Strider Knives, Game Over!

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Micky said:
Read my posts above, hell for all we know everyone or no one could be lying. Have you personally vetted any of the info you posted and linked to.
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I know this guy is a liar, thanks to POW Network's hard work he got his info handed over the FBI and a day in court!
Accused Phony War Hero in Court Today in Texas

May 31, 2007 11:15 AM

Vic Walter Reports:

Accused_phony_w_mn_2
The way he told it, David McClanahan, of Fort Worth, Texas, had been wounded in combat three times in Iraq, awarded three Silver Stars and even nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Today, McClanahan, a nursing student at West Texas A&M, appeared in federal court in Amarillo, Texas, on charges he made up his hero's tale. McClanahan did not enter a plea and was released on bond after being advised of the charges against him. The arraignment is now scheduled for June 13.

His lawyer, Brooks Barfield, says McClanahan will enter a plea of not guilty.

A federal grand jury indicted McClanahan last week under the newly passed Stolen Valor Act, which makes any misrepresentation of military service awards a federal crime, punishable with up to a year in prison.

"This is quite an egregious offense that he held himself out as a war hero," Assistant United States Attorney Christy Drake told the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

Medals of Dishonor

accused_phony_w_mn_2.jpg


The grand jury indictment grew out of the work of amateur Web sleuths Chuck and Mary Schantag, who run the Web site POWNetwork.org.

They were asked by a Texas veterans group to do a service record check on McClanahan before he was named guest speaker at the group's yearly banquet.

According to Jack Barnes, who heads up America Supports You in Amarillo, Texas, McClanahan told him he had been awarded three Silver Stars, three Purple Hearts, the Legion of Merit and a nomination for the Congressional Medal of Honor for combat bravery in Iraq.

"We just embraced this young man. His story was so real," recalled Barnes.

But the Web site sleuths, the Schantags, found McClanahan had served two years in the Navy and four years in the Army, from which he was discharged as a private with no medals of valor.

"His claims were too good to be true and turned out to be 100 percent false," said Mary Schantag. "Instead of his record being filled with heroism, there was no record of any of the accomplishments he had claimed."

She quickly passed along the findings to the FBI.

"We were shocked" by the Schantags' discovery, said Barnes. "We can't believe the young man would present himself as a war hero to our group when our nation is at war and we have men and women making the ultimate sacrifice for our country," Barnes, himself a Navy veteran, told ABCNews.com.

"He's gotten himself in a hell of a mess, and I'm disappointed by it," said Dan Adams, president and CEO of Cal Farley's Boys Ranch of Amarillo, Texas, where McClanahan attended.

Just last year, McClanahan was awarded a college scholarship worth $3,500 a semester by Cal Farley's, which is a home and school for troubled youth.

"He did pad himself as a war hero here and appeared before the scholarship committee in uniform and wearing medals," Adams told ABCNews.com. He added that McClanahan also showed off a letter he claimed was signed by President Bush, nominating McClanahan for the Congressional Medal of Honor.

In its indictment, the federal grand jury charged Richard "David" McClanahan with two misdemeanor counts of knowingly and intentionally falsely representing himself as having been awarded decorations or medals authorized by Congress, including the Congressional Medal of Honor. The grand jury also charged McClanahan with making a false financial statement in connection with the indictment, a felony.
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Wheres the follow up, he was indited in June, was he convicted and it still has no bearing on weather POWNETWORK uses people inside the VA to STEAL VETs personal information.
 
Maybe this will help some people to understand why things like this situation occur.
Pseudologica Fantastica

from Nigel Watson

Within ufology the respectability of witnesses is often put forward to support their claims. UFO writers rhetorically ask ‘why would someone respected in the community with a good job and family and no other record of lying tell an extraordinary story about being abducted?’

The certainty that we can rely on such faith is undermined by the discovery that many people have claimed to be veterans of the Vietnam war. For example, when Patrick Couwenberg applied for the post of judge in the Los Angeles County superior court, he claimed he had worked for the CIA in Laos during the late 1960s. He had otherwise excellent academic qualifications and a distinguished legal career but his claims of being a CIA operative were easily exposed as a lie. He had only ever served in the US Naval Reserve and at the time he was supposed to have been in Vietnam he was a social worker in Orange County, California. In his defence his lawyers said he suffered from "pseudologica fantastica".

At Mount Holyoke college in Massachusetts, Professor Joseph Ellis, was similarly exposed when he claimed that he had been a platoon commander in Vietnam. In reality at the time he was teaching history at West Point. He was suspended from his post for a year and he had to make an apology to all Vietnam veterans.
Nearly every week researchers and disgruntled veterans were unearthing public figures who claim an heroic Vietnam war record. The amount of bogus claims has been so extensive that Chuck and Mary Schantag created a special section of their POW network website to expose such frauds. Their P.O.W. Network website features lists of phonies and wanabees that can be viewed at: http://www.pownetwork.org/

Mary observes that: "The Vietnam war is not the no-no it used to be. I think a lot of people feel that they missed the chance to face their demons, to sleep in the jungles in Vietnam, to face that psychological test. This country is so deeply in need of heroes that no one is willing to check out their backgrounds, they want to believe it is true. When you have someone who says he rescued people in darkest Cambodia, people are so desperate for it to be true that they don't check. It's a morality problem. It tears us apart." (The Guardian [London], 21 August 2001)

Larry Bailey, who ran a website, AuthentiSEAL supplied tips on how to spot these frauds, and he thought as many as 100,000 Americans had invented bogus military histories for themselves. This website can be viewed at http://cyberseals.org/authentiseal/ though as their home page explains they have had to remove their Wall of Shame feature because they could not keep pace with the number of false claims. In Britain this phenomenon is not totally unknown, and the most popular stories concern serving in the Falklands war, the first Gulf War or working as a bomb disposal expert in Northern Ireland.

Regarding 'Pseudologica Fantastica' that was used to somehow explain Patrick Couwenberg's claims, Dr Sam Vakin notes it, ' is the compulsive need to lie consistently and about everything, however inconsequential - even if it yields no benefits to the liar. I am not that bad. But when I want to impress - I lie.' (http://samvak.tripod.com/journal23.html)


I can think of some contactees and abductees who could easily fit this description. Generally I think that, like with most of the claims of bogus military service, thousands of people use the odd lie to brighten their CV or make themselves more interesting to friends or colleagues. I know that from reading biographies of film stars that many of them create bogus life histories that fit with their star image. It is usually after their death that their well-preserved image is probed and their 'real' past exposed. Sometimes the repetition of a lie will make the claimant actually believe their own lies over time and often it can escalate beyond their personal control.

In the context of ufology it is relatively easy for someone even with a hint of Pseudologica Fantastica to run rings round our subject.
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Mr. Bubba; you began this thread by directing us to the POWNETWORK to read what they have to say about Duane Dwyer (or whoever).
All Micky did was direct us to a link that raises some questions about their credibility.

We, as members of BFC must now try to find the truth. Afterall, this is what this is all about, the truth, correct?
 
The pdf file posted at pownetwork begins with a letter from Teresa D. Ross, Head, Freedom on Information/Privacy Acts Section explaining that the enclosed military record is sent in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, and that some private information (social security number etc.) is being withheld as the law requires.

It clearly is not his full military record as private information was withheld, and it seems pretty clear the record was not obtained illegally.
 
I have been looking at POWNET and while I have only looked at maybe 50-75 names with links, Dwyer's is the only one I have found that won't open. Would his records alone cause the overload (or whatever it is) of their site?
 
beefangusbeef said:
I'm confused? Should I buy a strider or a sebenza?
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You should buy which ever you feel more comfortable with. It has never been about the knives.

The pdf file posted at pownetwork begins with a letter from Teresa D. Ross, Head, Freedom on Information/Privacy Acts Section explaining that the enclosed military record is sent in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, and that some private information (social security number etc.) is being withheld as the law requires.

It clearly is not his full military record as private information was withheld, and it seems pretty clear the record was not obtained illegally.
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If they didn't get a full record then obviously they are not able to make the assumptions that they are. I havn't been able to see his record as it is mysteriously been down for days while others are still up. Can you tell me how they were able to link all those names together if they didn't get a social security number?

I was here and participated in the thread on Mick. Now I see this one come up. In Mick's case the accuactions have no real effect on his every day life other than to make things very uncomfortable and stressfull. In the case of Duane, these accuations besides doing that will cause major problems for alot of Police Depts that he has done training at, as they will need to retrain anyone who has been trained by him, and it opens them to retrials and lawsuits from the use of any tactics he taught. It will also open his own dept up to a major legal mess.

If either of them did what they are accused well I hope God has a very special place reserved for people like that in Hell. Mick has already been raked over the coals, all I am saying is before we do that to Duane, lets make sure it is right, as there is alot more at stake here than just his reputation.
 
Last Visible Canary said:
you know what I find funny, you never answered esav's question. This forum is for talking about personal interactions with other companies and individuals.

If you have never in your left personally dealt with mick or duane, your complaining about something you find unpleasant, but have no hand in.

I didn't read the entire thread, I only read your responses to it. you have no asked what other peoples personal experiences with these individuals are.

I would personally love to see this go to whine and cheese.


"The Good, The Bad, The Ugly! This is your area to tell about your experiences (Good or Bad) with dealers, sellers, and individuals you've bought, sold, and traded with."
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If I'm not mistaken, this thread started in Whine & Cheese and was moved by a moderator to GB&U.
 
Guyon said:
If I'm not mistaken, this thread started in Whine & Cheese and was moved by a moderator to GB&U.
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fair enough... I could see this being a giant snowball fest there.

It's always fun when someone responds to "where are you getting your "facts"?" with "are you calling me a liar?!?". kinda like responding to a post without actually reading it.
 
In a series of emails from the Shantags they stated they had ‘friends’ in the VA that would sift through military and VA records and provide them with personal information on anyone they requested, and that they did not want to compromise these ‘friend’s’ identity

According to one veteran, his Social Security number was stolen by factions associated with the POW Network and eventually led to identity theft and thousands of dollars of unauthorized charges in his name. In another case, a veteran had a pending law suit against the Schantags for defamation and invasion of privacy, but the case was dismissed in January of this year because the veteran died before justice was served.

This is not the first time we have heard of the POW Network and their questionable operations. Exactly one year ago, this same group harassed Mr. Gene Simes and myself and even boasted of acquiring our Social Security numbers without our consent.
In an email exchange the Schantags made this statement; “We cannot afford to have some "friends" compromised as they search through files for the truth on this.
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The above paragraphs were pulled from my much longer post to highlight why I said they might be stealing Vets personal info.
These are all major issues about violating peoples privacy, and the POWNETWOKS involvement and even bragging about it. They obviously feel they are immune from prosecution. I guess it is ok for them to violate the law to enforce it on others while hiding behind a nonprofit do good orginization.

They are good at what they started as, maby they should go back to that and leave the vets with PTSD alone.
Privacy info below.


1. Title 5 USC 522a Privacy Act, Title 42 , THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE CHAPTER 21A–PRIVACY PROTECTION SUBCHAPTER I–FIRST AMENDMENT PRIVACY PROTECTION, and the VA Privacy Act Rights.
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THE PRIVACY ACT OF 1974
5 U.S.C. § 552a
As Amended
§ 552a. Records maintained on individuals
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(i)(1) Criminal penalties
Any officer or employee of an agency, who by virtue of his employment or official position, has possession of, or access to, agency records which contain individually identifiable information the disclosure of which is prohibited by this section or by rules or regulations established thereunder, and who knowing that disclosure of the specific material is so prohibited, willfully discloses the material in any manner to any person or agency not entitled to receive it, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not more than $5,000.(2) Any officer or employee of any agency who willfully maintains a system of records without meeting the notice requirements of subsection (e)(4) of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not more than $5,000.
(3) Any person who knowingly and willfully requests or obtains any record concerning an individual from an agency under false pretenses shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not more than $5,000.
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TITLE 42–THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE CHAPTER 21A–PRIVACY PROTECTION SUBCHAPTER I–FIRST AMENDMENT PRIVACY PROTECTION Part B–Remedies, Exceptions, and Definitions Sec. 2000aa-6. Civil actions by aggrieved persons (a) Right of action A person aggrieved by a search for or seizure of materials in violation of this chapter shall have a civil cause of action for damages for such search or seizure– (1) against the United States, against a State which has waived its sovereign immunity under the Constitution to a claim for damages resulting from a violation of this chapter, or against any other governmental unit, all of which shall be liable for violations of this chapter by their officers or employees while acting within the scope or under color of their office or employment; and (2) against an officer or employee of a State who has violated this chapter while acting within the scope or under color of his office or employment, if such State has not waived its sovereign immunity as provided in paragraph (1).
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Privacy Act Rights
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VA follows the requirements of the Privacy Act, which protects your personal information that VA maintains in “systems of records”. A system of records is a file, database, or program from which personal information is retrieved by name or other personal identifier. The Privacy Act provides a number of protections for your personal information. These typically include how information is collected, used, disclosed, stored, and disposed.
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We will not disclose your personal information to third parties outside VA without your consent, except to facilitate the transaction, to act on your behalf at your request, or as authorized by law.
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If a veteran feels his privacy rights have been violated you may find information on
How to File a Health Information Privacy Complaint at….http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa
 
Bastid said:
Let's take it easy on the personal insults.

Eventually the truth bubbles to the top when it comes to these types of things and the best way for that to happen is an open discussion.

P.S. At times in my life and for rare and short periods, gold has been an excellent investment. :D.
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I recall when gold was $32 an oz. LOL!!!! Definitely been a good investment and NO!! I am not 100 years old. :p
 
Jere Berry is a disabled Vietnam Vet, I have a great deal of respect for Vets so what follows addresses his current actions, not his status.


His attack on the POW Network seemed to be all about him, well beyond the issue. He has been rebuked heavily by every military organization that I'm aware of regarding his views of the POW Network. Here is the email that he sent to the POW Network that was forwarded around the internet. I apologize for its content but if his words are to be used as a reference regarding this matter, people should know what his words are.

From: JEREBEERY@aol.com
Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 21:13:02 EDT
Subject: Warning!!!
To: info@pownetwork.org

Welp...... I guess you caught me<GRIN>.... I confess.... I am the person that added corrections to my DD214.... <SMILE> And their ain't a God Damn thing you can do about it. <forgive me father> Cut & Paste that! I strongly suggest you expose me for the phony I am. Please put me on your web site as a Wannabe/Phony... PLEASE<GRIN>... I dare you, cunt.

Like I said I expect a FULL PUBLIC apology after you and your primate cohorts get through playing Columbo.
JERE BEERY
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I challenge anyone to find any group of Military Veterans or Association who have done anything but support the POW Network. I feel sorry for Mr. Berry, but he is misguided in the extreme regarding this matter.
 
Bubbanumber1 said:
Jere Berry is a disabled Vietnam Vet, I have a great deal of respect for Vets so what follows addresses his current actions, not his status.


His attack on the POW Network seemed to be all about him, well beyond the issue. He has been rebuked heavily by every military organization that I'm aware of regarding his views of the POW Network. Here is the email that he sent to the POW Network that was forwarded around the internet. I apologize for its content but if his words are to be used as a reference regarding this matter, people should know what his words are.

I challenge anyone to find any group of Military Veterans or Association who have done anything but support the POW Network. I feel sorry for Mr. Berry, but he is misguided in the extreme regarding this matter.
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Can/could you kindly direct me to some of the writings by military organizations where this guy is rebuked heavily?
All I have found is this guy's negative comments directed at Pownetwork.
 
Is it all worth it?
The Military themselves spin crap to sell themselves all the time.
Anyone worried about someone being a Walter Mitty type would not have far to look.
I am too lazy to do the research but was there not two recent cases related to the Female Soldier captured in Iraq that was spun by the Military for propaganda.
The other one comes to mind the NFL star that god bless him signed up and when he was killed a media story was fabricated to later be found out as all Bull.
Neither of the Strider blokes look like anyone I would want to be in a Trench with and I could not imagine me buying one of their products even if I had the money.
That said does it matter, the whole world is Spin and Bull, you have to make up your own minds and its as simple as that.
Look at the Strider Forum, if that is your cup of Tea then you will be happy, if not buy something else.

I recently read a book related to the British Zulu wars, I had seen the Movie Zulu as a youngster, when I read the facts I was a bit disappointed then I realized everything is spin doctored to a point.
Live your lives, time is short and it will not matter in the long run.
 
Danno4017 said:
Is it all worth it?
The Military themselves spin crap to sell themselves all the time.
Anyone worried about someone being a Walter Mitty type would not have far to look.
I am too lazy to do the research but was there not two recent cases related to the Female Soldier captured in Iraq that was spun by the Military for propaganda.
The other one comes to mind the NFL star that god bless him signed up and when he was killed a media story was fabricated to later be found out as all Bull.
Neither of the Strider blokes look like anyone I would want to be in a Trench with and I could not imagine me buying one of their products even if I had the money.
That said does it matter, the whole world is Spin and Bull, you have to make up your own minds and its as simple as that.
Look at the Strider Forum, if that is your cup of Tea then you will be happy, if not buy something else.

I recently read a book related to the British Zulu wars, I had seen the Movie Zulu as a youngster, when I read the facts I was a bit disappointed then I realized everything is spin doctored to a point.
Live your lives, time is short and it will not matter in the long run.
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Not the same thing at all.

In this case a Vet slams POWNET and tries hard to discredit them. Someone posts that this Vet is/has been rebuked by every military organization with viws of the POWNET. I would just like to read some so I can in my own mind decide who I believe should be discredited.

I am having some problem with Pownet's reason/excuse for the records not loading since the links work for every other person listed that I have checked and as of today it must be close to 200 or so. I don't think that has anything to do with the link....at all

I have some doubts about Pownet now, please allay them......
 
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