Part IV – Lessons Learned
So what should readers take away from this account; what should be learned from this case in point? First, although this story seems bizarre and unbelievable, it is played out many times each day, with minor variations, in many cities and towns across our nation. Imposters making extraordinarily fantastic claims are an all-too-common phenomenon in our celebrity-worshipping culture. Second, the real plot elements appearing in many movies are there because they make for an exciting story, not because they resemble real life. They bear little, if any, resemblance to reality. Third, verification of credentials is an imperative. It makes sense to verify the credentials of a medical specialist before committing to a surgical procedure. The same level of caution is advisable when dealing with claims of extraordinary military accomplishment and recognition. If a story sounds like it was ripped from the pages of an adventure thriller or from the movie screen… it probably was. A healthy dose of skepticism is not misplaced when applied to such situations.
Critical thinking is a skill which must be reinstated in our culture. Analysis of what we are being told is more important than ever before in our society, whether to determine the truthfulness of a TV commercial or the truthfulness of someone’s claims of military heroism. Don’t let the entertainment industry dictate what you believe and what you don’t believe. Ask questions, and then look for verification of the answers you receive from a credible and trustworthy choice. Don’t let your imagination and your desire to “know a celebrity” get out of hand. The Christmas present from Washington DC should make things a bit more difficult for those who seek to defraud you.
Steve Robinson
USN 1970-1978
SEAL Team ONE
Inshore Undersea Warfare Group ONE
UDT-SEAL Association
Special Operations Association
POW Network Advisory Board
Naval Special Warfare Archives - SOF Analyst/Contributing Journalist
Disabled American Veterans - Life Member
FORMER Special Investigator - SEAL Authentication Team
Author of the book NO GUTS, NO GLORY - Unmasking Navy SEAL Imposters
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16 comments:
Great to see you are active in this...I have run across several guys in my past bragging they were SEALS...I'm a retired MCPO with the surface community and I couldn't be more proud...Good luck in finding other frauds..
I was given the title:'Honorary SEAL', by a CMDR Morgan.And whenever or wherever I mention it,I'm always accused of being"An imposter",without any investigation/s etc.I've been banned,one too many times,because no one,except one person actually checked and found that Morgan,is a
real person and so am I.
Thank you Steve, for giving me my piece of mind and my dignity back.
I was had by a SEAL impostor.
I will never again second guess my gut.
As the wife of a former Navy SEAL, I applaud your efforts and dedication in protecting the honorable men that earned the trident. In my 16 years of marriage, I have waited many times as my husband phoned the quarterdeck to check the records of a so-called SEAL, only to find the claims to be false. (at least now he has the number programmed in his cell phone and we don't have to find a pay phone!) In the mall, an eatery, the park, grocery store, or bar, when the story teller is confronted, their reaction is predictible(embarrased mostly), followed by a quick exit.
Great job on exposing those who want the glory but don't have the guts!
Steve, I am trying to contact you about an unusual case. How do I get a hold of you, need some help please.
You posted Anonymously, so I can't reply via email. Send me an email directly - shadek@tri-lakes.net
Steve, I am utterly amazed to find out that so many claim to be a SEAL. I have just encountered someone telling me that they were a SEAL for 27 years and have been working for Blackwater for the last 11 years. For whatever reason, my gut is telling me NO, this is not true. How do I actually go about finding out if this is true? He actually has a Navy SEAL ring, which he states only so many have because they receive this after 25 years of service. It is actually engraved with his name, rank and team number. Like your team number, one. Please email me back at Debi.Jensen@Century21.com Thank you.
My name is E. "Sandy" Sandoval I graduated Class 40 WC and served in Team 12 Coronado. There is a guy here in Sacramento who say he was in the teams but his story sounds fishy to me. Is there any way to validate he graduated UDTRA/BUDS and served?
Sandy Sandoval
Team Twelve
1967-70
Steve Robinson, why don't you actually spend time doing something better with your life (with all of your respect). We all thank you for your service to our nation with all of our heart and gratitude. Being a Seal is good/great/best. But what else are you doing? I hope more than just videos telling people how you are finding fakes or chasing fakes. My father and brother were both Marine Force Recon. My father got out of the service, went to school to better himself. Later on he hired vets to work with him.. NOW PAY ATTENTION Sr. “WORK WITH HIM” not for him. They all have equal share of the business. They continue to give back to our community and to help vets get back to steady stable/secure jobs. You are only a few of the Seals that like to show up. NOT ALL OF THEM DO> TRUST ME. I MET MANY GOOD MAN, Seals, that do like their privacy and don't show off. Now, you can follow both my father’s & brother's footsteps or keep doing what you are doing. It is my opinion you are not helping anyone with what you are doing. OPEN YOUR EYES CHARLIE MARK!. Leave the fraud to the NICB/ VA Fraud people. They specialize in insurance fraud if that is what it worries you. FAKEs will actually live and die. Nobody will remember them. IF IT MAKES U FEEL BETTER, Lets make the FAKES be fakes(unless you can stop them) for $1000 donation every month to the fallen and injured Seals. ---- Be a good man and help out our veterans by buying them groceries. Ask their families what they really need. Help them get a good job. Help them get a car. Donate your money and time to injured and former Seals. I do that, my father does it and all of my family does for veterans. Buy their kids toys/clothes and food. I CAN BET YOU ANYTHING they will appreciate what you are doing more. They do not care about Fakes when they have to return to civilian work and support their families. If you can help the any other way. Then you can actually say. “I’m doing something productive”. If you still don’t get what I am trying to tell you then you should wasting your time. With my greatest respect for his family, mother and children, Scott Helvenston’s story . If you know it then you know what I’m talking about. Country/Seals was not his main priority even though he loved his country! He had to feed his wife and kids. But you get what I’m saying. Our Government is not setup to help them/you as they should be helped. Our system is broken. I challenge all of you that posted comments here to start doing something and help out our veterans. Protect them and provide the security they are providing to us. Go buy them clothes, food and most importantly.. Respect and support. Pay them back with what they need instead of what you think is needed. So Mr. Robinson, I respect you but I strongly believe you need to refocus your intentions. You still have arms and legs and a brain! Some of our guys don't have legs and or arms. Some are death and their families are left alone with not much from help. All of you Seals. help the guys that come back and need help. Send them $. Go to your local vet--does not matter if they are any SF/SEAL/ MARINE/ARMY/AF/ NAVY..Find out how many families and children of fallen Soldiers need $ to support themselves. Assist them in any way you can. Call them or just mail them assistance. Go find help for them. It could be your neighbor, friend. I just hope your book, if its selling and generating any $. That $ is going to a Seal family. REMEMBER>>"Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction"-Albert Einstein. HELP THEM!
In response to the Anonymous comment& (part ONE)
The problem is that neither the Navy, nor the VA has anything set up to deal with military imposters. The Naval Special Warfare Command s official position is that they have wars to win and don t have time to chase down barroom braggarts (my paraphrase of their words). Unofficially I have been told by those still serving that they greatly appreciate my efforts to maintain the honor and reputation of the Teams in the face of countless imposters& imposters who are attempting to profit or benefit by falsely cloaking themselves in the hard-earned reputation of the SEAL Teams.
There is a man in Texas named SUMARUCK who is/was claiming to be a SEAL. His military records have been obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, and he actually never even completed Navy Basic Training (boot camp). The US Navy put him back on the street as a civilian after less than a full calendar month as unfit for military duty; he was only in the Navy for something like 22 days. Now he s down in Texas (and all over the Internet) with claims that he was a Navy SEAL running covert missions in Laos. When confronted, he changed his story and claimed that he was misunderstood, that he d never said he was a SEAL & he was actually a civilian contractor, trained by Navy SEALs, with a Navy SEAL as his chief (boss?)& but that he was known as a Se.A.L. (an acronym that has never been used by anyone, military or civilian). At this point in time Mr. SUMARUCK is involved in marketing a device which supposedly provides FREE ENERGY & in violation of the known laws of physics& and he is using his claims of being a former Navy SEAL (or Se.A.L. ) to add a cloak of respectability and honor to his appearance.
While civilian contractors working for private security firms exist these days (2009), they most certainly didn t exist during the Vietnam War. There were very few of us Navy SEALs back then, and we had a hard enough time finding work for all of our men without giving work to contractors . The Nixon Administration imposed a policy of Vietnamization which called for jobs to be turned over to the South Vietnamese so that American forces could be brought home. That policy severely limited the number of Navy SEALs being sent overseas in the last two years of the war, despite the desires of the men who had volunteered for SEAL training and duty.
I must assume that it is difficult for someone who was NOT a Navy SEAL to understand how insulting and disgraceful it is to have someone make false claims of being one of their number. You basically suggest that I should find something more worthwhile to do& to get a real job so to speak. First off let me assure you that this is a real job , and it is very difficult for me to perform. I do this because it s the right thing to do, and because it s necessary, and not because it s easy for me. I am 100% disabled and can no longer work. Second&I have received repeated letters of appreciation from my Teammates for doing what I do& exposing those who falsely claim to be SEALs. They appreciate what I ve done, and continue to do, whether that action seems important or proper to others. Third& I have received countless Thank You letters from those who have been scammed, swindled, abused, and persecuted by men offering false credentials as SEALs, and who have been able to get on with their lives when the false claims of the imposters are exposed to the light of public scrutiny.
(part TWO)
Imagine for a moment that everything you deem to be valuable and worthy in the way of accomplishments everything you have ever done is claimed by someone else. Someone that you know has never done anything noteworthy in his life reads your list of accomplishments, copies it, even adds additional fake accomplishments , and then starts circulating it on the Internet as his own. Further, he claims that he is incredibly accomplished and points to the additional fictional accomplishments and says that you could never have done what he has done. Now how do you feel? Angry? Hurt? PISSED OFF?! You bet. Now imagine that the man takes your credentials (and his additional fake accomplishments) and gets a job that you are trying to obtain. Now imagine that the accomplishments you legitimately earned are impressive enough to warrant public appreciation, even though you don t actively seek such acclaim& but that the imposter who is claiming your own accomplishments as his own is loudly proclaiming his impressive credentials to anyone who will listen, and ends up on the front page of your local newspaper, receiving a certificate of appreciation from the Mayor and Town Council for all he s done. How do you feel now? Now imagine that the imposter uses your credentials to apply for a pension, claiming he is disabled because of all the great things he s done in his life, and he offers a double handful of documentation to support his claims. He ends up receiving $40,000+ per year (tax free), and medical coverage for life (at no cost). At the same time, you apply for those same benefits for legitimate reasons, and because you have not forged that double handful of supporting documents, your application is either delayed or denied. How do you feel now? The word ANGRY doesn t begin to cover the feelings of disbelief, incredulity, resentment, and more. Welcome to the club.
response to Anonymous (part THREE)
One last thing& imagine that the guy who is using your credentials and accomplishments as his own now begins to tell people that a regular part of his service involved killing innocent women and children it was a requirement of the job and everyone involved in the job did it . When others question the validity of those statements, the person using your credentials says you don t know about this because it s all classified in the interest of national security . NOW how do you feel? Rage? Betrayal? There aren t words to express what you feel.
That s the same anger that legitimate veterans feel when someone with visions of superstardom climbs in front of the spotlight and claims he s gotten FOUR PURPLE HEARTS and TWO BRONZE STARS for bravery in combat... when the truth is that the man was never in the military at all. That s why the STOLEN VALOR ACT of 2005 was written into law. That s why I do what I can to combat the increasing numbers of people making false claims of military service. Federal law enforcement was given a mandate by the STOLEN VALOR ACT of 2005& a mandate to prosecute those who make false claims& but they weren t given an increase in funding to support that effort. So with hundreds and hundreds of cases reported to them they manage to successfully prosecute about a dozen per YEAR! The VA recently reported that they are providing benefits to some 700+ former Vietnam POWs. The only problem is that there were only 600+ actual Vietnam POWs returned alive, and the number of survivors shrinks each year. The VA is officially aware that they are giving POW benefits to more people than were actually POWs& so why don t they stop? Good question. It s all too evident that the problem with military fakes certainly isn t going to be solved by the VA fraud investigators anytime soon. You mentioned NICB (I presume you mean NCIS)& but that military law enforcement group is concerned with ACTIVE DUTY members of the Navy& not veterans who have gotten out of the military and are now civilians.
Mr. SUMARUCK may or may not have discovered a new way to produce free energy , but his claims of military training and service as a Navy SEAL or as a civilian Se.A.L. are complete hogwash! He s been using his false claims to add a cloak of respectability and honor to an enterprise that has all the earmarks of a second rate scam. Angry? Pissed off? You bet we are& we& Navy SEALs& men whose honor and reputation are being used to hustle others into investing in a shady enterprise. More importantly, the honor and reputation earned by our brother SEALs who have died in the service of our nation are being falsely used by someone who is plainly and blatantly using their credentials to earn a profit from others. What about women who meet a man claiming to be a SEAL, a veteran of combat overseas in the service of our nation& only to find that he physically and mentally abuses them& telling them that he knows seven different ways to kill a person so that there is no evidence? Who stands up for these women? Who stands up for the reputations of our fallen brethren? Who represents them in this fight against masqueraders? Who steps forward and says that s disreputable and dishonest& that s WRONG ??
response to Anonymous (part FOUR)
I do the very best I can every day to be one of those willing to step forward and put an end to the injustice. I don t do it for pay, because there is none. I don t do it for acclaim, because there s pitifully little to be had, and the reporters generally get it wrong anyway. I don t do it because it s easy& it takes a great deal of time and research, and my disabilities make it tough to even sit in front of my computer screen for any length of time.
I do it because it s the right thing to do!
Steve Robinson RM2(SEAL)
USN 1970-1978
SEAL Team ONE
Inshore Undersea Warfare Group ONE
Defense Analyst Soviet Threat specialization 1981-1993
UDT-SEAL Association - Member
POW Network Board of Directors
Naval Special Warfare Archives - SOF Analyst/Contributing Journalist
Disabled American Veterans - Life Member
FORMER Special Investigator - SEAL Authentication Team
CyberSEALs.org - Webmaster
Author - "NO GUTS, NO GLORY - Unmasking Navy SEAL Imposters"
Hi ya Steve,
Flynn here brother, I just wanted to chime in and say HOOYAH.
Sounds like Mr. ANONYMOUS has some what of a chip on his shoulders and needs some meds. Certainly needs to learn grammar and spelling. I have a suggestion for Mr. anonymous whose Father and Brother are FORCE RECON?
Put more energy into learning proper English, continue to concentrate your positive energy to helping Vets if that what you do and do not worry about our community and the efforts of our family members.Also, do not use Scott Helvenston as a example of anything, as you did not know him!
Mr. Honorary SEAL. You are impersonating ya fool. If you have not completed BUDS and gone through your ASST and been greeted with open arms by a platoon, well your not a SEAL.
SUMARUCK AKA Pistol Pete the lethal edge, so educated in the black arts, and so swift and cunning he had his own BUD/S class?
Steve I have been reading the recent posts from Ms. Charlotte Wilson and her twisted diatribe.
I am preparing a nice, not so nice e-mail for her. Sounds like she is in Petes pockets and is another candidate for meds.
I have fool proof evidence that can shut Yosimity Pete down and his freaky friend Ms. Wilson.
Hit me back at the business E-mail addy and chat up, I would like your thoughts on what I have to say to Pete and his goon squad.
Oh and we caught one, he picked the wrong face book to request an add to! Team two members are going to have the fun with him, dude even went as far as to Photoshop his face to a body.
Problem is, I knew the picture! And the man kneeling is not even SEAL he was 10TH SF LOL.
Later gator and keep the faith. As in the past and as always, if you need my help,let me know.
Flynn S.K.
FLYNNOFFSHORE DIVING & MARINE SERVICES
850-387-3884
FLYNNOFFSHORE@GMAIL.COM
Eldest son of>
Franklin D Flynn
CPO (DV) SEAL Retired
Class 19
UDT-11/ST-1
NSWG-ONE
NSW Pioneer!!!!!!!!!!!!
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