That “victimless crime”, Stolen Valor
The other day, we talked about Ed Cameron, the VFW post commander who had been telling tales for years about his Purple Heart and because of it, the community put his visage on a bus honoring Purple Heart recipients, but it turns out that he never made it out of basic training let alone deployed to any combat zone. Well, Toasty Coastie sends us a link from the Herald-Tribune which reports that now his likeness will be removed from the bus, you know, that stuff isn’t free and someone has to pay for it, probably taxpayers;
The bus features pictures of seven Purple Heart recipients, but accusations have been raised about a 62-year-old man who says he was wounded in Vietnam and rose to the rank of major in the Marines.
“He’s an imposter, and we’re taking the picture off,” County Commissioner Melony Bell said. “I can’t imagine anyone doing this.”
For years, Ed Cameron told his fellow VFW and American Legion members in Lake Wales that he received two Purple Hearts after he was shot while members of a platoon he commanded were killed during battle, according to members of the Lake Wales VFW.
Cameron also claimed a Bronze Star and a Silver Star, but it was the Purple Heart that got him a spot on the bus. See, the Supreme Court said that this was a victimless crime, but are you going to tell me that there aren’t victims in this case when someone has to pony up cash for the work to remove Cameron’s face from the bus. How soon do you think that community will lay out money for another project to honor veterans while this incident is fresh in their minds?
We’ve had other incidents where phonies’ names had to be removed from memorials, bodies had to be removed from veterans’ cemeteries, head stones had to be altered, all because of lying liars. That costs money, so there are victims of the fraudsters. Victims who will never be compensated because prosecutors won’t defend their constituents’ right to be protected from these criminals.
Worst of all, every veteran becomes suspect because of this. Whichever VFW post allowed this ass monkey, Cameron, to be their commander without any documentation should pay the community back for their incompetence and to save the way that community sees their veterans.
Category: Phony soldiers
“And so there I was in the heat of battle vastly outnumbered by dead enemy troops when it dawned on me that my entire platooon or (insert name/company) had been completely whipped out too! But, you won’t find it listed in the archives or any copies of company records anywhere because it was truly a top secret squirrel mission”.
Sorry Lake Wales VFW Post, yall shoulda went over yer boy’s creeds with a fine tooth comb and brush too boot.
The solution’s simple, streetsweeper. All memberships in ALL VSOs should be provisional until verification is received from official sources. Signing a SF180 (or equivalent) allowing sufficient unredacted documents to verify eligibility to be sent directly to the VSO should be part of the membership application process.
That should also IMO be done on a one-time basis for all current members. And national HQ should maintain a “blacklist” of anyone found ineligible and pitched as a result.
VSOs will never implement that, of course. Because doing so would cost them a chunk of their current and prospective membership – along with that chunk’s dues.
The local Legion post requires an original DD-214 along with your membership application. You get it back but it’s cut down on a lot of malarky. Heck, they’ve even sent a couple guys packing when they found out they were frauds.
Some of them get it right, but I agree that many are worshiping the God of Numbers and are willing to look the other way in order to get bosied and dues.
AW1 Tim: “original DD214s” today are no longer printed on multipart forms. And they don’t have any “pen and ink” signatures.
In the Army, since at least late 2003 DD214s have been printed on a laser printer, on plain paper. And since at least 2009, they have been digitally signed.
As a result, it’s very difficult approaching impossible to distinguish between an “original” DD214 and a good-quality photocopy. Or a laser-printed fake, for that matter.
If it comes directly from the individual, these days it’s IMO suspect. Fake docs are simply too damn easy to acquire or produce today.
The VSOs need to change their process to require verification of eligibility from official sources, not from self-provided documents. Otherwise, they’re tacitly saying they will accept some level of unqualified membership.
That’s unfortunate, but today it’s reality.
Part of the reality is that the financial burden of paying for all those FOIA’s, plus the resulting loss of membership, would cause the closing of some Posts. Not that they do not deserve it if they are coddling Valor Thieves. I do agree that they deserve it. Sometimes doing the right thing has negative consequences for folks who have done nothing wrong.
However, something which can be done immediately without the massive shockwave is for national officers to submit FOIA’s on themselves, encourage/require all state officers to do the same, and begin a program toward requiring all Posts to do the same at some future date.
Um, OWB, a FOIA inquiry or records release authorization (technically, a SF180 that is signed by the individual concerned authorizing release isn’t a FOIA inquiry) virtually always costs nothing more than the price of a stamp, an envelope, and the cost of printing a single sheet of paper.
I’m guessing most VSO posts could afford a roll of stamps, a box of envelopes, and a ream of paper annually. At current prices, that comes to around $55.
A $1 annual increase in the local portion of VSO post dues would almost certainly handle that easily, and would in fact probably make a bit of $$$ for the post. Alternatively, the application fee could be increased by $1, or a $1 application processing fee could be added for new applicants.
A one-time special assessment of $1 per existing member would handle the cost of the one-time verification of existing members. I’d guess that would likely also give an early indication of who might have something to hide – IMO they’d likely be the ones raising Cain about the proposal.
Not disagreeing with you, Hondo. Really. Just trying to think of what could be done immediately – which changing the rules for everyone simply will not happen quickly, as much as you and I might like for it to.
The national leaders could just decide to show us all that they are legit while they are working on the broader solutions. Leaders leading? What a concept!
OWB, it could be implemented immediately. Its so simple even a Caveman could do it. When signed by the Veteran, all records on file are provided as well. I am a Life Member of the VFW but I wont go into my local Post as I cant deal with all the ” There I was Stories ” which are most likely BS.
True. Where I lived in Texas the local Legion Post had a star critter amongst their ranks whom scammed everybody but POW Network and several concerned individuals that had sent his name, ect to Chuck and Mary.
It was kind of funny confronting him with the info they had posted, then he dropped out of sight and moved, possibly to Florida never to be seen or heard again.
I think hastening his decision to move, was the county sheriff at the time was a Nam vet or another member of his family and he got wind of the guy, too.
Cheapest alternative is a red circle with a line through it over his with the word “Phony” under it!
THAT I like! Hell yea! Excellent idea.
Target practice…
There are fakes that get through in all VSOs, and we should be better at policing our own, but the part that really pisses me off are when a fake, or embellisher, is exposed in a VSO and the VSO chooses to either ignore it, or circle the wagons and defend them. We have seen it happen with that Korean War group, the Marine Corps League with that chucklehead out East that was running for office or re-election or some shit. What they should do is a mea culpa, tighten their shit, and drive on. If they don’t; publicly hammer their junk flat.
I disagree with the lawyers in black robes that claim that stolen valor is a victimless crime, because they wouldn’t say that about someone bragging to be a cop, even if they weren’t writing tickets or trying to arrest someone, yet it’s perfectly fine to lie about being one of us.
Gee, wouldn’t it be cheaper to run down to Kinkos and have some stickers printed up that say “I’M A LYING BASTARD!” and put them over his face on the bus?
Am hoping that the Supremes read about each and every one of these clowns discovered committing this “victimless crime.” Maybe organizations and communities could start sending the bills for correcting things like this to them for payment?
Remember, for decades, the DOD resisted a central database to verify vet’s claims. A simple database with all military records would fix this. Enter name, birthdates and service…presto! Phonies would be exposed.
Not a DoD mission, chockblock. DoD hands off records management for vet records at the end of their service (active + reserve).
However, there is an agency that currently has that mission. It’s called NARA – the National Archives and Records Administration. NPRC at St Louis is one of their operating locations.
NARA has access to the info to do this. Unfortunately, prior to about 2000 that info was all paper. And a fair chunk of that info was damaged in the 1973 record fire – although I think they did make a fairly complete recovery, at least regarding who actually served.
A second complicating factor is that proof of service alone is not sufficient for many purposes. For example: for some purposes, proof of an honorable discharge at the end of service of specified duration, during a specified period of service, or in specific locations/under specified conditions is required. Regrettably, the type of discharge (uncharacterized, general, honorable, OTH, BCD, or DD) is in general NOT information that is public record. (Don’t ask me why; I think it should be.) That information would be absent from any such database under current regs/laws. Making it available would require at a minimum a regulatory change, and possibly a change in Federal law.
Bottom line: I agree such a publicly-available database is needed. But it’s definitely not a trivial undertaking, and DoD isn’t the entity that should do it. IMO NARA is, and should be funded to do what you recommend. They’re the ones with archive responsibilities for veterans’ records.
Whether or not that will ever happen is a good question.
Why can’t a VFW post lose their charter because of stuff like this? There is no reason for this to happen.
If a rule like that was in place. That would definitely make these post vet people harder and weed out the phonies. Some kind of suspension system or lose charter and forced to resubmit in a year.
If I remember correctly, if a VFW post loses it’s charter, then the VFW’s own bylaws require that the post wait “two years” to reapply for a charter.
Probably should be a longer suspension like 4-5 years. But then again I bet even if a VFW post loses its charter…whats to stop them from parading around or petending to still be affliated?
“Whichever VFW post allowed this ass monkey, Cameron, to be their commander without any documentation should pay the community back for their incompetence and to save the way that community sees their veterans.”
Jonn I think that is the best and most honorable thing the local AL and VFW posts he belongs to could do.
In my mind, if ALL VSOs started a program right now, to have ALL members, no matter how long they have been in, sign an SF-180 for their records, to bring everyone up to date, legit and above board for the sake of the VSO’s integrity, there would be a sudden mass exodus from the membership. I think there are more phony members and more embellishing members out there than the VSOs are aware of or want to admit to and I think they are reticent to dig too deeply. They are having a hard enough time getting new members and keeping the dues money coming in. I know there are organizations out there doing it right. Requiring legit, non member provided, proof of service and awards. I respect them for doing this. I wish all would start…today, to do the same thing. Not to, is giving the organizations and more importantly, veterans in general, members or not, a further black eye.
Here’s a novel idea in America today. Make the rotten liar Cameron pay to have his face removed. Sadly, accountability for one’s actions seems to be missing today.
I agree with you, but we both know he won’t pay and that would only reinforce the negative image of veterans as a whole. So the VFW should do what we did in the case of Nate Fornwalt and make the community whole again, like we did for Matt Ott.
And this is the crux of the problem, but it is easier for these VSO’s to retain what they have instead of recruiting new members.
Again, it is all about the money, not what the VSO supposedly represents.
Why does all this bother me so much? I don’t like that any dumb ass in the world can get my records. Its none of there business unless I make their business. For example, if Jonn wanted my records before I could post on this site I would sign a 180 for him in a heartbeat and he knows it. I don’t like all this talk about me being a victim because I am a veteran. No one can steal my valor if I even have such a thing. I haven’t caught the PTSD yet either. I think i have a bad case of PTSF (Post Traumatic Stress Fatigue)because I am tired of hearing about it. Maybe I have VVS (Veteran Victim Syndrome) but am in denial. We should add this to all enlistment contracts; Warning: Serving in the military my cause unpleasant memories, prolonged deployments, hours of boredom with an occasional moment of sheer terror. If the VA offered treatment for PTSD and no monthly check to go with it I bet shitloads would find an instant cure. I support calling out the fake shitbirds in the world. I even click on the ‘Donate’ button at this site, I am guessing more of us should. If a VFW or any other organization allows some fake then they should be held accountable by us as veterans. How about we post the pictures and names of all the post leaders online, we can start a whole new section called ‘Gullible Fucks’. Maybe a serving of shame will help them put down their beer and check that shit.
“we can start a whole new section called ‘Gullible Fucks’.”
Good idea… it would include a large section on reporters/editors who never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
Send the bill to SCOTUS.
Seriously, send 9 copies of the bill with their “victimless” decision attached.
Frack, get me a copy of the bill and I’ll do it.