Paul Rieckhoff and needless embellishment
I’m sure you all know Paul Rieckhoff, the Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Paul and I have been sparring since they published their first “non-partisan” scorecard before the last Presidential election that was scored so that then-Senator Obama was a better friend of veterans than Senator McCain, you know, the veteran in the race. So there may be some personal bias in this particular bit of reportage, and I’ll readily admit to it.
But, anyway, I found this article taken from Rieckhoff’s alma mater newspaper at Amherst College, but here’s a screen shot of the part where he’s telling the reporter that he was going to Special Forces in the last paragraph of this shot;
Yeah, that’s no problem, really, and here’s the picture that accompanied the article;
In this picture, Paul is wearing a Bronze Star Medal;
But, see this is all questions, and I don’t like unanswered questions. And since I don’t like doing anything behind anyone’s back, I sent all of my questions along with the accumulated documentation to Paul and asked him about the discrepancies I found and asked him to fill in the blanks.
He promptly replied, but his letter only made me have more unanswered questions;
He said in the letter that he intended to go to 19th SFG, but after talking with the commander they both decided that he shouldn’t. So who sews a unit patch on their uniform before they’re even assigned to the unit? I don’t think I ever changed patches until I signed in to a unit. Maybe that’s just me, though.
The DD214 does clearly say he has a Bronze Star Medal, but how did he get it? I asked him for orders, but he sent me the DD214 that I already had and then he claimed he never received the citation, but he doesn’t mention the orders. So did someone call him and tell him he had one, and he just pinned it on? And how did it get on his DD214 without orders or a citation? And he physically signed his DD214, so they didn’t have him digitally sign it from a distance. He was right there in the room with the clerk.
In his letter, he writes; “Since the photo in question, I have not worn or claimed the BSM—as you have noted.” Yeah, that’s the only photo I could find of him with the BSM, so if he’s so sure that he earned a BSM, why did he stop wearing it after that picture? See what I mean by more questions?
And, oh, yeah, if you want to get on my good side, Paul, you probably shouldn’t threaten me with lawyers in the first paragraph. Or the last paragraph. Or any of the paragraphs in between. Here at TAH we operate within the limits of the law and everything that we accumulated was done within those limits. I got the records from the usual source – Mary at POW Network. She’ll verify that. And there is no grand conspiracy against you, Paul, just little old me and my ten nimble fingers. And, oh, my lawyer.
Now, I don’t understand why Rieckhoff felt a need to dress up for his school newspaper. He has a CIB, a combat patch and a perfectly honorable combat tour in Iraq. I admire him for his service, but the rest of this stuff that he’s done since he’s come back kind of overshadows that stuff he did in Iraq.
Category: Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
@52 Hondo: I apologize for the confusion. It should be when I got it, it being the Amherst Alumni magazine, in the mail. The article was in the Amherst Alumni magazine sometime around 2004 or so.
OtherAmherstArmyOfficer: thanks for the clarification. Originally I interpreted it one way, but on re-reading your comment I realized there was an alternate interpretation and I might be wrong.
ALCON, Look, for those who hate R and for those who are just new to the game (of exposing fakes) let me make a few points from somebody who has been dealing with actual fakes and frauds for the better part of a decade and a half… This dog don’t hunt. By which I mean, there is nothing to this “controversy.” And yes, I say this as an expert. I’ve exposed fakes, hell, a man even went to federal prison because I exposed his Korean War record(s) to be a fraud by doing archival research and then writing a book about it. I learned from the best, BG Burkett (author of the original book, _Stolen Valor_), and he helped my in my own subsequent research, and let me tell you, this is all too clearly a tempest in a teapot. Too easy to Google: check my name, Ed Daily, and No Gun Ri. Just so that we can establish that I know whereof I speak. Unless there is another academically-educated-former-West-Point-professor-and-career(still serving)-infantry-officer-with-multiple-combat-tours-who-has-exposed-fakes-who-were-claiming-more-than-they-earned-so-that-they-went-to-prison commentator here, let us assume that I know more than the average bear, shall we? First, on the patches…I’m a Regular Army officer, and have been since the late 1980s, and I am here to catagorically state that I *always* showed up, as a professional officer, with the correct patches of my gaining unit ALREADY SEWN ON. The way my first SGM taught me, even as a cadet back in ’85, was that to show up without your new unit’s patch already sewn on was a mark against you and showed a lack of professionalism in an officer. (Enlisted are different, but officers, so SGM Leo Brown taught me, are supposed to be already squared away the day they show up.) So that seems to be moot. Second, during my first 15 years in the infantry, having your regimental affiliation on your crossed rifles was not only contrary to regulations, but was so uncommon as to be seen as the purview purely of those senior enough to special order such things. (Remember folks, most of that was pre-intertubes. Customized… Read more »
Do you mean the same LTC Robert Bateman who writes at Media Matters for America, that liberal organization which in it’s own words is “A non-profit progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S”? That Bob Bateman? The same Bob Bateman who tried to disparage Victor Davis Hanson and failed miserably?
Yeah, Bobbie, that’s my real name as the author of the post, so I don’t what you’re talking about in that regard. Go give Rieckhoff a hug, and don’t wade into this conversation so I don’t have to tear you to itty-bitty pieces.
Rieckhoff didn’t have assignment orders for the special forces unit, and did you notice that the BSM would be the second merit award for his single tour in Iraq?
You need to explain to me how publishing publicly available documents is slander. You’re out of your “progressive” depth here. Go back to bragging to George Soros how smart you are.
Ignore this… But for everyone else, there is no “malice” in this case. Absolutely none at all. Although Bateman goes to great lengths to espouse his military credentials, his Wikipedia-based legal education should be left to others.
As for the patch issue, and speaking as an officer, Bateman is correct that one shows upat the gaining unit wearing the correct patches. However, officers typically have orders to said gaining unit prior to sewing the patch on. Here, R apparently only talked about joining a SF unit and thought it a good idea to pose for a photo op without having any official gaining unit. I don’t know who would actually do that… I’m sure the PAO would have been thrilled… Speaking of, I wonder if R had permission to conduct an interview in his military capacity (with photo op).
Bateman: you served part of your career in the day of paper records. By and large, that era ended about a decade ago.
My service predates your by a few years, and lasted until fairly recently (I retired less than 5 years ago). I have copies of some form of paper documentation for every personal decoration I have – e.g., orders, certificates, or both – not 80% of them. They’re all in my digital files, too.
I can also back qualification for all of my administratively awarded medals and ribbons (service and campaign medals, ASR, OSR, etc . . . ) with other documentation in my now-retired OPMF. That was true in 2004 as well.
So Rieckhoff gets NO pass from me for wearing a personal decoration – the BSM – he can’t fully substantiate and about which he apparently also has questions (by his own admission he’s quit wearing or claiming it). He also gets no pass for apparently wearing a service medal, the AFSM, that doesn’t appear in his records. He may well rate the latter, but I’d love to hear his explanation as to how he does. The apparent timeline of his career argues against it.
Bottom line: in wearing at least one questionable personal decoration (the BSM) and possibly also one questionable service medal (the AFSM), Rieckhoff’s acted in a way that invites questions about his veracity. Jonn’s correct to point that out and ask him for an explanation.
And in case you missed it: Jonn’s also “outed” a few military phonies – as have others who write here. Just ask a recent former candidate for Congress from NW Arkansas. Or a certain recent “America’s Got Talent” contestant. Both of those individuals were first exposed at this site. Search the site for “Aden” and “Poe” for details.
Not a fan of IAVA. With that, I can see how an incorrect award got on his 214 without a certificate or 638. I’ll share my recent DEMOB experience and how awards were added to our DD214s: Our S1 provided a spreadsheet to the DEMOB station with each Soldier and what new awards they received. My tour award and service medals were added to my DD214 with no other documentation except for that spreadsheet. In fact the spreadsheet was wrong for me and was going to incorrectly award me with a good conduct medal even though I was an officer.
YO: Jonn Lilyea
You talk a lot of smack about how you’d cut Bateman to shreds, but you never actually get around to it. Why not?
Bateman laid out his argument and all you have to offer in reply is “don’t make me take off my belt?”
For now, YOU LOSE. Care to try again?
Wonder if “TruConserv” might be someone with a direct, personal interest in this matter?
TruConserv…
Jonn DID lay out his argument…perhaps reading comprehension isn’t one of your strong points.
@55.
You are correct to some extent, but times change and so do rules and regs.
R’s army (NG) is and was a lot diffrent than yours.
On a persoanl note, you appear to be very high on yourself.
“so I don’t have to tear you to itty-bitty pieces.” – Jonn Lilyea
Is this a joke? I’ve met both Bateman and Lilyea. Bateman looks like an infantry officer – big, strong and bald. Lilyea is a sad little troll. It took longer to type this out than any “match” would last. Stick to the big bad Internet, troll.
Sonny Lo and Behold
This really seems like an insignificant one-off mistake that could easily be explained away … until you consider who is involved. Paul is a public figure, and that opens him up to greater scrutiny. He also built his post-military career on his military experience and presents himself as a subject matter expert in veterans issues. In my opinion, he must fully answer Jonn’s questions for the sake of his professional credibility.
Nattering nabobs always think they have the upper scoop on someone until proved otherwise. This article really is much ado about nothing. Mr. Rieckhoff has served our country and has not misrepresented himself or his service.
dog1net: that remains to be seen. Most people would consider a military officer wearing 2 decorations for which he doesn’t have proper documentation as “misrepresenting himself or his service”. Rieckhoff himself admits he has neither orders nor a certificate for his BSM. And as far as I know, he hasn’t addressed the question I raised about what appears to be an AFRM he’s wearing 2 ribbons below his BSM.
@ 55, Look everybody a pro ring knocker has come to spread THE WORD to us poor unwashed. STFU Joe
@68 Having simply followed a thread of stories to here, I have no side to take, but Bateman makes a very strong argument. In contrast Lilyea and you simply resort to ad hominem.
I love a good stolen valor expose and respect the hell out of the legitimate work done by many in bringing those stories to light.
That said, this story seems like a pissing match between two guys, one of whom (Lilyea) decided to take it from cold war to hot.
This will not end well for anyone, except perhaps Yon the media-whore, and I think we all oppose that.
Yeah, well if you read the whole history of posts here on Rieckhoff, whenever we uncover something about him or IAVA that he doesn’t like, he sends someone in to fight his battles for him, because he doesn’t have the guts to fight his own battles. You can bet that Bateman was the latest proxy warrior. Aside from being a complete phony, Rieckhoff is a coward. As I said in the body of this post, I didn’t sneak around behind his back with this information and I gave him an opportunity to come clean, he tossed that opportunity aside and now he sends in some leftist hitman that they dredge up. This fits both Bateman and Rieckhoff’s MO, and yeah, I went ugly early, but only because I hate dealing with cowards.
@66 Hi Scot Cunningham.
So, ask your son how he would feel about someone wearing his units patch if he never served in that unit. Much ado about nothing is I am certain exactly what he will say.
TruConserv: Bateman’s argument is weak. Army regulations prescribe that orders are issued to announce personal decorations. No orders documenting a personal decoration means you don’t have authority to wear that personal decoration.
Further: contrary to Bateman’s implication above, it’s simply not that hard to get missing personal decorations put into your files. For about 10 years (15+ in the USAR), that’s actually been pretty easy. On the USAR or ARNG side, all it generally takes is photocopying missing award orders and/or certificate and (maybe) drafting a memo to PAC or S1 requesting they be put in your personnel files – then following up a couple of months later to see whether or not it’s been filed properly. Particularly in the USAR, verifying is easy – the records have been available on-line since the mid 1990s. (I can’t speak for the ARNG from personal experience – but I’m not certain Bateman can, either.)
Rieckhoff’s DD214 apparently says he has a BSM. But that BSM doesn’t seem to be otherwise documented in his records, and it’s also not on his 2010 NG separation documents. (Neither is the AFSM he appears to be wearing 2 rows below his BSM, either. However, also missing are his GWOTEM and GWOTSM – again demonstrating that separation documents are not always 100% accurate.) Rieckhoff has also admitted he doesn’t have orders or a certificate for his BSM.
What this all tells me is Rieckhoff saw the BSM on his DD214 and should have questioned it then, but did not. Rather, he signed his DD214 anyway, then used that questionable DD214 as authority to start wearing the BSM – sans orders or presentation.
That may not be flat-out illegal – but it’s unethical as hell. And one would expect much better than that from a commissioned officer with nearly 5 1/2 years in the military.
Rieckhoff is in crisis mode and doesn’t know what to do. How do we know? Because he hasn’t tweeted in 20 hours. And for anyone defending him, did you forget that he is the same guy who publicly blasts the Sec of VA? And every company or organization that he doesn’t agree with. Rieckhoff uses a take no pity approach on anyone and everyone else….and now the tables have turned. He earned an ARCOM for his deployment’s end of tour award, so there is no way he earned a BSM unless there is a “V” fpr Valor attached to it. Which there isn’t. It’s a pretty clear case from how it stands right now (pending further clarification from Rieckhoff): He never earned a BSM yet wore one on his uniform, to include in media pictures. That isn’t a mistake—it’s something that he does very well and that is intentionally misleading people. It isn’t an IAVA job fair, but you wouldn’t know that if you listened to Rieckhoff. So until Rieckhoff goes on the record to clarify this, he is losing credibility with anyone who matters. And for most of those people who matter, that credibility was lost a long time ago. This is just the nail in the coffin.
I understand that that BSM for merit is, well, a fucking joke, but regardless, if you were legitimately awarded it and it was your highest award, I think you’d unfuck that paper work instead of just “stop wearing it.”
That dog seems to be hunting something, and it ain’t duck. It smells more like a severe lack of integrity.
[…] fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); The boys over at This Ain’t Hell have outed another fraud. However, this isn’t your average, run-of-the-mill fraud that you […]
I think you guys are starting to get to big for your britches… and your using clear Political Bias (even admitting it) in your attacks on some of these guys. Clearly he states that he hasn’t worn the BSM since that photo shoot, maybe because he was unsure if he was actually ever awarded it or not. Saw many posts on here about guys having every single award they have on their dd214’s original citations… well it don’t work out that way for all of us high speeds. I served two combat tours as an infantryman. I do not have a citation for my CIB, never received one, not the first tour and not the second tour. However I have the CIB on my dd214, and considering it was awarded to my entire unit the first tour, and I got blown up and lost a leg and do have my purple heart citation, I think I can safely say that my CIB was indeed earned. But going by your criteria, you might as well slap the SV label on me and jump start the band wagon on getting me called out. Far as his SF patch goes, really think he’s working hard to look cool? I think if that where the case he would have sewn on the SF tab. Guard and Reserve units are a bit different, to join the medical reserve unit that I joined in Kingsport Tn as a medical supply sgt between my two active duty tours, I went into the First Sergeants office and asked him if I could join his unit. Now I didn’t get all excited when he said yes and told me where he could put me and then go sew on my new unit patch (honestly as an infantryman pretending to be a medical supply guy, which i never went to AIT for because I was only in the unit 10months before returning to active duty, never really excited me and I never needed to sew the patch on) but, I could see how this would excite Paul and how, just… Read more »
ALCON, For the record, I do not know Rieckoff. I read about the brou-haha on a message Loop that I am in and came over to look at it out of curiousity. Now, as for myself, you’ll note that I’m also the Bob Bateman written favorably about by that liberal site Newsbusters (http://newsbusters.org/node/9689) and that horrific liberal Michelle Malkin (http://michellemalkin.com/2006/12/08/ap-still-not-off-the-hookplus-the-question/ ) and who writes in the New York Post and the Washington Examiner, and also for that well-known liberal site Small Wars Journal (http://newsbusters.org/node/9689), USNI Proceedings, Parameters, Military Review, Armor, Infantry, Marine Corps Gazette, the Journal of Military History, and a dozen others. In short, get over it Paul. I have never written a political word yet. I’ve written for conservative sites, and liberal sites, and professional military sites, and academic sites, and commercial military history magazines, but I am not writing about politics. Different sides like to use my materials for exactly that reason. Nobody, not even my wife and daughters, know which political party I might support, nor whom I have ever voted for. I attacked Hanson not because he’s conservative, but because once he leaves the ancient world, he’s a crappy historian. Crappy historians who stay in academia get attacked in academia (in, for example, the Journal of Military History). Crappy historians who write blogs, get attacked on blogs (in addition to having their books slammed in academic journals). Go back and read the critiques. Bottom line: You cannot have a 2,500 year thesis and contend that it’s a constant…but ignore the contrary evidence from the middle 1,700 years. Unless you disagree with me about Poitiers, etc. Hondo: I agree, it probably isn’t hard. I did not mean to imply that it was really all that hard, and if I did, that was poor communicating on my part. I merely meant that the process is error-ridden. Also, I admit that I’ve just never really bothered myself much with it. Particularly since it’s been about 12 years since I have served in a position where we had a PAC (for non-mil readers, that is your Administration Center) available.… Read more »
Addendum for Hondo: Realized I missed something: No, my interaction with ARNG and USAR is supplemental, like yours. I was enlisted in Reserves (C/1-315 INF, one of the last CBT Arms units in RES) when I was a cadet (SMP program, no biggie) about a quarter century ago, but that was the mid-80s, and I didn’t know my head from a hole in the ground at the time, so I wouldn’t count that as a basis for knowing squat on NG/RES. I make no claims there.
All I have got is an impression (but no experiential evidence) that as messed up as Regular Army paperwork can be, that the NG/RES side is even more so. But I have nothing but these past couple of decades of anecdotal stuff from men I’ve served with who are NG or RES to give me that impression.
@Joe Williams: I just noticed your comment (sorry for the delayed response) and realized that you think I’m a “Ring Knocker.” Joe, don’t know if you know anything about the military, I don’t know you at all, but a “Ring Knocker” is the common slang in the Army for a West Point (United States Military Academy) graduate.
It derives from the (now thankfully rare) practice of USMA graduates of tapping their huge graduation/class rings on a table when a non-West Pointer was speaking in order to highlight their own “Regular” status (vs. that of most Reserve-on-Active duty officers). Moot nowadays since the changes in commissioning rules. Anyway, I never attended West Point, nor any other elite school. I’m a State University product. University of Delaware, in fact. We don’t do jewelry. Don’t know where you got the impression that I was a student at West Point. I was on the faculty there.
(Actually, the technical position, as I recall, was “Associate Professor.” Or perhaps it was “Assistant Professor.” I can’t remember.)
Bateman
Actually, Bateman, I spent the last 21+ years of my career as a member of the USAR – including a 2-year mobilization in CONUS and 3 other periods of active duty. I also spent a year deployed in the CENTCOM AOR, split between two different sub-theaters. So my experience with the Reserve Component has been far from “supplemental”.
Prior to becoming a Reservist, I spent several years on active duty. My experience was that I actually had a somewhat better experience in getting documents into my official files while in the USAR than I did while serving on active duty. Case in point: after I transitioned to the USAR I had to scramble to find copies of orders for two awards I received while on active duty so I could submit them for filing in my OMPF. Each should have been filed in my OMPF long before I left active duty. Neither was. Both were promptly placed in my digital OMPF after I submitted them as a Reservist.
YMMV.
Jonn @37 – the next time that you’re in the DC area, you can meet your second leg infantry officer, and probably your first submarine qualified infantry officer.
Hondo,
Fair enough. A misreading of your words (“I can’t speak for the ARNG from personal experience…”) on my part. I *saw* “ARNG” but in my Regular Army way, lumped that together to read (in my head) “ARNG/USAR”.
I think we’re all still in moderate agreement that paperwork can go missing, and new 1LTs might not be aware enough as to how the system does (let alone how it is supposed to) work.
Bateman
Lovin how the Paratroopers are given so much shit to the legs… I’ve been both, would have chosen my Leg Wolfhound brothers over a shit ton of my Para bros any day of the week. And if Airborne school is your crowning achievement in the Army, seriously… navy chicks go through that school with us, who are you trying to impress? Someone shows you how to strap on a harness and you jump out the damn door… might have been a big time elite school once upon a time… but not anymore, now its just like the big Army… pretty much anyone can go.
^ Spoken like a true leg. ;P
JP.. spoken like a true douche…
Tanner…Why, thank you! Cheers
Damn, Yon has driven literally tens of people to our website today.
I hope is expose on us doesn’t destroy us.
Strangely, that comforts me, TSO.
Alexa seems to think our traffic is bigger as well. All I know is that his people comment over there, but there’s no way of correcting their mistaken impressions.
Also, there are at least 3 threats that I have seen.
They’re so cute, and they make the funniest yelping noises when you kick them, don’t they?
Jonn way back when I was on Casual status at FT Devens waiting for my ASA TC&S I mowed grass fetched laundry picked up mail washed cars made coffee etc with 10GP 402nd does that mean I am an SF Vet …Hell NO I was barely a candy striper…Paul is a tool…I have said so for years…..But then again I am a nobody…. my money is what Mary has to say!!!!
[…] Non-Profit Founder Accused of wearing patches and medals he didn’t earn. this morning’s blog piece Notice the Special Forces unit patch on his left shoulder, which would mean that he was assigned to […]
As quoted in the comments of the follow-on post to this: Rieckhoff has admitted that he has no orders for a BSM or transfer to 19th SFG. He admits he has no citation for the BSM, was not pinned in a ceremony, and has no reason greater than someone telling him that he was going to be put in for one to believe that his 214 was correct to have listed it.
He has further clarified that he has had no OFFICIAL reason to wear his Class A’s since PRIOR to his deployment to Iraq, and hence no reason (no transfer orders and no official need to wear the Class A’s) to have the patch sewn on.
He further admits that the reason why the commander expressed that he did not think Rieckhoff was a good fit for the unit was that Rieckhoff had become a hot political publicity figure. Rieckhoff says that media stint began after the photo shoot wearing the BSM and SF Patch.
Yes, I’m paraphrasing because like all POLITICIANS, which is what Rieckhoff is, he couches that information, in unclear statements, with extraneous information mixed in.
Bottom line is that Rieckhoff has no orders to 19th SFG nor for a BSM. He never did. He knows that. He admits it, but it did launch his political career.
Now, he is a self-appointed Chairman of a misleading “Veterans’ Organization” designed for the express purpose of furthering a political party, and misleading voters. The “membership” nor their representatives vote on his position, nor does he tell them where the money comes from. They are not afforded a right to change the person that “leads” the organization, but he does like to brag about the perks he has gained by having it, to include premium passes to sporting and entertainment events, and invitations to meetings with Obama.
In HIS words:
“I tried to track down a citation later, but I never received one. …… And I’ve been in contact with the Department of Defense, Army Review Boards Agency (ARBA) to seek further clarification. …. I did not have a presentation ceremony or other formal confirmation of the award. …. That day was the first and the last time I wore my Class A’s after coming home. …
I had the SF unit patch on in the same photo eight years ago because I was in the process of transferring over to an SF unit at that time. …. Later that spring, I was on national TV talking about the war and thrust into the public eye. .. I talked to the SF Commander, and given my new public profile and uncertain future, I could obviously no longer join that kind of a unit. … My life became pretty public from that point in 2004 on.” Paul Rieckhoff in an email to his new BFF, Michael Yon, as reported by Yon on 16 July 2012
Why is he not showing his combat patch?
The explanation about a BSM just showing up on a DD214 is absolute BS, and Jonn, I can’t believe you are not calling that out and staying on this message. You are being way too diplomatic here. This is potentially a big story given it would be an act of Stolen Valor.
Why do you think Rieckhoff was so reactionary? If he knew there was nothing to worry about, he would not have reacted the way he did.
If I saw a Bronze Star show up on my DD214, I’d ask where the certificate was. Doesn’t it seem possible that he doctored up a forged Certificate to put on his DD214 and then later realized later he crossed the line? His explanation just doesn’t make sense because it ended up on his DD214. I’m sorry, but that just doesn’t happen without the individual a) getting it put into their record by a clerk and b) validating their DD214. Records drop from DD214’s, they don’t magically appear. Lastly, he signed this DD214.
Jonn, you fought up to the OBJ, but I’m not seeing you fight through the OBJ. Whether he clarifies all answers or not, this story you’ve broken should be brought to conclusion.
#95, Notsurprised, I’m in the business of presenting facts. I can’t afford to speculate. I’m pretty sure that I know what happened, but telling you what to think about it would not be professional. You have to arrive at your own conclusions. As you can see in the comments, people are arriving at their own conclusions, some of those conclusions are wrong or have to be arrived at with some stretching of the facts. I gave you the ammunition, now you have to fight through the objective.
I’m interested in seeing another analysis of IAVA’s 2010 or 2011 tax filings, something similar to what was presented for the fiscal year 2008. I can only imagine what Paul’s executive compensation is now. It’s also suspect that in the “financials” for the 2010 annual report provided on IAVA’s website, they do not list salaries as a separate and distinct expense. All I see are management and general expenses along with a whopping $4.6MM for program services. Can we dig up the most recent tax filings again?
Rieckhoff makes veterans sound like a bunch of selfish clowns who serve just for the glory and benefits which is obviously why he served.
Riekhoff if you are reading this it is time to do something new. Get a real job. Go be an actor or something. Your part in Green Zone almost stole the show. Just kidding, but perhaps with more acting lessons. Actually I thought the movie was horrible and didn’t get very far past the part where you came in at the briefing. Seriously go reinvent yourself. You have been pretending to be the Chairman of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for way too long. Acting may be the ticket because you do play the part of veteran very well. I know one reaction might be to say ‘haters’ as if we all want to be like you. The fact is we don’t. We have normal jobs and think our military service was privilege enough. We don’t want or need all the attention you so desperately seek out presumably for yourself in the guise of calling it for other veterans. You’re embarrassing yourself now. Maybe if you stayed on active duty longer you would have cred. You deployed almost a decade ago and spent, what?, two years in uniform. That’s a joke compared to veterans like me who served multiple tours. You may fool civilians who don’t know and the media and you may fool members of Congress and you may even fool the President into thinking your views matter more than other veterans but you will NEVER fool your fellow veterans into believing you carry our voice.
@98.
Right on, man.
[…] Paul Rieckhoff a victim of the machine July 23rd, 2012 You probably remember the discussion about poor Paul Rieckhoff who was wearing a Bronze Star Medal he was never awarded but still wore to an interview for […]
Ok, I should of posted here first instead of the subsequent thread from here. Like I wrote; I am active duty Army and currently deployed. I was with the 101st, 4ID, units in Germany and served in the Marine Corps and Army Guard for some years. When I came into the Guard; personnel put inaccurate information on my records that was properly shown on my Marine Corps DD214. I had to inform them to correct it. This was 1998. When I went AD Army at the start of OIF, I had to see the division clerk at the 101st to get all my records into the e-MILPO system that will generate on my ERB (enlisted record brief that replaced the 2-1). That was back in 2004. Now he was federalized for his tour so who processed his DD214 upon completion? 3rd or 4th ID personnel? Was his BSM annotated from a verbal response or pulled from an ORB that was still in its infancy stages? You don’t get two end of tour awards. I seen company commanders get two awards for COC ceremonies downrange but that is the exception to the rule. I seen soldiers get an ARCOM for winning a soldier of the month award and then another end of tour award but leadership usually approves those so they can earn more promotion points to get promoted. Also, just because you go to group doesnt mean you going to SFAS. He was probably going to be assigned in a support role hence the not being a Captain rationale. When I became an officer a few years later, I got a DD214 cut with all my awards and tours up to that time (OIF). I have since did two OEF deployments and earned more awards (ACM/Nato ribbon). I had to bring all my awards (hence all the hard copies in my “I LOVE ME” book and get them placed on my ORB (officer record brief). To the person who wrote about wearing the gaining unit patch. That sounds true but now and days with the ACU and velcro; it is… Read more »
@post 98. Exactly. He look so unnatural playing the part of a field grade officer.
At first look, I thought it was Joe the Plumber playing that part lol