Former Navy SEAL Helps Ferret Out Fake Credentials

Former SEAL Helps Ferret Out Fake Credentials
Dec 17, 2012
Tampa Tribune
by Howard Altman

So you're in a bar and the guy on the next stool is bragging about being a Navy SEAL.

Maybe he's trying to cadge free drinks, or impress a potential paramour.

Or maybe it's someone running for office, trying to garner votes.

If your BS radar detector starts pinging, there's probably good reason, says Tucker Campion, a guy who should know.

Campion, now 56 and living in Tarpon Springs, was a Navy SEAL for 19 years, retiring in 2000 as commander of SEAL Team 3. For several years, he was part of an organization called VeriSEAL, which helps ferret out fakers by, among other methods, accessing a database of everyone who graduates from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEALs training, or BUD/S for short.

By and large, SEALs remain the "quiet professionals" and don't brag. So if you hear someone who does, they are likely fakes. A check of the database usually proves that. No BUD/S, no SEAL, no deal, says Campion.

"We always say that for every real SEAL, there are 10 guys saying they are," says Campion. "Ever since bin Laden was taken down, the numbers shot through the roof." I reached out to Campion after seeing his name in a purloined email about outing a pretender on one of my favorite Web sites, which gathers up all kinds of semi-spooky stuff from a wide array of sources.

The 7-year-old email, which has since been scrubbed, talked about the VeriSEAL team, naming a few names.

VeriSEAL was formed in 1992, according to VeriSEAL.org. Its mission is "to provide immediate confirmation" of SEAL and other Special Operations Forces credentials.
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