New inductee Brian Culp

[csquare]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/military...s_service.html

This guy went to great links to get over on alot of folks here in the San Antonio area. He'll will be going to jail soon enough.

[Richard]

Good effin' riddance.

Richard's $.02

[Pete]

"And while Culp had served honorably in both wars against Iraq, he never was wounded, never served in Somalia or Bosnia and never had been a Ranger, Vaughan said."

They never can be just proud of what they really did.

[SF_BHT]

Needs to have LOSER tattooed on his forehead.....
The hunts may have been a attempt at clearing his conscience.
Good redden's.

[SF-TX]

Ironic that the Texas DPS trooper that pulled him over is the real deal. Derome West is a former ranger and is the director of a foundation that takes wounded vets. LEO's, firemen and other first responders on all-expense paid hunting trips.

But it was a chance encounter with a former Army Ranger last year that led to Culp finally being exposed. Highway patrolman Derome West said he came upon Culp while patrolling U.S. 281 near Bulverde.

“A pickup with a Ranger tab and Purple Heart plates pulled into the Valero in front of me, so I pulled up beside him,” West recalled.

“He started telling me about how he was in the 3rd Ranger Battalion in Mogadishu, and we got to talking a little bit. There's a little bit of a vetting process,” he said of the Ranger fraternity.

But Culp's story didn't check out with other Rangers who were in the rescue mission made famous in the movie, “Black Hawk Down.” His references also failed him and there was no record of his being in Somalia.

The following is a link to American Valor Outdoors, the foundation started by Trooper West:

http://americanvaloroutdoors.net/index.htm

[ODA 226]

Can someone copy and paste the San Antonio article here? I can't get the link to work.
Thanks!

[SF-TX]

My San Antonio

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Web Posted: 12/14/2008 12:00 CST
Invalid valor: Vet lied about his service
By John MacCormack- Express-News

Boasting a military record that included two Purple Hearts, decorations for valor and combat service in Somalia with the Army Rangers, Brian Culp seemed the perfect war hero to be honored last year as grand marshal in LaVernia's patriotic parade.

“He was very deserving because of his military experience, battles and honors. And he had gotten hurt,” said Merrie Monaco, president of the Lions Club that sponsors the Bluebonnet Fest Parade.

“We actually made a quilt with his patches and medals, like a memory quilt, and we gave it to him,” she recalled.

A large and rugged outdoorsman, Culp, 38, also merited special recognition because of his nonprofit organization Veteran Adventures, that takes injured service members on hunting trips around South Texas.

But even as Culp was bathed in adulation as he rolled along Main Street at the head of the LaVernia parade, time was running out.

Smelling something fishy in his improbable war stories and claims to being a brother in arms, members of the small fraternity of Army Rangers already were comparing notes and digging into his military past.

Then on Aug. 23, 2007, Culp overplayed his hand when he tried to enter Lackland AFB using an ID card that identified him as a retired master sergeant.

The gate guard turned Culp away and confiscated the card, which investigators soon determined to be well-done forgery.

When Culp came in for questioning, Air Force detectives Stephen Vaughan and Sean Garrettson at first found denial and defiance. But eventually, they say, he admitted to even more elaborate fictions.

“This guy came in and thinks he's gonna run the interview,” recalled Vaughan, who had just returned from his second tour in Iraq.

“I was personally offended by his behavior. I found it reprehensible,” he said.

Culp first claimed he knew nothing about the fake ID card that bore his name and photo, but when the stakes were raised, he crumbled, Vaughan said.

“I said, ‘So check it out, Culp. What if I run a search warrant on your house right now? Do you want to bet there's something on your home computer to make this ID card?'” he recalled.

He said Culp eventually admitted he had used his computer to create not only the fake ID card, but also an authentic-looking military discharge paper called a DD-214 larded with fictional honors and service.

Culp admitted to using the fake documents to obtain benefits and services from on-base haircuts to Purple Heart license plates to disability payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Vaughan said.

“He said he lied to the VA counselor about having post-traumatic stress disorder from serving in Bosnia and witnessing mass graves there,” Vaughan said.

And while Culp had served honorably in both wars against Iraq, he never was wounded, never served in Somalia or Bosnia and never had been a Ranger, Vaughan said.

“All of us want to be John Wayne, but most of us outgrow it when we're 12,” he said.

Almost a year later, Culp was charged with four federal offenses related to making false claims to military honors and to using a fake ID card to try to enter Lackland.

Culp, who last year convinced a San Antonio Express-News reporter that he had been wounded while participating in the 1993 Ranger rescue mission in Somalia known as “Black Hawk Down,” declined to be interviewed.

The real story, he said in a brief e-mail, is about the wounded servicemen he helps.

“I was and am one of them. An honorably discharged, multiple combat, disabled veteran,” he wrote.

Hunting trips

According to his Veteran Adventures Web site, which solicits donations and once claimed he shed blood on foreign soil, Culp has sponsored a handful of hunting trips in the past two years.

Louis Dahlman, 24, a long-term patient at Brooke Army Medical Center, was a guest on a recent axis deer hunt on a ranch in Bandera County.

Dahlman, of Iowa, was badly injured in May 2007 while serving in Iraq with the Army.

“We were doing convoy escort and I was the gunner on the lead truck when a roadside bomb blew off my jaw,” Dahlman said.

“I've had seven or eight surgeries so far. I've got a year or two of surgeries left,” he said.

Despite coming home empty-handed from the September hunt with Culp, he had nothing but praise.

“He was a super nice guy, and it's a great organization,” Dahlman said.

“It's just a chance for guys to get out of the hospital, get 'em outdoors and get their minds off their surgeries and injuries,” he said.

Stolen valor

Embellishing military records has a long and rich history in the United States, dating at least to the Revolutionary War when a German soldier of fortune gained George Washington's confidence with false credentials.

Claiming to be having been a key military aide to the King of Prussia but alas, having no papers to prove it, Baron Von Steuben proved to be the exceptional imposter, providing valuable service in training the rag-tag revolutionary army.

But more than two centuries passed before it became a crime to lie about military honors and achievements.

Since passage of the Stolen Valor Act, in 2005, such deceptions are punishable by up to a year in prison, and dozens of fake vets have since been prosecuted. Others have gone to prison for receiving financial and medical benefits based on false claims.

A force behind the new law was B.G. Burkett, an Army veteran of Vietnam who spent more than two decades exposing legions of fake heroes and co-authored the book “Stolen Valor” that documented the phenomenon.

“It wasn't just post-Vietnam. It's every single conflict that's ever occurred. It happened after the Civil War and it's happening right now in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said of false claims by soldiers.

“The No. 1 reason people do this is low self-esteem. The second you say you are a heroic warrior, people treat you differently,” he said.

Culp, who played quarterback at Stroman High School in Victoria, joined the military in 1990 after attending one semester of classes at a small school in Kansas.

According to Vaughan and other sources familiar with his background, Culp apparently made false claims to being a Ranger repeatedly while in the Army and was seriously disciplined at least twice.

“In high school, he was this big football superstar. He was used to thinking he was hot stuff,” one person who knew him well recalled.

“And when he came into the Army, the Rangers were the elite infantry soldiers. Brian was used to being in the limelight, so he put his mind on that,” said the source, who asked not to be named.

While in Germany in the early 1990s, Culp allegedly was caught with Ranger tabs on a uniform.

At the time, he had completed pre-Ranger school in Germany and was in line to attend Ranger School in Georgia. But his misconduct ruined that, the source said.

A decade later, after re-enlisting in the Army, Culp allegedly lost a plum job as personal driver for a general at Fort Hood when a background check turned up a similar false claim that he was a Ranger, several sources said.

His service records reflect a significant demotion, which sources attributed to his false claims.

Holes in the story

But it was a chance encounter with a former Army Ranger last year that led to Culp finally being exposed. Highway patrolman Derome West said he came upon Culp while patrolling U.S. 281 near Bulverde.

“A pickup with a Ranger tab and Purple Heart plates pulled into the Valero in front of me, so I pulled up beside him,” West recalled.

“He started telling me about how he was in the 3rd Ranger Battalion in Mogadishu, and we got to talking a little bit. There's a little bit of a vetting process,” he said of the Ranger fraternity.

[SF-TX]

But Culp's story didn't check out with other Rangers who were in the rescue mission made famous in the movie, “Black Hawk Down.” His references also failed him and there was no record of his being in Somalia.

“I have a copy of the joint meritorious unit award that was awarded to all the Rangers in Somalia in support of Operation Gothic Serpent, aka ‘Black Hawk Down,' and his name is not on it. I can state with 100 percent certainty, he was not there,” said former Ranger Raleigh Cash of Illinois, who participated in the Somali operation.

Cash said that when he confronted Culp by phone last year, the story changed. Culp said he had been deployed with a different Army unit that was sent in to help the Rangers. But this story didn't check out either.

“I'm in a unique position. I can say with 100 percent certainty that no one from our unit went to Mogadishu,” said Dan Gronke, a Ranger who was Culp's unit leader in Germany at the time of the Mogadishu episode.

“He was a pretty good soldier, and that's why all this surprises me. When I knew him, he served honorably and didn't make any grand claims, although he was a good story teller,” said Gronke, now of Alabama.

“What amazes me is someone would tell a story of this scale and think no one will ever call him on it,” he said.

For Culp, the long trail of fiction and perhaps delusion may have ended Dec. 4 when he pleaded guilty to three federal misdemeanor charges: falsely claiming to have earned a Purple Heart, falsely claiming to have earned a Bronze Star with valor, and creating a counterfeit military identification.

He will be sentenced Dec. 29 in San Antonio and faces up to one year in prison.

Sometime soon, Culp also finally will gain formal recognition from the brotherhood of Rangers he so desired to claim. A place of dubious honor awaits him on a Web site belonging to an association of former Army Rangers.

“He will, without a doubt, be posted on the Web site on the poseur ‘wall of shame,'” said Scott Billingslea, a former Ranger who is an administrator of the site, Armyranger.com.

“The reality is, he's an absolute liar. And our goal is to see to it that this guy gets what's coming to him.”

As originally published, this story contained an error.

vet



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[SF-TX]

The trooper whose actions ultimately led to Culp being exposed is the recipient of the highest award given by the Texas Department of Public Safety, The Medal of Valor. I couldn't find a link to a story about how he earned the award, but it involved closing with and killing an individual that had already killed another officer.

The DPS Medal of Valor

The Medal of Valor is the highest award presented by the Texas Department of Public Safety. It may be issued to any member of the Department who intelligently distinguishes himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her own life. The deed performed must have been by voluntary act and of personal bravery or self-sacrifice so conspicuous as to distinguish clearly the individual for gallantry and intrepidity above his or her comrades and must have involved risk of life, known to the member before performing the act. It must be the type of deed which, if left undone, would not subject him to any justifiable criticism. The act must be far above and beyond the normal call of duty.

* Bill Gerth - Rangers
* Johnnie E. Aycock - Rangers
* Stanley K. Guffey - Rangers
* Andrew Lopez - Traffic Law Enforcement / Highway Patrol - Region 3
* Steven Boyd - Traffic Law Enforcement / Highway Patrol - Region 6
* Michael Crump - Traffic Law Enforcement / Highway Patrol - Region 1
* Hector Rodriguez - Traffic Law Enforcement / Driver License - Region 3
* John F. Hart - Traffic Law Enforcement / Highway Patrol - Region 2
* Johnnie Aycock - Rangers
* Carey Matthews - Traffic Law Enforcement / Highway Patrol - Region 5
* Tom Lambert - Traffic Law Enforcement / Highway Patrol - Region 2
* George K. Harris - Traffic Law Enforcement / Highway Patrol - Region 1
* Cody Sanders - Traffic Law Enforcement / Highway Patrol - Region 1
* Danny V. Rhea - Rangers
* Richard Fernandez - Traffic Law Enforcement / License and Weight - Region 4
* Jeff M. Hudson - Traffic Law Enforcement / Highway Patrol - Region 3
* Tim Mollenkopf - Traffic Law Enforcement / Highway Patrol - Region 3
* William A. Lohman - Traffic Law Enforcement / Highway Patrol - Region 2
* Juan Rodriguez Jr. - Traffic Law Enforcement / Highway Patrol - Region 3
* Robert K. Bratten - Traffic Law Enforcement / Highway Patrol - Region 3
* Scott Willeford - Traffic Law Enforcement / Highway Patrol - Region 3
* Derome Daniel West - Traffic Law Enforcement / Highway Patrol - Region 6
* Jeffrey Dale Sones - Traffic Law Enforcement / License and Weight - Region 6
* William Werkmeister - Texas Highway Patrol
* Terry Eaton - Texas Highway Patrol
* Leopoldo Sanchez - Texas Highway Patrol - Commercial Vehicle Enforcement
* Vance Griffin - Texas Highway Patrol
* John Richard Smith - Texas Highway Patrol


http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/medalofvalor.htm

[Team Sergeant]

Mr. Culp wants his information removed from this website..... (see below). I'm thinking I need two things to do that, one is his DD-214 and or a judge (order) telling us to remove his data..... What say you Brothers in Arms? (Is this phil habermans brother?)

Team Sergeant




Information _ Fighting Back!
BECulp [beculp@satx.rr.com]
Mon 12/28/2009 6:07 PM
deaddrop@professionalsoldiers.com
mmaloney@maloneylawfirm.com

Admin,
I have found information pertaining to me on your site. I will tell you the story is absolutely false and was a fabrication of an ex spouse and her lover (a reporter). I am a two time combat veteran and honorably discharged 4 times. There is currently a multimillion dollar lawsuit pertaining to this activity. I am asking you to remove information in regards to me immediately. I hope you understand that if my information is not removed there is a great possibility that your organization may also be involved. I am very proud of my service to my country and I am taking this very seriously. Please remove the support of degradation of character and slander of me immediately – thank you.


Regards,
Brian Culp

[Surgicalcric]

I would ask for more than just his DD-214 TS. I would ask for copies of his awards and the citations for each...

He is an asshat and needs not to get off so easily, IMHO.

[ck333]

Originally Posted by Surgicalcric

I would ask for more than just his DD-214 TS. I would ask for copies of his awards and the citations for each...

He is an asshat and needs not to get off so easily, IMHO.

I agree with Surgicalcric x2. What an asshat!

CK

[bluebb]

I agree he needs to show his records and prove himself. I don't think he has a leg to stand on.

Blue

[18C4V]

Leave it up.

[Ambush Master]

I also concur, that he must show us that his "claims" are valid!!!

This stuff has been posted for a year and now he's getting ruffled about it?!?! That tells me that our claims have substance that is being brought into play elsewhere!!!