Marine to plead guilty in fake heroism case

While there are almost a million claims tied up and almost a million real wounded veterans waiting for justice, people like this just walk up and take what they did not earn.

Marine to plead guilty in fake heroism case
(AP) – 1 hour ago

HAGERSTOWN, Md. — A Marine sergeant charged with faking battle injuries to get freebies intended for wounded warriors will plead guilty, a Marine Corps spokeswoman said Monday.

Sgt. David W. Budwah, 34, of Springhill, La., will enter the plea at a court-martial hearing Wednesday at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va., 1st Lt. Joy Crabaugh wrote in an e-mail.

Crabaugh wouldn't say what offenses Budwah will acknowledge. "That will all be addressed Wednesday," she wrote.

Budwah is accused of bluffing his way into 33 events last year, including six rock concerts, two Washington Nationals baseball games, a Washington Redskins football game and a World Wrestling Entertainment "Monday Night Raw" show. Sponsored by various civilian groups, the events often included special recognition of injured service members in attendance.

Budwah also is alleged to have worn eight unearned medals and decorations on his uniform, including bronze-star campaign medals from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Marine to plead guilty in fake heroism case

Iraq veterans and Afghanistan veterans pick up their local paper and find out one of their friends made it home but could not survive being home. Vietnam veterans still hear someone they know died an early sudden death, and wonder what could have saved their lives.

We have almost one million veterans waiting for their claims to be honored and among them are veterans wondering what the hell they did wrong because they are suffering physically, emotionally and financially, because they did what they felt was for the sake of the nation, their duty to the nation and their honor to serve. Doesn't make much sense does it?

That's the problem when you read stories like this one. They are never about just one person trying to take what they did not earn. It's about who they are trying to take it from. It's about all the veterans waiting for their own claims to be approved, for their time to be honored to come for them and for their families to be taken care of, but these frauds end up getting in the way of all of it. To not understand how deeply this kind of thing hurts real veterans, especially wounded veterans, is to harm them even more. Frauds end up leaving behind too many unseen victims.