Some find pitfalls in plan for awards database

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Some find pitfalls in plan for awards database
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Aug 31, 2008 9:05:18 EDT

A House Armed Services Committee proposal to create a searchable database of military awards to help ferret out fraud and also make it easier for veterans, family and friends to verify military honors is getting mixed reviews.

Chuck Pfarrer, a director for VeriSEAL, a nonprofit group that verifies claims of people who say they served in the elite Navy SEALs, said he sees no real benefit — and some downside — to making a database of decorations for valor available to the public.

Pfarrer said he and fellow members of VeriSEAL have outed many people falsely claiming to be decorated veterans, but have not needed a national database to do it.

A claimant’s DD 214 discharge paperwork “lists every medal and award they earned,” said Pfarrer, a retired SEAL commander. “If it isn’t on the DD 214, they didn’t get it.”

He said the need to keep some special operations missions secret is another reason to keep details about awards from public view. Citations typically include information about when and where service members displayed the gallantry that led to their awards, which spec ops units might not want released, he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/military_valorlist_083108w/%2e