Is this really stolen valor?
I wrote about David Oh and Mike McCalister a few weeks ago. They’re both Republicans and they both made comments that were a little “iffy” about their military careers. They had both served with Special Forces units, but they weren’t school trained special forces officers.
David Oh was an 11-series infantry officer serving in an 18-series special forces officer slot. During Desert Storm he was activated with his Special Forces Detatchment, but he didn’t deploy. I don’t see where he did anything wrong in making claims that he served as a special forces officer because it looks like he did from where I sit.
McCalister was a colonel who worked at Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base. McCalister said he was involved in some “black ops” – he probably was “involved” at some planning level, but not in an operational capacity.
Well, I’ve had some time to think about that first post, monitor some of the press and talk to TSO, and I’ve come to the conclusion that neither is really a case of Stolen Valor in my opinion. And the folks who are claiming that they are Stolen Valor are just using a wild stretch for their own political reasons.
Take McCalister, for example. I’ve emailed with Chuck Winn, McCalister’s main accuser and apparently the only member of the “Stolen Valor Task Force of Florida”. It seems that the SVTF’s only stolen valor research focuses on McCalister. it should be noted that Winn also opposed Marco Rubio’s campaign for the Senate in Florida last year while Winn worked for an opponent Republican.
Winn seemed just a little too eager to convince me that McCalister was embellishing his career. And the media seems real eager to take Winn’s word for it. Winn, it should be noted is also a veteran. He tells me that he had a 32-year career, 20 years on active duty which ended in 2000.
I’ll admit that McCalister has done some shady things, but not as shady as Winn makes it sound. Take for example this snippet from Tampa Bay Online;
…McCalister’s campaign website (http://mikemccalisterforsenate.com/) reported in response to criticism from Stolen Valor that he “served at the United States Special Operations Command … from September 1998 to September 2005.”
The service included time “as a Special Operations Action Officer” from September 1998 to September 1999; and as a research and analysis officer from September 1999 to September 2000, the website says.
McCalister then worked as assistant deputy chief in the Training, Doctrine and Education Division, Center for Operations, Plans and Policy from September 2000 to September 2005.
So he did work at SOCOM from 1998 to 2005…what’s their stupid point? Did he say that he worked as an operator? No he didn’t. Working at SOCOM is a pretty big deal, in my opinion. Some of our readers are colonels at SOCOM and I’m proud that they read us, and I’ve never asked them what they do…they work at SOCOM, isn’t that impressive enough?
In the beginning of the article, they make a specious claim that he “violated Army regulations” when he wore his uniform to a dinner;
On Feb. 16, GOP U.S. Senate candidate Mike McCalister, a retired Army National Guard and Reserves colonel, attended the Highlands County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner in full dress uniform.
That violated Army regulations, which allow former soldiers to wear uniforms on certain occasions but not to political events.
I think they’d have a tough time proving that his attendance at a dinner was in violation of the regs. Sure it was a Republican event, but it was also a “Lincoln Day dinner”. Not everything Republicans do as a group are political…they do social stuff, too. Unless McCalister was actually doing something like campaigning or endorsing a political issue, I don’t think it necessarily violates Army regulations.
I referenced Army regs in regards to Dan Choi’s clear violation of policies, but unless Winn is ready to call the Republicans an “extremist organization” I don’t think the regs would prohibit McCalister wearing his uniform to a dinner.
I don’t know, that’s my opinion. I’ve been a little tentative about writing in regards to this because I didn’t want to appear to favor Republicans, but I think I’d defend Democrats in the same position if I had to. But since no one ever heard of the Stolen valor Task Force before the McCalister campaign, I have to think they’re just bomb throwers tossed together to oppose McCalister.
Category: Veterans in politics
Anyone who wants to bitch about uniform regs needs to tell me why there were Marines in uniform at the Obama/Teamster rally where the Tea Party was called sons of bitches. And they were cheering.
I don’t know why some have to make up stories…I was proud to have served in a MKR unit (Mess Kit Repair) in Bosnia and Iraq… we fixed a lot of mess kits.
If stolen valor now has us parsing every detail in someone’s account of their military service to find some arguable ambiguity, then I’d say the line has been crossed. A freakin’ colonel who had a role in special ops is sufficiently meritoriopus. I’m guessing on this but it occurs to me that no one gets that kind of job because he excelled at spit polishing his dress shoes.
Personally, I think Stolen valor needs to be kept to clear violations. Ambigious comments, are what politicians do. Hammering the opposition because they might have played up their war stories is ridiculious. Out and out lying (like saying you went to ‘Nam when you were never deployed, or saying you lead Seal Team 6 (which doesn’t exist anymore) THAT I take issue with. I worked with SF. Whose been deployed and HASN’T? time to move on (.org har har har)
Dad, what did you do in the war? I served my country and did what I could to support the 11B’s, and I pulled the trigger and tried to hit what I shot at. Most of my time was spent “conserving the fighting strength”, but it also involved handling body bags. Though Airborne my jumping was from a skid on a Huey, and my heroics were nothing compared to the men I served with. I do not understand people that embellish and promote themselves through the service they are expected to do for this great country. I am old now, but would not hesitate to serve again in anyway that would protect and defend the constitution of the United States of America from all enemies foriegn or domestic. Sorry for the rant, but sometimes I think we forget.
Given the number of Special Operations operators active in CENTCOM, it is damn near impossible to go a year without supporting them, sharing battlespace, or in direct support of their missions. That does not make these soldiers special forces or anything like that. The fact that they serve should be honor enough. But the truth is in the telling and obfuscating or letting others think you were SF without correcting them is a lie in itself. As far as these two men are concerned, it’s debatable whether they did anything wrong. There is at least reasonable doubt. Most of my peers who have worked with special operations a careful to be clear that they are not special operations soldiers.
This fits my ‘profile’ to a T….
Do I/Have I worked ‘black ops’? Hell yes- blacker than a mole’s anus. Do I work with ‘operators’? Every damn day. Am I one of them? Not by far- no tab, no ‘badge’ (except airborne) so no, I’m not one. But I ‘support’ them in every conceivable concept of that term. And they, as a group, look to me FOR that support.
Were I not how I am, I would not be able to work in the environment where they are- you have to be ‘acceptable’ or there is ZERO chance you’ll ever do anything. Same with these two gents- likely they were good at what they do, and were tasked with doing things the SpecOp community needed. Nothing any different.
I may only be a flute player in their band, but I’m the best damn flute player IN that band…
Kind of like my case–saying I was a submariner who occasionally did SEAL ops is 100 percent true. Saying I was with the SEALs based on that is pretty shady.
Just tell the damn truth and nobody will have any reason to question it–I went to sea a lot and did some boring shit, and some fun shit, and some times I was scared shitless.
The main issue that many people who are crying foul over these 2 is that they don’t declare what it is that they ACTUALLY did. Apparently their comments make it seem like they took part in actual operations when in fact they did no such thing. Therein lies the root too all the uproar over McCalister and Choi. I agree that it’s not stolen valor merely a shading of the actual truth.
Stolen Valor, no. I don’t accuse John Fing Kerry of Stolen Valor, but I do accuse him of a lot of questionable actions. I think that any of us could embellish through a somewhat legitimate claim to something that we aren’t, but our ethics prevent it. Similar to Oh, I almost deployed into the CENTCOM AOR with SOCCENT after spending TDYs and coordinating with them, but I didn’t. I don’t claim to have “worked at SOCCENT” or “been assigned to SOCCENT” or be a “Special Operations Plans Officer.” These two crossed that line deliberately, with the intention of deceiving an unknowing public, and for personal gain, and deserve to be condemned as such. If they are willing to stretch the truth to get into office, what are they willing to do once they get there? If you have to ask yourself if it is right, it probably isn’t. If the question never occurs to you, there is a bigger problem.
I agree, but upon reading previous comments I see Soldiers in support MOS that are placing their circumstances onto someone else’s experiences. Your experiences are not in question nor are they pertinent. You serve in a support slot that is not coded specifically for an SF Soldier. Your DMOS does not say 18_. IMHO, if you are in a slot coded by the Army for a SF qualified Soldier, but you are not SF qualified, you are serving as an SF Soldier.
There’s a reason that SF soliders are often referred to as the “quiet professionals.” We didn’t talk about who we were or what we did; and most of us still don’t (publically).
“Stolen valor” strikes me as a horse-shit moniker, so I don’t disagree with the blogger that this wasn’t “stolen valor.” But I do disagree, in a generic sense, with the general implication that Oh and MacAlister didn’t do anything wrong.
I’m not rabid about it, but prefer men and women who “under-promise and over-deliver. Then you’re not ever in the position that these two shit-birds seem to be in. That of having to justify the “war stories” they’ve told for self-promotional purposes.
I have more respect for a young Sergeant I met in an NCO club once who, when I remarked on his jump wings and his being “Airborne,” corrected me saying “No sir. I went to jump school and did my 5 jumps for the wings, but I’m not really Airborne.” He could have ~legitimately~ claimed to be Airborne; he was, by virtue of being awarded the wings. But he knew that being Airborne implied certain other attributes and he didn’t want to mislead me.
Oh and MacAlister took advantage of ambiguity about their assignments and helped or allowed that ambiguity to imply things about them that were not true. And neither corrected the record untl someone called them out on it.
That’s the part I find shameful.
De Opresso Libre, dude…
I’m more for inclined to believe “the folks who are claiming that they are Stolen Valor are just using a wild stretch for their own political reasons.”
‘The Folks’ would be Philly Clout reporter, Chris Brennan who lead the charge by misrepresenting the facts of David Oh’s military record.
An apology and retraction would be the right thing for Chris to do, although I suspect it’s not in his character.
“I am aware of the distinctions within the terms Special Forces and Green Beret, but I did not properly maintain them over the years,” Oh’s statement said. “My carelessness and lack of attention to detail was to my benefit and misleading to the public. It was disrespectful of those Green Berets, soldiers who are Special Forces-qualified. . . . These are men I admire and respect greatly.”
Tania- this has been a HUGH issue for me and my local as they along with the FOP have endorsed Mr. Oh. The FOP retracted their endorsement.
I have met Mr. Oh in the past and have always been grateful for his support of firefighters in Philly. However this is part of the discussion taken from our unions website:
“I apologize to the public for any confusion or misimpression I created which suggests that I served as a Special Forces-qualified Green Beret or Special Forces officer,” Oh said in his statement. “I did not serve in such a capacity. . . . I was not Special Forces-qualified.”
Oh offered to return any campaign contributions that people made under the misimpression that he was a Green Beret or Special Forces officer, terms that appeared on his Council campaign websites in 2003, 2007, and this year.
“Though I served in the 20th Special Forces Group, I was none of those things,” Oh said. He promised to destroy any misleading campaign literature and check his website to avoid such claims.
I asked a simple question of my colleagues: If he said he was a firefighter at Ground Zero on 911 would we even be having this discussion?
The Special Forces web sites have eviscerated him for his misleading claims and he has apologised. 18E18F said it best.
One of my chief complaints regarding David Oh is his affinity for union support. I have to question what are unions expecting in return for their endorsement? Having one union retract their support is a good thing, as citizens should be the priority of any politician, not organized labor of any type. I continue to support Oh’s candidacy as a non union citizen of Philadelphia.
What has been made clear by this debacle is that many people outside of military service can easily confuse terminology. I see no evidence the David Oh purposefully intended to capitalize on any venture using fraudulent claims of military service as a SF Green Beret.
This is more a case of journalist malfeasance than an actual stolen valor incident.
Tania- this isn’t so much an issue of union support or not. It is a question of honesty in a potential elected official, plain and simple.
He may not have lied directly, but he CERTAINLY, BY HIS OWN ADMISSION, allowed others to lie or misrepresent on his behalf and to his benefit. He DID know better and he failed to correct the misrepresentation. That is a serious lapse in judgement and ethics.
As conservatives we demand high standards and accountability from those we hope to elect. That begins with the vetting progress.
As John Kerry and Al Gore were rightly and roundly criticised for inaccuracies in their military service David Oh should have been even more vigiliant in his representation of his record especially when he allowed the line to be blurred.
Those who serve honorably deserve our utmost respect for obvious reasons. Those who have served hold that service in high esteem and there is little time or sympathy for anyone who plays fast and loose with their record.
Denny
[…] in Florida September 14th, 2011 So there are these two guys in Florida who call themselves the Stolen Valor Task Force. Their names are Chuck Winn and Ed maxwell, as near as I can tell they’re the only two guys […]