Wannabes, Valor Thieves, Poseurs, Fakes, Frauds, Scumbags, Low Lifes, Imposters,Charlatans, and Cheats

When I served with the Marine Corps in Vietnam, I was part of an infantry company that spent a predominant amount of time in harm's way. That's what infantry companies do.

Of all of those who served in country during the Vietnam war, it is estimated that perhaps only 30% or less were involved in actual day to day combat activities. The rest were engaged in the critical support functions. That percentage may be higher with the Marines, but still.

Shortly after my 19th birthday, I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Parris Island was as tough as its reputation. Infantry training was unbearably long and taxing beyond anything that even my fertile mind could have conjured. Then, one day, over a year later, I stepped off a plane in Danang and spent most of the ensuing year shooting or being shot at. It wasn't every day. There were times when we'd go weeks with little or no action at all. But they were always out there looking for us and waiting for their moment. At those rare times when we found each other, the dance was macabre.

It was a long year. Friends were killed and injured. We were exposed to cancer and diabetes causing Agent Orange. Most from my unit carry government disabilities for mental and physical wounds received. Lives were never the same.

To a man, however, we are proud that we served, honored that we served with each other (living and dead,) and will ever stand tall that we earned the title of United States Marine. Consequently, we get angry - VERY angry - when some poser wannabe tries to hitch a free ride on our bus.

An article in today's New York Times triggered me. Senator Hillary Clinton admitted that she lied about being exposed to sniper fire while visiting Bosnia with her husband, the President, in 1997...check that...she didn't "lie" she (in the current hot lexicon of Washington, DC) "misspoke."

Speaking from my own experience and that of my many brothers - trust me on this - when a sniper is shooting at you, it is not a "kind of pregnant" sort of deal. Every orifice opens and closes and opens again, adrenaline spews and you instantly make yourself so small that, in the lexigon of the day, you'd have to look up to look down. It is the scariest fucking moment that you can possibly imagine.

Mrs. Clinton has now joined the vomitously long list of wannabes who would like to make the public think that they stood tall in harm's way. You may say or believe whatever you will about Senator John Kerry and his swift boat experience in Vietnam. There is not one person who questions that he was there, got shot at, and served with honor. Medals? No medals? Wounds? No wounds? Big deal. He served.

War Wannabes are obviously a subject about which I feel strongly, so let's pull back the rocks and see who climbs out.

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin (at the time a Congressman) said at Congressional Vietnam Veterans' Caucus that "I spent five years as a Navy pilot, starting in November of 1962. One year was in Vietnam. I was flying F-4s and F-8s on combat air patrols and photo-reconnaissance support missions. I'm proud of my Navy service. I put my ass on the line day after day. (WSJ 12/29/01)

Liar liar pants on fire. Mr. Harkin's Navy record shows his only decoration is the National Defense Service Medal, awarded to everyone on active service during those years. He was never within half a world of Vietnam.

Professor (and Pulitzer prize winning historian) Joseph Ellis of Mt. Holyoke College fabricated his alleged war record for years. According to the Boston Globe (6/20/01) he told students and anyone else that would listen, that, while serving under General Westmoreland, he saw action clearing out the area around My Lai as a platoon commander of combat paratroopers from the legendary 101st Airborne.

Liar, liar pants on fire. Ellis never left the states. He also lied to his students and in numerous television and press interviews about his work as an anti war activist (not), a civil rights worker in Mississippi (not) and as the scorer of the winning touchdown in the last game of his senior year in high school (not.) He wasn't even on the team. Oh, and during the Vietnam War? Ellis was teaching history at the United States Military Academy.

Incredibly, then Mt. Holyoke president Joanne Creighton supported Ellis and said he was a "man of great integrity, honesty and honor." No kidding, you can't make this up. How can a blatant liar be a man of "great integrity, honesty, and honor." Where was she educated?! I remained stunned that he wasn't tossed out on his ear. Where were groups like the American Legion when we needed them to defend us?

The American Legion? Oops.

Paul A. Morin is the National Commander of the American Legion. In the lead sentence of his campaign biography, according again to the Boston Globe (12/3/06) he describes himself as a "Vietnam veteran of the US Army." When he testified before the House Veterans' Affairs Committee that fall, he was also introduced as such. He went on to say, "When we came home (from Vietnam), life was a little different. We do not want to see any veteran ever returning to what we did, so we'll be there to be welcoming them home with open arms,"

Liar, liar pants on fire. The closest he got to Vietnam was Ft. Dix, NJ.

Had enough?

I haven't.

Former Toronto Blue Jays manager Tim Johnson fired up his baseball teams with bloody tales of his days as a U.S. Marine in Vietnam. He had killed a little girl and her brother who happened into the line of fire.

Liar, liar pants on fire. He served in the Marine Reserves. An exemption for baseball players had kept him out of combat.

Former U.S. Rep. Wes Cooley told reporters he'd fought in Korea as a Special Forces demolition expert trained in mountain climbing and escape tactics. The Oregon Republican said he'd engaged in countless secret missions.

Liar, liar, pants on fire. He never left the states. He hadn't even finished his training when the Korean conflict ended.

Actor Brian Dennehy said he served five years in Vietnam. He'd been hit by shrapnel. Combat, he told Playboy magazine, was "absolute f---ing chaos."

Liar, liar pants on fire. Dennehy had been a Marine, but his only overseas assignment had been as a football player on a service team in Okinawa.

There are groups and individuals who are ever vigilant for Wannabes. One among them is Stephen Burkett, co-author of "Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of its Heroes and its History." My hat is off to all who are vigilant for evidence of such unspeakable fraud. I encourage each of you to join the ranks. Posers are your friends, neighbors, and co-workers. It has been said that there are more people who falsely claim to have served in harm's way in Vietnam than those that actually did.

I feel strongly that an early post World War II American public would not have stood for the swift boating of Senator John Kerry in 2004, the "unpatriotic" moniker hung on Vietnam War triple-amputee Senator Max Cleland during the Georgia primary the same year, or the Republican sliming of Senator John McCain (former prisoner of war) during the South Carolina primary in 2000. To this day, few people stand tall to protect and defend the service of those who served in harm's way during the Vietnam War.

We have the power to change that.

Perhaps a good way to begin is to boycott all books written by Joseph Ellis. To Vietnam Veterans, he holds a dubious place of honor that heretofore had been the exclusive domain of Hanoi Jane Fonda.

He lied about himself, for goodness sake.

Did he lie about Jefferson?

This Imposter is teaching our kids.

The list follows:

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
His Excellency: George Washington
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson
American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic
Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams
After the Revolution: Profiles of Early American Culture
Thomas Jefferson, Genius of Liberty
School for Soldiers: West Point and the Profession of Arms
Something That Will Surprise the World: The Essential Writings of the Founding Fathers
What Did the Declaration Declare?

Thank you for visiting.

Jack