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Veterans' Web Sites Expose Pseudo Heroes, Phony Honors
Wall Street Journal ^ | 5-6-2005 | AMY CHOZICK

Posted on 05/06/2005 6:32:31 AM PDT by Cagey

From the minute FBI Special Agent Thomas A. Cottone Jr. saw Walter K. Carlson, he suspected that something wasn't quite right about the decorated war hero. The two men met at a Washington Township, N.J., funeral service for Marine Second Lt. John Thomas Wroblewski, 25 years old, killed in Iraq in last spring.

"Thousands of people were there, but when that captain walked past me wearing the Navy Cross and a chest full of medals and ribbons," Mr. Cottone says, "I whispered to my friend, something is wrong with that guy."

Mr. Cottone, whose duties at the Federal Bureau of Investigation include investigating military imposters, subsequently followed his hunch, determining, he says, that Mr. Carlson, 59 years old and a local bus dispatcher, didn't earn the medals he was wearing; in fact, Mr. Cottone says, Mr. Carlson never even served in the military. Mr. Carlson declined to comment.

It is illegal under federal law to wear an unauthorized military uniform or unearned decorations. Mr. Carlson was arrested, released on $10,000 bond and ordered to surrender all military materials. A trial was averted when he agreed to a pretrial probation program, says Mr. Cottone.

With patriotism at a high plateau of late, the U.S. military currently receives a level of respect not seen since World War II. Unlike the Vietnam War era, today even those who oppose the war in Iraq profess to be staunch supporters of the men and women who serve there. The heightened admiration has given way to a growing number of military impostors, and in turn sparked an impassioned group of crusaders determined to expose the mock heros who festoon themselves with unearned medals.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: phonyvet; stolenvalor
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To: ladtx
Sorry -

"Communists almost exactly"

21 posted on 05/06/2005 6:53:46 AM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave soldiers and their Commander in Chief)
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To: Cagey
"Thousands of people were there, but when that captain walked past me wearing the Navy Cross and a chest full of medals and ribbons," Mr. Cottone says, "I whispered to my friend, something is wrong with that guy."

That's what over half he country thought of last year's Presidential contender.

22 posted on 05/06/2005 6:54:25 AM PDT by DTogo (U.S. out of the U.N. & U.N out of the U.S.)
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To: Ron in Acreage; SortaBichy; Delmont
Some of these guys would have been 12 while in Nam.

There was a panhandler complete with sign that said "Homeless Vietnamese Vet" on the corner near where I used to work. He was also a good 20 years too young to have been in the military during that period.

Since he was black, he didn't look too Vietnamese either...

23 posted on 05/06/2005 6:55:12 AM PDT by ErnBatavia (I'm pleased that my banishment was reversed on appeal)
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To: Cagey

I'm not trying to play mulit-post cop or anything, but I swear I read this article a couple months back.

Anyway, I don't understand these wanna-be's pinning bogus medals & ribbons (not an interchangable term, JFK). Why can't people either be proud of their not-so-glorious service or lack of service. I was never in any combat, but am still proud of my service, even if one of my duties was to pump off the poop tanks weekly.


24 posted on 05/06/2005 6:55:28 AM PDT by ctlpdad (There can be no triumph without loss, no victory without suffering and no freedom without sacrifice!)
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To: wideawake
Sorry -

"Communists almost exactly"

LOL! I know how you feel, sometimes my fingers get ahead of my brain.

25 posted on 05/06/2005 6:55:40 AM PDT by ladtx ( "Remember your regiment and follow your officers." Captain Charles May, 2d Dragoons, 9 May 1846)
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To: Cagey
I used to think that the fake Navy Seals were the most pathetic group around, until Ward Churchill exposed me to the world of the fake Indians.

A fake Indian Navy Seal would be the best.

26 posted on 05/06/2005 6:56:16 AM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: ctlpdad

It's a new article in the WSJ today - I read it on the ferry this morning in my low-tech edition.


27 posted on 05/06/2005 6:57:07 AM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave soldiers and their Commander in Chief)
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To: A Balrog of Morgoth

It didn't come out better the second time. ;)


28 posted on 05/06/2005 6:57:44 AM PDT by G.Mason ( I am never wrong, but just in case I'm caught ... "Okay! I was wrong, but I thought I was right")
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To: ctlpdad

I think you are recalling the actual story of this Carlson clown being found out by the FBI agent who had attended the Soldier's funeral in New Jersey. I recall that story being on this forum a few months ago too.


29 posted on 05/06/2005 6:59:43 AM PDT by Cagey
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To: wideawake

I don't doubt you a bit. Here's the article I was thinking of:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1123209/posts


30 posted on 05/06/2005 7:00:02 AM PDT by ctlpdad (There can be no triumph without loss, no victory without suffering and no freedom without sacrifice!)
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To: Cagey

You are right. You posted it! LOL!


31 posted on 05/06/2005 7:00:55 AM PDT by ctlpdad (There can be no triumph without loss, no victory without suffering and no freedom without sacrifice!)
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To: ctlpdad

Same guy posted that story too. Weird.


32 posted on 05/06/2005 7:01:51 AM PDT by Cagey
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To: mountaineer
cracks under the least bit of pressure, can't make a decision, utterly dishonest in other matters

John Kerry teaches at your school????

33 posted on 05/06/2005 7:03:53 AM PDT by Bahbah (Something wicked this way comes)
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To: mountaineer
The president of a local college, a flaming liberal, has on his resume two years Navy service as a Lt. in the early 1970s.

The two years of service says it all. The guy probably left under pressure, or he simply saw the handwriting on the wall. If you apply yourself, it's not that hard to get a commission, your leadership isn't tested until you're on the job. There are also a surprising number (not huge, just surprising) of Democrats and liberals in the military. Most come by their liberalism from their family and friends, some are opportunists (during a Democrat Presidency), and some are simply contrarians.

34 posted on 05/06/2005 7:08:12 AM PDT by pawdoggie
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To: wideawake

"I hate the meal but I love the cook!"

I would back away from that statement. ;) I know many women who destroy everything they try to cook. Their husbands still love them. They just eat out. LOL!


35 posted on 05/06/2005 7:11:20 AM PDT by imskylark
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To: Cagey; RonDog; kristinn; Do not dub me shapka broham; Doctor Raoul; NYTexan; AnnaZ; ...

"POWnetwork.org, HomeOfHeroes.com, AuthentiSEAL.org and VeriSEAL.org, among other Web sites, provide concerned citizens with a free investigation into a person's military status."

Sounds like material for a GREAT FReeping/PW protest rally sign!

Background Check MOAB (mother of all banners)...

... Take a wireless laptop to FReeps, ask for Name, Rank and Serial Number of all wearing camo ...

WooooHooooo!


36 posted on 05/06/2005 7:11:59 AM PDT by The Spirit Of Allegiance (SAVE THE BRAINFOREST! Boycott the RED Dead Tree Media!)
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To: Bahbah

He may as well be Effin Kerry. This college president ignored a directive from the governor to lower the flags statewide when a state resident - and graduate of this very college - was killed in action in Iraq, but he did try to lower the flags when another student was killed in a drive-by shooting while out bar-hopping at 3 a.m. There was some opposition, needless to say, and a couple of vice presidents had to explain the "flag flying" rules to him.


37 posted on 05/06/2005 7:14:31 AM PDT by mountaineer
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To: ArrogantBustard

Hmmm...what about other pseudos & phonies, of the bishop, priest, and deacon stripes? Maybe we need to start a parallel group.


38 posted on 05/06/2005 7:28:22 AM PDT by St. Johann Tetzel (Sometimes "Defending the Faith" means you have to be willing to get your hands dirty...)
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To: Cagey
Read BG Burkett's book Stolen Valor. It lists a number of poser soldiers who have achieved prominence, and debunks a lot of other myths about Vietnam and the men who fought there.
39 posted on 05/06/2005 7:29:37 AM PDT by IronJack
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To: Cagey
Anybody notice this prominent name in VeriSeal.org's Hall of Shame?

Richard Armitage

Verrrrrrrry interesting!

(It should be noted that it's hard to tell whether Armitage himself is responsible for promoting the myth that he was a Navy SEAL. But as the website states, Armitage "does not go out of his way" to correct the many media stories portraying him as a former SEAL.)

40 posted on 05/06/2005 7:34:30 AM PDT by shhrubbery! (The 'right to choose' = The right to choose death --for somebody else.)
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