like that. No one ever doubts their tales because they’re so convincing. And they think that you’ll believe them which makes them adamant about their stories and they may even believe that it’s true no matter how fantastic the story may sound. Even after they tell you that they lied initially, if they ever do, they’ll think you still believe them. After Boudreau admitted to the two writers that he lied, he sent them a text message;
“I have been recalled to Korea next month. They need. Me to do what I do the best. If I don’t come back? I love ya Cuz. Goodbye….”
So, he’ll probably turn up somewhere else with his tales because he almost got away with it this time – well, until real veterans read the fairy tales. McGrath and Gargano go on and on about how they thought he was the real deal, and passed the story around to their other non-veteran family members and friends – well, without running it by any veterans.
I tell people that real veterans don’t mind showing their discharge certificates (DD214s), all you have to do is ask.
UPDATED: Someone sends us a .pdf of the article; Sniper Article-1
Category: Phony soldiers
Yet another media source/reporter getting fooled by a poseur.
You’d think by now a reporter would think claims of someone killing over 2000 would raise SOME sort of red flags.
But I guess not.
I just don’t get why no one ever asks us to verify this stuff. We offer it to everyone. Hell, this one doesn’t pass any test.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/trending/Philly-Mag-issues-apology-retraction-over-fabricated-sniper-story.html
Douchbags
…he was so nice it had to be real…wow ./wrist
“In the Marines, you lose your cookies first, then your cowardice. Later, of course, you’ll lose the ability to sleep, and that’s what plagues the Tree Pruner now. ”
REALLY?
Nobody at all thought that sounded as f#cking stupid as the rest of his story?
What kind of fact checkers only check in with the liar telling the story????
This thing smells like sh1t from top to bottom, those two idiots who got sucked in have hopefully learned to take their jobs a bit more seriously moving forward…..numb nuts…
Lying poser aside, 2 SEALs were killed in Iraq: Marc Lee & Mike Monsoor.
Yeah, but he’s claiming that the SEALs he brought back were killed during Desert Storm.
“Marine assassin”
Somebody fire that “reporter” ASAP, please. What a shit dick.
This guy is in the running for all time douche faker. I think these guys need to be ranked based on level of publication or media renown they get prior to being found out. Body count, awards, war or wars served and how long they were able to keep up their stupidity. You could also rank them on the level or type of folks they’re able to fake out. If you bs some guys at the VFW..thats like 5 points but if you get somebody to give u a rifle, key to the city…grand marshall etc…thats worth more. The possibilities are endless.
Maybe they should have dug up Jeff “the Rock” Harris’ bones to see what happens to “journalists” who don’t fact-check outrageous claims.
@5, maybe this douche should talk to my wife about losing sleep. She is the one that deals with my bad sleep nights, God bless her soul.
They believed him because he was a nice guy and not a pest – I had this discussion last night. Most sociopaths are just like that. No one ever doubts their tales because they’re so convincing. And they think that you’ll believe them which makes them adamant about their stories and they may even believe that it’s true no matter how fantastic the story may sound.
Apply that to presidential politics. I’d bet everything I own that nearly the entire staff of Philadelphia Magazine voted for the same candidate, and brought the same level of critical thinking to that decision as well.
Sorry in this internet day and age, simply NO excuse for journalists not to double check claims by fakers.
Well, the lede is accurate…he most likely IS going to Hell.
So the guy did 2,200 estimated kills, now 8760 hours per year, now I’d guess since the dude is a sniper he wasn’t just randomly whacking but actually had to do a bit of walking and setting up (or so i’ve been told) so I’ll give him 2 hours to setup and 4 hours to walk (this is because I’ll let the chopper drop him somewhere fairly close to where he is going to stalk not those ridiculous 12 hour hikes i’ve heard on sharp rock while half falling all the time) that makes 6 hours per E-KIA…
1460 E-KIA per year, dude must be a bad ass, in total he needs 13,200 hours which is 1.6 years without sleep! … we have a runner up for Ken! I guess he did wanted to shadow Ken..
I’m just facepalming so hard on the fact that someone thought that story was believable …
After some Real Marines catch up with him I’ll take his rifle. It’s pretty sweet.
My wife laughed at his number of 2,200.
A TOW missle for a single target?
Sweet.
Talk about proportional response.
Last time….Uday and Qusay? (x10?)
The only think I have killed 2,200 of is bugs (pesticides), beers (as evidenced by the empty cans)and brain cells (bong hits).
This clown is a loser.
The tools at the magazine are bigger losers.
Turds.
Something tells me the reporter just thought he was ‘cute’, fell for his looks, and got his man-crush on.
Yeah, I went there…
Something tells me the reporter just thought he was ‘cute’, fell for his looks, and got his man-crush on.
Yeah, I went there…
i have a hard time anymore believing this crap is random.
the way the left is attacking us vets makes me think that
they’re doing this shit on purpose just to inflame us.
IMO
True or not, they have advanced the left agenda by portraying yet another “crazy vet.”
Now it’s just a matter of time before some grizzled real-life Vet like me comes across him and uses him for a doormat!
Yeah. Do we have a REAL name for this douche? I have difficulty believing Boueadru (or whatever) is his “real” name. Then he can be tracked and found. And REALLY sent to his own personal hell via some REAL troops delivering some wall-to-wall counseling.
This guy lives in my neck of the woods. I’ll make it a priority to make his life miserable.
Hell, the guy that wrote this should just be beaten for his purple prose.
“…he was a Marine assassin…” What’s the MOS for that?
This fictional story is so poorly written, it is difficult for me to believe that its author may have been paid for the pap. But the real point of the story is not about the killer of 2,200 or so of the enemy now, is it? As others have said, the real story is about pushing the dangerous crazy vet image.
I did not know that the Marines had cookies to lose. I have been enlightened. (Falls off chair laughing.)
I feel pretty inadequate knowing I only killed 1,028. But, they wouldn’t let me stay another week to 10 days to catch this guy. Just ran out of time is all.
Jonn,
Another possibility, he could have killed all 2,200 in one day.
One thing about his story that is true – he is going to hell!
Perhaps I’m jaded, but I just don’t buy into stories I hear anymore that sound “too good to be true” or that are just impossible to believe. We all know that NOBODY in the media verifies anything anymore. Sensationalism sells, and there are enough stupid people out there that will actually believe this kind of crap.
I mean, c’mon.. 2,200 kills? Really dude?
John P “The Man-tree Pruner” Boudreau… We need more on this shit sack, hes in the running for the next Ballduster McSoulpatch Memorial Award.
I think we need to send HIM to North Korea alongside “Colonel” Crotchrot! Let ’em prove they’re the badasses they claim to be!!
He does have some pretty nice hardware though. Looks like a Leupold VX3, that’s a pricey piece of glass. On what looks like a 700P or similar platform. He’s as full of money as he is lies. I guess that counts for something….or not.
From the comments on Gargano’s apology- “I actually know this Bordeau clown. He’s from Chester Springs and our daughters were in pre-school together. Within five minutes of meeting him a few years ago, he’s in tears over his fallen comrades. A few minutes later, he’s telling me he was a stunt double for Marky Mark in Invincible and The Shooter. I knew he was a whackjob immediately. How did Gargano not know? How did he not fact-check his claims? And I am(was) a fan of the Cuz. His rep takes an enormous hit in my book.”
hahahahaha
I know it’s late, but I took a brief look at the cached copy of the article. I have seldom found such creativity in bending reality to suit one’s needs… that is, until I came to TAH. In reading this paragraph all by itself, I was amazed that anyone could fall for this bucket of unmitigated crap: The Tree Pruner and six friends recently spent a weekend in the woods, bow-hunting for deer. He killed five, and his buddies together killed zero. (NOTE: he went WAY OVER the deer hunting limit anywhere in the US if he killed 5 deer in one weekend. And five with a compound bow? Yeah, sure. How did he manage to get away with that without being hung out to dry by the park rangers?) As he sliced into an animal, cutting off the head and opening up the belly with a big knife, he remembered his first time. Back in 1986, he was part of a four-man team dropped deep in the Oregon timberland without food or supplies, expected to live off the land for several weeks as a part of forest training. For days, the group subsisted on leaves and berries and worms; then he killed a deer. Officially responsible for cutting up the body, he hurled all over the carcass, destroying a deer feast. “leaves and berries and worms”? In a forest full of wildlife, they couldn’t find anything but leaves and berries and worms? No pine nuts? No hickory? No chipmunks or squirrels? No snakes? Snakes taste like chicken, once they’re cooked. No rabbits? It’s Oregon. There are trout and salmon in the streams (or should be). No fish? No pheasant, grouse, quail or turkey? Never mind that military fakery. That’s part of his meme. The hunting-survivalist stuff is such a load of horse hockey, this guy almost makes Dullass Whipitnflogit look like an amateur. If anyone had bothered to look up the bag limits for deer and elk hunting in Oregon, you’d know that he’s a lying asshole: the bag limit for deer, archery or rifle, is one 2-point buck/1… Read more »
So after he admits to his first set of lies. He lies again hoping to get another story? Pretty sure if someone did a background check, couple of criminal charges are proably hanging around on his record. Probably identity fraud or theft.
Hell, I was watching my uncle and grandpa field dress whitetails when I was 6 or 7 and this yahoo supposedly throws up ON the deer? Gotta love the total disconnect the average reporter has with their subject when it concerns the military or rural/non urban stories.
2/17 Air Cav, I don’t know about the Marines, but the Army mos for assassin is 007B. License to kill.
Jonn, This ain’t hell is one of the first things I read here in Afghanistan when I get to work. It’s always fun to see the mayhem that transpired while I was asleep. But today, holy fuckamoley, was the best ever.
When I read about ‘Raven’ I thought, ‘Do we even need a Ballduster McSoulpatch tournament?’ But we do, because though few rise to Raven’s level of audacity, they all deserve recognition.
Thanks for the great start to my day.
What the fuck is with these shitbirds and there over-inflated egos? 2,200 kills? From a sniper? I can deal with the dress-ups who like to wear a nice, clean uniform with stars and stripes, but who the fuck does this guy think he is? This is the type of pussyshit that WILL abandon the guys around him and get them all killed when the shit hits the fan. No sense of camaraderie, no honor. This scumbag needs to be put in his place once and for all.
@40, 41, just think about it this way I like to, and it gives me a “warm fuzzy” when I do: This jello-dicked fool has been outed, so FORGET about if, it’s WHEN some grizzled “Old School” type of Vet like me will come across him and treat him like a cheap doormat with Jane Fonda’s picture printed on it!!
Battle of Hoth Ribbon with cluster for this douche… if he’s going the get recalled, could he go to Asscrackistan or someplace we’re actually shooting folk already?
The crappy thing is, thapt the story is out there now, and every libtard who wants to bolster his/her/its claim that the military is full of blood thirsty animals will be quoting from this one, retraction be damned. I think the two writers knew exactly what they were doing. They accomplished their mission, and prolly got a bonus from their commie handlers for doing it.
@30: If the dude was employing TOW’s you may be right.
I’m not sniper trained nor do I play one on TV but wouldn’t using one on target kinda defeat the purpose of stealth employed by snipers getting into position to eliminate a specific target? Pretty hard being “silent, precise and deadly” with a TOW trail coming out of the bushes.
Of course, if you killed everyone then it wouldn’t matter I guess.
The retraction and the Philly Mag’s explanation is nearly as pitiful as Gargano’s story itself.
“The article grew out of a friendly relationship that developed over the last year between Gargano and Boudreau.” That was mistake number one for Gargano. He befriended Boudreau and thereby lost perspective and objectivity.
“The story was also fact-checked—though, given that the piece was largely told from Boudreau’s point of view, the vast majority of the fact-checking was done with Boudreau himself.” Huh? The source of the facts and the source for verifying them were one and the same?
“While other publications have certainly been duped by sources over the years, that in no way lessens our responsibility or culpability in this case.” Then why bring up “other publications?” That’s real class, invoking the ‘but-Johnny-did-it-too’ defense.
“But no matter what the story, we have always prided ourselves on trying to tell the truth—to the best we can discern it…” Evidently, their best did not include verifying a single item regarding Boudreau’s outlandish claims.
“We regret the mistakes we made with this story.” Mistakes? You guys totally disregarded the fundamental rules of journalism. If you were doctors, it would be called malpractice. If this were a tort, it would be gross negligence.
Personally, I’m not accepting the offered apology. It’s as lousy as the original article that prompted it.
I’m sure this “Pruner” fellow has made 2,200 kills – in video games. Zombies do tend to travel in packs.
But seriously, cripes man… if you’re gonna lie, take a minute and try to come up with something feasible.
Clearly journalism school needs to add a class in How to Train Your Bullshit Detector.
Ain’t got nuthin on me. NASA needed a volunteer to be a door gunner on their shuttle flights. I did that but it is top secret. Also secret submarine screen door installation tech. I must of taken out well over 3000 aliens and 2-3 asteroids thus saving the world from total destruction ! But thats classified also. I do remember my Buds class though. I got it after the bar ran out of Coors and had to settle on Bud. After 24 of them i was certified. Now working on the secret Stargate hidden at area 51. Go me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Magazine and the Radio Station that employs
this fraud should be picketed and sued. This clown
wanted a screenplay produced and the hell with the
TRUTH.
Justice and journalism will be better served, and exposed
for pushing Oliver Stone/Hussein Obama subversion.