That's the funny thing about leadership - when someone is spreading incorrect information about you, you tend to try to stop it right there.
I'm having a very hard time believing that all this "sniper" nonsense sprang out of thin air. Especially when we have various quotes by various members such as Jerry Hossom, nyeti (aka Darryl Bolke, who IIRC now an employee), jbravo, Jared, and more? A quick search with the terms "duane" and "sniper" nets the following:
Not that anyone cares, but Thompson also called Duane a fake in his ad, and a con man. Duane served in the Marines honorably, attained the rank of SSGT, and has been accepted into the Marine Scout Sniper Assc, which I know personally requires hard proof of service and MOS. Again, not that it matters to the all-knowing, but Mick served in the Army, too, and I'll give $500 to anyone who can show where HE claimed to be a combat veteran. Ranger - yes, combat - no.
First, on Mick, he has been very quiet over the years on almost anything background related. I can guarantee that the guy talking about Mick being a sniper had him and Duane confussed. I have attended more than my share of shows with the Strider guys and can generally be found at the Strider or Emerson booth at most of them. I have never heard MIck ever say a thing about being a sniper to anyone. Duane has, and I believe Duane's background is factual. Both Mick and Duane are very knowledgeable on a lot of subjects related to the field, and I am sure they got that knowledge somewhere. I will stand by my comments on Duane. In regards to Mick, I was given third party info a long time ago about Mick that I took to be true. It was also related to a time prior to Mick going to prison. Part of the problem with a lot of this is that Mick and Duane are two seperate folks who often get lunked together as one entity. Keep in mind that this whole character assasination thing started with Duane first and it backfired on the person who started it. Same arguments, Duane wasn't a Marine, Duane wasn't a sniper, Duane was a convicted felon, it isn't Duane's real name......blah, blah. If you know anything about dealing with folks who walk in the circle of people I do, you don't ask for specific details. It is just the way it is, and the "tell me about what kind of stuff you did" pegs the pogue meter in that world.
Actually the owner of Strider knives is Duane Dwyer as the inquisition with the PI led by lynn thompson and friends found out and Duane is indeed a Marine Corps vet in good standing and a member of the USMC Sniper Assn.
Hoever, something many people don't know and others have obscured in this discussion, Strider Knives isn't all about Mick. Duane Dwyer was a for sure Marine Scout Sniper with an impressive kill count. Others who work at Strider in CA and/or are their distributors around the world are similarly people who have serious records of military accomplishments. They've chosen their association; call them what you will.
Honestly, I'm done with this. It's childish and boring. Here is what I know...I've been online in these forums a LONG time, longer than the Strider Company has been online. In fact, I was there when they started the forum on Knifeforums with Earl Stewart. From that time until now, in all publications and all posts I've never heard Mick Strider say anything OTHER than that he was in the Army and was a Ranger. Why would he, in light of the fact that his partner IS a USMC Sniper, change his story just for you? You tell me, that's the whole point.
So maybe these guys just all got together and decided to, on their own, create & repeat this USMC Scout / Sniper background. And the Marine Corps Times decided to call him a Force Recon marine. And Buck Knives decided to list him and Mick Strider as Special Operations personnel not one, but two years in a row. And Tactical Knives (WW Wright) just pulled all those specific training schools & international adventures together out of thin air too. Oh, and the other various articles are someone else's fault as well.
It could happen. Really.
Of course when threads like these are made:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=196658 bragging about representing a sniper rifle company, it kinda throws water on any claims saying he hasn't put this information out there.
Now, I don't know about you, tirod3, but when I was presented my DD214, I was told to sign it to affirm that it was correct, and if it wasn't, I was to have the changes made then when it was corrected, sign. Granted, mistakes in records keeping happen; I set my home base assignment to Ft Bragg 3 times and still it wound up being set to Germany over and over again... and somehow my blood type got switched to A POS instead of O POS during reception (another 6 months to fix that) but my DD214 I made sure was right.
In the end, it should be simple. Being a USMC Scout / Sniper is a MOS, and a verifiable thing. Being a Force Recon Marine is a verifiable thing. Being a Sniper School Instructor is a verifiable thing. These are all items I find EXTREMELY unlikely to be left out of any records. Being a member of the USMC Scout / Sniper Association is a verifiable thing - and the Association says they've no record of him.
This huge "misunderstanding" can be put to rest in 5 minutes.