AP INVESTIGATION: Texas man faked way into Army

[sabra]

Source: AP

FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas man with no military experience tricked the Army into letting him enter a reserve unit as a noncommissioned officer earlier this year, a deception that placed an untrained soldier in a leadership position in a time of war, an Associated Press investigation has found.

The revelation comes just months after the Army drew criticism for failing to flag the suspicious activities of the Army psychiatrist now charged with killing 13 and wounding dozens of others at Fort Hood.

The case, detailed in court records and other documents examined by the AP, raises more questions about the Army's ability to vet soldiers' backgrounds as it faces continued pressure from Congress over its screening and records system. While the soldier never deployed overseas, some say the case demonstrates how easily someone could pose as a member of the U.S. military.

Jesse Bernard Johnston III, 26, joined the Army Reserve in February as a sergeant and was assigned to the Corps Support Airplane Company based at the Fort Worth Naval Air Station. But he wasn't qualified to hold that rank, according to military records obtained by the AP. The records show that Johnston's only military experience was attending part of a 12-week Marine officer candidate course for college students in 2004.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gLL0D4hAoSd5CNr2SIDFmAUa3jAAD9FR9PQ00

[LiberalLoner]

1. I was in the Army Rserve and am having a really difficult time understanding how this could have

happened. Paper documents can be forged, but there is an electronic data base these days...I believe...so I really do wonder...

[secondwind]

2. Karl Rove at work again......infiltrating the military to make obama look "weak on terra"...

HEY, YOU NEVER KNOW!!!

[wmbrew0206]

8. Here is what I think happened.

This guy was doing the Marine OCS PLC program which is two six week programs spread over a couple summers and didn't finish it. He probably took his paper work from that time and manipulated it to show he served in some aspect and then took it to the Army and the did an inter-service transfer. The Army was so desperate for people the knock out the transfer and figured the paperwork would catch up at some point. If he had a forge DD-214, the Army would not really have any reason to check with the Marine Corps since all the info they would need is on that form.

Doing six weeks at Marine OCS will give you enough exposure to the military that you could fake your way around the military. The funny thing is that it always seems to be the medals gets fakers caught. There are a lot of little details that go with the medals that you only really know about after you get one.

[Blue_Tires]

9. he couldn't have gotten away with it for too much longer, or could he?

[wmbrew0206]

10. It seems that he could have.

The article said that the way he got caught was an officer realized that his medals didn't make much sense and questioned him about it. This guy couldn't explain it and the officer did some digging and that is how he was found out. If this guy hadn't worn his medals, he would not have gotten caught.

[Blue_Tires]

11. his chest does look kinda heavy in that photo...

almost looks like George C. Scott in 'Patton'...

I wonder if when asked, he tried to get away with a lot of "It's SO classified my missions didn't officially exist" -lines

[wmbrew0206]

13. Didn't take a hard look at the photo the first time, but now that you mentioned it

That is a ridiculous set of ribbons. First he has jump wings and a scuba bubble, which only go to recon or force recon Marines. Second, the photo is kinda of unclear but it looks like he has a medal before a bronze star and purple heart. The ribbon does not appear to be any of the ones that would be placed ahead of a bronze star or purple heart. He also has Iraqi and Afghani campaign ribbons but no sea serve deployment ribbon. Finally he only has one Combat Action Ribbon instead of two, which he would likely have had if he had actually been to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

There is no way someone who actually had the background this guy claimed would have joined an air support unit. Suprised it took this long to catch him.

[petronius]

3. I hope they keep him in, transfer him to activity duty, and assign him

the lowest ranking, dirtiest, least responsible, most menial drudgery possible (not that I'm particularly angry at the guy, but it's funny when scammers get bitten hard and he might learn something that way)...

[Greyskye]

4. Wonder if he'll end up in a military, or a civilian jail?

Who is going to claim jurisdiction?

[Lance_Boyle]

5. I would guess military. They own his ass. n/t

[wmbrew0206]

7. I think it will be civilian. He would have never have had taken the oath without fraud so

I'm not sure they could try him under the UCMJ.

I could be wrong here, but there is a very strict rule about how can be tried under the UCMJ. If this guy is technically not part of the military but was faking it in a unit, they might be able to use the UCMJ to try him.

[MidwestRick]

6. Hope he enjoys Kansas

Leavenworth should be nice this time of year.

-MR

[The abyss]

12. The Great Impostor

Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr.

Good movie staring Tony Curtis.

What goes around comes around, perhaps.

Does life create art or does art create life?

A troublesome question.

Thanks for posting +1

[New Dawn]

14. Around $1 trillion in "defense" each year for that.

[Octafish]

15. One guy scored 25-of-100 and got a commission and his wings in the TANG

The guy eventually became the front for an international crime cartel and then lied America into two illegal and immoral wars for oil.

[Old Troop]

16. Corps Support Airplane Company?