Dude. She was already marrying you.

This is the story of Douglas Lee Weaver, a 35-year-old Arab, AL man who wore his uniform to his wedding with a couple of extra shiny things on it – a Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star and a Combat Infantry Badge. Then he put a picture of him and his new bride on the mantle. The Huntsville Times tells what happened next;

Last fall, law enforcement came to search Weaver’s Marshall County home to investigate a receiving stolen property charge about a four-wheeler and a trailer. There they found a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol and a 12-gauge shotgun, which was unlawful for Weaver to possess because he was convicted of felony theft by deception in 2006.

Brower said the officer – a military veteran – investigating the case knew Weaver and knew his military past didn’t include war medals. But he saw the couple’s wedding photo in which the defendant was wearing the Silver Star, Distinguished Service Cross and a Combat Infantry Badge.

“The prosecution has the wedding photos to prove he did this,” Brower said. “Needless to say, my client is no longer married to this person.”

So she was already marrying the guy – what did he think she’d do if he wore the medals? And none of those round medals for hiim – obviously he thought the various shapes would make his uniform more fung shui. WAFF reports that Weaver pleaded not guilty.

The Times tells another tale of another case;

Last month, Skyler Tarquin Smith, 26, of Huntsville pleaded not guilty to wearing combat medals he didn’t earn. He was also charged with felony wire fraud and making false statements to the government about being a service-disabled veteran, which allowed him to win a federal defense contract.

Smith had served in the Army, but he went AWOL before his unit deployed to Afghanistan.

He has since entered a request to change his plea, and he is scheduled to do so on Tuesday.

Skyler could have gone to Afghanistan and earned his medals like the rest of us have to do. I guess short cuts seem like a good idea at first.

Category: Phony soldiers