Posted on 02/07/2004 4:53:26 PM PST by FlyLow
We are engulfed in a national scandal. Unknown to most Americans, there is a virtual epidemic of impostors in this country – countless thousands of men who, since the Vietnam War, have been either inventing a non-existent military service, or inflating their war records. Veterans’ benefits amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars are being stolen. Military decorations are being falsely claimed, and often worn, by men never authorized to receive them — the kind earned the hard way by genuine war heroes.
Unless something is done about these “Fake Warriors,” their shameless, self-aggrandizing, and costly conduct will not only continue unabated; it will grow. Anyone who thinks such conduct is merely offensive and relatively harmless is misinformed.
As we were.
During the research and writing of our prior nonfiction collaboration, “Aid and Comfort”: Jane Fonda in North Vietnam (www.hanoijane.net) – which proves that Fonda’s 1972 propaganda trip to Hanoi would have supported an indictment for and conviction of treason – we were privileged to meet many patriotic Americans. Most of them were Vietnam veterans. Some had been Vietnam prisoners of war. They made us aware, for the first time, of the Fake Warrior phenomenon which they, and others have been courageously battling for years.
Our Fonda expose, then, was the trigger that led to the book we have just completed: Fake Warriors: Identifying, Exposing, and Punishing Those Who Falsify Their Military Service.
The existence of so many military impostors was a shocking revelation to us – as it will be to the American public. Once we began to investigate the Fake Warrior phenomenon in this country, we found the idea of writing a book on the subject irresistible – and once again, the Fonda book was a strong motivating force. We had learned too much about the pain and suffering endured, not only by the Vietnam POWs, but by other troops who served in that theater. Our empathy with these veterans was almost visceral.
But empathy aside, the more we learned from our research on the subject, the more outraged we became. As Americans, and as lawyers, we have sustained throughout our personal and professional lives a deeply ingrained sense of justice (see www.henrymarkholzer.com and www.erikaholzer.com), and here was an opportunity to help correct a grievous wrong.
That wrong – the very real harm that Fake Warriors visit upon innocent Americans – is incalculable. A few examples. Innocents, widows, wives and children in particular, experience shame and disillusionment when a Fake Warrior husband or father is exposed. Laws criminalizing Fake Warrior behavior continue to be unenforced. National security is compromised. Huge sums of money are squandered in the payment of false claims to military impostors. Readers of nonfiction books are misled by authors whose credentials are fake. The legitimate accomplishments of veterans who honorably served America are dishonored and depreciated. Worse, those accomplishments increasingly are shadowed by suspicion among people who conscientiously try to distinguish between the real and the fake. The well has been poisoned by the proliferation of Fake Warriors.
These and other harmful consequences of the words and conduct of Fake Warriors are, simply put, intolerable. For the last forty years, Fake Warriors too numerous to count – politicians, lawyers, authors, actors, and more – have gotten away with their masquerades. Indeed, many have prospered – often at the expense of those who fought for our nation in Vietnam.
We have discovered, to our dismay, that the problem is so extensive it can’t even be dented through the efforts of the handful of individuals who have, for years, grappled with the thankless task of exposing impostors.
We’ve concluded that the Fake Warrior phenomenon can be dealt with most effectively through a broad-based effort designed to increase public awareness both of the problem, and of how, over time, it can be alleviated and ultimately resolved. A widely disseminated book is the best way to accomplish this goal. It is our fervent hope that, by arming large numbers of Americans with facts and analysis, as well as identifying potent legal resources available to them, these citizens will join wholeheartedly in the lonely battle which, until now, has been waged by a dedicated few.
In anticipation of two possible misconceptions about Fake Warriors: Identifying, Exposing, and Punishing Those Who Falsify Their Military Service, we want to make two important disclaimers. Lest anyone confuse our book with a couple of others that have examined the subject of military impostors only in passing – their principal theses being devoted to broader topics – our book is devoted entirely to the Fake Warrior phenomenon. A second caveat: Our purpose in Fake Warriors is not to focus on individuals. Rather, we have deliberately chosen to address the phenomenon of military imposture. The few exceptions, where we name names, are included only to illustrate a given point. We have adhered to this principle even when dealing with some of the more notorious Fake Warrior cases – people who are the grist of the Internet mill. In spite of these disclaimers, we expect to be queried about why, for example, we haven’t chastised historian “X” for inflating his military rank, or exposed author “Y” for never having served in Vietnam, or haven’t criticized Senator “Z” for lying about his alleged Purple Heart. Suffice to say, we have a different purpose. We feel strongly that to get bogged down in a fruitless, finger-pointing exercise of naming names would only undermine what we seek to accomplish with this book: to provide an overview of a shameful phenomenon in order to better deal — in principle — with the issue of military imposture.
Accordingly, Fake Warriors’ first two chapters identify the problem and posit the book’s subject: The American population now contains countless impostors from the Vietnam War era whose behavior is not only immoral, but often illegal and fraught with harmful personal and social consequences.
Chapter One — “ The Fake Warriors, revealed” — lays bare the largely unknown fact that the Fake Warrior phenomenon is real, it is pernicious, it is widespread, and impostors come from every imaginable strata of our contemporary society.
Chapter Two — “Harmful consequences of Fake Warrior conduct” — shows that Fake Warrior imposture is not a minor social peccadillo. It victimizes vast numbers of Americans and produces considerable harm.
The next four chapters, address the book’s theme: Fake Warriors must be identified, exposed, and punished.
Chapter Three — “The ‘how’ of Fake Warrior conduct” — reveals the devices typically used by Fake Warriors and exposes the social and institutional enablers whose indifference, and sometimes connivance, make it possible for the impostors to carry on masquerades that, too often, go unpunished.
Chapter Four — “Identifying and exposing Fake Warriors” — demonstrates how to identify Fake Warriors, isolates certain distinct patterns which can be ascertained from their statements and conduct, provides the major categories into which most Fake Warrior fabrications fall, and explains how one goes about exposing Fake Warriors.
Chapter Five — “The ’why’ of Fake Warrior conduct” — draws on the law developed in a World War II treason case to explain the crucial distinction between a Fake Warrior’s legally irrelevant motive and the legally essential intent necessary to sustain his criminal conviction. This chapter also examines specific motives and addresses the related issue of Fake Warrior “contrition.”
Chapter Six — “Punishing Fake Warriors — discusses the constitutional distinction between “pure speech” and speech accompanied by action, a distinction central to the legal fight against Fake Warriors. This chapter goes on to describe the many legal and social tools available to combat military imposture. For example, an impostor’s lies can violate federal and state criminal fraud, perjury, and other laws. He may also violate federal statutes criminalizing misuse of the military uniform and decorations,and federal statutes criminalizing false statements to federal officials. We also set forth the respective roles of police and prosecutors, how it is possible to induce prosecutors to bring charges against Fake Warriors, how private attorneys are in a unique position to make a major contribution in identifying, exposing, and punishing impostors, how the legislative and executive branches of our government – state and federal – can be utilized effectively, and last, but most definitely not least, how individual initiative can help turn the tide.
We conclude with dramatic case histories of impostors who have confessed to their imposture, and in a plea to patriotic Americans — veterans and non-veterans alike – we urge people to recognize that the Fake Warrior phenomenon is a national disgrace which harms our nation and many of our citizens in cruel and insidious ways. Once recognition takes hold, the next logical step would be action by an informed and aroused citizenry.
This is the explicit goal of Fake Warriors.
Appendix A provides the annotated official documentation needed to obtain the military records of someone suspected of being a Fake Warrior. Properly used, these materials enable anyone to request the records of anyone else.
Appendix B is the official list of every American civilian and military prisoner of war who escaped captivity during the Vietnam War.
Appendix C is the official list of every American civilian (and certain selected foreign nationals) prisoner of war who escaped during, who was released during, or who was repatriated at the conclusion of, the Vietnam War.
Appendix D is the combined list of all military prisoners of war who escaped during, who were released during, or who were repatriated at the conclusion of, the Vietnam War.
Appendix E is the official list of Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipients. Like the foregoing lists, the Medal of Honor list is ironclad. If someone’s name is not found in Appendix E, he was not awarded the Medal of Honor for service in Vietnam, or anywhere else during that war.
They do at least as much, if not more harm to American Society.
Best regards,
I could not get any records; the V.A. couldn't get them; my congressman couldn't get them. Something about a fire in St. Louis a number of years ago that destroyed them.
One got blown up by a SAM he didn't see, the other got blown up by his own grenade after he dropped it. I appreciate their service, but neither served with distinction.
Don't you just HATE it when that happens?
IIRC, that is a favorite tactic of fake warriors--claim that their records were lost in that fire.
Come on. Kerry's sins -- throwing away medals and saying our soldiers are a bunch of confessed rapists -- far, far outdistance anything Cleland and McCain have done.
Quick, somebody blow my ass up while I'm looking the other way!
I could not get any records; the V.A. couldn't get them; my congressman couldn't get them. Something about a fire in St. Louis a number of years ago that destroyed them.
A few years ago there was supposed to be a certificate available for those who served during the cold war. I applied online and never heard a peep. Did anyone get this certificate?
Therefore, the fire will not apply to anyone claiming Vietnam era or later service.
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