Anthony Benardello – Phony Delta / Special Forces Sniper

| August 20, 2020

The folks at MilitaryPhony sent us their work on this Anthony John Benardello fella.  Tony comes to us from Florence, South Carolina, and is 61 y/o at the time of this writing – August 2020.

Good ol’ Tony seems to have packed a lot of runnin’ and gunnin’ into his military career.  After leaving the military he went to college at the State University of New York at Binghamton or Binghamton University in New York.  He got himself elected as President of the Student Association and caused quite a controversy.

He was quoted in a school publication as saying he was a sniper in Special Forces and that reached the New York Times so eventually got a lot of publicity…

In another publication, there was a claim that he was a Gulf War veteran…

On a high school alumni page, his profile listed him as a sniper and claimed that he served with SFOD-D out of Fort Bragg, NC which was Delta.  He also claimed a law degree.

His Facebook profile was associated with him based on his high school alumni page profile. He made similar claims as before and also claimed to be a Desert Storm Veteran.

In a 1996 interview for another school publication, he guaranteed he would be elected to be the President of the United States in less than 25 years.

In another op-ed for this same school publication, the Binghamton Review, he explained why he refused to fight in Bosnia, detailing his experience in Somalia during The Battle of Mogadishu as seen in the movie “Black Hawk Down.”

In a post by Friends of Anthony Benardello, it was claimed he was a 15 year Special Forces veteran…

Let’s just see what the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) says about all of this.

He spent a little over two years on active duty and earned the Army Service Medal.  There is no indication that he served in Desert Storm but since it was 1984-86, he seems to have gotten out before ODS/S.  He also got out before Somalia / The Battle of Mogadishu in 1993.

It would have been quite a task to squeeze in five wars, as he claimed,  into those two short years.

He seems to have gone to law school as he claimed…

It is just they could find no record of him graduating from UNC Chapel Hill Law School as he claimed, and no record of him being registered or practicing as an attorney.  It could have been overlooked, however.

CRIMINAL

There were quite a few criminal charges found on Benardello.  He appears to have spent time in prison for conspiracy to commit murder.  Some aspects were overturned on appeal – see case specifics here.

To his credit, he admitted to being incarcerated on his Facebook profile.

Returning to the issue of his official military records…

There are no Somalia, Afghanistan, or Iraq assignments in his records.  Imagine my shock and horror when I found out it also appears there is no sniper training listed either.

Tony qualified as a sharpshooter, which means he is an average shooter at best.   Not  exactly  the  skill  level  they  look  for in  Snipers.

In case there might have been a few people out there on the interwebnet thingy that were confused about Anthony’s military career,  we are glad to help our little buddy set the record straight.

 

 

Category: Afghanistan, Army Poser, Iraq, Valor Vultures

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Dan

Well, he got the vest. No III% patch?

Sapper3307

Nope, but he rocking a 1% vest. Think the M/C knows he is a member?

Hondo

Vest, hell – he was publicly claiming to be a Hells Angels member on his Facebook profile above.

If he’s not a member, I’m guessing some folks just might be coming over for a “talk” . . . .

MamaK326th

Agreed, Sappee 3307. How many ways does this guy want to be destroyed? He claims Persian Gulf War status and Hells Angels’ membership — Enough to get his bones permanently ‘realigned.’

MamaK326th

Sorry for my typo’s — SAPPER!

1stForceReclinerCO

Benardello has a LinkedIn profile under his real name with no claims of service, just the Outlaw Biker crap. He has an Instagram page under the moniker zr1_Guy where he claims Special Forces sniper and Special Forces Operator. He is special, just not with any forces!

MarineDad61

Dan,
Ahh, the vest.
The phony badass black leather vest.
Let me guess…..
He’s “Senior Enlisted Advisor”
for the Red Devils Flo-Town motorcycle club (gang)?

Ahh… Again.
A 2012 news story…. Gang fight.
Teenager Red Devil with 2 stolen guns (serial number filed off),
2 knives, and cocaine.

Something tells me this story will grow, and grow,
unlike this peckerhead’s pecker,
which is certainly currently experiencing serious shrinkage.

https://scnow.com/news/local/article_bf78342a-fb94-5ae3-ac18-353371635054.html

26Limabeans

Love the goggles sunburn.

Doc Savage

No service dog?

Its like they are not even trying anymore.

FuzeVT

Or motorcycles or bathroom selfies.

26Limabeans

Nothing to pixelate. Very odd.

Slow Joe

Well, in my limited experience, whoever talks the most about their glorious military service lies the most.

OWB

Two years. Only two years.

Wow. What a guy.

Anonymous

Aw, man, it was awful… we had to mop and buff the floors!

Ret_25X

I have socks with more time in the field than this guy had in the Army…that’s pretty sad…

Slow Joe

War story warning:

This one time, I was in the jungles of Iraq, right past the Kuwaiti border, and I was with my especially forced snippet team, and we caught a Viet taliban mortgage team setting up to attack, and we smoked them all! Well, not all, because one of them could do more pushups than us. It was an incredible experience. I still have teh PTSD from that.

A Proud Infidel®™️

Maybe one day I could show off the Luger I took off of a dead VC in downtown Kabul!!!

Anonymous

Not to mention the Battle of Hoth ribbon with Endor clasp earned while fighting off Khan and My Little Pony on the planet Krypton while The Punisher was unavailable…

Mason

I have an actual Battle of Hoth medal around here somewhere.

AW1Ed

Yeah, but mine has ivory grips. ‘Cause everyone knows Mother of Pearl is for pimps. Like yours.
*grin*

MarineDad61

Khyber Pass…
McBragg’s venture 10 miles into Pakistan from Afghanistan.
(Over 55 years ago)…..
lolol

Ret_25X

I’ll bet that mortgage team was giving great rates! LOL

MSGRetired

I think he will have more of an issue with the MC than anyone else. Especially since he claims being a HA Member. If he is I hope they see his Phony Military Claims…

A Proud Infidel®™️

Last I heard, the Hells Angels DO NOT take kindly to someone with a bogus claim of being a member!

Richg

I would take it as fact that if the information has not reached them before, it will now.

26Limabeans

What is a “second class” grenade thrower?
Forgot to pull the pin?

atlanticcoast63

…Held on to the grenade but threw the pin.

Hack Stone

This guy needs to be pulling targets on the grenade range.

USMCVet(Ret)

Hack Stone – That is the best comment I have seen in a long time, short, sweet on point and dead center mast.

11B-Mailclerk

“Second class” = “marksman”

Second -> first -> expert

26Limabeans

How many do you get to throw?
The M-14 rifle qual was 68 rounds.
We had a guy empty the magazine on the
first pop up. It was 25 meters.
They recycled him.

A Proud Infidel®™️

Cocksucker.

Cacti35

“High Speed Cocksucker”

Hondo

Nah – no mustache (old joke reference).

(smile)

HMCS(FMF) ret

Probably did quite a bit of that while “serving” the clientele at the BTJT Deli (Home of the World Famous COCKMEAT SAMMICH).

QMC

The Law School picture references Buies Creek, NC, which is home to Campbell University, not UNC-Chapel Hill (about an hour drive from there). Maybe he went there (briefly) instead before dropping out.

PTBH

The photo is from the 2000 Campbell Law School yearbook but I don’t think it is the senior section. He claims he went there from 1998-2000. We have no reason to doubt that claim. He also claims he graduated from Law School at UNC Chapel Hill, NC in 2001 but we could not substantiate that claim.

AndyFMF

So he’s a Hells Angeles Nomad (based upon the hat)?

A rover who isn’t attached to a specific chapter and handles the more “discreet” or “wet work” situations of the club…….according to Google.

I suspect that he is about to solve his own problem.

MarineDad61

Red Devils Flo-Town,
it’s on the
phony badass black leather vest.

This doesn’t end well, in about 4 different ways.

Billy1214

Yeah, being a Red Devil (a support club for the HAMC)is still a long way from being a patched HAMC member.

RCAF-Chairborne

Quite a few Red Devils up here in the People’s Republic of Canuckistan.
A few months ago not far from me, A Red Devil got into a daylight scrap with a Black Piston ( Outlaws farm team)
It reminded me of the parking lot scene from ‘ Rockstar ‘ where the two groups of wannabes comically fought each other.

Roh-Dog

Turd.

Combat Historian

With only 25 months of active duty, curious as to what he did to get tossed…

BTW, I googled the Cortese Italian restaurant mentioned in the ad shown on the same page as the 1995 newspaper article. The eatery is still around, and is offering a 15% discount to military active duty and veterans. If you’re a TAH reader in Binghamton, you should order food from them and utilize the discount…

Green Thumb

He was in 3rd Batt. Interesting. I wonder what happened.

The “Phildo” is strong in this one.

I can easily see this clown being Phildo’s running mate in the future. In the meantime, All-Points Logistics has found another member of their legal team.

Lori Benton should be proud.

Andy11M

Any old timers help me out here? My Google-fu is weak today. I see by his 214 he clearly did OSUT at Benning, but then did Airborne training at Ft Polk? Then back to 3rd Rangers at Benning. Did we have a jump school at Polk back in the early 80’s? I’ve googled 4th Student Bn and I guess it was one of the many unit designations Airborne School has had. And 3rd Ranger Company TSB? Tactical Support Battalion? Was that the Ranger School back then?

Prior Service

That’s my guess. 3/75 was only activated in OCT 84. This guy may have shown up as they were trying to fill the BN and was then diverted to this mystery 3rd company (Maybe for indiscipline). I bet the T is Training, not Tactical. I had a friend in the early 90s who had just ETSd from the army who had essentially served as OPFOR at the ranger school in a non-ranger billet but I don’t recall the unit designation. Fell under ranger training brigade I think. It’s probably the same.

rgr769

3rd Ranger Co. was the Ranger School unit for the cadre, instructors and some of the support personnel. I also note that I have a jump manifest that says we students were also assigned to the 3rd Ranger Company. This joker was likely a support person for the school. There were literally dozens of people assigned to the 3rd Ranger Company who were not Ranger qualified. Since he had served as an RTO he may have been used as a radio operator on some of the exercises. Plus, if he was a discipline problem, he may have been pulling permanent CQ or latrine orderly. Those telephones didn’t answer themselves.

ninja

Andy11M:

According to the Military Phonies site, under the document posted as “Assigments, he went to Airborne School at Fort Benning:

https://militaryphony.com/2020/08/19/anthony-john-benardello-us-army-ranger-sniper-delta-force-served-in-five-wars-12-15-years-in-special-forces-blog-of-shame/

I don’t see Fort Polk listed in any of his assignments and I never heard of anyone going to Jump School at Fort Polk, let alone Fort Polk having a Jump School in the 1980s.

Perhaps the Records Center in ST Louis made a mistake and accidently typed or cut and pasted “Polk” instead of “Benning” on the FOIA Summary sheet.

rgr769

They made a mistake. The assignments section screen shot of his DA form 20 shows he went from three weeks of jump school at Benning to the 3rd Ranger battalion, then he was shunted to 3rd Ranger Co. before he was kicked to the curb at 25 months of service.

Mustang Major

TSB is the acronym for “The School Brigade.” Other than basic training and the School of the Americas, all training units belonged to TSB back then.

The airborne training battalion, 4th Abn Battalion, was part of TSB. Interesting that he appeared as assigned to HHC and not one of the 4th Bn training companies. Might have been an oversight by the clerk preparing the report, as I suspect Ft. Polk was.

3rd Bn, 75th Ranger is the Ranger Battalion.

3rd Ranger Company, TSB, is the Ft. Benning phase of ranger school.

If I had to guess, Benardello spent time in the 3rd Ranger Battalion until he qualified for a ranger school slot. It looks like he left the Army from there.

Benardello is a total piece of loud mouth crap.

Green Thumb

John Benardirtbagello.

Keepin' It Real

Tony “Lyin’ Whore” Bordello

AW1 Rod

A Bravo Zulu to all commenters, WRT this turd.

The sarcasm exhibited on this site is the finest anywhere!

ninja

My comment is not showing up…

Hack Stone

This Ain’t Hell; Come For The Posers, Stay For The Comments.

It used to be This Ain’t Hell; Come For The Posers, Stay For The Death Threats, but it has been a long time since a poser has come around posting threats of lawsuits and physical violence. What Hack wouldn’t give to see the glory days.

Green Thumb

Paul-mer (of the ballsack) will always hold a special place in my heart.

Hondo

C’mon, GT – Psul was so proud of his “superior Nordic haploid group 118” DNA (or something like that). So please call him by the Euroweenie sophisticated European form of his moniker:

Psul de Balzac.

(smile)

Andy11M

I haven’t thought about that idiot and his fellow Dutch Rudder Club members in forever. Now I will return to not thinking about them.

ninja

Hmmm…he or someone else wrote this on his now defunct FAKEBOOK (featured in the one of the pics depicted above on this post)

“Attended NC Department of Corrections (Convict) 07 April 02 to 20 June 04”

Is he bragging or complaining?

*grin*

Perhaps that is one of the very few honest, truthful statements made on his FAKEBOOK based on this info of his incarceration courtesy of NC taxpayers:

https://www.bailbondshq.com/north_carolina/ncdoc-inmate-BENARDELLO/0796888

26Limabeans

I’m surprised he didn’t claim the NDSM.
Wrong period of service but still…that’s
basic poser 101.

Hack Stone

Don’t you mean the highly coveted and rarely awarded National Defense Service Medal?

26Limabeans

Res ipsa loquitur

USMCVet(Ret)

But he does claim he was wounded in Somalia, on the street with Michael Durant and was saved by two “friends since boot camp” who received the MoH posthumously. How he did not get captured like Durant must be a secret Special Forces thing. I also heard there is an award they give you if your wounded in combat.

A Proud Infidel®™️

Falsely claiming to be a Hells Angel. You don’t want to get that Club pissed off at you, it’s probably safer to go to NYC and piss off some local Mafiosi!

MrBill

And quotes the “14 words” on his alumni page. Racist POS.

OldManchu

I’m just curious, did his airborne training involve him being strapped to a supply pallet and involve 3 large canopies out of the back of a c-130?

RGR 4-78

Operation Dumbo Drop.

Stacy0311

“riding motorcycles and racing corvettes” ?!???

Dude has a Vespa and and 1996 Toyota Corolla with mismatched doors.

Bet he has a Chihuahua-Poodle “service dog”, vest and do rag

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

Left hand mug shot looks like Actor Tony Longo, the Long shoreman from the movie Eraser.

USMCMSgt (Ret)

On his high school alumni page, he claims his favorite quote is one made by white supremacist David Lane: “We must secure the existence of our people and the future for White children.”

Shitbag.

Daisy Cutter

Yeah, that’s not going to help him in his bid for the office of President of the United States.

Hack Stone

Comments like that haven’t stopped Joe Biden from trying.

USMCVet(Ret)

Hack Stone – you need a microphone and a stage. I am laughing like this is a comedy special.

HMCS(FMF) ret

Balls deep shitbag…

Hack Stone

Hack Stone has been retired for almost 20 years. The only time that he got a call from the Marine Corps was to come back and sign some paperwork. I guess that the Marine Corps planned properly and always has a sufficient number of critical skills filled in the event of a crisis, unlike the Army, which seems to rely on calling one individual back to active service, because there is no one else on active duty with the lethal skills that he developed during his two years in.

USMCVet(ret)

I got letter because an audit uncovered that they over paid me $700.00.

Berliner

The only TAB he got was in a six-pack at the Commissary.

Daisy Cutter

He took a round that was meant for a buddy.

His buddy ordered drinks but was in the bathroom when the waitress brought them so Tony paid for them.

HMCS(FMF) ret

He “took a round” during the Fisting Friday activities at Brucies Bath House (Entrance in the rear)

rgr769

He was assigned to the 3rd Bn/ 75th Inf at Ft. Benning for some period after AIT and jump school. He was likely found not to be Ranger material, so he was sent to the 3rd Ranger Company, which is the Ranger School’s entity to which all the instructors and admin/supply support people are assigned. Anyway, that is what was the structure back in ’86. TSB stands for Training Support Brigade, which was the 3rd Ranger Co.’s parent unit at the Infantry School. As a PFC or SP4 (he may have been busted before he got the boot) he would likely have performed some support duty for Ranger School. For example, someone had to drive the trucks that were driven into the kill zone for our vehicle ambush training.

rgr769

Correction: Mustang Major is right, TSB stands for Training School Brigade. It is the admin/support HQ for the various schools units at the Infantry School, including the 3rd Ranger Co. That was the last unit to which our hero was assigned before he left the Army just after two years (25 months) of service. Anyone here know of an Army enlistment for only 25 months back in ’84?

Claw

25 month PFC = Fat Boy Program

RGR 4-78

OPFOR at Darby, recycles and rejects.

rgr1480

rgr769,

Say …. did you ever come across SSG or SFC Swackhammer? Honest-to-God that was his real surname. And he lived up to it. Great RI. Left an impression on me.

Took the doctor a month to remove it.

(^___^)

rgr769

No. But my most memorable NCO at Ranger School was our cadre 1SG, Brinker. He was one tough SOB. He had lost a leg in combat, with a MACV-SOG Recon team.

rgr1480

Oooohhhh …. hard-core!

5th/77th FA

Well, Well, Well, Mr Sissy Punk Asinine Piece of Sh^t Anthony J. Benardello, how is that new found Google Fame coming along for you, Dippy? Told you on evening last when you FIRST popped up on the MP site that the loyal miscreanted d’weeds and weedettes would be looking forward to meeting you. Been a long dry summer with no phony baloney lying embellishing phonies. My apologies for taking so long to get back to you, another Mission Out side the perimeter of Firebase Magnolia kept me occupied. I look forward to here of your beatdown that is coming from the Real Biker Boys that take humbrige over diposh^ts like you claiming membership in their organizations. TAH and members of the coveted NDSM Club will only ridicule you. You didn’t even make that good of a phony, but you sure had that meatgrazers grin down pat. The HAs will whip that ass.

Speaking of ridicule, I find it hard to believe that in over 60 comments, not a single call for the deployment of the Hemisphere of Insults, the Alphabet Assault, OR The Toilet Bowl of Taunts. Y’all slipping, must I always be the FIRST to call for ChipNASA to the white courtesy phone for a deployment of any and or all of the above?

Can I get a SECOND and an AYE?

USMCVet(Ret)

I do not know what the Toilet Bowl of Taunts is, but I am surprised that no one mentioned the medical conditions listed on the “Friends” Facebook page. Incontinence and ED. So he urinates on himself and he cannot get an erection?

Dennis - not chevy

Oh please, powers-that-be, let him come forth and tell us how he was not discharged but sent to the extremely top secret reserves. Let him tell us how he would fly to Eglin on Friday, get on a C-130, fly half way around the world to erase someone, fly back to Eglin, and fly home on Sunday before anyone knew he was gone. Of course, since it was so secret, if he told us he’d have to shoot us. We already know it was so secret it could only be discussed on the innerwebz.
We haven’t seen one of those in a while; it would be fun.

USMCVet(Ret)

Well he does claim on his Facebook page that he was with 20th SF Group. I knew a Jarhead that joined the NG and went to the Q-Course via 20th Group. It is possible that he was fast roping out of B-1 bombers on the weekend, eating snakes and slicing terrorist’s throats!

Mustang Major

I wonder if I encountered Benardello at Ft. Benning while he was preparing for future dangerous exploits?

I was TSB duty officer one Sunday night during the summer of ’84. Around 22:00 hours, I noticed airborne trainees jumping out of a third-floor window onto the building’s bushes. On the way down, they were blowing flaming lighter fluid out of their mouths. (As expected, the sleepy E-5 CQ was unaware of any of this.) In short order, the banged-up flaming idiots were under control, and the 1SG was on the way in to restore order as only a 1SG can do. One of these idiots could have been Benardello.

Andy11M

So pretty much a typical night in any Infantry barracks across the Army.

Mustang Major

I totally agree with you Andy 11M.

Mike

I remember a guy trying to do a PLF off the platform where the exotic dancer pranced at the I-bar at Benning.

1) That was a long time ago.

2) The PLF didn’t end well

Ret_25X

that sounds like something I would have done with my buddies…LOL

When I was stationed in Germany, there was some work being done on our barracks and they had placed a very large dumpster under the 3rd story fire escape. The actual stairwell had been taken down to be replaced…so naturally we thought it made sense to fill the dumpster with water and make a water slide out of the 3rd floor hallway…

Man, the 1SG was PISSED! LMAO!!

Ken P

I hope that the 81 invite him to CHURCH.

Edited to protect PII.
AW1

Ken P

Oh, I forgot give him a “depends” before CHURCH

I’m editing your name for a reason, Ken. Please hit the “Valor Vulture” tab at the top left and scroll until you find my PSA explaining this.
AW1

IZ / AF Vet

Five Wars! HA! He must have seen them on TV!