Now, with this book, we have the evidence.". With the Pentagon Papers revelations, the U.S. public's trust in the government was forever diminished. Here are some notable tales, along with the less glamorous versions found by Burkett: REALITY: He spent the war behind a desk as an intelligence officer, was "wounded" when he got drunk at a party, fell down a ladder and broke his leg. A Department of Defense report suggested that the total number of service members serving during the war was 8,744,000 but this might have included Reserve and National Guard as well as active duty and it also includes the veterans who actually served in country.According to those same DoD figures, 3,403,000 were actually deployed into Southeast Asia, which includes some 700,000 who were not in Vietnam but stationed in Thailand, Guam and the deep water Navy. magazine so that I have nothing on their sources. I doubt there are 10 million of them, but it appears to me there are a lot of fakes. I'm busy with the 'Convoy to the Wall' that will hopefully help vets put the war in the past,' said Castagna, member of VVA chapter 179. There is no hard count of how many people have lied about their military service, but one of the best sources on the topic thinks the number is in the millions. Or maybe you dont even mean it consciously as a trial balloon, but you put something out there, and it works and maybe gets a good reaction. support it. I am astonished at the number of people who claim to be Vietnam Vets who aren't. I got wounded many times by the same guy. I had something I wanted to say, but I can't continue being the enforcer of this thing around the nation. According to federal law, the United States' military involvement in the Vietnam War began in February 1961 and lasted until May 1975. But since you want to continue, here we goYou wrote, Further, if you bothered to read Beatons statistics, as at this webite below, said to be written by Beaton and Cpt. I was thinking, Theres something wrong here.. I called, telling this former Ranger that my guy had claimed to be the assistant platoon leader. Thats eight individuals in the Seattle area, in one bust, said Doug Sterner, a longtime private watchdog who now maintains the Military Times newspapers Hall of Valor database. Since you are so death on fraudulent Roswell witnesses, as you should be, I think you would be equally outraged by phony, clearly fabricated statistics, fraudulent references given in support (U.S. Census), and fraudulent veterans charities taking advantage of veterans. VA facilities and vet groups check perspective patients and members to determine if they are who they claim to be. pictures to prove it. A raspy voice inquired: Are you all still collecting D-Day stories? The Blue Jays fired him in March. of those who served in Vietnam were still alive as of August, 1995 (census I dont understand your holding onto your point of view with such tenacity. I dont even know if it is bogus or has said that for every real SEAL he identifies, there are a thousand who were More than 3.4 million deployed to Southeast Asia (1) and approximately 2.7 million of those served in the Republic of Vietnam (2). served in-country, on those who served in areas surrounding Vietnam such as I certainly haven't come across it personally. How common are fake military veterans? (Serious) : r/AskReddit Vietnam veterans welcome home commemoration : This ain't Hell, but you There is no question that there are a large number of them including women who talk about their combat roles and even how they had been POWs. He was telling the truth about prison, it turned out; but hed done time for burglary, not as a POW. Vietnam Veterans represented 9.7% of their generation. Other careers, in a variety of fields, have been damaged by similar disclosures. How many times do these real FACTS have to be repeated?BTW Kevin, you should do a Google search on The Vietnam Veterans Fund which was closed down only a few months ago by New York for charity fraud, raising $9 million a year, mostly from veterans, but distributing only 2% for charity purposes. As it turned out, my guy wasnt on the list. I never saw it, but returning friends told me about it.All this to say, for me, its weird. I then told him what Id learned and asked, Did you lie to me?, In a voice that suddenly sounded creaky and 10 years older yet sort of childlike, as though fearing a reprimand he replied, slowly, Yes.. According to a January 1893 article about veterans pensions in Harpers New Monthly Magazine, during a three-year period ending in 1879, out of 4,397 affidavits filed for wartime pensions, 3,084 were false at a cost to the government of more than a half million dollars. It was a sweet assignment right up my writing alley: A narrative about the D-Day invasion to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Allied attack that marked the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. facts being unverified. The difference here, I believe, is that I find myself talking to these people because of location while others, given there locations, simply don't run into the fakers.I still haven't found out much about this 1995 Census and I believe there was another in 2005 and maybe 2015 there could have been some sort of study run at the time. "What he is trying to do, at considerable risk to himself, is to say that this service means something, and by letting just anyone stand up and claim these honors, you're diminishing the real value of those who did serve. Because of the homecoming we got I never brought up Vietnam let alone wore a hat with Vietnam vet on it. As for Burkett, he still gets calls from cops seeking advice on how to run records, or even from skeptical wives and girlfriends who suspect their men may be playing a bit loose with the truth about their exploits in "the 'Nam." I asked the spokesman if he had a unit roster of some sort. At the same time, she said, I think it is possible that in some cases, theyve told the lie for so long, and its so integrated into their perceptions of their life experiences, that, psychologically, its almost like a truth, because if theyve been telling the lie for a long time, then they dont have the challenge of someone whos making it up for the first time.. Vietnam veterans' personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent. It starts off simple enough. In the end, the primary agenda for making up phony facts is the usual one of scammers: $$$$$$$$Yes, there are liars out there, but there is NO VALID evidence for literally millions and millions of Americans claiming to be Vietnam vets who werent, although you obviously still very much want to believe this considering you keep repeating the claim. On this Memorial Day 2021, VA honors their service and recommits itself to . Type falsify military service into an online search engine window, and one yields tens of thousands of hits relating case after case in which someone has either exaggerated or completely fabricated their military service. REALITY: He was a Marine football player in Okinawa. It was much easier to do before. 'I have always attempted to be the best at whatever I undertook, but in this instance, I guess I felt what I actually did was not enough, so I pretended to be something I wasn't,' Switzler said. Take John M. Iannone, a Pittburgh- area oilman whom family members said had it all and was even more admired for his extensive community service. Where are all these millions of fakers anyway? Seven years later, Chuck and Mary Schantag, whose P.O.W. claiming Vietnam service and have been exposed as frauds. Burkett's quest for that evidence started in 1986, when he was asked to help raise funds from private donors for the Texas Vietnam Veterans Memorial. ", Burkett has found, to put it simply, that most of these men are frauds and that their fraudulent claims have been swallowed whole, and without question, by reputable news organizations, politicians, generals, police departments and federal agencies, all willing -- depending on the case at hand -- to free someone from prison, offer them veterans benefits or simply go easy on them when they land in trouble. figures).. In 2007 the effort snagged eight people who were receiving VA compensation for combat injuries, although none had served in combat and two had never served in the military. The universal attitude was, 'Why should we give money for these bums?' The branch insignia: The branch insignias should match. That guy, the real Ranger told me, got killed on D-Day. He was driven out of the group. Veterans Today site also wrote, in big letters, . In Atlanta, VVA chapter officer Ashe estimates that about 20 percent of the up to 200 men who contacted his group since December, saying they are combat vets and asking for help, were frauds. The only number coming out of the census was 8.5 million Vietnam era veterans of which according to other sources, about 2.7 actually served in Vietnam. In an interview with UPI, Castagna said he was a Marine during the Vietnam era, but refused to say if saw combat. In 1995, Burkett helped an Oregon newspaper uncover Republican U.S. Rep. Wes Cooley's false claims of Army service in the Korean War. They lost buddies in Vietnam and are still having difficulty coping with emotions. Burkett, who served as an Army lieutenant in Vietnam during the war -- he stresses he was no hero and simply did his job as an ordnance officer -- has investigated more than 2,000 cases and found. 'Some claim to be vets just out of a need to be macho.'. Farmer, 26, appeared on Fox's "American Idol" in 2013, claiming he was severely injured by an IED explosion in Iraq. Nor has military fakery been limited to Americans. A total of 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the Vietnam era, with over 2,709,000 Americans serving in Vietnam, about 9.7% of the generation.Vietnam Veterans by State 2022. The Stolen-Valor Detective: Unmasking People Who Pretend to Be Veterans An Oregon newspaper learned that Cooley hadnt finished training until nearly a month after the signing of the 1953 armistice. "Pressure is Vietnam,". According to an estimate by the New York Times, there were 8.4 million Vietnam veterans who were still alive in the year 2000.Of those, 1.1 million had passed away.It was also estimated that there will be a total of 138,000 Vietnam veterans who will pass away every year from this point forward.Editorial note from the administrator of the website: David Rudiak was right about This alone falsifies the claim that the Census data shows 10 million fake Vietnam vets.The ONLY possible evidence in Census data I have found of POSSIBLE fakery was the 2000 Census, which found 8.4 million saying they were Vietnam ERA vets out of the actual 8.7 million figure of the Pentagon. Its all done for personal gain, he said. How to Spot a Military Impostor? - The Most Effective Method ElbertAlfie 8 mo. Thank you for acknowledging that the actual U.S. Census data does NOT support the claim that the Census has shown 13-14 million people claiming to have been in-country Vietnam vets, or over 10 million fakers (since only about 2.7 million served in-country).For one thing, the claim was always impossible since I am unable to find any question in the ACTUAL Census that asks whether people served in-country. I have been unable to find that precise survey, but this seems to be the place where the 13,853,027 number of impostors comes from. An informal survey by United Press International of about a dozen VA facilities, veteran employment services and vet groups found that all had seen fake combat vets in the past year, most in rising numbers. The news must have been slow that day, because the reenactment was the lead story. I explained that given the way some of this was explained on the various sites was somewhat misleading and I was mislead, but you have nothing to prove that it is wrong other than your own beliefs. He was a stateside Marine. I have found references that suggest the number came from the Veterans of Fake War Stories Exposed - CBS News Accounts vary as to how Daubmanns lies unraveled, but five months after his glorious return, he admitted hed never served in the German army. 568) comes from DOD statistics, not any public Census data. veterans of which according to other sources, about 2.7 actually served in since 1980.But AGAIN no 13 to 14 million Vietnam vets based on alleged Census surveys. Burkett -- his parents nicknamed him Jug, in honor of a favorite golf pro -- has spent the past 13 years unmasking hundreds of men around the country who have claimed to be Vietnam veterans, Vietnam heroes, Vietnam- post-traumatic-stress-psychos, the guys you read about in the papers ("Viet Vet Kills 14 in Post Office Rampage") and see on the median strip of Van Ness Avenue, wearing signs over their tattered fatigues that proclaim, "Vietnam Vet -- Will Work for Food. 568 & 569 can be found some statistics on the number of soldiers serving in Vietnam year by year and total number of active duty personnel during the Vietnam era, just as found in other statistical surveys published by the Census Bureau. How many fake Vietnam veterans are there? If fact it is close to the total that served and suggests that Viet vets don't die as quickly as others.Either the 2010 figures haven't been digested yet or I could not find them. Vietnam Veterans Against the War: Commentary: Fake Vets Chasing Fame - VVAW not SEALs. How many Vietnam era veterans are there? There can be problems, however. I The alleged 13.8 million fakers or four out of five who claim to be Vietnam vets is CLEARLY stated as being based on U.S. CENSUS DATA, not some independent survey. The same vet websites Kevin links to also give a ~9.1 million figure for "military personnel served on active duty during the Vietnam Era." The VA shows on their site https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/factsheets/fs_americas_wars.pdf That only 3,403,000 served incountry in Vietnam, and that a total of 8,744,000 served in that era world wide. But we aren't going to discuss this with the news media,' he said. with the Bronze Star Medal for actions during my tour in Iraq and I have the But the real truth is that nearly everyone was exposed to indirect fire, ground attacks at base camps, and other elements of combat based on the nature of the war. And Shipley's estimate of 1000 times the true number is also made up and worthless, not based on anything other than Shipley wanting to believe there is some sort of Navy Seal imposter epidemic.Just as a basic gut check that these huge numbers are preposterous, how many people have any of us run into bragging about being Navy Seals or in Vietnam? Committee votes on major defense policy bill expected in May, Military families share workout with first lady Jill Biden, US conducts first evacuation of its citizens from Sudan war, Ukrainian drones strike Crimea oil depot, Russian official says, Army identifies 3 soldiers killed in Alaska helicopter crash, Understanding the role of artificial intelligence, Mark Kitz keynote speech at the C4ISRNET conference, The latest on software, data and artificial intelligence, Army grounds helicopter fleet for force-wide safety stand down. Blumenthal made a handful of false and misleading statements about having . That negative image was fresh in Burketts mind when he decided to help a friend in Dallas raise money for Vietnam veterans a quarter century ago. does not seem to be accurate and my review of the census doesnt bear this out. You have extrapolated meaning into somewhat innocuous sentences. More than 8 million people served in uniform during Vietnam and those who are alive are typically in their 60s and 70s. http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1395584&mpage=1&key=�. "I'd say, 'Well, I'm a Vietnam veteran,' and they'd say, 'but you seem so normal.' So he found, in his own backyard, Glenna Whitley, a veteran journalist and senior editor at D, a monthly magazine about Dallas and Fort Worth. He had seen the occasional stories about Yandle and, unlike others looking into the saga, he had obtained copies of Yandle's military records from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. Good grief, I thought. He deployed to Iraq, near Fallujah, in 2009. Daubmanns tale of escape from the colonial hellhole prompted the German government to treat him as a national hero. "It . "It all started when I was shooting my mouth off in bars 35 years ago . Well-known actor Brian Dennehy often shared stories of his service with the Marines in Vietnam. How Many Vietnam Veterans Are Still Alive In 2022? He had served time in Georgia for auto theft. 1,713,823 of those who served in Vietnam were still alive as of August, 1995 (CENSUS FIGURES). Before it was revealed, in 2001, that he spent the war teaching history at West Point, for example, Joseph Ellis was known to lecture his students at Mount Holyoke about his experiences in the vicinity of My Lai at the time of the massacre. And what about Trowbridge who claimed he was playing bridge at Marcel's house the night Jesse returned with the debris?The point was that there are people out there who inject themselves important events and who lie about their military service.
Cares Act For College Students Fall 2021, Osu Completed Skins, Did Marshawn Lynch Play Defense For The Bills, Good To Go Guam Phone Number, Expressway Shooting On I 57 Today, Articles H