Help Understanding Military Records.

S

Scott Free

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Sep 15, 1999
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A few years ago, I discovered a preacher and Christian School principal who was claiming he'd been a Navy SEAL (along with tales of danger, bravery and adventure.) He eventually confessed his lies, but I've recently heard that he'd back to claiming former Navy SEAL status (while still being a preacher and principal.) Anyway, I have his military records, but am not sure of how to read them. Under duty status, it only says "DISCHARGE." Not Honorable or Dishonorable. Just Discharged. Can anyone shed light on what just DISCHARGED means?
 
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My first question is how did you get the man's military records? They are not released to just anyone, nor are they available under the freedom of information act. When I had to get copies of mine, I had to submit forms, along with my SSN, DOB, etc., etc., and submit signed forms. I don't know if he is a seal or not (I'd assume not) but I do know he'd have a legit bitch if he knew you had his records.
 
Discharged means no longer active duty. If you have his DD214 and are unable to read it, you probably shouldn't have it in the first place, unless you received it with his consent.
 
There is no type of discharge simply called "discharge." You either have a general discharge (less than honorable), an honorable discharge, a dishonorable discharge, or a other than honorable discharge (given to men who are entangled in civilian court situations), or a bad conduct discharge. Five categories, and none of them say "discharge". Sounds to me you may not have a valid copy of DD214. The DD214 should list his periods of service, medals, dates and places of service, type of discharge, and the training schools attended. If he attended seal training, it will be on the 214. I do not know the rating assigned to the seals, perhaps others might.
 
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This all happened in 2009. I suspected the guy was lying. I asked three people to check it out for me (one of which was a friend, and a Navy SEAL at the time.) Confronted with the facts, he made a confession on pownetwork (under threat of the local newspaper going public with his lies. I do indeed have his military records, and they are (or at least were available under the Freedom of Information Act.)That said, much of the info on the form had been redacted. Actually, within his confession on Pownetwork, was a link to his military records. These are no longer online, although you can still find it using the wayback machine.

David, I'll PM you with the info so you can verify what I've said.
 
Scott Free said:
This all happened in 2009. I suspected the guy was lying. I asked three people to check it out for me (one of which was a friend, and a Navy SEAL at the time.) Confronted with the facts, he made a confession on pownetwork (under threat of the local newspaper going public with his lies. I do indeed have his military records, and they are (or at least were available under the Freedom of Information Act.)That said, much of the info on the form had been redacted. Actually, within his confession on Pownetwork, was a link to his military records. These are no longer online, although you can still find it using the wayback machine.

David, I'll PM you with the info so you can verify what I've said.
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No need, I don't have any skin in this.
 
Ok, Scott, I took a look at his records. The records we are seeing is not a DD-214 as I thought, but a scrubbed version which is released under the FOIA. All I can say is there is an inference he faced a court martial, so, venturing a guess, he probably got a general discharge. But, it's only a guess. For whatever reason, the Navy does not want to tell anyone the discharge type this individual rec'd.
 
Thanks, David. I suspected it was a general discharge, and I thought a court martial may have been involved. Actually, I was really just curious. Since the Supreme Court struck down the Stolen Valor Act, there's nothing preventing the guy from continuing his charade. It eats at me though, knowing his influence over school kids and church members.
 
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Scott Free said:
Thanks, David. I suspected it was a general discharge, and I thought a court martial may have been involved. Actually, I was really just curious. Since the Supreme Court struck down the Stolen Valor Act, there's nothing preventing the guy from continuing his charade. It eats at me though, knowing his influence over school kids and church members.
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As I said, it is only a guess. It could just as easily be a bad conduct discharge or an other than honorable. With the infomation you showed me, there's just no way to tell. Now, as he's already confessed to lying about being a seal, and it's on record, I'd send the information to the school superintendent, the mayor, the PTA, the church, and anyone else who you think would be concerned. I would be, if my child were in his school. If he lies about this, what other behavior problems does he have?Just be careful if you do any of this though, you may want legal advice beforehand. I'd also contact this Don Shipley fella, as Shooter suggested.
 
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The school is a Christian School (which is part of the guy's church) so no PTA or school superintendent involved. I've been told that he's claiming he never wrote the confession and that his email had been hacked and his writing style stolen.

I met the guy, and realized something was wrong within ten minutes. I find it hard to believe that people can attend his church year and year and never suspect a thing.
 
Scott Free said:
The school is a Christian School (which is part of the guy's church) so no PTA or school superintendent involved. I've been told that he's claiming he never wrote the confession and that his email had been hacked and his writing style stolen.

I met the guy, and realized something was wrong within ten minutes. I find it hard to believe that people can attend his church year and year and never suspect a thing.
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Sucks, man!
 
Scott Free said:
The school is a Christian School (which is part of the guy's church) so no PTA or school superintendent involved. I've been told that he's claiming he never wrote the confession and that his email had been hacked and his writing style stolen.

I met the guy, and realized something was wrong within ten minutes. I find it hard to believe that people can attend his church year and year and never suspect a thing.
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They might suspect something is up, but a lot of times people say nothing because 1)they know little about the military and therefore don't dare question it, or 2)they don't want to appear disrespectful to service men/women. So often these stolen valor things go unchecked until the phony finally runs his mouth to the wrong person, often someone that is former military.

Contact Shipley.
 
On the DD214 there will be a number and letter code that distinguishes the type of discharge. I forget which are which but I'm sure an internet search will clear it up.
As far as the rating question, any rate can apply so his rating is not necessarily going to tell the tale.
 
Chris Pierce said:
Why hasn't the local paper gone public?
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Actually, it was his local paper that forced his confession to the pownetwork. What happened was this: I had three people verifying that he had never been a SEAL. So I called his local paper with this. The journalist involved contacted the preacher/fake SEAL who insisted he really had been a SEAL and threatened to sue the paper if they printed a false story. The journalist got back to me, and I gave him my three sources. After talking to them, the journalist went back to the preacher and the preacher eventually confessed to the journalist, and then made his public confession to the pownetwork. Don't ask me why, but the paper then decided not to pursue it. I assume it was because they no longer had a big story about a fake Navy SEAL. Now that I'm thinking about this again, I think I will contact the newspaper again to let them know he's up to his old tricks again. Maybe this time they'll actually do something.
 
Scott Free said:
Actually, it was his local paper that forced his confession to the pownetwork. What happened was this: I had three people verifying that he had never been a SEAL. So I called his local paper with this. The journalist involved contacted the preacher/fake SEAL who insisted he really had been a SEAL and threatened to sue the paper if they printed a false story. The journalist got back to me, and I gave him my three sources. After talking to them, the journalist went back to the preacher and the preacher eventually confessed to the journalist, and then made his public confession to the pownetwork. Don't ask me why, but the paper then decided not to pursue it. I assume it was because they no longer had a big story about a fake Navy SEAL. Now that I'm thinking about this again, I think I will contact the newspaper again to let them know he's up to his old tricks again. Maybe this time they'll actually do something.
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CONTACT DON SHIPLEY.

He's like a shark on blood when it comes to hunting down and outing phony SEAL.
 
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