Coral Spring Talk
By: Sharon Aron Baron
October 14, 2014
What started as a feel-good story about a wounded combat veteran and his service dog, turned out to be a pandora’s box of deceit as information was uncovered by military activists who found evidence that the veteran was lying about his service.
Coral Springs resident Jarrett Gimbl, claims that he was injured while on active duty overseas, suffering from post traumatic stress disorder while struggling with a traumatic brain injury.
Gimbl runs a Facebook page dedicated to Gunny, his service dog, which has over 12,000 followers. The story is that Gunny assisted him with the difficulty of adjusting to civilian life from his combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The followers of the page are very involved with his story, offering him support and assistance.
After all, this was a man who sustained injuries while serving all of us.
It makes a fantastic story. Unfortunately, it is just that – a story.
When talking with Gimbl, I asked him what countries he served in and he refused to tell me. Then later in the conversation he said, “I’ve been to Iraq and Afghanistan.” However, he would not disclose how or where he received his injuries. His Gunny-Service Dog Facebook page says that he was injured while on active duty. An article that was written about him in the New York Post also says that he was injured on duty in Iraq.
Jarrett Gimbl’s discharge papers tell another story entirely. His DD214 says Gimbl never served overseas.
After doing an online search, I spoke with Retired U.S. Army Infantry Platoon Sgt Jonn Lilyea who served in Desert Storm and is editor for This Ain’t Hell, a site that exposes military frauds. He provided me with discharge papers that he obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Lilyeah said his readers became suspicious of Gimbl after seeing him on a segment on FOX News.
“A lot of my readers are standing in line at the VA,” said Lilyea. “People are revered now for their military service and people like him are taking advantage of that.”
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