His Sentence - Not Long Enough
 

AMARILLO, Texas — Richard David McClanahan, 29, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson to a total of 34 months in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper. McClanahan pled guilty in August to one count of making false statements and one count of making false claims about receipt of military medals.

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/PressR...an_sen_pr.html

He treated me!
 

So here's an interesting story. This joker treated me while at BAMC in San Antonio. In July of '04, I spent 4 months in a bed in BAMC. I was "graced" with this gentlemens presence as he was tasked to change my dressings one particular day. He had been informed that I was a three time purple heart recepient, and inquired the conditions in which I recieved them. I began to tell my story to someone I assumed was genuinely interested, and was abruptly interruted only so that he could tell me the conditions in which he recieved "his". He also made short reference to his "pow" status in Central America. Not knowing the requirments to wear the special forces tab (I was young and ignorant), I noticed he was wearing a special forces tab as a SPC. I asked if he was special forces, or in an sf unit (I didn't know better at the time), and he said he was an sf medic. I asked him about it, and he fed me a story about being prior service and the military not recognizing his NCOES schooling or some crap. I bought it. I bought just about anything anyone told me all hopped up on morphine :). Needless to say, he spent more time trying to "one up" me rather than treat me or listen to my responses to the questions he was asking.

It wasn't until the day that I got selected in July 07 that I realized he was a fraud. They segregated us into a building where I found my first piece of news correspondence in almost a month, and it was a copy of the Army times with this a$$hole on the front page. I was like "I know that guy!". He hadn't claimed the MOH when he ambushed me with his fantasy tales, and that's apparently what got him in his deep predicament. Rumor has it that he was discharged for similair reasons, the sf tab I assume, and continued to live his fantasy even in his civilian life as his lies grew more ridiculous. Anyway, since I personally experienced his shenenigans, I thought I would share.

Ryan

I remember the warstories favorites after RVN...every guy I met at the NCO club/wherever was in SF or a LRRP...everyone.
I even had a cook, in the NCO rod & bottle, wearing cook whites telling me tales of daring do as a LRRP in RVN....and the zooka's were zookin etc.
When he asked me about my RVN time I told him I was the ski boat driver at the incountry R&R center in Vung Tau.
Crap that sh&t gets old and it is older still.

Hey - I met all those guys - they all claimed to have been LRRPs or Tunnel Rats or Recon or such - you mean they were lying - what's this world coming to! :rolleyes:

One of my favorites is one of the awards clerks at 5th SFG HQs who added his name/ASN to some requests for orders for the CIB and valor prior to DEROS to Fort Bragg - was receiving the award for a BSM on Alamo Field during a 7th SFG payday formation - the Adjutant was reading the award and there was a stir in one of the company formations - an NCO who had been on the team involved in the action was back in the 7th and went ballistic when he heard the citation being read - the clerk got busted and sent packing. :D

Lesson to all the wannabes - you never know who you're talking to out here or who's listening.

Richard's $.02 :munchin

Don’t overturn my conviction, faker says
 

We won't. Your name will live on here forever.;)

Don’t overturn my conviction, faker says
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jul 13, 2012 8:33:57 EDT

FORT WORTH, Texas — Richard David McClanahan no longer considers himself a veteran. Convicted of embellishing his military record and claiming awards he never won, McClanahan says he doesn’t attend Veterans Day parades or Memorial Day events out of shame.

Congress passed the Stolen Valor Act in 2006 to try to prevent people from fabricating stories about battle or military honors. But the Supreme Court last month overturned the law, calling it a violation of the Constitution’s guarantee of the right to free speech.

Nonetheless, McClanahan, 34, says he doesn’t want his criminal record cleared.

“I have no desire to have my record expunged,” McClanahan told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I’m not the victim here. The law was put into place for a very good reason.”

McClanahan did serve in the military. According to prosecutors, he joined the Navy in 1999 and entered the Army two years later.

But Army officials would demote him after a 2005 evaluation showed he lied repeatedly to his superiors about his achievements and his record. He was eventually discharged later that year “under other than honorable conditions” to avoid a court martial.

McClanahan returned to Amarillo, where he grew up. Prosecutors said he showed off fake letters from former President George W. Bush and then-Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that suggested he was being considered for the Medal of Honor — the highest military award.

He became a speaker at local schools and groups. His old high school gave him nearly $10,000 in scholarship money, according to authorities. And though a local dealership declined McClanahan’s request for a free car, the dealership helped him get financing. McClanahan was found to have lied on the paperwork about his income.

Other veterans eventually became suspicious and contacted the FBI. McClanahan was indicted and eventually pleaded guilty to making false statements and making false claims about the receipt of medals. He would serve 30 months of a 34-month sentence.

Now, McClanahan is living in Fort Worth and working as a salesman. His former wife and two children live in Amarillo.

His lies began when he wanted to measure up to other veterans, he said. They grew as he started to get more opportunities.

“Who wants to meet a guy who was a medic and deployed to Korea and then goes to college?” he said. “Those guys are a dime a dozen. My stories weren’t worth anything. I just thought, ‘What is going to set David apart?’ ”

The Pentagon is considering the creation of a searchable database of military honors, similar to Military Times’ Hall of Valor, to prevent frauds and some members of Congress say they’ll try to pass another law that meets the Supreme Court’s guidance.

“I wish more people could be brought down and exposed,” McClanahan told the newspaper. “I still have friends in the military. I disrespected them. I don’t believe that people should be able to get away with it, and this coming from the guy who was convicted and did time for it.”

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/0...iction-071312/

They can make their database, all of these guys awards are classified if I recall properly, and would not be in the database. Awards given for JSOC super-duper secret squirrel units won't be on there.

I met one of those guys too. A Vietnam vet who had been a "Special Forces MP" in the Nam.

Priceless.