CPT Terry Hestilow; the Tea Party guy
A number of you have been sending me stuff about this thirty-year Captain Terry Hestilow who has been raging around the country about the Department of Homeland Security buying up enough rounds to shoot us each five or so times. Now, personally, I don’t believe that DHS is planning on shooting us all, who would pay taxes if that happened, but I do think that its some brain storm scheme to control guns. But Hestilow is of the opinion that they’re planning on killing us all. A number of you thought he was faking something, well, not as far as I can tell. Initially I checked to see if there was a record of him and there was, so I’ve been fending off your inquiries with that little bit of information. Well Mary got his records;
It looks like he was an MP in Vietnam and then reclassified to Infantry at Fort Polk about the same time I was going to AIT there. Then he got commissioned in 1981 but he didn’t go to Infantry Officer Basic Course until 1983 then he spent two years or so at Fort Carson and then went to the Reserves. Then it looks like he went to Afghanistan with a Reserve unit.
His 2-1 looks odd because I’ve never seen an officer’s 2-1 which had assignments in their cadet battalions, but there his are. That makes me think that he typed his own 2-1 for some reason. But it is what it is. This is for your own edification. He’s not a phony as near as I can tell, but he’s also not someone who I would listen to based on his military career. It’s glaringly unremarkable, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but that photo at the top of this post is used across the internet as some sort of mark of authority.
If you’re still wondering who he is, there’s an excellent interview at Politichicks.
Category: Who knows
OWB, I’m tracking what your point was. I was just quoting what the regulation says if he was in fact using his uniform for politics.
I’m with #8 and Major Trent. If he did what he’s doing because he believes in it minus the uniform pic all over the place I wouldn’t care. Be kind to us under achievers. I could have retired 10 years ago but I’m an E-4.
Club Manager yer killin me. Ha!
Also, I wear my card when taking a bath. Doesn’t everyone?
“cord”
#2…What the fuck is wrong with a Staff Sergeant? I train people better than any other rank in my Battalion, because I’m still with the troops, NOT in some fucked up office full of ass kissing, E7 and up, brass dick-monkeys.
Proud I am, of my time.
I’ll jump on the uniform bandwagon, but will draw the line at questioning his service. As Hondo said in comment #46, if CPT Hestilow is permitting that photo to be used, or provided it himself, he is wrong.
I still have quite a ways to go before I hit twenty, but I’ve already seen how insignificant non-valor awards and even promotions can be in the grand scheme of things. Maybe an adequate quote would be “you can’t judge a book by its cover”. Had CPT Hestilow performed the same service with different leadership, he may have retired with a Bronze Star and multiple MSMs. Perhaps he had a habit of taking care of his Soldiers more than his leaders and it reflected in his OERs. Couple a lack of higher decorations with some merely “decent” evaluations, and you have the makings of a non-select. Of course, I won’t dismiss the possibility that his service was average at best despite serving over four decades. Even if so, he seems justifiably proud of that service; though he should not mix that pride with his current actions.
We all pile on when a genuine phony is featured on these pages. Whether that phony is claiming to be have been a Navy SEAL, a recipient of the Medal of Honor, or even just sporting an unearned campaign or service medal, Jonn or another writer posts a witty and sometimes downright insulting post and the comments all add to the fun. Yet when faced with an actual veteran claiming falsities, someone remarks that the phony “had a perfectly honorable career” or something to that effect. Now when faced with someone does not seem to be a phony, but whose opinions we disagree with, we discount his service as mediocre.
Wow. I’m just a lowly SSG. About to retire. Guess what, nothing higher than an ARCOM either. Mutiple deployments to TWO war zones, and not even a CAB even though I have been shot at and shot back…
Can’t wait to see what gets said about me when I retire next year.
Why not lay off the fucking guy? Some good points have been made. No one has shown any proof that Hestilow has used his uniform for anything political, but plenty are insinuating that he has or assuming he has.
How about STFU until he actually HAS done something wrong?
So he had a mediocre career and never made it past O-3, so the fuck what.
There’s an odd culture in the reserved regarding awards. Some commands give em out liberally, some are so stingy it’s unbelievable. I had a specialist (68WM6) I was working with once, she was a doctor’s office LPN in her civilian job. We were on active duty together in a pretty high speed PACU when a patient rolled out from the OR who’s anesthetics and paralytics weren’t reversed, but the anesthesia provider pulled out his ETT and left anyway. (Lotta residents). Well, there was something else going on in the unit that had most of the nurses and senior NCO’s tied up (someone trying to die, probably), so this medic has a patient who’s paralyzed, hypoxic, and hypotensive, with no assistance except for another LPN (brand new). Well, she stepped up, took charge of the situation and handled it. She saved that man’s life through her rapid proficient actions. She did what medics DO, and she did it damn well in a tough circumstance that she was not used to operating in, so I wrote her up for an award. My section leaders approved it, but the nurse corps brass at hospital HQ said ‘She was just doing her job, there’s no reason for this award’. I tried multiple times, and got shut down. ‘Doesn’t deserve an award, LT.’. ‘Just doing her job LT’. ‘She’ll get an end of mob award, LT’.
Long story short, just because you don’t have stacks of chest candy doesn’t mean you aren’t a good soldier. It just means you didn’t have leaders who didn’t take the time to recognize your work achievements.
ANCCPT: correct. Some units are particularly bad about taking care of their people re: awards; some are way too liberal. That’s true in both Active and Reserve Component units, but it does seem to be more prevalent in the RC.
This guy served honorably, and for a long time. He wasn’t a “world beater”, but not everyone can be. Wrong place wrong time once and chances are you’re never going to be a “world beater”. I’ve got no problem with his career.
However, IF (and that’s a big IF) he’s using or allowing use of photos of himself in uniform to push a political agenda – well, yeah, I’ve got a problem with that.
@57… nothing wrong exxcept for spreading nothing more than bovine fecal matter disguised as government conspiracies to justify his paranoid fantasies and to give him some ego boost.
Oh, I’m totally on board with that. 670-1 is a HUGE issue for me. I take that one very personally. You can’t wear the uniform of the US military and act the fool at political rallies any more than you can sell surfboards, or car wax or jellybeans. We are an apolitical organization, who’s sole purpose is to protect our nation and it’s interests. The history of the world is rife with the bones of countries who’s militaries got into politics…
And as an aside about AR 670-1, not only do I try to award my soldiers appropriately, I also enforce the uniform regs and military order and conduct like nobodies business. Yes, we are reservist. Yes, we are MEDICAL reservists. NO, you cannot get away with not saluting the LTC, even if she is a nurse corps officer with her cover on slanted, carrying a huge purse and a coffee in her right hand. If you act the right way, every time, people will start acting right around you. It spreads. Standards. They’re what’s for breakfast.
That 2-1 sure is neat. Mine is a mess. There’s hardly a line that is typed with the same typewriter. He seems legit so wonder why he did that?
SJ: on the reserve side, it wasn’t unknown in the 1990s and later for some officers to be told to prepare and submit an ORB before promotion boards. AR-PERSCOM (now the reserve part of HRC) even provided a fillable blank form for doing so. (It was required to be signed and dated, with signature certifying the info to be correct. If anyone was stupid enough to fake entries, they were literally playing “bet yer career”.)
The above seems to be an extract of a DA 2-1 vice an ORB. My guess is that it was a new DA 2-1 prepared when he re-entered the service in an enlisted capacity in 2002 (9+ years after he was discharged and lost his commission in 1993), probably because his original records weren’t readily available. I’d guess it was transcribed from a previous copy of his ORB he provided.
I’m thinking it’s likely all correct. Nothing “jumps out” as appearing bogus, and all of the info seems plausible and consistent with the rest of his FOIA.
There are a lot of ex military in the Tea Party. There are a lot of ex military that think the government is buying up ammunition. There are a lot of ex military that were not Gen. Ridgeway. There are a lot of ex military that never wore a dress uniform.
There are a lot of people who believe in unicorns and elves too….
Ammo buyups by the Government are a myth based on Government Contracts that allow for potential(key word) purchases over 5-6 year time periods. These contracts which have not been fully met are being blamed for ammunition shortages that have been taking place since before Obama even took office, and in huge part are the result of supply not being able to keep up with the demand of the general gun owning population who have been stockpiling ammo and guns in large quantities since Obama got elected.
The other idiocy about MRAPs is based on some mythical order by DHS for 2500 MRAPS, which originated from a contract for the refurbishment of MRAPs for…. DoD, not DHS.
but look, I think I just saw a UFO take off from Area 51 to make chem trails and poison us all…..
Okay, he’s been retired so long (and wasn’t so sharp to begin with) he can’t wear his shit right and didn’t learn reservists now do their own ORB on DA Form 4037 when they type it themselves… not a fake, though.
A marginal turd.
Maybe Phildo should hire him at APL.
It looks like he has the talent, the tools and the turditity to work for Phildo.
As I told a fellow commenter here privately, some of the comments on this thread actually made me feel ashamed to be associated with TAH. Most folks stayed away and a number came right out and also took offense at the ill treatment. A few, for reasons unknown to me, opted to assail this man’s service and took the opportunity to deride him for reasons altogether separate from the ammo-stockpiling theory. Well, here’s a brief recap of his service:
Hestilow enlisted in the US Army over four decades ago and was trained as an MP. He was deployed to Vietnam where MP duty was not a guaranteed good time. (A family friend was an MP in Saigon and, when he returned, physically intact though he was, he was a greatly pained individual whose very gait changed dramatically.) Hestilow remains an EM for a little over a decade, is discharged, and re-enters service in the Reserves as an officer. He attends various schools, including infantry and airborne, and has a rather unremarkable number of years before, 20 years after his Vietnam service, his unit is activated and deployed to Afghanistan. He ultimately retires, as a captain, following decades of honorable service. What his personal experiences were we do not know but he could probably write a book on the changes he witnessed between the Army of 1970 and the Army he retired from. There is only one Audie Murphy and there are only a small handful of publically recognized heroes who receive high honors. Most of us Veterans served as Captain Hestilow apparently did—rather quietly, plainly, and honorably.
Having said all of that, he put himself out there for public scrutiny with his ammo-gobble theory. Have at it regarding that all you want, but please do not attack him for other reasons. He truly deserves our thanks, not our ridicule.
@69.
CPT versus CPL for life theory?
Where is the cord?
Man has cross-rifles, but no cord?
Seriously?
And that picture above is NOT a DA photo shot.
2/17 Air Cav: to preclude any misunderstanding, I’ll restate my position on the guy.
1. I have no issue with his service. He served honorably, long, and well. His career doesn’t scream “world beater” – but not everyone is.
2. However, IF he is using (or allowing others to use) his photo in uniform to further a political agenda, I do indeed have a problem with that. Using one’s uniform to push a political agenda is neither authorized nor appropriate. No, it’s not as bad as using the IRS to screw with political opponents. But IMO it’s getting there.
3. If his photo is being used without his permission AND he’s made a strong effort to prevent it – including publicly disavowing the use of photos of him in uniform – then I’ll give him a pass. If not, he’s partially culpable for allowing that without objection.
By design, the US military is an apolitical entity; it’s loyalty is to the nation, not to any party or partisan ideology. An apolitical military does not endorse partisan causes or positions.
Further: we really do not want to go down the path of political partisanship in the US military. For examples why not see America, Latin; Africa, Sub-Saharan; and Myanmar (formerly Burma).
Any American has the freedom to express their opinion. However, once you’re in uniform there are certain limits regarding precisely how you may express your opinion; those limits persist even in retirement. Make odd statements or take strange public positions in civilian clothes after you’ve retired? No issue, pretty much regardless of how crackpot the opinion or position may be, so long as you don’t advocate violent overthrow of the government or otherwise violate the law. However, making those same public political statements while in uniform – or publicly using a photo of yourself in uniform to further a political agenda – implies official endorsement of that position or opinion. Do that, and IMO you’ve stepped over the line.
GT – we usually pretty much agree on most subjects, but we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one.
It is obvious that the cord is very important to you. Those who earn it have every right to be proud of it. But, I can think of several times in my career that I was asked to wear or not wear something somewhat out of sync with the regs. I usually turned it into a learning experience for whoever was making the request, but had circumstances been different (or had I not been quite so hard headed), I could very easily have just gone along to get along.
Why is he not wearing one? One reason could be that he got out of the habit of wearing it because some CO somewhere didn’t like for him to wear it. Or the dog ate it. Or he is dressed up here to walk his daughter down the aisle and the cord clashed with her dress. Or any number of other possibilities that only he can sort out for us. Who knows! Which is rather the point here.
Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Anybody got something which shows that he actually did use the uniform for a political purpose? If so, let’s see it and I will join in hammering him for it.
@73.
If you read my posts, I do not have an issue with guilt or innocence. Do not care.
Just stupidity.
The cord is part of an Infantryman’s uniform. Period.
Regs aside, this man should know this; regardless of a CO, a dog or a wedding.
No excuse.
Hondo – If anyone here argued against the position which you, and others, have stated multiple times in this topic, I missed it. I certainly do not support using the uniform for political purposes. By anyone.
At least a few of us here were enforcing similar regs before most of the commenters and readers here were in service, and before many of you were born. We know the regs and why that particular one is so important. Some of us have been disgusted with politicians for decades who corrupt those very rules for their own gain.
Show me that he has violated the rules and I am on board with calling him out on it – just as I have done with others for the same infraction of the rules. But all that pic of him proves is that he was standing outside a building somewhere in a uniform one day. That is just not enough for me to become irate.
When I am all alone, I’m hungry, I’m cold, life sucks and no one likes me…
I have my IN cord.
Just saying….
GT – you made me smile with that one! (I have a specialty badge I feel similarly about, and for which I received some flak for not replacing with a more current one.)
OWB – Fair enough.
#69 2/17 Air Cav,
Today’s Army has become a look at me society where the “right” accoutrements on one’s uniform means everything to certain people. Maybe only a minority of more junior personnel are guilty of this, but leadership seems to embrace it. It is, after all, an Army where Joe gets sent home with an AAM for multiple firefights while his officers mostly get BSMs for sitting on their asses. It is also an Army where a combat badge was created that could be earned by almost anyone (conveniently including general officers) for something as trivial as a rocket impacting within one’s sight.
I may very well be wrong, but in my opinion this has all become a game of sorts. “Let’s see who can get the most trinkets in the shortest amount of time.” I spent a month at Manas then came forward before the last main body elements from my brigade. Two weeks later I find that one unit has already completed their end of tour awards and a memorandum for a Combat Action Streamer, and that there is even a template for a Meritorious Unit Commendation that will be submitted. Despite an ALARACT message and HRC FAQ clarifying “direct ground combat”, the CIB seems to be getting awarded in the exact same manner as the CAB, and the officers were front loaded for the deployment so they could all get their combat patches and strive for a CAB/CIB and Bronze Star. Hell, we already have officers rotating out so more jackass Lieutenants can deploy and do productive things like run into t-walls, never mind the fact that the enlisted Soldiers we left behind were actually needed.
But, yeah, shame on CPT Hestilow. He shoulda held off on retirement and come to an active-Army BCT. I’m sure he’d have gotten a nice shiny CIB for watching some fireworks, a Bronze Star for showing up, and an MSM for retiring. Then he might look like every spoiled 7-year SFC and 18-month 1LT wearing ASUs nowadays.
@60
And this is STILL America and he’s STILL free to do that, RIGHT?
After all, that’s what we ALL served for, right? To uphold the US Constitution?
OWB: here’s some of what the guy’s doing/condoning that irritates me. The photos are apparently from Hestilow’s Facebook page. I find it hard to believe they’re not being used with his consent and approval.
http://www.examiner.com/article/retired-army-officer-warns-dhs-preparing-for-war-against-american-citizens
http://www.teapartypatriots.org/members/terryhestilow/activity/141702/
http://www.infowars.com/retired-army-captain-warns-recent-dhs-acquisitions-are-bold-threat-of-war-against-the-american-people/
http://helpthesheeple.com/2013/03/25/retired-army-captain-warns-dhs-acquisitions-are-bold-threat-of-war-against-the-american-people/
http://teapartyorg.ning.com/forum/topics/hear-me-america-a-message-for-all-americans?commentId=4301673%3AComment%3A1381837
In the last link, it appears that Hesilow himself posted the photo or linked to it. I say that because Hesilow appears to have written that entry himself.
Took me about 10 min on Google to find those. There are a boatload of others.
I personally think the guy’s gone off the deep end – and he’s absolutely free to do that. But I do have a problem with him using photos of himself in uniform as props to support his rather “out there” political positions and causes. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I’m now convinced that’s exactly what he’s doing.