Sid Allen Sanden; phony POW
This fellow Sid Sanden was passing himself off as a Vietnam Era POW with 28 days in captivity until folks saw the picture of him on Facebook.
The problem is that most surviving POWs know each other and no one knew this fellow so they busted him out;
But he’s still not telling the truth – he told them that he was in the Marines for three years. Nope. Less than 11 months. He got out in May 1961 so he never went to Vietnam, either. Like a healthy dump, these things aren’t over until the paperwork is done. It took a year in this case to get the paperwork done;
Category: Phony soldiers, Valor Vultures
He was a POW in Vietnam for 28 day!
Ok, not a POW but He served as a Marine in Vietnam!
Ok he never served in Vietnam, but he was a Marine for 3 years!
Ok, he only served for 11 months and never went anywhere, but hey…nice hat!
Lol
Looking at those records, he was dropped from one battalion to the next in recruit training. That happens for injury or failure, like not qualifying with the service rifle on the range. He was in Co B, 3rd Tracks for about half a year. Then he went home. He was either a borderline window licker or a turd. One of the two. Not enough info here to discern. Given the claims of Vietnam service and POW status, I am inclined to go with the turd hypothesis.
Turd Hypothesis:
If it’s yellow let it mellow. If it’s brown flush it down
That is awesome. I have just stolen that saying.
Supposedly that originated in CA in the 70s and was used by some Bay-area radio stations in water conservation PSAs.
Used to see that on bathroom walls when in Monterey in ’77
Yep… remember it during the drought years in the mid to late 70’s. Also used in the OC to describe Moonbeam Brown at that time.
I’d be a little cautious when looking at his records.
I don’t see any evidence of him being a recycle.If I recall correctly there was a time that Pro& Con marks were entered every month or so. that explains the black outs. Good or bad its a performance indicator.
He also made L/Cpl in under a year. Looks like he was doing well, something came up and he was forced out.
Guess that wasn’t enough.
3rd Tracks! YAT YAS! That was my first assignment after escaping Radio Repair School in 29 Stumps. A lot of great stories in the 13 1/2 months that I was there, most involving various quantities of alcohol.
As to (slipped that one by you) this guy, he should be pulling targets on the hand grenade range.
Sorry Tank Boy you’re reading the records all wrong. He joined 3rd Recruit Training Battalion for Recruit Training then he graduated Boot Camp and went to 2nd ITR for Infantry Training. He completed ITR and went to Amtracs where he stayed until transferred to the Ready Reserves. He was a Reservist doing his 180 days for training. Now you need to access his reserve records.
USMCR service is Federal service. As Federal records, those records – if any exist – should have been transferred to NPRC along with his active-duty records.
There are any number of reasons why nothing but AD records might exist. Years ago, the Federal Reserve Components don’t seem to have been quite as diligent about keeping records on inactive participants as they are today. If he was released from AD back into the IRR, there might not me much there at all to document his USMCR service.
So is that a legion or VFW hat pig boy is wearing? I don’t know, too many like him in both organizations for me. And I don’t own a leather vest and can’t afford to buy cool shit on amazon, like jump wings.
Legion….if it was VFW that would be another bit of fakery, since you have to have at least some sort of minor foreign service for membership in the VFW.
And it looks like that he barely qualified for that, given the VN period for Legion membership began February 28th, 1961.
But given the fact he was only in 11 months, I’d be real curious to see if he got an honorable discharge. If not, well, he got some more ‘splainin to do.
I mean fuck, dude didn’t even get an NDSM.
The jerk rates one, given his dates of actual service. There isn’t one in his records because LBJ didn’t reinstate the NDSM until 1966, retroactive to 1961.
War
From
To
Korean War June 27, 1950 July 27, 1954
Vietnam War January 1, 1961 August 14, 1974
Persian Gulf War August 2, 1990 November 30, 1995
Global War on Terrorism September 11, 2001 Present day
Correct. But the Vietnam Era NDSM wasn’t re-authorized until LBJ did so via Presidential EO in 1966. The authorization was retroactively effective back to 1961.
People released from active duty between 1961 and 1966 thus qualify for the NDSM – but it won’t be in their records unless they have later service, because they weren’t authorized it at the time of release. The records transferred to storage at NPRC are transferred “as is”. They’re in general not individually updated afterwards to reflect decorations retroactively authorized.
The same is true re: the CAB. It wasn’t created until either 1969 or 1970 (working from memory) – but was eventually later made retroactive by DoN back to World War II, if I recall correctly. But folks who got out before the CAB was created won’t have it in their records unless they’ve gone through the process to have their records corrected and the CAB added or had service later.
Ditto the KDSM. It was created in the early 2000s – but was retroactive back to the 1950s. Essentially, everyone who served in Korea after the Korean War (or who was TDY/TAD there enough to meet the TDY/TAD service criteria) is authorized it. But if they left service prior to the early 2000s, it won’t be in their records.
All of the VSOs have had problems. Most of the phonies that we found in their membership joined before the 1990s. They’re all struggling to cleanse their ranks.
That’s not a reasonable excuse to avoid membership in any of the VSOs given what they do for ALL veterans in Washington and around the country. To me, it’s a cheap, undeserved shot and a cop-out.
I’m a Life member of the VFW, the American Legion and the DAV and we’ve busted phonies in all of them.
I’m A VFW Life member as well. As you said, these organizations do good for us overall, so I chose to support the VFW. Same thing with the NRA, not perfect but they have the power to do good.
Life Member VFW.
Life Member NRA.
Good to go. We agree to disagree. It was not meant as a cheap shot, it is a reflection of what I have seen here and elsewhere. I am a member of two Marine fraternal groups. When I feel differently, I will probably join the VFW. As I said, when I feel differently.
Fair enough, however..
The VFW’s activity in lobbying for veterans and helping large numbers of individual veterans is well documented.
My opinion wouldn’t change that fact one way or another. Facts don’t care about your feelings.
The VFW in my town is a gay bar.
No shit.
So, they take the expression “nuts to buts” literally
Do you remember the day that you discovered TAH and marveled at our Stolen Valor gallery?
It was pretty much the same way at the VSOs. They didn’t realize there was a problem until we told them about it.
I’m sure the first time you meet a veteran, you want to believe him until he says or does something to make you wonder. That’s part of our nature.
I’ve been fooled before and I’m the most skeptical person when it comes to the military.
Like I said, they’re doing their best to weed out the phonies. I’ve been at it for nearly ten years and I haven’t found them all yet.
Noted.
I agree 100%.
I’m in DAV. I get their newsletters and notices about VSO visits.
You have to have someone lobbying on your behalf.
Life Member, VFW 3404, Springfield, MO
No worries bro, my opinion of those organizations is not popular either.
In 2017 there is no excuse for these clowns being in their ranks. People listen to their bullshit for years and turn a blind eye to it.
Ya, the VFW and the AL along with DAV and what the fuck…lets throw in Wounded Warriors Progject, they all do some good.
They are all festering with phonies too. Until a signed SF-180 is required for membership, I won’t have shit to do with them.
They do a good job representing veteran…blah, blah, blah,
Well, not this veteran.
AND…a fake POW…is there anything lower than that.
This piece of shit has been spewing his bullshit for decades, but what the hell…its all about cheap beer anyway.
Shit make me sick.
WOW!!!!!
Bah…bah…bah…
Nice.
Everybody wants to be a POW until it is time to actually be a POW.
Shack!
When I was married to my first wife I felt like a POW
For 18 months Lol…
@ SKIPPY:
GOOD one!
ROFLOL ! ! !
I was abducted by the Empire and sent to the Ice Planet Hoth to fight off the Russians in the Cold War…
They made me wear ugly green clothes, carry some kind of big blaster attached to the bottom of my rifle blaster thingy, wear snowshoes and walk all over the place at -40…
Does that count as being a POW ???
BTW, I lost the war, it’s still cold as hell up there…
But you have internet access so it’s not all bad…
What are you complaining about?
You had cold beer, pizza on demand, internet access and a TV with a library of movies to watch when you weren’t shooting at bugs the size of cougars.
Some people are simply never happy.
Finally! A phony POW/short-timer with no gedunk medal!!!
I knew it was coming. It was only a matter of time. Patience has its rewards, and all that sort of thing.
I feel much better now.
What an old gasbag!
Yet another all-mouth pisspants booger-eating dick-licking dildoheaded gasbag blabbing BULLSHIT about his past. He must have been a real non-performer to get thrown out like he did!
I work EMS and try to spark up a conversation with patients to calm them and get a feel for how they are doing and it is getting ridiculous how many of these people that claim to be veterans start spouting off about their deeds of daring do, classified missions etc. I just had it happen yesterday from a supposed Gulf War Veteran who told me he was behind enemy lines, saw his partner get his head blown off with a .50 cal (presumably fired by Iraqis)and that he barely functions day to day with PTSD from his war experiences during Desert Storm. When pressed about what unit he was in it came out he was in a National Guard combat service support unit that from what I can tell never saw combat or had any casualties. I cant get into arguments or accuse people when I am on duty, I just change the subject and perhaps give them stink eye (completely unconsciously of course!)but I have come to believe that there are more of these embellishers than not and the unknowing civilian population eats this stuff up. I actually have had well meaning people ask me about my military service and how I must struggle with the effects of PTSD etc and when I tell them I do not have PTSD and would do it all over again I sometimes get a response akin to “Oh how brave…” as if I am some persevering soul who will take his pain to the grave or something. Unfortunately I get this from Veterans of all ages and conflicts and in many cases it comes from people I liked and thought highly of. Yet with them slinging their BS at me knowing I am a career military retiree it feels like I am being disrespected as if I am too stupid to detect their BS or as if they are trying to co-opt me into supporting their stories “brothers have to stick together you know”. Its probably always been like that and we are just more aware of it due to the… Read more »
Thank you for sharing your experiences with stolen valor.
This reinforces my perception of how widespread is the embellishment sickness.
Does Pops have some blue satin drawers to go with that outfit?
The FOIA caught my attention when it listed his Place of Birth under “For Deceased Veterans Only.”
Isn’t this him?
https://stevensonfuneralhome.com/obituaries/sidney-sanden/3857/
VFW Life Member as well.
It certainly seems to be him. Passed in March and his funeral will finally be this coming Thursday.
Did some additional research. His wife passed away in 2013 and I can find no reference to any survivors.
It seems he spent his last years in that nursing home all by himself with nothing but time on his hands and hearing the footsteps of that scythe carrying bastard roaming the hallways every night.
Not saying he still retained his faculties till the end, so YMMV.
DAV …… Lifer
NRA …… Lifer
Others … Non Lifer Status
“ENDOWMENT” member of National Rifle Association
________________________________
“LIFE” member of:
101st Airborne Division Association
1st Cavalry Division Association
Non-Commissioned Officers Association
Disabled American Veterans
Veterans of Foreign Wars
AMVETS
________________________________
Member of:
Clan Henderson Society
Utah Scottish Association
I’m a life member of the VFW
What is wrong with these A-holes. I served in the US Navy from 1963-1966, (3 years active) and when people ask me if I served in Vietnam, I tell them that I did not and I got out before the ship left Norfolk for San Diego in 1967. I did have the young cashier at Publix ask me if I was a WW one Vet when she saw my OKIE 3 hat. WW 1 Vet!!! I’m only 71. I don’t think the schools teach history now like when I was taught in the 1950’S. To get a good conduct medal, one had to be in for 4 years and not a 3 year kiddy cruiser. National Defense and Armed Forces Expiditionary medal (dominican Republic crisis 1965) is all I have and do not B.S. anyone with phony stories. Never found that spool of pipe threads along with the left handed monkey wrench. HOOYAH.
My grand-daughter told her teacher that I was in World War II.
Ain’t no phony like an old phony.
Clown.