Matthew Morton – Phony Wounded Combat Action Marine
The folks at MilitaryPhony send us their work on this Matthew Michael Morton fella. Morton comes to us from Florissant / Saint Louis, Missouri. At the time of this writing, April 2023, Morton is 48 years old. Morton wrote a book titled “Adaptive Bodybuilding” in which he claims he “spent 5 years in the US Marine Corps, serving from 1992 to 1997, retiring with the rank of Staff Seargent. [sic]”
Cover of “Adaptive Bodybuilding” by Matthew Morton
Morton’s book also claimed that he was awarded three (3) Purple Heart medals for being wounded in combat, along with four (4) Combat Action Ribbons for service in Somalia (1993), Rwanda (1994), Albania (1995) and Bosnia (1995). He also claimed that he “was part of a team that rescued downed U.S. Air Force Pilot, Captain Scott O’Grady from behind enemy lines.”
Excerpt from book “Adaptive Bodybuilding” by Matthew Morton
In the Preface section of his book, Morton also claims that he had left the Marine Corps with PTSD and disabilities that he had amassed.
Preface from book “Adaptive Bodybuilding” by Matthew Morton
It’s probably not clear to many people whether or not Morton received combat injuries while in the Marines that lead to him being restricted to a wheelchair.
https://yoocanfind.com/Story/1424/being-differently-abled-fighting-the-battle#!
Twitter – Matt Morton
But the following video posted to Morton’s Instagram profile clearly shows him using his legs without the aid of a wheelchair…
SOURCE: https://www.secure.instagram.com/adaptfit_mattmorton/
Morton claimed in his book that he was part of the rescue team that retrieved US Air Force pilot Captain Scott O’Grady…
Excerpt from book “Adaptive Bodybuilding” by Matthew Morton
Morton also had this photo posted on his Facebook profile, claiming he was one of the Marines in the photo of the rescue team…
Facebook photo
But alas, Jonn Lilyea posted about Morton back in 2016 and debunked the claims of him participating in the actual rescue operation. It seems that did not deter Morton from embellishing his military career even further.
In Jonn’s blog about Morton, there are military records and a newspaper article from the Southeast Missourian, which spoke about Morton’s account of the rescue mission. There was no mention of his injuries, but instead, the article focused on the 1995 O’Grady rescue mission.
Although Morton had been initially called out on his martial arts claims, there was no mention of his disabilities or Marine Corps combat-related injuries as he has claimed. This was 2016.
*** While we cannot verify whether Morton’s disabilities were documented in his Marine Corps medical records, we find it interesting that he was able to gain entry into the 1140th Combat Engineer Battalion of the Missouri National Guard after leaving the Marine Corps in 1997. Seems like his medical condition would be an issue unless he got a medical waiver. But being wheelchair-bound would certainly be an issue so we suspect that wasn’t the case. ***
Again, we found it most interesting that Morton did not seem to exhibit the combat-related disabilities that are at the center of his bodybuilding principles that limit him to a wheelchair.
He very well may have some form of degenerative disease that has caused a disability.
But wait, there’s more…
Now, there is a new book by Morton that was recently announced on his Facebook page…
. . . . .
FOIA RESULTS
NATIONAL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER (NPRC)
FOIA Results – NPRC – Summary Sheet -Matthew Morton
FOIA Results – NPRC – Assignments -Matthew Morton
. . . . .
OTHER RECORDS (THIS AIN’T HELL)
Although third-party, meaning we don’t know if they were supplied to This Ain’t Hell or they obtained the records themselves, we supply them here. They appear to accurately reflect the results that we obtained from the NPRC. The combat history page is particularly illustrative of Morton’s deployment experiences.FOIA Results – TAH
. . . . .
DISCUSSION and SUMMARY
LENGTH OF SERVICE
The length of service is consistent across all FOIA results – 1993-1997 – representing a four year enlistment. We find it odd that he claimed that he served for five (5) years in his book, but perhaps he was counting delayed entry time.
Excerpt from book “Adaptive Bodybuilding” by Matthew Morton
The claim of “retiring” from the Marine Corps is a bit odd, but leads one to believe it was a medical retirement since Morton only completed four (4) years. However, the dates of his enlistment are from June 14, 1993 to June 13, 1997 – exactly four (4) years. That would cast some doubt on a medical retirement but it is possible that the dates coincided. As state previously, a medical retirement or medical issue in general would have to be overcome to enter the Missouri National Guard – no small hurdle.
RANK
All documents – the NPRC summary sheet and the DD-214 – state that Morton was a Lance Corporal (E-3) vs. the Staff Sergeant (E-6) that he claimed. Morton left the service as an E-3 Lance Corporal. Although it is possible that Morton achieved a higher rank with the Missouri National Guard, he made a specific claim in his book that he retired as a “Staff Seargent” [sic] in the Marines.Excerpt from book “Adaptive Bodybuilding” by Matthew Morton
Morton’s official military records do not support his claim of retiring as a Staff Sergeant in the Marine Corps.
ASSIGNMENTS
Morton was assigned to the overall MEU that was involved in the Captain Scott O’Grady rescue effort in 1999. The pilot that helped with the original blog stated that Morton was not on the roster of 61 individuals that were part of the rescue. We will leave this claim to those knowledgeable about the event.
PURPLE HEARTS & COMBAT ACTION RIBBONS
Morton’s records do not support the claims that he has a Purple Heart, let alone the claim of three in his book. Also, there are no Combat Action Ribbons (CARs) listed. The claim of both of these medals are covered in the Stolen Valor Act of 2013.
Morton joined the Marine Corps in mid-June 1993 so it would have been a challenge to complete boot camp, attend advanced infantry training (SCOLOFIN = School of Infantry) and make it to Somalia. In fact, his records show that he went to Fort Sill Oklahoma for artillery school in Nov-Dec of 1993, then on to Camp Lejeune in early 1994.
On October 7, 1993 then President Clinton called for a withdrawal of US Forces in Somalia no later than March 31, 1994. Morton was assigned to BLT 2/8, 24 MEU in September 1994.
SUMMARY
Matthew Morton does not have any Purple Heart Medals, He does not have any Combat Action Ribbons, He was never a Staff Sergeant, and he did not directly participate in the rescue of anyone from behind enemy lines. If Matthew Morton has used any of these claims to gain anything of value, he could violate the Stolen Valor Act.
View the video on our Rumble Channel
Category: Combat Wounded, Marine Corps Poser, PTSD, Purple Heart, Stolen Valor, Valor Vultures
To enlist in the guard he would have had to be less than 30% SC with the VA. A medical retirement is possible with even a year, but you need to be be Med Boarded. I had a buddy that was medically retiremed after a really nasty leg injury.
Aside from that, screw him.
Oh, I’ll say it–these fuckers will take this shit to the grave with them. Many already have.
Be interesting to see if anyone has reviewed his works.
In my youth, one of the promotion board questions was “spell sergeant.” Apparently with good reason….
Excellent point. Perhaps he was a staff seargent. I don’t what that is exactly so I can’t disprove his claims.
I wonder if he drank the water at Lejeune?
He likely washed many a crayon down with it.
But at least he has a real disability rating while ripping folks off.
Phil Monkress does not.
Morton – “When it rains, it pours.”
And before I just read your comment I was going to tell morton to stick to making salt. Glad I scrolled down first.
Monday phonies…
What a way to start the week…
Fuck this guy. Plenty of guys got hurt doing their duty, and some paid the ultimate price.
I’m not talking about the guys that were KIA. We all have the ULTIMATE respect for the fallen.
I’m talking about guys that hurt/maimed/killed in “routine training exercise” and all the other dangerous shit that people that never served don’t realize the dangers.
Assholes like this guy are shitting all over their memories to shill some exercise plan. I don’t know how he ended up in that chair, but it’s not how he says it happened.
Piss off, Mortie…
Embellishing with bullsh*t– decent service crapped-on with this lying.
Maybe it’s just me, but this strikes me as similar to the Lia Thomas situation, the transgender swimmer that was born a man but transitioned to a woman. Now breaking every swim record in women sports as a woman.
Morton may have experienced success with competing from a wheelchair vs. normal competition.
Good observation, DC… 🤔
Turd.
Matthew Michael Morton
During the rescue mission his callsign was “3M”.
There were only a handful of PHs from Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti. I recall a special forces sergeant got shot down west of Port auPrince. Maybe less than 15 or so for the whole operation. That number sounds high, though. There wasn’t any organized fighting. And there wasn’t any disorganized stuff either. Sometimes a large groups of people carrying branches would run by. We didn’t know why. And sometimes the kids brought us guns and grenades, but they didn’t shoot or thrown them at us.
Damn, I miss Jonn’s work. Rest in Peace Ranger.
Cacti!
I missed this on my first read: how did he get a Purple Heart in Haiti but no CAR? Seems like they would go together. Dunno, I’m not a Marine. Has anyone checked if the 24th MEU was deployed to Haiti? That op kicked off on Sept. 19, 1994. He was transferred to the MEU that same month. Maybe he made it down there after the initial invasion? Maybe they sent him immediately after checking in. Seems fast to in process, get through reception, CIF issue, draw quarters and fit into the new unit. But it’s possible.
CAR for Albania ’95? I was in Albania for awhile in ’96, did I miss some sort of conflict?
I think he has dates wrong. The civil war that broke out in Jan 97-Aug 97. I was stationed at NSA SoudaBay Crete, Greece at that time. We had a Marine Security Detachment on the base. They were FAST certified, but not actually a full FAST team. They deployed to help secure the embassy and its compounds. We deployed a small Camp maintenance Team, in support of the Detachment. They did have some other Marines fall in on them around April. I am not sure where they came from, think it was a MUE, not sure.
I was there supporting SETAF in 96, Jul-Aug IIRC. Partnership for Peace exercise, engineers were building ranges on Tirana. Beautiful place, I think we outnumbered the Albanian Army about 3-1.
Owen, the PH can be awarded without a CAR.
Did he not have two or three PH’s? In the text of his book he says three and further down in what looks like an advertisement for his book he claims two.
Two, three. Fuhgeddaboudit… he’s on a roll.
Ok. Still, claiming a PH for Haiti….has that been done before? Easy enough to check out. I googled PH Haiti and found all sorts of dumbasses bragging about their PH from that vacation op.
Assfurter.
Dingleberry.
Ballworker.
Fucknugget.
My understanding is that there currency sits a vacant Chief of Taint position at All-Points Logistics.
The False Commander “Phony” Phil Monkress (CEO of All-Points Logistics) would be hard pressed to let this level of talent fall by the wayside.
POOF. https://www.facebook.com/matt.morton.8
Morton fought the good fight. Feverishly deleting comments from his Facebook page until it became evident he was fighting a losing battle – so eventually saw the wisdom in scuttling the ship.
Daisy Cutter,
Aww shucks, I missed the action on his Book of the Fake.
New twit replies showing up here,
on his book twit on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/mattmorton075/status/1526333266718072833
New twit reply graphic just showed up.
Someone put some work into this.
🙂
AWW GEE WHIZ, I bet we won’t even get ONE sockpuppet over him, makes me miss the Good ‘Ol Days when we’d get sockpuppets to chew on!
Before he took his Facebook page down, which is a sure sign of guilt, I snagged a screen capture where he claimed Staff Sergeant and 2nd Anglico.
In other words, both Morton and his FB account have been disabled.
(Next, someone will come along and defend him because he’s in a wheelchair, because he’s unable to stand up for himself.)
Of all the missions that he could’ve claimed to have been on, he chose the wrong one. There were a ton of reporters on the Kearsarge the week prior to the rescue, and one stayed after the rest left the ship the day before (Newsweek). It got a lot of exposure after the rescue. Some good, some not so good (Gen Berndt and SgtMaj Castro going on one of the CH-53s). He needs to change his narrative before the next edition. We all got woken up at like 0200 and the 53’s and Cobras didn’t get back until well after the sun came up. I’m not sure of the time. When the Bald Eagle made it to the flight deck to load the helo’s the sun had been up for a while. If I remember correctly the flight time one way was longer than that for the TRAP force.
This asshole served during the same time I did. Not much going on before Bosnia, and even then, not too much going on during his enlistment. Claiming all those valor awards and making every interesting military op he could find. I’m surprised he didn’t say he was in Gothic Serpent.
He did. Somalia 1993. He probably thought Gothic Serpent was a death metal band.
“On October 7, 1993 then President Clinton called for a withdrawal of US Forces in Somalia no later than March 31, 1994.” – Dave Hardin
The ship I was stationed on took part in that. We were all boxed in doing “gator squares” from the time we arrived on station until March 31, when the pull out was completed. We literally set sail, as a group, onto the horizon, then turned south to cross the equator before heading back to the Mediterranean.
There were a few breaks from the Mogadishu area to go further out to sea at night during that period, when we were not needed. We saw stars in the night sky that were not visible on land… The sky was full of them, the galactic bulge was visible, and the outlines of the galactic/space/cosmic dust “in front of it” were more pronounced… The dust areas in turn were dotted with a crapload of stars…
Five years to make SNCO. He must have been the highest speed, lowest drag MFer in the RIF years to do that!
Where did he find time for a rescue mission with all the weight lifting competitions?
So, somewhere between MCRD San Diego, Fort Sill and Camp Lejune he caught the PTS of D and 3 x PH, 4 x CAR during the Clinton years?
WOW, another phony on Monday’s TAH starting gate.
Here’s you some new aliases, you embellishing sack of shit….COCKSUCKER!…BULLSHITTER!…LYING POS!…RANCID CHERRY ON A SHIT SUNDAE!…DESPICABLE!…need I go on? Nothing more despicable than a POS standing on the bodies and in the blood of Warriors. I bet you did enjoy the Purple Taint Award you received…that Meat Gazing Grin is a tell. You have brought shame upon yourself, your family, that poor little puppy dog (kudos to admin for pixeling the puppy’s face), the USMC, the Brotherhood of the NDSM, AND my Beloved Artillery Arm. PHUQUE YOU! When your book sales fall thru the floor, maybe you can hire on as Apprentice Towel Fluffer @ Brucie’s Bath House (enter thru the rear). I’m sure you know how to get there.
Can’t believe that I, again, have to be the FIRST (ht2 CW) to call for a deployment of the Vaunted TAH As(s)teroid of Insults upon the lying POS, Mathew Micheal Morton.
Can I get a SECOND and an AYE?
Second!
Aye!
Con una chingada…SI!
SI!
SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!
And by Roberts Rules and under the NEW and IMPROVED TAH Deployment of the AoI, I give you….
(With my apologies for being late but better than never.)
The As(s)teroid of Insults®™ Massive insult ver. 4/20/23 Matthew Michael Morton
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GTBdBVr1xzCWgXQbML5uorAv-WTZVA3dd1EfJly_wJo/edit?usp=share_link
Let the Gun Bunny be the FIRST to give a rousing AMEN!
All Hail the Vaunted TAH As(s)teroid of Insults and the Keeper thereof…ChipNASA.
ALL HAIL!!!
4th Award Combat Action Ribbon? 😮
Back off boys, we got a bad ass here
Word.
I imagine he is the All-Points Logistics Hall of Fame.
Gave the gloryhole its name!
Yep.
A lot of bad dudes have been in his ass.
I’m glad you redacted the dog’s identity. He appears to have a “don’t touch me there again” look.
They’re everywhere..
Got this notice, from the Patriot Guards, here in California. Bio says:
“Steven Beardsley served in Vietnam on a Special Ops team, and after being held briefly as a POW helped several other prisoners escape and led them to safety. Although serving in the Army, he was awarded an “Outstanding Unit” medal from the Air Force for his actions.”
Of course, no “Beardsley, Steven” nor any other construct of that name, appears on any Vietnam POW list, escaped or released. I gave the Ride Captain this information two weeks ago. Guess how they buried him anyway?
“Most of these guys will take their lies to the grave with them.” – Retired USN SEAL Don Shipley in a TV Interview
I almost joined the Patriot Guard and the VFW, until my regular reading of this blog for the past 11 years made me realize these organizations are rife with embellishers and phonies.
He won’t stand for this. 😂
I see what you did there. 😉
No.
But he wil park in the disbaled parking spot at All-Points Logistics in Merritt Island, Florida.
Phil Monkress does not discriminate. He steals from everyone equally.
Another weak sauce POSer. No Harley, no do-rag, no biker vest with bling, and no POW claim. But I think I saw a mutt in one of his pics.
Yeah, well, I feel sorry for the pooch. My nephew and I had to take our female Labrador to the vet yesterday to be put to sleep. She was a good girl, she made it past 13, which is a pretty long life for a Lab. I’m always more than happy to pile on to these posers that feel the need to involve their dogs in their bullshit but I’m really feelin’ it today. Fuck this clown.
Sorry for your loss. Last year, I had to put down my 34 year-old horse I had for 28 years.
“It’s been seven years. Maybe they forgot about me?”
-This idiot. Probably
Despicable embellishing POS – in spite of all your ‘service’, you learned nothing from it – there is NOT a single ounce of Semper Fi in you!! Please accept your first prize – my MIDDLE FINGER🖕And now that you know the all what we all know – remember Morty – THE INTERNET NEVER FORGETS. Bug-wit…
Thank you for your service, Wheelvel Knievel.
St Louis area, huh? I dinna know St Louis had a Brucie’s Bath House franchise. Surely he is an ass mgr by now…
Brucie’s Bath House, proudly serving Bud Light.
Slow Joe to the courtesy desk…
Slow Joe to the courtesy desk!
😂🍺
BUD LIGHT®™, now the Official Beer of Brucie’s® Bath House™.
And Dylan Mulvaney…I wonder what ol’ José Lento (Slow Joe) has to say about all that. 🤣🍺
He’s probably quietly switched to Natty Light
Yeah, well that’s still Anheuser Busch. Natty is probably the swill that doesn’t make the cut to be Bud Light.
Wow, this guy is a bigger piece of shit than I thought. He lives in my neighborhood and called the police on a couple of kids playing who spilled over into his yard yesterday and then put up a no-trespassing sign in his window and didn’t even talk to the parents or the kids about it.
What a turd.
Although I never served in the military I used to be in regular contact with him. First glance, when he mentioned his military history I had no reason to question him. It seemed odd he moved around a.o.k. while at home with no strain or evidence of injury. I once I saw him walk to the back of his car, unhook his wheelchair, hop on and watch people bend over backwards for him. Last indirect contact I had with him, someone I know saw him at the local fitness store walking around and riding the equipment. Once he noticed them watching he instantly sat back on his chair and left. Funny, he remembered he was injured. If you want to read something entertaining – check out his martial arts background in bullshido. His martial arts resume is just as impressive as his military resume. As a non-veteran with no military experience, I have the utmost respect for all veterans of all branches. Thank you all for what you’ve done and continue to do!