Phony Virginian Governor supports phony Army Major
The Governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, a carpetbagger from Syracuse, fully supports Gary McCollum the phony Army Major running for the Virginia State Senate, according to WTOP;
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe says he absolutely still supports the Democratic candidate in a key senate race, whose biography wrongly claimed he was still in the Army Reserve.
“I do, 100 percent, you bet,” McAuliffe tells WTOP.
Gary McCollum’s official biography said that he was currently a major in the Army Reserve. But Army records obtained by the Virginian Pilot show McCollum was sent a letter in March 2001, informing him of his discharge. McCollum said he had not had contact with the Army for 23 years.
Clearly, McAuliffe puts his own political ambitions ahead of the needs of Virginia, but that should shock no one – he came to national prominence riding the Clintons’ coattails and enabling them to become residents of New York State so Hillary Clinton could run for the Senate there.
I’d have more faith in the Virginia voters to dump McCollum in the election if they hadn’t already elected McAullife.
Thanks to Chip for the link.
Category: Phony soldiers, Valor Vultures
FIRST
Clinton = Clintoon.
He hasn’t been in contact with the Army in 23 years? I’ve been retired for five years and they still send me emails for Alumni Day and other special events, and I was just a cook.
Sounds like he’s either hiding from them, or he screwed the pooch so bad they want nothing to do with him.
It also makes me wonder what his math skills are like. If he received a letter in 2001 from the Army Reserve, and this is 2015, how does that equal 23 years without contact? Is time travel maybe involved?
Turds.
Politics trumps common sense and ethics once again.
I live in this area and have been following this story with a slightly elevated level of disinterest.
No clue if he was in regiment, went to Ranger school, or what, but he is having a tough time in an area with a large military presence.
That said, when I was still on AD we activated a whole bunch of reservists right after 9/11, and one of the majors we got had the exact opposite story. He had about 10 years as a drilling reservist, and had done nothing for about 4-5 years. He had no idea that he was still in the reserves, and the last he knew he was a captain.
He had not only been retained in the IRR without his knowledge, he had been promoted. Turns out that he had done a lot of interesting things since leaving (as far as he knew), to include smoking a lot of pot and other activities that precluded him from getting a clearance.
This was a problem, since he was an MI officer in our G-2 section. He spent most days sitting outside the SCIF. He had a successful business back home and wanted to get out of there ASAP.
reddevil: I might buy that claim (“I didn’t know . . . “) here – except the guy in question here was referring to himself in his bio as a Major in the Army Reserve.
An article linked in comments to Jonn’s first article on the guy gave a timeline of his career, apparently prepared by HRC (not verified, but whoever prepared it appears to have had direct access to his OMPF).
This guy initially went into a TPU. He didn’t make Major until well after he’d transferred to the IRR, which happened some time later. I believe he also indicated elsewhere he knew was a 2x nonselect for LTC.
So if he knew he was a USAR MAJ – and if my memory is correct and he also knew he’d been a 2x nonselect for USAR LTC – well, I have a REAL hard time buying the “I didn’t know . . . ” claim.
I’ll see if I can find the original links.
Follow-up: here are two of the links:
http://wavy.com/2015/09/15/senate-candidate-backs-down-to-military-service-claims/
https://lintvwavy.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/sv-gary-t-mccollum.pdf
If I find the one where he said he knew he was a 2x nonselect, I’ll post that also.
OK, here’s the article indicating that McCollum knew – at least since July – that he had been nonselected for promoiton to USAR LTC.
http://hamptonroads.com/2015/09/expert-military-status-misrepresentation-costly-mccollum-campaign
One would think he might inquire as to USAR policies and his military status immediately if July 2015 was truly the first time he’d ever seen that letter – if for no reason than to confirm his campaign literature, and to publish a correction if it turned out he’d made an honest mistake.
The fact that he had to be prodded to make such a correction is IMO quite telling.
Oh, I’m not defending him at all. To me, it is more than stolen valor; it shows shoddy work on the part of his staff and highlights that he is a poor leader.
Perhaps worst of all is that if he really did think he was still in the IRR he was apparently comfortable with not being activated to serve in some capacity over the past 14 years.