When I’m wrong, I admit it

| July 28, 2009

Yesterday, I put up a post about a phony soldier by the name of Andrew Pogany. It turns out his real name is Georgandreas Pogany – Andrew is just the name he goes by. It would have helped to know that. As soon as I discovered it, I verified it and then wrote this to y’all.

Anyway, this is the first apology I’ve written because this is the first time I’ve been wrong about a phony.

Category: Phony soldiers

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dutch508

remember-

comfirm the target before you pull the trigger.

tankerbabe

I love you for many reasons. Your integrity is at the top – neck and neck with you just being so darn sexy.

Proud of ya friend. We all make mistakes. Many aren’t man enough to ‘fess up.

AW1 Tim

Damn straight he’s a good fellow. Anyone else would’ve probably found a way to blame Bush. Or Palin.

respects,

Dave Thul

My name is David but I go by Dave. That’s an easy enough switch.

But Andrew for Georgeandreas? That’s somebody who needs to clarify when they introduce themselves.

dutch508

It’s a greek name aglo-sized…

go figure.

anyone else drinking whiskey?

COB6

Not so sure about this one. Maybe an apology to the 71L that you posted but I have seen nothing that confirms this character needs an apology. What sticks out like a diamond in a goat’s ass to me is he is SF and retired as a SSG?

Jeez, back in the day if you couldn’t make E7, you at least went Warrant Officer 🙂

Lurker

Eh, better than nothing. This experience would probably give a non-douchebag person an impetus to reflect on prior knee-jerk reactions and assumption about people they don’t know but could easily call or email and thus perhaps have some kind of rational conversation. But nah, you love smearing vets too much. I’ll just refer your this thoughtful posting http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=12955

Jonn Lilyea – Smearing vets so the Left don’t have to.™

COB: dude seriously, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Here’s a hint- there are other reasons for retiring other than time in tough guy.

*Hugs* and *Kisses* you all be good little children and play nice.

B

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1106-04.htm

you were not wrong-this dude is neither retired nor former SF. He’s just a quitter. Bitches like him give MI guys doing direct support for SF a bad name and set us up for an uphill struggle.

B

correction, he might be medically retired

COB6

Lurker you frigging douche, I forgot more about how the military works than you will ever know. I fully realize that this character could have been medically retired but I can assure you if that were the case that would become his stock and trade. I suspect a serious under-acheiver or a damn liar!

Anytime you want to compare military experience, education or anything else military just let me know “tough guy”.

Lurker

Yeah B! Check it out, I found more Bitches that just quit on us. Fckn pussies givin’ us a bad name.
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12802

Shhesh and I thought it was the Far Left that hated the military.

Another Disgrunted ex-IVAW "member"

Andrew like myself and many others who go to war and go through a medical evaluation board are found physically or mentally unfit for duty due to their service in the war zone.

Some of us are actually put out of the service and are considered medically retired. I think there are a few of us Iraq/Afghani Vets sitting (or laying down) in Walter Reed who might also become medically retired. Gee I wonder if “B” would call them too “quitters”

Hey, Jonn. Thanks for the correction. Like I said in our emails, Your a good person!

TSO

Lurker you ass, compare the stats and get back to me.

B

Lurker and ex-IVAW-

I don’t know what your background is, and I don’t really care. I’ve got two trips to Iraq under my belt and won’t mind if I go back for another one. I spent most of my time off the FOB and a fair amount outside the wire. I have no sympathy for guys like Pogany (which, by the way, means “shitty” in Russian-thought that was funny) who volunteer for high-speed units, go downrange and spaz out when they see a body (getting shot at or blown up might be a different story, but none of my friends who have have quit-weird, right? I’m talking guys with wounds, with PTSD, who kept going until the mission was over.) It’s war, it’s what we all volunteered for, deal with it for your buddies if not for yourself.

But whatever, I accept that some people might volunteer for the army, accept a paycheck and numerous promotions, re-enlist, then can’t deliver when the rubber meets the road. Some of us are mentally weak like that. It’s when you use it as a soapbox like Pogany is doing, giving endless interviews to newspapers posturing as Special Forces and making grand proclamations on the state of the army that I have a problem with you. Take your retirement and go live out the rest of your days quietly, knowing that you failed at your job.

Oh, and for the love of god don’t try to hide behind someone else’s bloody shirt, ok?

MAJ Arkay

I’m familiar with this case. Pogany was not a quitter, a malingerer, or a coward. At the time, his unit, like most at Fort Carson, were so overwhelmingly negative toward anyone who requested help for any sort of mental stress, that his case served as a wakeup call to DoD. A number of policy revisions took place to ensure soldiers requesting/receiving psychological counseling are not negatively impacted career-wise. The climate in the field is taking longer to cut that crap out.

UCMJ actions were dropped, by the way. Personally, I would’ve liked to horsewhip his commander for terminal stupidity and excessive testosterone poisoning, but one can’t have everything, I guess…

RANGER ROBINSON

Casualties of War, Part I: The hell of war comes home July 26, 2009 3:30 PM DAVE PHILIPPS THE GAZETTE When the brigade returned home from the Sunni Triangle, sergeants sometimes refused to let soldiers seek help for PTSD and taunted them for being weak or faking it, said Georges Andre Pogany, a former intelligence sergeant with the special forces, now an investigator with the National Veterans Legal Services Program. Excerpt from SFC (Ret) Georg-Andreas Pogany Bio In January 2001 he was assigned to Fort Huachuca, AZ where he was trained as a Human Intelligence Collector/Interrogator. After his training in Arizona, Staff Sergeant Pogany was a assigned as a Human Intelligence Collector to the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Military Intelligence Detachment at Fort Carson, CO. in June 2001. Following his graduation from the Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy in February 2003, the Basic Non-Commissioned Officer Course and the Advanced Interrogation Course in August of 2003, Staff Sergeant Georg-Andreas Pogany deployed to Samara Iraq as a member of Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha 092, Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne). After being incapacitated by toxic drug levels from the anti-malaria drug Lariam/Mefloquine and being initially diagnosed with a Combat Stress Reaction, Staff Sergeant Georg-Andreas Pogany was returned to Fort Carson CO from his deployment to Iraq in the fall of 2003. Subsequently he was diagnosed to be suffering from a brain injury caused by Lariam Toxicity. In an attempt to cover up the inappropriate use of this dangerous drug Staff Sergeant Pogany had false and wrongful Courts-Martial charges preferred against him by the Commander of 10th Special Forces Group COL Michael Repass. Nine months later the U.S. Army cleared him of all alleged wrongdoing and acknowledged they had wrongfully charged him with a military crime that he never committed, and that the devastating side effects of the anti-malaria drug directly and lead to his panic attacks. After exhaustive medical treatment for his injury he was medically retired in the rank of Sergeant First Class and honorably discharged from the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and the United States… Read more »

doshei

http://www.andersonandtravis.com/chemicalcasualties.pdf

Check out the above link. This guy was in country less than 48 hours when he went belly up. If you read the article, which is sympathetic and written based on Pogany’s own story, it doesn’t match the bio above in many highly significant details. This guy is a disgusting poser and liar looking to slide past his failures. I am all for people getting the help they need for the stress they feel from combat and anyone who pushes that aside is wrong. But there is also such a thing as a malingerer and in my opinion that is what is going on here.

TSO

I take a medium path on this one. I had a bad reaction to the Lariam, although, not as bad as this guy. When it happened twice I just stopped taking it. My battle buddy went half crazy hearing voices and such. So, the fact he had the reaction and had to be pulled out doesn’t bother me.

That said, I found 40 seperate media outlets identifying him as a Special Forces Sergeant. That is bullshit. I have Media Matters giving me shit about saying I was an Iraq veteran when I have never once ever said that. And they refuse to take it down. I make it ABUNDANTLY clear each time I do an interview that I am A-Stan. Yet, this guy had 40 media outlets and counting misidentify him. I think someone thought it would sound more sympathetic that way. And that I just can’t abide by.

RANGER ROBINSON

For the non-believers like TSO you can go on and on saying stupid shit. The media does not know the difference between SOF and SF. That’s not Poganys fault – get over it. The bottom line is the Army promoted him then discharged him with full honors and a medical retirement. End of story. Find something real to bitch about and spend some time helping veterans.

OldTrooper

RR: If you only knew what TSO does on a daily basis to help Veterans. He just doesn’t brag about it.