TAH in TAT
Here’s the link for the General Ballduster McSoulpatch at The Army Times.
Schantag learned of McManus when a friend’s brother sent her photos he took of McManus at the Dec. 12 inauguration for Houston Mayor Annise Parker.
Schantag posted photos of the man to the P.O.W. Network site and sent them to This Ain’t Hell, where the photo was posted at the center of a mock “wanted” poster.
Seavey’s day job is new media manager for the American Legion, but he blogs about stolen-valor cases and other military topics in his spare time for This Ain’t Hell.
For Seavey, whose blog dubbed McManus “Gen. Ballduster McSoulpatch,” the first big break was an anonymous tip saying the man’s name is Michael P. McManus. From there, readers pointed Seavey toward references to McManus across the Internet.
Personally, I’m proud of the way the story turned out – there will never be another like this one, though. It was a one in a million shot. I’d like thank Mary Schantag at POW Net for including us in her hunt. She’s sent me another couple phonies that I’ll roll out in the next few days.
Category: Media, Phony soldiers
Bravo Zulu to TSO, Jonn, and the rest of the gang here (and elsewhere of course) for outing this clown. What the AT article doesn’t mention about phony vets is the damage they do to our reputations and credibility. The most egregious example I can think of offhand is the 60 Minutes story in the late 1980’s where not one but SIX “veterans” claimed to have either witnessed or committed atrocities in Vietnam. It was later shown that of the six, only one had even been to Vietnam (where he claimed to be a 16-year old SEAL), and that one was in a non-combat support role.
Good job, again. When I read the Army Times story over the weekend, I was happy to see them giving credit to PowNet and TSO for keeping the pressure up.
I was rather amazed that the story included the nickname you guys came up with, Ballduster McSoulpatch. I would have thought that would be little to racy for Army Times.
Great job to everybody involved in taking this fraud down.
I wouldn’t bet the farm that there won’t be another though. The same arrogance that leads to this type of fraud manifests itself in the belief that they will not get caught. It is just human nature to believe that it may happen to somebody else, “but I’m too smart, clever, careful etc…”. The stolen valor is like crack to these people. The more recognition they receive, the more they crave. In their calculation, the possibilty of apprehension is worth the risk, even in this age of the internet. The only thing that will change their calculus is increased enforcement and punishment. Shame alone is insufficient penalty.
All the more reason to keep a sharp lookout.