It’s not like we haven’t been warning about IAVA
Back in 2009, I ran down the case that Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association isn’t the non-partisan Veterans Service Organization that it claims. In 2012, I told you about IAVA executive director Paul Rieckhoff’s embellishment of his awards. We’ve been warning that IAVA is not what it appears to be, that they are not in the business of helping veterans. Well, Daily Caller has an article this morning that supports our contention.
Former employees of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, one of the largest veterans’ advocacy organizations in the country, allege that the charity’s CEO has abused staff and pressured employees to lie about grant funds and project success to mislead donors.
Seven former employees of IAVA spoke to The Daily Caller News Foundation and said among other things that CEO Paul Rieckhoff, who served in Iraq as an Army first lieutenant, has fostered an environment that puts pressure on employees to aggressively fiddle with numbers so that grant finances and grant project goals can be listed as complete.
“We’re tired of seeing funds misused with no support for actual programs,” the first former IAVA employee told TheDCNF on condition of anonymity.
The article continues that IAVA is not in compliance with most of the conditions of their grants, so they make shit up to make it appear as if they are in compliance. Programs are understaffed, money is misdirected;
Staffers also spoke to an environment of extreme paranoia, micromanagement and pressure to fill job roles that had nothing to do with their current positions. When employees decide to leave, one former staffer said that “they become the enemy.”
As such, turnover has been a prominent issue at the highest levels. In 2016, the CFO left a resignation letter on his desk the day of a board meeting. All six employees on the communications team, management included, had departed by mid-2016, leaving just one person in 2017 to man the desk.
As we’ve said before, IAVA is for the glorification of Paul Rieckhoff, not anything for veterans.
Jonah Bennett, the author of the piece at The Daily Caller tells me that this isn’t last we’ll hear from him on this subject.
Category: Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
Turd
Coc….uh, I’ll leave this to ex-OS2.
ex-OS2:
Proceed inbound ASAP.
You already know where and what this target is, and you’ll also recognize it by its familiar noxious odor.
You are cleared hot.
Cocksucker.
Fucking cocksucker.
a Cocksucker’s cocksucker!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Another shack!
Reading the 2012 story, I’d also like to point out that Amherst is not an Ivy League School.
I worked at Dartmouth for a bit 10 years ago…this is the Ivy League:
Dartmouth
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Brown
University of Pennsylvania
Cornell
Columbia
It’s one of the Ivy’s for those who just missed the cut for an Ivy. Looks like an Ivy, acts like an Ivy, but not an Ivy. I had a friend who went to Smith who insisted that she was also attending an Ivy League school, mostly because it was private, expensive, and had events like high teas.
Kinda like Caroline, the character who went to da Wharton School of Bidness on Two Broke Girls…..
So funny. Costs more but 2+2 = 4 at all colleges. I’ve always wondered how is an Ivy League education better than a state college education?
First off, I just fat fingered this and accidentally hit report. Sorry. As to the value of the Ivy education? I don’t think that it’s got anything whatsoever to do with the actual quality of education received. But on paper, it looks impressive. I’m also guessing that the network you can tap into is a selling point.
The connections you make with rich business families at Ivy League Schools can set you up financially for the rest of your life at a very early age….it’s an advantage not to be taken lightly.
Exactly right. It’s about networking and making connections and being able to put the school name on your resume, so you can apply for the kind of jobs that won’t even read your resume if it doesn’t list an Ivy League school, regardless of what your accomplishments are.
Sorry but at some schools 2+2= whatever the professor says it does or you’ll get an F.
I’ve had to temper my point of view more than once and facts more than once because of professors and their bullshit opinion being used as fact.
True dat.
no shit. I was pretty lucky in that regards. I had one prof that had a real hard on for Reagan. One day he started in on Iran Contra, Honduras etc and I told him to shut up about crap he knew nothing about. He condescendingly asked me why I thought I knew more than him on that and I replied “cause I was on the fucking tarmac at Tegucigulpa International there a few months ago” Surprisingly he gave me a C in the class and it was what I deserved.
“I’ve always wondered how is an Ivy League education better than a state college education?”
It depends on what you mean. For example, no sane person thinks the lesser Ivies (i.e., not Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia) are better than Chicago and Cal-Tech (among others), or that you’d be better off studying engineering at Brown vs. at Purdue, Ga.Tech, etc. But, if you’re referring generically to the top 10 or so schools*, yeah, it makes a difference.
First, true, you generally cover the same material whether you’re at Michigan State, Princeton, or MIT. Calculus is calculus, torts is torts, etc. The difference isn’t what you learn. It’s not even from whom you learn it. It’s the other people learning it with you. The simple fact is that the average Elite School student is smarter and works harder than the average State student (particularly outside the flagship school). That would be true even if you limited the comparison to say, the top 5,000 at The Ohio State vs. Yale’s UG Class. So, while it’s fairly easy to graduate with decent grades from Princeton, Yale, etc., it takes extraordinary effort to excel above all others. (Think of it like working to be tops in a run-of-the-mill CQB course vs. during Green Team. Sure, you cover lots of the same stuff….) For especially driven students, I’d say it’s a clear advantage. For the lackluster, academically, not so much.
Second, most people who go to our country’s best schools (however one reckons such things), do probably discover that they’re not all that great (which is true). The chief advantage, though, is that having gone there, you will never spend any further portion of your life in a condition of yearning, thinking to yourself, “Ah, if only I had gone to one of the better schools, how much better my life would have been.”
Whether that premium is worth an extra $350-500K (sticker price plus interest) is, of course, a separate question.
I would opine that given enrollment numbers, etc., Ivy League schools are much better at grad school/postgraduate studies than undergrad.
Basically, you have a degree from Harvard Law/Med/Biz school, people sit up and take notice. An undergrad degree? Not as much.
I was in the 4th Infantry Division, also known as “IVY”. Does not make me an Ivy (school) graduate? /s
Sounds good to me. Why not?
I spent a few months with 3/61 CAV out of 4ID in Afghanistan, I’d be happy to jump on that Ivy League bandwagon.
“It’s one of the Ivy’s for those who just missed the cut for an Ivy.”
Oh, please. Brown is the Ivy for those who missed the cut everywhere else — including Duke, Wellesley, and elsewhere.
You end up at Brown. People actually choose Amherst.
There are so many Charities already in place to help not only Vets but almost every other cause that seeing a new one tackle an old problem always raises suspicion in me.
If he wanted to do good for Vets, he could of Volunteered or got hired at the VFW, or anyone of the hundred of good and legit Charities. Forming a new Charity always looks like a money grab.
With you there, CB Senior. I see someone set up an organization to do what other, more established organizations are already doing, and I have to wonder, “is it meeting a need, a money grab, or an ego trip?”
Or b) and c)?
I love it when TAH gets it right. I have lurked here about the time Soup Sandwich came around and I never left.
I can’t get enough of this place either.
There are some who call me….the Rooster.
You know he ain’t gonna die.
So then your radio call sign would be “Hot Cock”?
Well, there’s tons of unsuspecting veterans (myself included) who joined IAVA before learning of a lot of the background on Mr Rieckhoff and his shenanagans.
I kick myself everytime I read more information on this dirtbag, for not doing a little more research before joining that crapshow.
Amen, brother.
I hear the rumblings of a shitstorm, and it’s got Paul Reickhoff’s name written all over it.
I have met him in the past and he is a turd.
Just look at his interviews on TV.
Maybe clean up a bit? Shave? If your going to be the self-proclaimed mouthpiece then how about understanding those that you represent? Maybe quit looking in the mirror.
Shitbag.
And for Christsakes….wear matching socks and never, ever, never, ever, never wear white high top sneakers with a damn coat and tie.
On fucking TV.
I could not and still cannot to this day take this clown seriously.
But I bet he can impress those E-3’s……
Amherst? Huh?
Assclown.
Even the name of this organization raised red flags to me.
Wasn’t the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) a similar type of organization that purported to be “nonpartisan” while actually being both partisan as hell (and virulently anti-war) and also more than a little bit shady?
Pretty sure that was VVAW (founded in 1967; John Kerry was a member), Martinjmpr. I think VVA (founded in 1978) is legit, though they do have rather liberal membership policies (e.g., military service anywhere during the Vietnam War vice service in-theater).
Also very close to Iraq Veterans against War (IVAW) as well.
IVAW isn’t those the retards that circulated jesse macbeth’s horseshit?
Rieckhoff’s response to The Daily Caller piece.
After reading Shitbird’s statement I clicked on the how to join link.
Seems like a real legit Veteran’s organization when you let ‘supporters’ join too. Seems more about how much money can we bring in, than being a legitimate group for Veterans.
How many fakers join this group to help pad that resume of bullshit in order to seem more legitimate.
Yep – he has represented millions of veterans so well. Uh-huh. Nope. No hyperbole or exaggeration there. At all. Ever.
And I am the Easter Bunny. Koo-koo-ka-choo.
From his response: “Some troublesome, anonymous accusations have been made against me and IAVA….” He’s damn right about troublesome. What he didn’t say that the accusations were false, malicious, unfounded, ridiculous or anything of the kind. He’s in a stick wicket now. If he uses corp funds for his defense against the inevitable charges, he’s screwed. If he doesn’t, there goes his vacation money–for the next ten years.
Nae! I am the Easter Bunny!
So the fool continues to act foolish? No surprise there. At all.
When we see clowns like Rieckhoff I have to wonder if he pickled his brain smoking dope or if it was simple lefty propaganda that got him. (Not to exclude the possibility that the propaganda got him while he was smokin’ sumpin’.) Of course it could just be a narcissist discovering an easy way to get paid to act out in public.
I always hate to see stories like these, for every one of these type of organizations that are exposed, it really hurts the real ones out there that do tremendous good everyday for vets! It makes everyone a little less likely to contribute to the cause and in the end, it hurts all of us! Assholes like this fucker should be shot at sunrise! Fuck this guy!!!
I have a friend who knew Rieckhoff from the NY ARNG. The friend has nothing good to say about him, but won’t elaborate on specifics. I’m going to assume, based on that, that Jonn has been spot on about him for a while.
sometimes it is what people choose NOT to say, means a lot more than what they might otherwise say….
You should assume that w/o your friend’s say so because Jonn never stirs a pot publicly unless he can back it up.
Fucking asswipe wrecks it for every real organization that does the work of charity.
There is a special place in hell for people like him.
Wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lam-BAM-BOOM !!!
Not sure about official nomenclature in the sister services. In the Corps we would call this specimen an oxygen thieving piece of shit.
Is “bag of assholes” Corps-specific? That was a favorite of my SDI.
Paul Rieckhoff = Clown.
Paul Rieckhoff = Fucking Ass Hamster
Just another lesson to put your trust in organizations that are trustworthy, such as the VFW, the Legion, DAV, or a a government sponsored veterans’ commission.
I will say this, DAV is awesome at what they do.
A lot of this crap would never have taken root if the VA were not so fucked up. Waste, fraud and abuse leaves a lot of opportunity for the Rieckhoff types to exploit.
Dirty Shit Sack!
Rieckhoff, what a meat-gazing oxygen thief of a jackoff!
I don’t know, he looks like fobbit material to me. I wonder if anyone has verified he was actually awarded a CIB. The fact that he was wearing a BSM and unwarranted SF patch and doesn’t know how to wear the blue rope makes me question everything he says about himself. Being a leg, I wonder how he thought he could join the 19th SFGA. In the year and a half I served as S-3 (air)/ASO for that NG SF group I never encountered a leg LT. But I guess you are entitled to be a legend in your own mind if you are a leftard/progtard. I want to create a new symbol for the “progressives.” It will be a red parallelogram, thus depicting the fact they all live in a parallel universe or alternate reality.
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Just a word of caution. You may call him an asshole. You may express your pleasure with the story and the insider who provided the dope but don’t call him anything that he could be charged with and convicted of. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “You mean don’t call him a ________, or a __________, or a blank? No, I would never do that.”
Good advice, as doing so might constitute defamation per se, and afford a basis for one of them expensive lawer filed lawsuits.
Okay, so it’s not out of line to describe him as a ‘self-centered, money-grubbing, song-and-dance sideshow barker’, or do I have to leave out the part about ‘money-grubbing’?
Read the article, as well as the supporting material, the linked letter of which is, in my opinion, a disheartening but must read piece. After reading Mr. Reickhoff’s response, and reviewing the letter attachment in the article, I’d probably ask him, if we ever met, how some of these fairly specific allegations, and presented sentiments with some highly known organizations that he has purportedly snubbed/offended, could be presented if they didn’t come from former employees. Don’t think he’d have many legs to stand on as a matter of defending himself on those accounts if he were pressed on the issues.
Rickoff is a jack off assclown of the first degree, aligned himself with the wicked witch of Arkansas herself and tried to convince members to do the same, at that point I wiped my ass with my membership and did some research to find the group does virtually nothing for veterans. I hope they string up this POS
rgr 769:
19th SFGA?
The hat is the Shinseki leg beret with a leg flash. Am I missing something about him being in Group?
I correct myself, having read the links. Leg beret and flash, SF shoulder patch, no wings.
I just don’t understand why people lie and self -aggrandize on the backs of their fellow veterans. FY, and FYA IAVA.
And these fuckers make a lot of money to boot. 250K for Reickhof? What are they doing if they are not meeting goals, FFS???? Take a look at their 990.
The allegations should be pretty easy to confirm (or not). Mixing restricted and general funds is a huge screw up, but I won’t be overly surprised if it turns out to be true. Bottom line, the ‘leadership’ seems quite toxic, financial malpractice or not.
Nothing new… stuff like this goes on and on. Every now and then the keyboard firing squad will leave their keyboards and try to do something for a day or two.. then back to commentary. There needs to be a committed “national” group that pounds these less than honorable scumbags daily till they are squashed like grapes and then some. Surely a scum bag has more honor that a piece of &^%* (POS) like Paul Rieckhoff and those who were in collusion with him. SWIFT VETS / POW’s for the Truth have been on it for some time.. Quote: From Pat Dollard.com ALERT To False Front Predators: Major Leftist Indoctrination Group Poses As Veterans Aid Organization Paul Rieckhoff, dead center An insidious, treacherous, anti-military, anti-democracy and anti-capitalist organization called “Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America”, IAVA, is posing as a veteran’s aid and support group in an attempt to turn the last non-Leftist bastion of America into the Left’s mightiest arm of real force. They are dedicated to one mission, and one mission only: indoctrinate the average service member into a Leftist ideologue loyal to George Soros’ and Obama’s neo-Marxist revolution. Go to this link and scroll down to the bottom, and you will see the IAVA’s “report card” on politicians’ performance as supporters of the troops. John McCain is given a D, Barack Obama a B. George Soros is a financier of the IAVA. ( From Blackfive: But Burden says what really bothers him about IAVA’s report card is its insistence that its grades are nonpartisan. He points to IAVA’s funding: Jonathan Soros, son of liberal financier George Soros, is sponsoring the group’s annual dinner next month. At the same time, the IAVA uses technology provided by Democracy in Action, a self-described “progressive nonprofit” that provides discount services to liberal groups. And, Burden points out, Rieckhoff once delivered the Democratic response to one of President Bush’s radio addresses.) They used to operate under the moniker Operation Truth before they came up with the less radical sounding IAVA. Blackfive did an expose on Operation Truth. The IAVA, led by Paul… Read more »
You guys need to get off the koolaid. The daily caller is not exactly great journalistic site to cite from. The comments here sound nothing more than gossip of “i heard” or “someone told me”. Cut the crap and examine what you are doing for your fellow veterans. That is what matters most.