Shane Ladner may face charges
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports this morning that Shane Ladner, the fellow who lied about his military service to get free a deer hunt and a ride on a float which cost his wife her leg, may be facing charges from Cherokee County.
Ball met Tuesday with Cherokee County District Attorney Shannon Wallace, who told the AJC she has requested that the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office launch an investigation into allegations that Ladner lied about his war record.
Wallace said it’s too early to tell what laws, if any, may have been broken.
Ladner, speaking through his attorney, Kevin Glasheen, insists he is not lying about his record but offered a revised version of his initial account of his military service.
“Shane was stationed in Honduras at the time he was wounded during a grenade attack while on patrol doing drug interdiction tactics in Central America,” Glasheen said in a statement. “Shane was instructed to say that he suffered his wounds during Operation Just Cause in Panama rather than when and where the events actually occurred because of the sensitive nature of the military’s involvement in drug interdiction in that region.”
We got a hold of Ladner’s DD214 which supposedly came from his lawyer. It looks forged to me;
For one thing, he lists a “Joint Service Commendation Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device “V””. The Joint Service Commendation Medal is for “merit” and the “V” device is for valor, not for combat service, I can’t find an example of a Joint Service Commendation Medal with a “V” device, or where it might be authorized. I think Ladner got confused while he was shopping for the medals he wanted on his DD214.
If the Sheriff is looking for charges to file against him, he might try getting him for those Purple Heart license plates as well as the forged DD214. It looks like his lawyer has joined Ladner in his deception, Christian Boone, the AJC reporter told me that his lawyer is former military, too, so he knows that there are no records at Fort Benning that would prove Ladner’s lies, and that there are no hospital records in Panama that would support his Purple Heart, but he’s just hoping that it will all blow over.
It won’t, since Ladner went on a hunting trip that a real wounded veteran could have used.
Category: Phony soldiers
@96, 97 Wait a damn minute here.
“Ordered to Active Duty in support of Operation Enduring Freedom….”
This does not go in hand with Iraq.
Either the Chief is off a little, or we have more deer poop to dig through. Or just very remotely, I might be off the mark a little.
@100
Don’t insult the bantha. We know that is a “real” creature.
Here it says he was “twice injured in Iraq”.. @2:00
http://www.today.com/video/today/49883817#49883817
It’s obvious he was telling people he served in Iraq, and was wounded at least once there. Otherwise, why would his Chief say so, and why would so many news orgs get it wrong?
I doubt the reporters made this up:
“Shane, an avid runner, was wounded twice in Iraq and still has shrapnel in his back, the same area he is now feeling intense pain from the crash.”
http://www.11alive.com/news/article/264642/40/Send-your-message-of-support-to-a-Holly-Springs-officer-wife-hurt-in-Texas-train-crash
Trent my bad. They were with the 193rd. They were the mech guys from Ft. Polk. Older I get the more I forget.
Pinewood NCO #101:
Actually, that part is feasibly correct. My initial orders to MOB said “Operation Enduring Freedom”. It never got changed to “Iraqi Freedom”. My DD214 says “Operation Enduring Freedom/Iraqi Freedom”. They didn’t have a separate campaign designation back in early 2003.
Possible fraud???
“It didn’t take long for home improvement giant Home Depot to answer the Help Desk’s call.
Their involvement with veterans is well known, and when we mentioned that Shane Ladner had served in Iraq, the response was instantaneous.”
http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=264721
Anyways, before I get accused of spamming, there is a lot more where that came from. lol
SGT Ted: some title 10 orders do count, actually. Mobilization is 10 USC 12301 service, as is some voluntary active duty. Secretarial callup duty is 10 USC 12304. All are title 10 tours. Ditto ADSW or ADT – but unless it’s for 120 days or longer, no DD214 is required. Bottom line is that ANY active duty performed in a USAR or ARNG capacity is qualifying service towards the 10 years in a 12 year period requirement for the AFRM – provided the year in which it’s performed is a qualifying year. But since you only need 50 points a year, any extensive tour of active duty generally gets you at least one qualifying year – and sometimes two.
Hell, as I read the TAG guidance regarding the AFRM, even AGR tours qualify – but the guidance regarding AGR tours doesn’t say that explicitly, so I could well be wrong.
https://www.hrc.army.mil/TAGD/Armed%20Forces%20Reserve%20Medal
All that said, I’m guessing you’re likely right about Ladner. While it’s theoretically possible for this guy to have achieved 10 “good” years between Aug 1993 and the discharge shown on the DD214 here (Oct 2004), that would require him being very diligent about his USAR service. I just don’t see him as the type who would be able to do that on his own via correspondence schools, finding short tours, etc . . . . The only way I can see him doing it is if he was in a decent USAR or ARNG TPU, he liked the people, and he needed the drill pay.
EdUSMCleg: hmmmm. Pissing off a large corporation’s legal department by defrauding them and making them look foolish generally isn’t a good idea.
Apparently he and his wife were married sometime in 2002, so she may not have known about all this. I wonder if he used his stories to win her over lol…
Anyways, this is interesting, as well:
“The Ladners were in Midland, Texas for an all expenses paid hunting trip for wounded heroes. Shane served in Somalia and Iraq.”
http://www.11alive.com/rss/article/264730/3/Injured-officer-and-wife-back-in-Atlanta
Here is the Chief… We should ask him if he was led to believe he was an Iraq vet lol
https://www.facebook.com/ken.ball.520
@Hondo. Agreed.
@112 So him saying he served in Somalia ties in with his fantasy tale that he takes from Blackhawk Down about holding his femoral artery for two hours… as outlined in post #45 by someone who worked with him related.
I thought JCOM’s were mostly for senior enlisted personnel and officers. And I might be wrong, but I only think JSAMs are for enlisted personnel only.
Was not SGLI bumped up to 400K during that time frame?
6AAMs and only one ARCOM?
MSM? Right.
Also, no Foreign Service time listed.
Fake as a rubber phallus this clown is.
Turd.
what a purple heart was, and what is now, are two totally different things. there was a guy in my unit that got a purple heart for a scratch on his cheek. he got that scratch when he was dragged into the turrent by myself and another soldier because he was blasting away with a .50 into an empty field with friendlies on the opposite side. a tiny IED went off prior to this nut job wasting a can of .50 ammo, so he got a purple heart. i got mine from a dislocated shoulder off an IED. rock came up and nailed me in the shoulder, medic popped it back in once everything calmed down and bam, free license plates. mine was nothing more than the wrong place at the wrong time, Lohr’s (the first guy i mentioned) was even less than that.
there once was a time that purple hearts ment something a little more, but now it seems to only pop up for those who want to try to be famous. i am sure many people will disagree with me, but i dont view anything i did as special to earn a purple heart, i just got injured. i view it as a “shit happens” medal. it isnt anything someone can have control over earning, ya just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. injuries sustained protecting another soldier or the mission are another story, but those come with other medals.
I wanna question smitty and his Purple Heart, smitty post your DD-214 I wanna know if you really got one because they do ya give them out for a scratch to the cheek or dislocated shoulder, minor wounds
Green Thumb: by DoDM 1348.33, JSAMs can go to O5 and below. However, while it can technically be awarded to officers I don’t think that’s very common (except maybe to O1s/O2s who end up in a joint organization).
Okay, enough analysis, already!!!!!
I can’t take this jasswiperr seriously. He’s no longer on my list of people I want to know personally. He has done his best to destroy any credibility he might ever have had by not just embroidering his personal history, but by spouting more baloney than Oscar Mayer on a sale day.
Shane shames the name Shane!
That’s all there is to it. Now engage in the intake of some adult beverages, and try to say it 25 times in rapid succession:
Shane shames the name Shane!
Smitty: I respect the hell out of anyone with a Purple Heart (I was lucky enough to come home without one). That said, I tend to agree with you.
The Purple Heart criteria are cut and dried. If you’re injured as a result of hostile action (to include friendly fire injuries if they are incurred as the result of a bona fide attempt to engage the enemy) to the point you require medical treatment, you are entitled to a Purple Heart. Plain and simple. Other circumstances surrounding the incident don’t matter.
They’re all equally deserving of respect. Shrapnel and bullets don’t care who you are, where you are, or what you’re doing at the time.
@118.
Sounds about right, I guess.
I picked up a JSAM as an E-5 but the only Officers I have ever seen with it were prior service.
aka the “I forgot to duck” award… my Dad was always concerned he wouldn’t get buried in Arlington because the one time he was sliced by a chunk of shrapnel, it cut right across a mole on his neck – the doc recorded removing the mole but neglected to mention WHY the old man was getting patched in the first place. Told him I was pretty sure with WWII service starting Dec 8 1941 -1946 in the Occupation and a Bronze Star, he was good to go. He, Mom, and an aunt are all at Arlington now.
@Charles W – no worries. Was just helping out. I was there too. C Co, 3/27 INF.
@116: I got a JCOM as a senior E-6 for my service in Afghanistan, FWIW. The joint command was the CJSOTF at Bagram.
No V device even though I’m pretty sure I saved one guy’s life by telling him that the chili mac would be a better choice than the rotten looking T-rat chicken they were serving in the DFAC that day…
@122… lol, mine was a “thank God we saw the IED and swerved in time” award.
I know this is beating the proverbial dead horse, however…
All those medals and it took him 12 years to make E-5?
Is the 10th of the month a common day to be advanced in the Army? (Navy is typically the 16th, Marine Corps, 1st or 2nd)
@83 and 85…failing that, medical records. I’ve got pretty much my ENTIRE medical AND dental records upstairs in the attic.
And don’t tell me some voodoo Panamanian/Honduran witch doctor magically removed the shrapnel and stitched him up, either.
Shame is hopeful that Ferris has shoved him out of the spotlight. Bad news, Shame: TAH has multiple spotlights and its fans are adept multi-taskers.
@116–Was not SGLI bumped up to 400K during that time frame?
Not until 2005, although some disability payments were made retro to October 2001.
kp32
NO. The 10th is not a common day to promote any non-commissioned officer, much less any enlisted that does not involve automatic promotion (ranks of PV2 to SPC). More like the 1st, since 99.9% of the orders have the date of rank of the 1st of the month of promotion.
Yet another reason I smell a thickening pile of deer shit.
Everything thing started turning the hell in a basket, so Ladner came up with the Panama story not being true, but if I tell you the truth, I’ll have to kill you BS.
So, as to the comment about 15 yrs and still a SGT (E-5.)Moving along up the ranks in the Marines was not a quick as any other branch of service, fortunately, I progressed to the rank of Sgt., prior to being selected for an Officer program. In looking at Ladner’s uniform picture on his bio, he is wearing four (4) hash marks, indicating 12 years of service, yet he states that he served 15 years active duty. Again, in the Army for 15 years (or even 12) one would have to assume that with all the medals and decorations he would certainly have been promoted (Especially, if he was an 18 y/o, that was so damn proficient he was sent on a “Super-Secret” mission.) I’m typing this an can hear the Theme from Mission Impossible in the background.
The Army’s “Time is Service” for ranks above Sgt. (E-5) are:
• Sergeant First Class (E-7) – 6 years.
• Master Sergeant/First Sergeant (E-8) – 8 years.
• Sergeant Major (E-9) – 9 years.
Granted these are minimum time in service, but one would certainly believe that in 15 years Ladner would have been promoted to SSgt (E-6.)
The US Army (as well as other services) have a “High Year Tenure,” which basically translates to the maximum number of years a member may serve before he or she must separate or retire. For the Marines an E-5 (Sgt) has ten (10) years to get promoted or separated, however, the Army gives that Sgt an additional three (3) years for a total of thirteen (13.) One has to wonder how Ladner made it to 15 years.
Just food for thought I suppose
Semper FI..
Pineywoods NCO: promotions on other than the 1st of the month aren’t terribly rare in the Reserve Components (USAR and ARNG). They’re sometimes driven by TIS requirements and/or unit vacancies vice any monthly promotion cycle. My last 3 dates of rank in the USAR were on a date other than the 1st of a month.
USMCG-6: high year tenure (the Army calls it “retention control point”) is typically considerably higher on the RC side of the house. This source may now be outdated, but it’s illustrative.
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/navypromotions/a/hyt.htm
My understanding is that the rationale is because RC units (Reserve and National Guard) typically have less mobility due to geographic dispersion of similar units, hence the “up or out” criteria have been relaxed to allow retention of good folks who cannot advance due to the lack of a “slot”.
You’d be completely correct in your analysis above if Ladner was Active Army, but I don’t think the analysis holds for ARNG or USAR.
Hondo it used to not be unusual in the active component either back when you had to have NCOES under your belt in order to be promoted. My date of rank for SGT was 18 Dec because I had already made points and that was my graduation date from PLDC.
Hondo, Twist
Thank you both for correcting me on this.
And yes, I can agree about RCPs very much.
Pineywoods NCO: you’re welcome, amigo. Even people who’ve served in or with both components (AC, RC) tend to forget sometimes just how much difference there is between the two “sides of the house” when it comes to many common things.
And if you really want to make your head hurt, try to figure out what Active Army and RC rules and norms apply in the Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) program. That program (which I never served in, but did have a few minor dealings with) seems to straddle both worlds – plus has a few unique features all its own.
Update
I have contacted the Cherokee Co. DA’s office and they have scheduled a deposition for Monday afternoon. While he worked with me he was driving with a PH tag, stated service in Somolia, and Iraq. Lied about his rank, and was a “sniper” with a confirmed kill count (even going as far as showing us a shemaugh with a “Bullet hole”.
I completely unfamiliar with Army dd214’s but if someone could put something together concise I would be happy to share it..
fleetdoc23: let me see what I can do over the weekend. I’m pretty sure we can prove from what’s known about the guy and his DD214 (assuming it’s “legit”) that he never served in Iraq.
And if the DD214 is not legit, then I want to hear his explanation of how he came to be in possession of a forged DD214. That ought to be a good one. (smile)
My research into Ladner’s service paralleled Randy Travis’s. To alleviate a lot of speculation, here’s what I know for sure. Documentation from official sources indicate that Ladner entered service on a delayed enlistment in Aug 1990 and separated in July 1994. He completed basic and MP training, and did an 11 month tour with Task Force Bravo in Honduras. His awards and decs were the National Defense Service Medal for enlisting, Humanitarian Service Medal (presumably for whatever he did in Honduras), Army Service Ribbon for completing basic, Overseas Service Ribbon for serving in Honduras, and the qualification badges an MP would possibly earn. After his two year reserve commitment, he apparently joined the GA National Guard. A second document from official sources indicate that he was mobilized under Title 10 for one year, Oct 2001 until Oct 2002 (contemporary peers remember that he never left Fort Benning). The DD 214 for that tour show award of the Army Achievement Medal and the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with M device which would have been authorized to a reservist with less than 10 years to designate mobilization, and a couple of new qualification badge bars but no additional education. His National Guard separation/retirement document at the end of his service lists only the above listed awards and decorations. Ladner may have gone back onto active duty for another tour at Fort Benning, the originator designated on the questionable DD 214. They indicate that they did cut one for Ladner, but can provide no other information about it. Contemporary peers remember that he served as “game warden” at Fort Benning – no additional education/training, no deployment, no overseas duty, no unexplained absences – nothing to justify the amazing array of awards and decs listed on the questionable document. I have been unable to locate another single copy of the questionable DD 214, although there should be five more out there in official repositories. The discrepancies on this document are well discussed on this site. Ladner’s latest story is that while assigned to TF Bravo he was recruited by the DEA to liaison with… Read more »
@138: welcome, and thanks for the additional info. Good to hear that someone wants to make an example of the guy. IMO he richly deserves it, if for no other reason than his lies appear to have resulted in his wife’s injuries (I’m assuming she wasn’t a willing participant in the scheme).
If you have LE contacts, you might want to see if they’ll contact the local US Attorney’s Office (if they haven’t already). Forging a DD 214 is indeed a Federal crime (18 USC 498, if I recall correctly), so they might be interested too.
Awesome! Thanks for the info #138, and for all the work.
Good job, folks! Can only sit on the sidelines here and cheer y9u all on, but you’ve got that much!!
Unfortunately, the lie about the Purple Heart in Panama is only the tip of the iceberg. Shane routinely told people he was a Ranger that was wounded during the Blackhawk down incident. He said he was a sniper. He even bragged about shooting an Iraqi prisoner he was guarding in front of an officer.
Shane identified himself with his lies. They defined him. Once he told them, the only way out was to admit to his friends that he was a liar. He was unable to do that. Eventually we realized he’d lied about a lot of his service history, but in absence of proof, we ignored it. It’s difficult to confront a friend about such significant lies. And if they hadn’t been hit by a train, the proof would never have been discovered. My thanks to ‘the colonel’ for his research. I believe you have come the closest to the truth than anyone so far.
I remember watching the news after the accident and thinking, “he’s never been to Panama!” I hate it for him. He is paying a steep price for his lies. He was fired and will probably never be able to work in law enforcement again. They have hundreds of thousands of medical bills. They had to move because of her disability and probably took a hit on their home. And he’s been publicly embarrassed and ambushed by reporters whenever he leaves the house. He will probably face criminal charges.
It’s a bad situation no matter how you view it. Unfortunately, Meg is an innocent victim of his lies.
@142.
Is she?
Do not misunderstand what I am saying, she suffered a tragedy. My sympathy to her.
That is a long time for a military wife to be “in the mix” and subsequently “be in the dark” and not know things.
FRG?
Not pointing a finger, but asking the obvious.
@138. That’s a nice bow on the box Ladner put himself in.
@ 143. That’s a logical conclusion. I wouldn’t be surprised if she knew. She probably had no idea what he did in the army prior to their marriage, but she would definitely know if he was ever in Iraq or Afghanistan.
I think that she, along with the rest of us, decided that making an issue of his lies wasn’t worth it. Of course, at that time we’re only talking about tall tales. The stakes are higher now. The consequences are more significant. His house of cards has fallen.
FRG?? I don’t know what you mean by that.
@145
Family Readiness Group. (FRG)
@146, got it! It’s been a while since I ets’d, so I’m not up on all my acronyms.
She definitely knew he hadn’t been deployed since they were married. There’s no way around that. He never talked about Iraq in front of her, now that I think about it. He only talked about that when she wasn’t around. The bulk of his tales centered on Somalia and sniping.
He’s going to have some problems if he never got a PH anywhere. He’s had a PH tag for at least ten years. That means he hasn’t paid ad valorem taxes ever. They’ll get him for that.
Just to advance another possible theory; is there any chance he pulled a colonel cockeroach by telling his wife he was deploying to Iraq and then physically separated himself from the wife and family and pretended he was serving in Iraq while he was living and serving at Benning? He could have faked that he was calling her from Iraq when he was actually calling her from Benning. This guy appears to be such a weasel I wouldn’t put it past him. Stranger things have happened…
@148, I don’t think he had it in him to do that. That early in their relationship, he was probably home twice a month. Benning isn’t that far from Atlanta.
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