Floyd Garrett; Desert Storm phony
The Tallahassee Democrat tells the story of Floyd Garrett, a 47-year-old veteran who had a stroke recently. Floyd claims that he earned two Purple Heart Medals during the first Gulf War.
Soon afterward, Garrett was assigned as a scout in the Operation Desert Storm combat zone of burning Kuwaiti oil fields, unknown chemicals and landmines. One day, an American mine-clearing tank blew up just in front of Garrett.
While he was being evacuated with a life-threatening groin injury strapped to the slides of a helicopter, Garrett was struck by a stray bullet that shattered his ankle. Still lodged in his ankle, the bullet causes constant pain and difficulty walking.
Garrett spent months in various hospitals recuperating and was eventually discharged stateside. It was on a visit to his parents’ home that he had his first episode of PTSD. And other odd ailments began to plague him: migraine headaches, tremors, and neurological symptoms. Garrett would be diagnosed with Gulf War Syndrome, a cluster of medically unexplained symptoms bedeviling returning veterans. Still, there was the lovely German woman.
According to his records, Floyd was assigned to 6/6 Infantry which was assigned to the 1st Armor Division and deployed to Desert Storm, but he was a petroleum specialist and a supply clerk, not a scout. His records show a single Purple Heart, not the two that he claims.
I’m pretty sure that it’s been decades since injured soldiers were strapped to the outside of helicopters.
I doubt the Purple Heart in his records, too. There are no service awards for Desert Storm.
Category: Phony soldiers, Valor Vultures
Asshole
The pathologist found the clot to contain 100% BULLSHIT..
My squad did some nice demolition missions with 6/6 infantry after the shooting stopped.
I remember on guy (retard) standing out of a Bradley turret during a large detonation of artillery rounds we wired up and detonated. He ended up with a tiny piece of shrapnel in his forearm, he plucked it out and joked that it was worthy of a Purple heart. Could this be the one?
We had an E-7 who had an MRE box fall on his head while he was in the turret. He claimed that he was hit in the head by an RPG fin as it flew over his head. He got a PH.
Like Frank Burns getting a PH for an eggshell fragment getting caught in his eyebon MASH.
And I had an LT that was attached to my unit who, while working in an RPAT yard in Afghanistan, got a CAB while hiding in his office.
The two enlisted who actually engaged the enemy got ARCOMs with V device and CABs.
Assholes gotta be assholes.
An ARCOMV for doing their jobs?
Do you mean I could have a medal for every time I engaged the enemy?
My chain of command failed me. I never got the word on that.
Yes Yef, as everyone here can attest I’m sure, everybody gets a medal for each trigger pull.
You must be the only guy ever that didn’t. They must have thought you were too humble to accept such accolades, or somethng.
Aw, gee, and USAF only gave us an award for each time we went to the range – two awards if we qualified.
/sarc
There’s a floor somewhere calling out to you, Yef.
“BUFF ME… BUFF ME, YEF!”
GET TO WORK, SOLDIER!
Yef, you’re beginning to bore me.
They gave less than half my battery AAMs for Desert Storm. It was years later(2 years ago) before I found out. They did not want those who were not awarded to know so they waited until those of us PCS the unit and awarded us when we left. Not openly. This was wrong as I felt our entire battery deserved to be awarded. They gave me one for being a howitzer driver and I drove very little. I was mostly advance party and did a lot of work preparing ammo for our section as our Ammo Team Chief did not deploy.
In Viet of the Nam we had a guy get one from a grenade fragment…until it was discovered the grenade was thrown by an ARVN soldier into a ville whore house where his girlfriend and said soldier were busy doing the nasty. The PH was revoked.
Too bad they didn’t revoke SKerry’s purple hearts, since he was not hit by enemy fire in any of the three he received. The last one was actually a result of enemy fire–his swift boat was fired upon. But his “wound” consisted of a bruised arm because he fell down when the coxswain sharply turned the boat at high speed while evading enemy fire.
Heck, if every grunt got a Purple Heart for every Kerrybooboo they would all have multiple oak leaves on their PHs. I’ve seen guys spend more time in a coma from one PH than that ratb***d Kerry spent getting medical care for all 3 of his.
In the treatments for Kerry’s “wounds” he spent only a few minutes with medics on each occasion. On the first one, the medic pulled the wire sliver from an M-79 round out of his arm and slapped a band-aid on it.
Was that John of the Kerry? SOunds like him.
Should have obliged him.
Guy has seen too many old war movies. The bit about the bullet still being in his ankle is a nice touch, though.
So is being strapped to a stretcher, outside the body of a helicopter. That POS overdosed on MASH. I wonder, was it Hawkeye, Trapper John or Frank Burns that operated on him?
I hear the choppers coming, They’re flying overhead.
They’ve come to get the wounded, They’ve come to get the dead.
Was going to comment on the 4007 Mash but got beat on the comment.
They would probably need a Chinook for his fat ass.
Agreed.
We appear to have another Four Leaf Tayback.
Hey, he wrote the book as a tribute. Four Leaf Tayback is a patriot!
“I don’t know what its called, I only know the sound it makes when it LIES!”
Gotta luv Tropic Thunder.
Roseanne is gonna be pissed.
Fucktard. Everyone knows the REAL heroes are in SUPPLY
Bullets don’t fly without Supply.
Claw to the white courtesy phone pse.
Real DOORGUNNERS are in Supply… just ask Forgin Frank!
Yep, Forgin Frank set the bar pretty high for people to try and reach.
Others have tried. There’s been “Killer” Michael Killam, who flew ” I had the Power of God in my hands” Combat Assaults in the OH-13 while assigned as a ground maintenance mechanic in a Field Artillery outfit.
Then there was “Left Low Ball” Jimmy Walls who was a motor pool parts clerk in an Engineer Company who ended up being a Huey pilot and Book of the Face Group Guru.
And there is Spec5 Richard Hollingsworth, who despite being an Aviation Maintenance Mechanic and having at least three separate opportunities to hand carry his personal flight records on PCS moves, ended up receiving a CIB, becoming a Warrant Officer Pilot with 36 Air Medals to his credit and is now a VFW Post Commander, but if things pan out right after this weekend, Hollingsworth will be the new VFW District 7 Commander and will turn the Pocatello Post over to a new commander whose claim to fame for VFW eligibility was a command sponsored accompanied tour to Korea in the mid 1980’s.
Ah, Yes, Forgin Frank set the precedent. Others are trying to surpass his fame, but just aren’t quite there yet.
“Lower leg, above the knee” is a very tough standard, and not everyone has a mom whose basement floods.
Claw, you’re shitting us all, right? That peterpuffer is getting PROMOTED TO DISTRICT?!?!?
Nope, not at all.
If you read through the comments on Post 735’s Book of the Face page, the current District 7 Commander (Duff Woolsey) says it’s all set up for Hollingsworth to be elected the new District Commander at their VFW Convention being held this weekend in Jackpot, NV.
P.S. – Woolsey’s comment about Hollingsworth was made/is attached to the photograph of all the Post 735 Officers dated 11 April 2018 there on the Book of the Face page.
Wonder how long it’ll take for Woolsey to delete his comment ala the Objective AF Game.
The only real hero in Supply is the Key Control NCO. Without him/her access to the Supply Lockers is denied.
Everybody else is just their Personal Security Detail.
The Key and Lock NCO never worked in supply in any unit I was ever in.
Just another additional duty for the “sergent slashes” of the company.
In most every unit (ADA and Mech Infantry) I was in the Key Control NCO was either the Supply Sergeant or his direct subordinate the Company R&U NCO/Man.
Just how do you think the Supply Sergeant always had ready access to all the cool trading materials he always talked about or knew just exactly what the Platoons/Squads had in their CONEXes without having the spare keys to every piece of both organizational and station property that the Company owned?/smile
In almost 30 years and 19 units ranging from infantry company to 4 star HQs (a hell of man’s creation for sure), the Key and Lock NCO and the Crime Prevention NCO were never the supply room guys. In fact, for 3 of those units I was the Key and Lock NCO.
Well, I see my attempt at a little veiled humor fell short of the mark. Apologies to ya, Ret_25X.
As everyone knows, in those outfits where your most all of your go to war equipment is locked up through the use of Series 200(or better) padlocks, the real Key Control NCO is the one who maintains access to the company’s set of bolt cutters.
Actually, there’s at least five or more Key Control NCO’s:
Company Supply Sergeant
R&U Man
Armorer
Company Motor Sergeant
Tool Room Man
I’ll try to be a little clearer in my comments the next go-round./smile
“life-threatening groin injury”
That type of injury requires immediate evacuation strapped to a helicopter. Has to be immobilized laying down on his side. It’s the only way to handle such injuries.
No wonder he has PTSD. I would too if they flew me like that. Especially with my face outboard and being shot at. I’m not buying the Gulf chemtrail syndrome though.
Yeah…..We definitely were NOT using the Bell H 13 Sioux during the first gulf war…methinks he was watching too many M.A.S.H re-runs.
Thanks Doc,
I was wondering what the hell an H-13 was… Hadnt gotten round to googlizing it yet.
Had the pleasure (?) of being flown around in; UH-1, UH-60, OH-58, AH-1(two rides in the front seat), and the ever-lovin hydraulic fluid spewin” CH-47.
Thanks!
This is likely just a cover story for his tiny junk.
“It got blown off during the war honey. You should have seen it before then.”
“life-threatening groin injury”
That’s sooper seekrit medical lingo for “he broke his taint”…
Taint bone fracture….it has brought many a warrior to their knees
Motrin might fix it… depends on the severity.
Tussin fixes everything!
Every time I see that Chris Rock skit, I still laugh my ass off.
“Rub that Tussin in!”
https://youtu.be/YsY2-yi5W74
Motrin and duct tape, what every good Corpsman carries.
Duct Tape, Crazy Glue, Motrin and Bag Balm. If that don’t work then amputation may be necessary.
I’d rather deal with amputation than this:
https://youtu.be/c4_mRoOT-7E
Nah. He’s impotent. It’s his excuse for – well, YOU know, aside from needing a can of pepper, a magnifying glass and a pair of tweezers for the proceeding.
Better than shaving the area and grabbing the one that bleeds.
Talking about losing part of the old wazoo, 1971 had the Brink’s crew making a currency delivery to the NYC Credit union located in the Municipal building near City Hall. As soon as the elevator doors opened, the perp opened up with a shot gun and also used a handgun. Harry Allen was hit in the groin and part of his old wazoo was lost. Ray Fower was hit in the thigh with the shotgun blast which impacted a load of coins he had in his pocket minimizing his injury and he jumped on Harry covering him and firing at the fleeing perp hitting him in the ass. Outcome was Chief of Detectives Albert Seedman arrived at the scene and directed officers go over the Brooklyn bridge where they found a bloody car and the perp got to the hospital where he was arrested. So the perp was a NYC cop who worked at the Police Academy and part time for Brink’s. Harry lost his wig during the holdup but before that he was called the rug. The coins Ray carried were bent into a U when he showed them to us. For years, he did carry some of the shot under his skin. The elevator walls had numerous holes in them which were patched up but you could still see the outlines around the holes. I only had a year under my belt when it happened and grateful that I was able to retire back in 2007.
Cav Scout? Doubtful. Petroleum Jelly Supply Scout? Probable.
“I’m pretty sure that it’s been decades since injured soldiers were strapped to the outside of helicopters.”
Early Vietnam era. Once the Huey with the stretched fuselage came out everyone went inside.
Interesting that he may have deployed. But yeah where are all his medals for deployment? Throws a cloud when combined with his BS stories.
Broke Dick Rear Detachment Supply Weenie who stayed behind in Germany to hand out sheets and pillow cases to the other Broke Dick Rear D people and then somehow had the S-1 include his name onto the Purple Heart award roster.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Yeah.
Makes a helluva lot more sense than getting a PH without a SWASM and/or KLM.
And don’t tell me whoever did his NGB-22 forgot that shit, cause he was in for another 14 fucking years after he “earned” them.
“While he was being evacuated with a life-threatening groin injury strapped to the slides of a helicopter….” How the hell does one strap a groin injury to anything, let alone the “slides” (don’t ask me) of a helicopter? And where was Garrett while his groin injury was on that bird?
“slides” = skids
Well, if LTC Margaret Desanti could rappel into LZs in Viet of the Nam as a Flight Nurse, then I see no reason why wounded soldiers couldn’t be strapped to an OH-13 for Medevac during Desert Storm./smile
Yeah, this guy was a Rear D “Jody”.
Skids are skids. I never heard of slides.
Claw: Good Ole Margeret is still rockin’ her alternate reality world as of April 2018: 😉
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/gilbert/higley-school-district-recognizes-veterans-during-annual-event-in-gilbert/article_fdd59dcc-66de-11e4-97aa-9779197fa3cf.html
I took a look at the article and laughed..”an Army Flight Nurse”, is that like an “Army PJ? Where’s my can of bullshit repellent?
Another Jan Spann?
http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=73591
Nah, DeSanti’s a prior year model.
http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=57300
And here’s another:
http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=61316
Wow! That face. Reminds me of a porcelain doll head I once saw, set in a brick wall.
You want to see something creepy, check out this comment and the photos immediately following it:
http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=61316#comment-2619564
Then check out photos of the nurse from the movie Misery. And after that, check out the photo Jonn used in this article. (smile)
AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!
(When Bluto sees Flounder for the first time.)
“God, I love you”
And don’t forget 1SG/SGM Tammy MacPherson.
She was kind of a flight nurse, too, right?
Thanks Hondo. That was before I caught the TAH. If only Spann had known about her.
“China Beach from 1968-1970”
Nope, didn’t see her there either.
“Jan Spann”
Twunt
Holy shit, I think we finally found a woman IDC wouldn’t hit!
Not to pick a nit, but the linked article is from 2014. Not that it would be surprising for her to still be lying.
You are right, OWB. The link had an April 2018 date, but after I posted it, I saw it went back to 2014. Need to do more pushups! 😉
Naw, not a pushups kinda deal. But you could hand me another cuppa coffee!
Learned that one the hard way myself.
There is only so much space on a helicopter, he was planning on catching the next one.
I imagine he next one just did a fly by.
“……strapped to the slides of a helicopter”
Totally believable. They musta ran out of Hueys & Blackhawks that day so the only bird left for evac was a Cobra. I wonder how many rolls of 100 mph tape they used to strap his ass to the snake? /sarc
Everybody knows we strap the casualty to the rotor in a manner that assures the rotational force will inhibit bleeding in the extremities and force blood to the central circulation to maintain perfusion of the brain and vital organs. Duh
Plus it is close to the Jesus Nut
They say one can’t fly without the Jesus Nut, even if going on a wing and a prayer.
I asked a crewman once why they call it the “Jesus Nut.” He said, “If it comes off in flight, only Jesus can save you.”
Yep. Rotary wing aircraft don’t fly very far after they lose their rotors.
I heard that’s the last words of the crew
Mast Bump is a bitch.
Yep. My understanding is that too much mast bump had the same effect on a Huey as losing the Jesus nut. And I also understand it didn’t take very much mast bump to qualify as “too much”.
Do it right or you’ll pick up one hell of one-per-rev.
wop-wop-wop-THUMP!wop-wop-wop-THUMP!wop-wop-wop-THUMP!wop-wop-wop-THUMP!
Uncomfy at best.
Trust me ahmmma perfesshioanl
PH and no other been there done thats to support it. Look like a great anecdote for probability vs possibility. WTF
Not to defend this guy, but the lack of a SWASM and Saudi/Kuwaiti medals on his FOIA may be due to timing. He separated on 31 August 1991. While the EO creating the SWASM was issued in March 1991, it often takes months for a new medal to be designed and for the design to be approved. Award of the medal (and annotation of same to records) is often held in abeyance until the medal’s design is approved and the various services formally authorize issue of the medal to Soldiers/Sailors/Airmen/Marines. If he left active duty prior to the Army approving the SWASM for award and creating instructions for issue/records update, it’s very likely his records in storage at NPRC won’t include it unless he requested a DD215 adding it to his records later. Since the Saudi and Kuwaiti awards weren’t accepted by DoD and authorized for wear for a while after the war (I seem to recall 1993 or so for both), barring a DD215 obviously those won’t be in his records either. Unfortunately, I have no recollection of when the Army formally authorized issue/records update for the SWASM. I’m guessing that probably didn’t happen until after the start of the next fiscal year in Oct 1991 (the Army was still kinda busy for a while after Desert Storm ended), but I simply can’t recall for sure when that happened. I’m quite familiar with this kind of timing issue because exactly that happened to me with the GWOTSM and KDSM. Though both were announced while I was still on active duty after being recalled post-9/11, it wasn’t until after I’d demobilized that issue/annotation to records was authorized (my recollection is early 2004 for both). Since I wasn’t on active duty at the time both were approved for issue I had to request a DD215 to get those documented in my records. Again: not defending this guy. But this may be a legit corner case where lack of an award is due to timing vice lying. And FWIW: if he’s claiming 2 PHs he’s still probably lying about that; ditto the… Read more »
My Army son who went over to DS/DS and ETS’d on 27 Sep 91 has the SWASM W/2 BSS listed on his DD214.
Nearly a month later, Claw. And the 31 Aug date is Garrett’s separation date. If he took a chunk of terminal leave, it’s possible his DD214 was prepared and signed 30 to 60 days earlier and mailed to him on or after that date. That was the policy at at least some installations in 1988; not sure when that changed (it wasn’t policy in 2003).
It’s also possible one of the separation transfer points erred, either in “jumping the gun” on entering stuff or by missing newly-approved awards that they should have included.
Again: not defending the guy. But without finding the ALARACT messages from summer 1991 dealing with procedures for award of the SWASM, we don’t know the details of the timing here. The guy could indeed have deployed for Desert Shield/Storm, or his PH could be fraudulent. All we know with certainty at this point is it’s apparently in his records.
It’s the fact he was in the Guard/Reserves for 14 YEARS past that which makes kinda go, “Hmmmmmm.”
Was in that long and NEVER caught that shit?
Plus, I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that the number of folks who received multiple PHs from 02 Aug 1990 until, say, 1 Jan 1992 can be counted on one hand.
Just my .02
OK, NHSparky – where did I miss the 14 years in the Guard/Reserve part? I’m not seeing that anywhere.
It’s on the FOIA.
September 1, 1988 – March 29, 2005.
I kinda wondered about that myself.
NPRC Clerk typo maybe? or maybe not?
Only 3 years of active duty.
Yep, saw that too. Three years and no Good Cookie or even an AAM.
And so, I iterate. This individual was most likely a broke dick Rear D Jody who maybe broke his ankle by slipping on a discarded MRE package while doing linen count one morning at Erlangen and never left Germany when 6/6 deployed for DS.
Geez – I sure missed the obvious there. Only thing I can think of is I misread the end date as “1995” instead of 2005. That would make sense given the 8 year total mil obligation in effect since the early 1980s. And yeah, I’d guess it’s possible it’s a typo and actually should be 1995. The article Jonn linked makes zero mention of any post-Gulf War service in the ARNG or USAR. Given it’s a human interest/”woe is me”/triumph over adversity type of story, I’m betting they’d have mentioned USAR/ARNG service if he had any. Assuming that 2005 is not a typo and the FOIA dates and service are correct, he likely wasn’t in the ARNG; that’s generally explicitly specified as Army National Guard on a FOIA reply. So let’s assume the dates are correct and he was in the USAR from 1 Sep 1991 to 2005. There are three possibilities for the USAR: IMA, TPU, and IRR. IMA is pretty doubtful given his grade and MOS; plus, IMA records are managed at AR-PERSCOM and updated by them. Since his records on-file show nothing since July 1990, I’m guessing he wasn’t an IMA – AR-PERSCOM should have at least made an entry for his IMA assignment if he were an IMA. So scratch that. That leaves TPU and IRR. If he was in a TPU, his admin people would have had to have been incompetent as hell to not make a single entry in his record of assignments for nearly 14 years. Further, the USAR transitioned to centrally-managed electronic records prior to 2005. So if he’d been in a USAR TPU, he’d almost certainly have entries for assignments after Jul 1990. (All of the above except the centrally-managed electronic records part is also true of ARNG TPUs – and they might have gone to centrally-managed electronic records during the early 2000s also. Further, as I recall there are no assignments for the ARNG that are equivalent to IRR or IMA assignments – only TPUs and a few full-time AGR slots.) That leaves an IRR assignment in the USAR. It’s… Read more »
Makes as much sense as anything else this guy has done.
Trying to remember exactly what the time frame was, but it was a matter of months after returning from DS/DS/DS in mid April 1991 that we were awarded all the medals. And am pretty sure I wore them when attending a school in the fall of that same year.
All I remember for sure was being surprised at how quickly we got the actual bling.
That would be possible for the SWASM if DoD moved quickly enough. The question here is did DoD move quickly enough that this guy’s DD214 should show one, assuming he actually deployed.
However, what I’ve seen (current AR 600-8-22) gives DoD’s authorization dates for the KLMs as Jan 1992 (Saudi version) and Aug 1995 (Kuwaiti version). Wear of either of those foreign awards prior to DoD approval would have been a no-go.
And maybe all we got early on was the pretty one with the gold palm tree. They sure did make a big deal of it.
my faded memory seems to recall that when we got back from DS/DS and establishing Camp Doha (we called it ThunderRock) in June 91 the message had not come out, but when I PCSd in Sep 91 it had….
Now I’m curious and may have to wade through my “stack o’ stuff” boxes to find the original message…
Don’t see how he would have received such wounds and have nothing in his history to show he was LIMDU anywhere.
His record of assignments is obviously missing at least one entry (the last one is in Jul 1990 and there’s no entry for separation). But it’s kinda hard to believe that he’d be shot in the ankle with bullet so deeply embedded the doctors decided to leave it in place and not get MEDEVACed out of theater – which should have left a paper trail, including assignment/attachment to a med holding company somewhere.
If his PH is legit, I’m guessing it was for a minor wound and he returned to duty immediately after treatment.
of course….my point was that there’s documentation somewhere if his wounds were actually as described.
Agreed. And I strongly suspect that if he actually does have a bullet in his ankle, it got there post-separation. (Pre-enlistment is also possible, but I tend to think that would have at least raised eyebrows if not been a disqualifying condition.)
Life threatening groin injury?…..
Been hiding in the outhouse with the likes of Bradley Manning too much.
Queef
I hold on to the hope a day will come where someone impersonates an avionics technician and I’ll be there to call him out.
“BULLSHIT! You can’t crimp a mini-U with slip-joint pliers! I bet you aren’t even carrying more than 3 pens!”
One can dream.
Don’t forget the B one C portable heating unit!!
Portable heating unit?
That would suggest I dared go outside.
No, sir that’s where I draw the line between heroics and madness. ;D
If nothing else at least we can know him as a Chopper Strap On.
SHITBIRD!
Monkey Mountain– June 70. Buddy is opening c-rats w/P-38. 60mm incoming hits about 30 yds away. Buddy cuts finger on peach can lid. Yup. Purple Nurple. Butter bar Platoon commander is up in the TOC 200 yds. away. Gets BSM w/ V. Medals happen.
Sad to hear that. My infantry battalion had to cordon and search Monkey Mountain at An Khe base camp right after a midnight sapper attack in Sept., 1970. Never got any sleep that night. Nobody received any awards from that incident, so far as I know.
Only one question needs to be answered on that –
Were the peaches saved? Or did they get spilled?
Here’s hoping they survived the incoming long enough to be eaten with pound cake./smile
And as an extra treat tonight we’ll open the bread can, pour a couple of drops of water in and steam a a bit with the tabs, then mix some water with the cocoa and pour it on top of the softened bread. That was our chocolate cake, which wasn’t too bad for the ambiance.
Sad when you realize stuff like that gets so mixed up in your memory. It was the pound cake after all, like Claw mentioned.
Perhaps this is a case of sensational journalism rather than his actual account to the writer, i.e. the writer hearing what he would thought would make a good story. Just a thought.