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POW NETWORK GIVES SEMINAR ON "STOLEN VALOR" --
"We've determined that 30 percent of the people
listed as
Medal of Honor winners never received the medal."
Jim Alexander, of Lampasas, takes a
close look at a list of veterans who allegedly have made false
benefit claims and have received “undeserved” honors during the
second annual Stolen Valor Seminar at the Charlie R. Green Memorial
Hall in Harker Heights on Saturday. The P.O.W. Network investigates
veterans they suspect of making false claims. (photo: Herald / SARAH
MOORE KUSCHELL) |
POW Network web site is here...
www.pownetwork.org
For more information about "Stolen Valor," use
the VA Watchdog search engine ... click here ...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=stolen+valor&op=ph
Story here...
http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=27265
Story below:
-------------------------
Group questions valor
By Don Bolding
Killeen Daily Herald
HARKER HEIGHTS – About two dozen members and guests of the Armed Forces E9
Association, Inc. gathered at the association's national headquarters
Saturday to hear Mary Schantag of the P.O.W. Network of Skidmore, Mo.,
talk about the 3,400 names they've confirmed as fraudulent claimants of
high military medals or disabled or prisoner-of-war status, or all three.
"We've determined that 30 percent of the people listed as Medal of Honor
winners never received the medal," she said. "In all, 20 to 40 percent of
all military records showing honors or qualifications for special
government assistance are fraudulent. It breaks the law to make fraudulent
claims and breaks others to use them to gain benefits, but the FBI and
federal courts are overloaded with drug and violent crimes, so most people
get away with this."
Schantag had a roster of about 3,400 names she said the network had
established were bogus medal winners, disabled veterans or former
prisoners of war taped to the wall.
 The
occasion was the E9 Association's second annual Stolen Valor Seminar at
its Charlie R. Green Memorial Hall. The group, open to active duty
military personnel and retirees who reached the top enlisted pay grade of
E9, was incorporated in 1984. President Curtis Leary lives in North
Carolina, but adjutant and chief operating officer Earl Williams lives
here. The organizer of Saturday's event was treasurer Erwin Hunter, who
served in the Army and the Marine Corps.
Schantag and her husband, Chuck Schantag, a disabled veteran, founded the
P.O.W. Network in 1988 and received 22 complaints the first year. Now she
said they receive reports of suspected fraud every week and check them all
out with the Defense Department. The nonprofit corporation receives no
government funds.
She told of a man who was posing as a military chaplain and conducting
wedding ceremonies for military couples who would then try to record their
marriages on post, only to be warned of possible courts-martial.
"Children will call in to say their father is representing himself as a
Medal of Honor winner or disabled veteran," she said.
"We'll hear that a wife has tried to get military honors for her deceased
husband, only to be told he was not even a veteran. The problem is that
you can download all the documents the services used to issue and fill
them out yourself and then give them to the Veterans Administration or
other authority, who don't have time to check everything," Schantag said.
No proper records
One tipoff in a fraudulent prisoner-of-war claim is that the term seldom
appears on genuine DD-214's (records of military service) issued before
the mid-1980s.
She reeled off a list of 12 selected cases of fraud she said cost the
government $924,000 in benefits, bilking the public and shortchanging
qualified veterans.
"A man can say he was bitten by rats in a POW cell and escaped, running
six miles in his skivvies until he reached friendly troops, and it sounds
more convincing than most stories that are actually the truth, which is
usually nowhere near that dramatic," she said.
She lauded U.S. House Resolution 3769, introduced by Rep. John Salazar of
Colorado and co-sponsors to mandate a searchable database of military
decorations and promoted the use of the SF-180, which service personnel or
veterans can sign to authorize investigations of claims about their
service.
"Anyone can obtain a blank DD-214 and falsify it," she said. "If the VA
and veterans organizations would insist on this form, they could cut way
down on fraud. If a fraudulent claimant is presented with it, he'll just
refuse to sign it."
In addition, most information on veterans is available through the Freedom
of Information Act.
Stolen Valor Act helps
In 2005, President Bush signed the Stolen Valor Act, which makes a
misdemeanor of any false claim to have been awarded any military
decoration or medal.
Schantag said, "We're not talking about guys just telling stories in a
bar. We're talking about people cheating the government and the public out
of millions of dollars and cheating legitimate veterans by using up money
and time. They speak in our schools and churches, and if their names
aren't removed from records, then historical documents are false."
She said claims to have served in high-profile elite units such as the
Army Rangers and Navy Seals are far more common than others.
Some fraudulent claimants have never been in the military, but others are
veterans trying to enhance their status. She did not have figures on how
many of the 34,000 the network has documented might be in the Fort Hood
vicinity but told a story of one person whose prisoner-of-war status the
network has challenged, so far without resolution.
Not enough time to check claims
She said federal authorities don't have time or resources enough to
investigate all cases and called for state governments to enact laws
prohibiting fraudulent claims of service and benefiting from such claims.
Several members of the audience expressed interest in contacting
legislators to introduce such bills.
Some states already have laws covering various aspects of the issue.
More information is available from Chuck or Mary Schantag at the P.O.W.
Network, Skidmore, MO, 64487, (660) 928-3303 or
info@pownetwork.org . The
organization's Web site is
www.pownetwork.org .
Other E9 activities
The E9 Association sponsors a POW/MIA event on Fort Hood each September,
and members help with the annual Killeen Veterans Day parade, among other
community services. Williams said other veterans organizations and
auxiliaries are regularly invited to association events.
Contact Don Bolding at
dbolding@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7557.
-------------------------
posted by Larry
Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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