Fort Bliss solider "hero" in his own mind?

That hero soldier who saved a life with just a pen and a sweatshirt? Apparently, he made it all up.

Army Times
Meghann Myers
January 17, 2019

It took a few days, but as news outlets around the country picked up a Jan. 9 Fort Bliss, Texas, press release about a soldier’s heroic response to a gruesome car accident, firefighters in Sweetwater, Texas, started to ask questions.

Sgt. Trey Troney, a field artillery cannon crewmember assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, is under investigation after questions arose about whether he lied about saving a man after a traffic accident on Interstate 20 near Sweetwater, Texas, Dec. 22, 2018. (Staff Sgt. Killo Gibson/Army)

That wrecked Toyota pickup on the side of Highway 20 sounded very familiar, but Sgt. Trey Troney, the 20-year-old soldier with the New Orleans Saints “Salute to Service” sweatshirt and the ballpoint-pen chest decompression didn’t.

“There are so many similarities, but our patient didn’t have those injuries,” Grant Madden, Sweetwater’s fire chief, told Army Times in a Wednesday phone interview.

Fort Bliss officials on Thursday retracted their story. Troney’s command has initiated an investigation into whether he lied to his leadership about his role in the accident, spokeswoman Maj. Allie Payne told Army Times.

“The entire 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss team sincerely apologize to the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Highway Patrol, the city of Sweetwater, Texas, the city of El Paso, the University of Texas at El Paso, the New Orleans Saints, the local and national media and the American people,” Payne said in a release.
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Stolen Valor Fake Vietnam Veteran

He collected nearly $200K posing as a Vietnam vet with 2 Purple Hearts — but he never served
The News and Observer (Tribune News Service)
By AARON MOODY
Published: June 27, 2018

A Charleston, S.C. man collected nearly $200,000 in VA benefits over the past few years while listed as a Navy medic who received two Purple Hearts for his service in Vietnam.

Keith R. Hudson Charleston County Sheriff's Office

But Keith R. Hudson, 70, was never in the military, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina said Wednesday.

“This is a particularly awful type of white collar crime,” U.S. Attorney Sherri Lydon said in a news release. “Veteran health benefits are for those who served our nation in the military. The VA has limited numbers of physicians and resources. There is not much to spare.”

Hudson pleaded guilty in federal court to defrauding the VA of $197,237. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
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Australia Vietnam Veterans Tracking Fake Heroes Too

The national will pause to remember those who fought in the Vietnam war. Picture: GLENN FERGUSON

A Vietnam veteran in Australia came across a post on Combat PTSD Wounded Times that went up back in 2014 on Robert William Richardson. He offered this update from ANZMI, a site dedicated to their own Stolen Valor folks. 

I have no way of tracking down what they have on the site, only because time is too limited. Here is the link to what they found. 

As always, check what you are reading and find the sources. I just thought it was good to know that other nations are tracking down their fakes too!

UPDATE from New Jersey on one of our own fakers....

Man arrested for allegedly impersonating a veteran for money

Veterans Services then began looking into Bonet's military history and discovered he was court-martialed and dishonorably discharged at the rank of PV1 from the Army in 1977. The organization also discovered that Bonet had contacted various veterans organizations throughout Bergen and Passaic counties for assistance. The Bergen County Division of Veterans Services sent its findings to Cresskill Detective Charles Franke. 

Fake Army Veteran Busted For Taking Donations

Phony veteran arrested for soliciting donations
By NBC News
Published: December 8, 2016

NORTH MYERS, FL (WPTV) A homeless man arrested more than 70 times is in trouble again, this time for impersonating a veteran in order to solicit donations at a North Fort Myers, Florida shopping center.

When deputies arrived at Weavers Corner shopping plaza, they found 57-year-old Jeffrey Prince wearing a full Army uniform, with a cardboard sign asking for help. Witnesses at the shopping center told deputies that Prince claimed to be a homeless veteran and needed assistance.

Authorities asked if Prince had ever been a member of any branch of the military, Prince told them he served in the army in Texas, but would not provide his years of service.
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Ex-Deputy Facing Charges as Fake Veteran With PTSD

How is it that there is still a stigma about being a veteran with PTSD yet so many non-veterans are claiming they have it from service?

Former Warren County sheriff's deputy accused of filing false report, lying about military honors
KMOV News
By Stephanie Baumer, Online News Producer
Oct 28, 2015

WARREN COUNTY, Mo. (KMOV.com) – A former deputy with the Warren County Sheriff’s Department is accused of faking a report and lying about being a combat veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder.
read more here

Fake US Veteran Caused Change in Canada

Fake War Veteran At Citizenship Ceremonies Prompts New Safeguards From Ottawa 
CBC
Posted: 07/31/2015

The review was a direct result of the actions of Donald Lemmond, a 67-year-old who posed an American and Canadian war veteran with service medals from the Vietnam and Afghanistan war, among other medals.

The federal government has implemented new rules covering how veterans are invited to citizenship ceremonies, after a fake war veteran participated in Hamilton-area ceremonies last Remembrance Day.

Citizen and Immigration Canada (CIC) has implemented a number of safeguards, including having CIC officials liaise with regional veterans associations, verify their records and prevent dishonorably discharged veterans from participating. read more here

Canadian Vietnam Fake Hero Author Copied LIfe of Real Florida Veteran

Nanton author Dennis Surrendi plagiarized Vietnam veteran's life story
CALGARY SUN
Michael Platt
FIRST POSTED: MONDAY, JUNE 01, 2015

But when it comes to bragging about fake medals, Mason says he hopes Canadian police throw the book at Surrendi.

“To me that’s the major crime here, and he’s really made some people angry by doing that,” said Mason, speaking to the Sun from his home in Florida.

Dennis Surrendi has admitted that he was never in the Vietnam War and and took large parts of the book he wrote, called "Set Me Free", from a popular Vietnam War memoir, called "Chickenhawk", written by Robert Mason. Nanton News file photo

There, on Page 6 of the Nanton News, is the damning confession.

“Firstly, I am not a war veteran and secondly, much of the material contained in my book was copied from another book written by a Mr. Robert Mason titled: Chickenhawk.”

And with that admission, Dennis C. Surrendi’s deceitful tale of war heroics and chest full of medals earned as a Vietnam helicopter pilot comes crashing to the ground.

It’s a big fall for a man once feted as a local war hero, signing autographs and shaking hands with military veterans.

Surrendi was forced to confess after being confronted by the actual Vietnam helicopter pilot whose words he stole — and to avoid a lawsuit for plagiarism, the author of Set Me Free agreed to admit his guilt in the local paper.

It’s a small ad, with the word “sorry” conspicuous by its absence — but the few words serve to completely discredit a man who’d been posing as a decorated war vet.

“It’s unbelievable to me that someone would do something like that,” said Robert Mason, the actual author of Chickenhawk, the book from which Surrendi stole.
read more here

Robert Mason Chickenhawk

Canada Has Fake Heroes Too

Fake soldier pleads guilty to wearing uniform, medals 
Franck Gervais was interviewed on Remembrance Day wearing a medal of bravery and other decorations at a memorial service.
He was spotted as a fake by veterans.
Canadian Press
March 5, 2015

OTTAWA — A Quebec man accused of impersonating a Canadian soldier has pleaded guilty to unlawfully wearing a military uniform and medals.

Two other charges against Franck Gervais of impersonating a public officer have been dropped.

Gervais came into the public spotlight last November after he was interviewed while wearing a military uniform, including a medal of bravery and other decorations, near Ottawa’s National War Memorial on Remembrance Day.

Almost immediately after the interview was aired, questions were raised by a number of veterans about his identity and whether he was actually a soldier.

In fact, the 32-year-old Gervais was not a member of the Canadian Forces.
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Fake Wounded Veteran Tried to Pay Bar Bill With Rock

Landscaper pretending to be a wounded veteran 'threatened to blow up a Florida bar after employees would not let him pay his tab with a ROCK'
Jared Simpson, 23, from Maine, charged with making false bomb threats, petty theft and disorderly conduct Told people he arrived in Tallahassee, Florida, to party with Rainbow People in national forest
He walked into 4th Quarter Bar and Grill on crutches, which he later ditched and was seen doing handstands on the sidewalk
Witnesses say Simpson placed a briefcase on a table and said, 'Anyone touch this, they will die'
Arrest affidavit states Simpson told police the briefcase contained 'maybe a bomb or a baby' before breaking into a song
By SNEJANA FARBEROV FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
23 February 2015

But when his new acquaintance, who turned out to be a veteran, inquired which military branch he had served in, the 23-year-old replied, 'if I tell you, I have to kill you,' the court documents stated.

Bizarre behavior: The 23-year-old landscaper was overheard 'speaking in tongues' and singing a song to a police officer about how he was a 'rainbow man'

Jared Simpson has learned first-hand what it means to be between a rock and a hard place when he landed behind bars for allegedly trying to pay his bar tab with a pebble – and then threatening to blow up the bar.

Simpson, 23, of North Waterford, Maine, was taken into custody in Tallahassee February 18 on charges of making false bomb threats, petty theft and disorderly conduct.

According to investigators, the bizarre incident unfolded at around 4pm last Wednesday when Simpson tottered into the bar on crutches, ordered a Bud Light beer and then offered the bartender a rock to cover his $10 tab.
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Fake Heroes Beware: Court Rules Wearing Unearned Medals Is a Crime

Court Rules Wearing Unearned Medals Is a Crime
Stars and Stripes
Oct 31, 2014

Lying about receiving a military medal is protected speech, but there's no right to wear a combat decoration that hasn't been earned, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.

The difference, said a divided panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is that lying is speech, but wearing a medal is conduct, according to a report in the San Francisco Chrnonicle.

The decision in an Idaho case returned the court to a controversy that led to a 2012 Supreme Court ruling and a rewriting of the law by Congress in 2013.

The defendant, Elven Swisher, served in the Marine Corps from 1954 to 1957, the Chronicle reported. In 2001, he applied for disability benefits, claiming he had been wounded in a secret mission to North Korea in 1955, after the Korean War ended. The Department of Veterans Affairs granted the request in 2004 after Swisher submitted what appeared to be a military document saying he had been awarded a Silver Star and other medals for his actions.
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Veterans outraged by cases of Stolen Valor Vietnam faker

Veterans outraged by cases of Stolen Valor
WOIA News
Reported by: Jaie Avila

SAN ANTONIO - Military veterans call it an outrage that dishonors them and those who died in battle. A kind of deception that's rampant across the country and on the internet: imposters falsely claiming medals and accolades they didn't really earn. News 4 Trouble Shooter Jaie Avila joined forces with a network of internet detectives to uncover cases of stolen valor.

Fernando Herrera is one of the most decorated veterans in San Antonio. Among the medals he received during Vietnam: the Distinguished Service Cross and four bronze stars for rescuing fellow soldiers during a fire fight. Plus, a purple heart for shrapnel wounds he received in battle. A local park was even named after him.

The Fake Warrior project worked with us on the case of this former marine from Pearsall, Albert Bustamante. Pictures show him wearing the bronze star ribbon along with other insignias and badges from the Vietnam War.

The problem is, Bustamante's military record shows him not joining the marines until 1976, after the Vietnam War ended. It doesn't list the medals and citations seen in the pictures.

We tracked down Bustamante at his home in Pearsall, where even his pickup truck is adorned with a Vietnam ribbon.
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Woman lies about service, reporter didn't fact check

WUSA news did an interview of an "Iraq veteran" with TBI and a Purple Heart, or so they thought.

Veteran caught lying about Purple Heart The Pentagon is disputing a Virginia woman's claims about being an Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient. The Army says Chelle Anderson did serve, but nowhere near Iraq nor for nearly as long as the 10 years she claimed.

They found out from This Ain't Hell they were wrong.

The thing that should really get us angry is not just the fact this woman lied about her service and being wounded, but that the original reporter failed to discover if she was for real or not.

This was not about a huge story. Anderson wanted a flag replaced. How did they get this story? Did she just call a reporter about it and they thought it would be a marvelous story?

There are so many other stories that are much more important and about real veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan joining the wounded from past wars and they are committing suicide at alarming rates. How about reporting on their stories and actually going out there to get the stories? How about talking to the families left behind? How about reporting on how much money is being spent on "prevention" when the numbers went up. Hell it is an important story and reporters have been AWOL!

American Idol contestant exposed for fabricating horror Iraq war injuries

We all remember Tim Poe America's Got Talent wounded veteran faker and it looks like American Idol has one too now.

American Idol contestant exposed for fabricating horror Iraq war injuries
The Sun
By JO SAYER
Published: 6 hrs ago

A SHAMELESS American Idol contestant has been forced to make a grovelling apology after falsely claiming he was injured in a bomb blast while serving in Iraq.

At his audition Matt Farmer described how he was seriously injured by an explosion while on patrol in the city of Ramadi.

He told how after waking up in hospital he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. He went on to say how he was told the medication he was prescribed could make him sterile.

As he held his daughter in his arms, the tearful 26-year-old told host Ryan Seacrest her birth was a miracle.

But his lies were soon exposed by his former colleagues in the military.

On a website used by servicemen and women they told how he had never even been deployed to Iraq. One commentator described him as a “pathological liar that has used the blood, sweat and tears of real, hard working, tough, brave and honorable Infantry soldiers to paint himself as somone he most certainly is not."

Farmer initially tried to justify himself by claiming Idol producers had taken his words out of context.
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Man Accused of Impersonating Marine Refuses Plea Deal

Man Accused of Impersonating Marine Refuses Plea Deal
October 03, 2011
Press Democrat|by Paul Payne
A Santa Rosa man charged with impersonating a Marine Corps combat veteran and defrauding his wife's 97-year-old grandfather rejected a plea bargain Friday and appears headed to trial.

Paul Alexander Tart, 29, was promised a five-year county jail sentence for his plea to a single count of elder financial abuse with an enhancement for taking more than $65,000, prosecutors said.
But he would not accept the deal, said his lawyer, Amy Chapman.
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Police: Man Faked War Story To Steal VFW Money

UPDATE
Received an email with a link to the corrected version of this. Tom Price's office had nothing to do with this. It would have been nice if the reporter found this out before it was posted but that is how things go sometimes.

Glad to see that Tom Price's office is not involved in this and happy to correct this story.

Police: Man Faked War Story To Steal VFW Money


Police: Man Faked War Story To Steal VFW Money

Man Claiming To Be Vet Arrested For Fraud
Posted: 10:17 am EDT June 14, 2011
Updated: 10:35 am EDT June 14, 2011

ROSWELL, Ga. -- A north Georgia man faked being an Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient to steal money from a Roswell Veterans of Foreign Wars post, according to Roswell police.

Post 7583 Commander William Mitiu, an Iraq veteran himself, said Bradshaw was referred to the post by Rep. Tom Price's office.

"It was told to us he was an Iraq vet, was wounded in Iraq and was looking for assistance, was having a hard time with his benefits and early retirement," Mitiu told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik.

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Man Faked War Story To Steal VFW Money

New Zealand Veteran confronts fake Vietnam Hero

"That record shows Bateman never left New Zealand as part of his service."

THE SOUTHLAND TIMES GEOFF BATEMAN: Told The Southland Times on Anzac Day that he volunteered for Vietnam in 1968.

Veteran changes Vietnam story
JARED MORGAN
A man masquerading as a Vietnam veteran has confessed to a military record that shows he never served in the conflict after a genuine ex-serviceman paid him a house call today.

The Southland Times tagged along this morning as Graeme Henderson, who served as a warrant officer with 161 Battery in South Vietnam in 1971, knocked on Geoff Bateman's door and asked for an explanation.

Geoff Bateman told the Times on Anzac Day that he volunteered for Vietnam in 1968, the height of the conflict and the peak of anti-war protests.

When pressed for details of his service, he said he would not talk about it the memories were painful and he had "lost mates".

Yesterday he maintained the story when questioned, saying: "Yeah, I was in Vietnam.''

Today, he recanted that, claimed he had never served in the conflict and that he never said he did.

However, his confused wife Urmilla Wati demanded to know why her husband was being questioned.

Her husband had told her throughout their relationship and two-year marriage he had served in the war, she said.
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Veteran changes Vietnam story

A fake Medal of Honor or Purple Heart: Is it free speech?

A fake Medal of Honor or Purple Heart: Is it free speech?
Federal appeals court rules that the "Stolen Valor Act" curbs free speech: You don't have to actually have a Medal of Honor or Purple Heart to say you have one.

By Lee Lawrence, Correspondent / April 3, 2011

New York
Manners, decency, even morality are one thing – free speech is another. So the federal court of appeals March 21 ruling that lying about one's military record is protected free speech, rankles many who respect the special currency of a military medal, badge, or honor.

At issue is the Stolen Valor Act (SVA). Until it was enacted in 2006, you could hold up a medal, say you were a war hero and, as long as you didn't actually pin it on, no law was broken. The SVA closed that loophole by making it a crime for anyone to falsely state – "verbally or in writing" – that they hold such honors.

In two of the 60 or so cases brought exclusively under the SVA, courts in Colorado and California challenged the act's constitutionality on free speech grounds. The California case – involving Xavier Alvarez, of Pomona, Calif., a public official who said at a public meeting in 2007 that he was a retired marine who had received the Medal of Honor, even though he never served in the military – went on to the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which last month upheld the initial ruling: Despicable, yes. Criminal, no.

More than a quarter of the 26 active judges dissented, paving the way for federal prosecutors to take it to the Supreme Court.

Decorated Vietnam veteran Doug Sterner, who was instrumental in getting the SVA enacted, maintains it is not only just, but useful: "Over the last five years, I would estimate that Stolen Valor investigations have uncovered somewhere between 5 and 10 million dollars in fraud against the Veterans Administration. And that's just the cases that I'm aware of."
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A fake Medal of Honor or Purple Heart: Is it free speech?

linked from Stars and Stripes

‘Green Beret’ in black beret a faker

‘Green Beret’ in black beret a faker

By Joe Gould - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Sep 12, 2010 9:27:41 EDT

To Sgt. Louis Brandwein, something about the “ridiculously obese” man in ACUs at the gun show looked off.

He wore a nonregulation MOLLE belt, Special Forces qualification tabs on both shoulders and a rare Combat Infantryman Badge with two stars.

“Everything was just wrong. As soon as I looked at him, I was like, ‘What the hell,’ ” said Brandwein, a 25-year-old infantryman at Fort Richardson, Alaska.

The man Brandwein saw posing as a Green Beret in Anchorage, and confronted, was con man and serial faker William James Clark. Clark did federal prison time for posing as an Army captain at a 2002 bridge disaster.

Weeks later, Clark was arrested on Aug. 27 at a hotel in Deadhorse, about 500 miles north of Anchorage. He was charged with carrying a firearm while a convicted felon.
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Green Beret in black beret a faker

Operation Stolen Valor or slam the veterans by ABC?

ABC has nine stories up on the site. Nine. Taken into account all the reports that have come out over the last few years, there are so few it makes my head spin when I see what kind of attention these reports are getting instead of reporting on real veterans, real heroes with real need for the VA to honor their claims and get them into treatment. Where are those stories?

Operation Stolen Valor
The VA says it's in the midst of a crackdown on phony military heroes.

Michael David Heit: For four months, Heit deceived the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Spokane, Wash., claiming he suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He claimed he was a Vietnam veteran who had been a prisoner of war for more than three years and had received mutiple medals, including a Purple Heart, Silver Star and Bronze Star. He actually never served in Vietnam, was never a POW and had never been awarded those medals of valor. He pleaded guilty on Thursday and is scheduled for sentencing in December. (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General)

Reggie Lee Buddle: A real Army vet, Buddle claimed he had served and earned the rank of captain in the United States Marine Corps. He also boasted a chestful of medals, including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Presidential Unit Citation, the Vietnam Service Medal and the United States Marine Corps Gold Jump Wings. Buddle also claimed to be a Marine Corps chaplain, officiating over weddings, baptisms and funerals. In fact, Buddle was never in the Marine Corps, never earned those medals and wasn't a chaplain. He pleaded guilty in April and was sentenced to 500 hours of community service. (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General)

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/slideshow?id=3631778

There also these

Army alerts feds of possible Stolen Valor case
By Brendan McGarry - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Dec 15, 2008 10:08:19 ESTDiscrepancies in the service record of a Vietnam veteran seeking a Medal of Honor have prompted the Army to alert the FBI of a potential violation of the Stolen Valor Act, sources close to the investigation said.The case involves Terry Richard Calandra, 59, of Forks Township, Pa., who is commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter 700 in Glen Gardner, N.J.

Thursday, March 19, 2009


Man charged in Stolen Valor case
Man indicted on charges of faking serviceThe Associated PressPosted : Thursday Mar 19, 2009 6:48:35 EDTANCHORAGE, Alaska — A Ketchikan man has been indicted on charges of lying about his military record.U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler says 53-year-old Thomas A. Dye is charged with two counts of violating the Stolen Valor Act, which criminalizes false claims to military medals.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Colorado Veterans Alliance begun by impostor
Local veterans advocate exposed as impostorStory By: Susan DaviesSource: KOAAPublished Wed May 13, 2009, 09:47 PM MDTUpdated Thu May 14, 2009, 05:41 AM MDTHe was a local activist for veterans issues who claimed to be a 9-1-1 survivor. He said he was a marine captain serving three tours of duty in Iraq and wounded in the line of duty. But federal investigators say he lied about all of it - even his name.The man we knew as Rick Duncan was an advocate for homeless veterans.

Life already ruined, lying First Coast vet gets light sentence

Florida Times-Union - Jacksonville,FL,USA By Timothy J. Gibbons Story updated at 6:24 PM on Wednesday, May. 27, 2009In the past five months, Charles T. White has lost most of his friends.After pleading guilty to lying about being a prisoner of war in Vietnam and earning a Purple Heart, the veteran was kicked out of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, an organization he’d been part of for 40 years, holding offices and serving on the honor guard.

There are 29 on this blog alone and more under fake and phony but you get the drift. When you think of the hundreds of thousands of veterans, real ones, real combat veterans waiting and then think about this "thugs" taking what they can get by lying, it makes people sick. It would be really wonderful if the real ones had half as much attention as reporting on these criminals gets. ABC has nine pictures and stories to go along with the title of their page but it would have been nice to add a few words to it like, hundreds of thousands of veterans are really wounded and really paying the price for their service but we want to focus on the few frauds that make the rest of them look bad. The frauds are criminals and should be brought to justice but it is not justice to the rest of the veterans to have this much attention on the fakes while they suffer in silence.

One man's war on military-hero impostors

One man's war on military-hero impostors
Most people can't tell the difference between the hero who was awarded his Purple Heart for taking shrapnel in the Battle of Fallujah and the fraud who bought his medal on the Internet.
By Christian Davenport

The Washington Post

Since 2006, claiming an unearned military decoration has been a federal offense, thanks to a federal law Doug Sterner, guardian of the nation's military decorations, helped to craft.

WASHINGTON — It certainly looked real. It had the right font, right seal. It was even signed by the secretary of the Navy.

But Doug Sterner, self-appointed guardian of the nation's military decorations, immediately suspected that there was something fishy about the Marine's citation for the Navy Cross, one of the military's most prestigious awards.

First of all, it said that the president "takes pride" in presenting the prize. "Pride," Sterner knew, is typically used only when the recipient is dead. This Marine was very much alive, which meant the citation should have said the president "takes pleasure."

Then Sterner noticed that the citation was supposedly signed in 1968 by Navy Secretary Paul Nitze. But Nitze was secretary only until 1967.

Sterner, who lives in Alexandria, Va., knew that in his obsessive quest to compile a database of recipients of the military's top decorations, he had found yet another phony. This time, the man he outed was Richard Thibodeau, who for years had proudly spun tales of heroism and even had his awards hung in a veterans museum.

Some phonies do it for the money they collect posing as war heroes. But Tom Cottone, an FBI agent who for years busted them, said most do it for an adoration money can't buy. "They get access to people, places and events they would never have except that they are representing that they earned awards for valor in combat," he said.

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One man war on military hero impostors