Today is National POW/MIA Recognition Day across our country. A Day that America should pause and remember the Americans who are still not home from war. In fact this is one of only six days specified by law on which the black POW/MIA flag shall be flown over federal facilities and cemeteries, post offices and military installations. To learn more about POW/MIA Recognition Day, please check out:

www.vfw.org/uploadedFiles/VFW.org/Community/POW-MIA%20info.pdf

There are thousands missing from Vietnam and still many others from all the way back to WWII. In fact we still have two missing, one from Iraq (Staff Sgt. Ahmed Altai) and one from Afghanistan (SGT Bowe Bergdahl).

I have written about Bergdahl many times on this blog since he went missing. You can find those blog entries HERE. Even though there is a lot of mystery and unanswered questions about his disappearance, the fact is that he is still a Soldier, an American, and a Son.

His family and friends are hurting, and they should be. It has been over two years since he disappeared on June 30th, 2009 and since then only a couple of times have his captors shown proof of life. I know this blog is read by many around the world. I see the statistics and there are many who read this from within Pakistan. For that reason I am posting the video below of Bowe Bergdahl’s father and his plea to the captors of his son. If nothing else I know proof of life would make the family feel much better.

To the other readers of this blog, ask your elected representatives why is it that we can go in and kill Osama Bin Laden, but we can’t find this young man. Ask them to put pressure on the leaders of Pakistan to help bring Bowe home.

If you would like to get more information on the family, what they may need or of the Army to find out the current status. Feel free to contact the following POCs:

Bergdahl family contact: Idaho Nat’l Guard, COL Timothy Marsano. timothy.marsano@us.army.mil 208-422-5268

Army Human Resources Command (HRC): LTC Stacy Bathrick stacy.bathrick@us.army.mil 502-613-4226

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A renegade fundamentalist Kansas church professing the demise of the United States because of its liberal policies on homosexuality, abortion and divorce is threatening to protest the Friday funeral for fallen Stamford SEAL Brian Bill.

Fred Phelps Jr., spokesman and son of Topeka’s Westboro Baptist Church leader Fred W. Phelps, said Wednesday that five or six church members are on their way to Stamford for Bill’s services.

So for those readers in or near Stamford, CT who can help step up and be part of a peaceful protest in order to protect and guard the family of Brian Bill, I am sure your presence would be welcomed and appreciated.

Read the whole story at www.military.com/news/article/westboro-to-protest-seal-crash-victims-funeral.html

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However a bunch of oxygen theives from Westboro, Kansas are planning to protest at the funeral. This is about the most despicable thing that can happy, yet it is still going to happen.

I am helping pass on a request to those in or near the Philladelphia area who could be at the funeral to participate in a friendly protest against those from Westboro and protect the grieving family.

 
“On Thurs., Aug. 18, at 2:15 p.m. Cathedral of St Peter & Paul 1723 Race Street, Philadelphia, PA. Westboro Baptist church is planning one of their despicable protests at the funeral of Navy SEAL Michael Strange, who passed away in Afghanistan last week. Let’s join the non-violent blockade of that piece of crap who desecrates our heroes funerals and honor our brother Michael Strange and his family.”

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Homes for Our Troops has now been told that it must begin anew the entire approval process and that the house needs to be at least 3400 square feet and multi-level to even be considered.

“Shockingly, it appears that the Knob Hill community has decided it does not want to welcome SFC Gittens and his family, as we were previously told,”…

Please take a moment and go read this:

www.blackfive.net/main/2011/06/just-not-good-enough-for-their-neighborhood.html

and then do whatever your heart or guy tells you to do. 

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Westboro Baptist Church has anounced that they intend to picket the services of 19 year old PFC Rudy A. Acosta, a fallen hero from Canyon Country (Santa Clarita area). Please come out with your flags and bring your friends to show support for the familiy and to honor this hero. Here are the directions:

March 31, 2011

 

10:30 am, Santa Clarita Baptist …Church (Services)
27249 Luther Drive
Cayon Country, CA 91351

Here is the motorcade route:

From Santa Clarita Baptist Church on Luther, proceed west along Soledad Canyon Road, passing the Santa Clarita Aquatic Center and the Mountasia Family Fun Center.

Turn left at McBean Parkway, traveling south past Westfield Valencia Town Center and Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital.

Left on Orchard Village Road, then left on Lyons Avenue.

Right on Railroad Avenue, then left on Newhall Avenue, then right toward the entrance of Eternal Valley Memorial Park & Mortuary, 23287 North Sierra Highway
Newhall, CA 91321.See More

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Take a moment and head to www.blackfive.net/main/2010/07/when-the-media-attacks-a-veterans-wounds.html and then please contact Imperial Valley Press Editor, Brad Jennings, at 760-337-3425 or editor@ivpressonline.com and politely and professionally request that they print a retraction, make an apology or fire someone for allowing this to happen.

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Read what I am talking about and see the unique way my fellow milblogger and good friend proposed to the love of his life at thisainthell.us/blog/?p=17395

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On the case of the Stolen Valor Impostor (McManus) the local ABC news station took full credit for finding him and the research on him and his background, even though it was milbloggers and the milblog readers who made this case so famous that it got their attention. Now the Army Times is telling the story in this week’s issue, yet fail to give credit where it is due. Unlike the local Houston ABC news station, at least the Army Times got the permission of Mrs G. from MudvilleGazette.com before using the wanted poster she created, however they assured her that several of the blogs (to include Bouhammer.com) would receive credit for helping spread the word. But as you can see below, they could not keep their word. They did at least credit my friend Mark Seavey and his awesome blog. They did also credit Mrs. G’s website, the Mudville Gazette for the photo..

But outside of that, the rest of the story is accurate. The reason it is accurate is because most of it came from….milbloggers.

Blogger helps expose alleged military faker

By Joe Gould

jgould@militarytimes.com

The goateed man was decked out in a formal Army uniform with a dozen medals pinned to his jack et and a Commander of the British Empire medallion hanging around his neck.

To blogger Mark Seavey, the “general” was an obvious fraud. Seavey’s fellow bloggers at the con servative “This Ain’t Hell” posted a photo of the alleged faker online, dead set on smoking him out.

“Wearing two Distinguished Ser vice Crosses and a Combat Infantry Badge with two stars, is analogous to saying someone is a pitcher for the Red Sox and a quarterback for the Patriots,” said Seavey. “If that person existed, you would know about them.” The blog post led to tips, angry comments, media attention and ultimately the Feb. 5 arrest of Michael P. McManus, a 44-year old former Army private first class who served from 1984 to 1987.

It’s not a first for Seavey and the blog’s volunteer staff. Seavey said they have exposed about a dozen others who have claimed unearned medals or insignia, and publicized other cases.

Seavey and his fellow bloggers are among a cadre of self-appoint ed stolen-valor police. There’s also Mary Schantag, co founder of the P.O.W. Net work.

Schantag and her husband, disabled Viet nam veteran Charles Schan tag, founded the P.O.W. Net work 20 years ago to record the biographies of prisoners of war online. The work’s flip side became weeding out and exposing people who have lied about their military service.

The Web site, www.pownetwork .org , maintained from their Missouri home, includes a “phonies index” of more than 3,000 alleged cases of stolen valor. The couple collects information and attempts to verify it through official channels and volunteer researchers. When they suspect fraud, they send the infor mation to the FBI and post it online. “We get 10 or 15 of these in a row sometimes,” she said. “[McManus] is not unusual, not in claiming the rank. We have dozens we have turned over to the FBI and we’re still waiting,” said Schantag.

Fakers typically make complex or impossible claims and like to pose as elite troops, Schantag said. “We see Marine-recon-sniper Navy-SEALs. Now, come on,” she said. “There are 300 reported fake SEALs for every real SEAL who has ever graduated [Basic Under water Demolition/SEAL] training. It crosses every boundary, every rank, every race, every job. We get preachers turned in, we get active duty military turned in.” Schantag said the frauds are offensive because they cheapen real bravery and hard work. “[Service members] have earned it, and these guys have no clue what it takes to do that,” she said.

Schantag learned of McManus when a friend’s brother sent her photos he took of McManus at the Dec. 12 inauguration for Houston Mayor Annise Parker.

Schantag posted photos of the man to the P.O.W. Network site and sent them to This Ain’t Hell, where the photo was posted at the center of a mock “wanted” poster.

Seavey’s day job is new media manager for the American Legion, but he blogs about stolen-valor cases and other military topics in his spare time for This Ain’t Hell.

For Seavey, whose blog dubbed McManus “Gen. Ballduster McSoulpatch,” the first big break was an anonymous tip saying the man’s name is Michael P. McManus. From there, readers pointed Seavey toward references to McManus across the Internet.

He found several online profiles of McManus, which contained conflict ing information about McManus’s rank, separation date and record.

“He claimed to do every job in the military that I could find, and the time frames sometimes cov ered each other up,” said Seavey. “He retired at least twice at two different levels, according to his story. At one point he was out in 2004, and another he retired in February 2008.” Among the information online, McManus claimed that he was on Gen. Colin Powell’s personal securi ty detail, that he came out to Pow ell as a homosexual and that Powell retained him anyway. Separately, in the context of his opposition to “don’t ask, don’t tell,” he claimed to have been discharged for being gay. After Seavey got the information he needed about McManus, he contacted him directly.

“As soon I had everything that he had online, the very first thing I did was send him a message via Facebook that said, ‘I hope you enjoyed your time masquerading, now you’re about to meet the big boys.’ And then I said, ‘I hope you enjoy your interview with the FBI.’ Well, he took it all down 20 minutes later.” Seavey said that he has started to see a trend in which fraudsters lie about their service records to further their personal or political agendas, either for or against the war, or targeting military policies. After This Ain’t Hell reported on McManus, the Houston press fol lowed suit. That, in turn, prompt ed the local FBI to investigate and arrest McManus, according to a law enforcement official.

Seavey said he was gratified to see in the criminal complaint that McManus’s attorney had claimed McManus destroyed the unautho rized uniform, medals and insignia — out of fear of “angry bloggers.” It emerged that McManus has been caught before making false claims about himself. In 2002, he faced federal charges for imper­sonating an air marshal and an Army major while trying to board a flight in New Orleans.

McManus faces five new accusa tions of violating federal law relat ed to wearing the unauthorized military uniform, the military badges and insignia. If convicted, he faces up to three years in feder al prison and $120,000 in fines.

McManus’s attorney, James Fal lon, did not return a call seeking comment.

On Feb. 9, a federal judge set McManus’s bond at $25,000 and set special conditions for his release. McManus must continue “mental health treatment,” submit to a drug screening every 45 days and refrain from the use of creden tials and identification documents or wearing of any U.S. or interna tional uniform.

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In Houston last week, the FBI arrested a man who attended the mayoral inauguration with enough medals pinned to his chest to raise the suspicion of one retired military man who snapped several pictures and sent them to ABC’s Houston affiliate KTRK

No wonder most bloggers cannot stand MSM or what they do or how they work. I mean you don’t name the dozens of milbloggers that spread the word on this, but at least give credit to one or two. It is shameful and yet another reason why more and more Americans are turning to blogs and sites like the Drudge Report rather than MSM for their news.

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If this is your first time reading this blog and have no idea what I am talking about, just keep scrolling down or click on the link category above that says “Pitchfork Brigade”

AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF CRIMINAL COMPLAINT

I, Christopher Petrowski, being duly sworn, do hereby depose and state:

I am a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), duly appointed according to law and acting as such. I have been a Special Agent with the FBI for fourteen years, and am currently assigned to the FBI Houston Division Violent Crime Task Force (VCTF). The VCTF is a joint FBI and Houston Police Department task force responsible for the investigation of, among other violent crimes, kidnaping, bank robbery, extortion, serial murder, and Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution. The facts contained in this Affidavit are based upon information provided to me by other law enforcement officers, other witnesses, and my own personal knowledge. Since this Affidavit is made for the limited purpose of supporting a Criminal Complaint, I may have not set forth each and every fact learned during the course of this investigation. Rather, I have set forth only those facts that I believe are necessary to establish probable cause for the crimes charged. Unless otherwise indicated, where actions, conversations, and statements of others are related herein, they are related in substance and in part only.

2. On or about January 19, 2010, I was advised that MICHAEL PATRICK MCMANUS had attended a party for newly elected Houston Mayor, Annise Parker. The party was held on December 12, 2009 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Downtown Houston. MCMANUS was observed by photographer “MMM”, who attended the party as a photographer. MMM, who is a former Sergeant (E-5) in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, noticed MCMANUS was wearing an official appearing United States Army military uniform with numerous military decorations, awards, and badges. MMM further noticed that MCBRIDE was wearing all of the official U.S. military uniform regalia in a non-regulation manner. MMM photographed MCMANUS at the event in his purportedly official U.S. Army uniform and provided those photographs to the FBI.

3. The photographs provided by MMM show an image of an individual, later identified by me as MCMANUS through his Texas Driver’s License and other data sources, wearing a U.S. Army military uniform bearing the rank of Brigadier General. The photographs further shows MCMANUS wearing the following awards:

- a British Commander of the British Empire (worn around his neck),

- a Distinguished Service Cross,

- an Air Medal,

- a Flying Cross,

- a Silver Star,

- a Bronze Star,

- and a Purple Heart.

MCMANUS was also wearing the following U.S. military “earned” insignia, emblems, and devices:

- a British Special Air Service Crest,

- a Combat Infantry Badge with two stars,

- a Master Jump Wings,

- a Helicopter Pilot Badge,

- a Air Assault Wings,

- and a Pathfinder Badge.

4. MCMANUS was previously convicted in U.S. Federal Court in California in 2002, arising out of federal criminal charges originating in Louisiana, for impersonating a U.S. “Air Marshal” and also impersonating a U.S. Army Major, both in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 912, He received a sentence of two years probation, which was later revoked for violations. At the time of his offense relating to those criminal charges, MCMANUS had been wearing an unauthorized U.S. Army Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) of the unearned rank of Major (and with fraudulent U.S. Army identification papers naming him as an Army Captain) with attached unearned patches, insignia, and awards, on board a commercial aircraft in New Orleans and also falsely represented himself to the flight crew as a current member of the U.S. military and an “Air Marshal”, and where he attempted to gain access to the plane’s cockpit. Due to the suspicious nature of his uniform and his suspicious claims to the flight crew, he was not permitted by the flight crew to remain on the flight. He was later arrested in California and convicted of these charges there.

5. Official U.S. military records, which include MCMANUS’ form DD-214, indicate MCMANUS entered on Active Duty with the United States Army on November 11, 1984 and separated on March 31, 1987. During this period, MCMANUS attained the rank of Private First Class and a pay grade of E-1. The form DD-214 further indicates MCMANUS was awarded or authorized to wear only the following awards: an Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; Expert Marksmanship Badge – Rifle; and Marksman Marksmanship Badge – Pistol. MCMANUS’ type of separation is

Defined on the DD-214 as “Discharge” and the character of service is defined as “Under Honorable Conditions”, which is not the same as an “Honorable Discharge”.

6. On or about January 25, 2010, I attempted to contact MCMANUS at his telephone number 713-869-xxxx. The Lexis/Nexis database indicated this telephone number was associated with the Houston address on MCMANUS’ Texas driver’s license. Based on Harris County Appraisal District records, the residence is owned by Alvin Chan. At the time of MCMANUS’ arrest in January 2002, related to his previous impersonation charges and conviction, MCMANUS stated to investigators that his “domestic partner” was Alvin Chan.

7. About January 25, I called MCMANUS’ telephone number and left a message on what I believed to be his answering machine at his residence located at in Houston, Texas 77008.

8. On January 27, 2010, I received a telephone call from a person claiming to be a Houston attorney (“CF”) who claimed to represent MCMANUS. I told attorney CF I wished to interview MCMANUS regarding his impersonation of a U.S. military officer and I further stated that MCMANUS needed to surrender the uniform, medals, ribbons, devices, and other general evidence he had worn in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 704. Attorney CF admitted that MCMANUS was the person in the subject photographs and that MCMANUS told him he had discarded or destroyed all the evidence (i.e., the uniform, medals, insignia, etc.) allegedly because MCMANUS had become “afraid” when his photograph wearing the unauthorized military uniform and unauthorized military awards was posted on the internet and he became the subject of angry bloggers. At present, I have no way of verifying the truth of attorney CF’s claim regarding MCMANUS purported destruction of all the evidence.

9. Based on all the foregoing information and facts, I believe there is probable cause to believe that on or about December 12, 2009, MICHAEL PATRICK MCMANUS:

- did knowingly possess certain badges or other insignia of a design prescribed by the head of a department or agency of the United States (being the Department of Defense) for use by any officer or employee thereof, or any colorable imitation thereof, without lawful authorization, in violation of 18 United States Code, Section 701; and

- did knowingly, within the jurisdiction of the United

States, without any lawful authority, wear a uniform and/or a distinctive part thereof and/or anything similar to a distinctive part of the uniform of any of the armed forces of the United States, in violation of 18 United States Code, Section 702; and

- did knowingly, within the jurisdiction of the United States, and with the intent to deceive or mislead, wear any naval, military or other official decoration or regalia of any foreign state, nation, or government with which the United States is at peace, or anything so nearly resembling the same as to be calculated to deceive, in violation of 18 United States Code, Section 703; and

- did knowingly wear certain medals and/or decorations authorized by Congress for the armed forces of the United States, or certain of the medals and/or badges awarded to the members of the such armed forces of the United States, and/or certain ribbons, buttons, or rosettes of any badge, decoration, and/or medal, and/or any colorable imitation thereof, except when authorized under regulations made pursuant to law, in violation of 18 United States Code, Section 704(a); and

- did knowingly wear a Distinguished Service Crosses awarded under Section 3742 of Title 10, and a Silver Star awarded under Sections 3746, 6244, or 8746 of Title 10, and a Purple Heart awarded under Section 1129 of Title 10, or any replacement or duplicate medal for such a medals as authorized by law in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 704(d).

CHRISTOPHER PETROWSKI,

Special Agent,

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Houston, Texas

Attachment A To Criminal Complaint

- did knowingly possess certain badges or other insignia of a design prescribed by the head of a department or agency of the United States (being the Department of Defense) for use by any officer or employee thereof, or any colorable imitation thereof, without lawful authorization, in violation of 18 United States Code, Section 701; and

- did knowingly, within the jurisdiction of the United

States, without any lawful authority, wear a uniform and/or a distinctive part thereof and/or anything similar to a distinctive part of the uniform of any of the armed forces of the United States, in violation of 18 United States Code, Section 702; and

- did knowingly, within the jurisdiction of the United States, and with the intent to deceive or mislead, wear any naval, military or other official decoration or regalia of any foreign state, nation, or government with which the United States is at peace, or anything so nearly resembling the same as to be calculated to deceive, in violation of 18 United States Code, Section 703; and

- did knowingly wear certain medals and/or decorations authorized by Congress for the armed forces of the United States, or certain of the medals and/or badges awarded to the members of the such armed forces of the United States, and/or certain ribbons, buttons, or rosettes of any badge, decoration, and/or medal, and/or any colorable imitation thereof, except when authorized under regulations made pursuant to law, in violation of 18 United States Code, Section 704(a); and

- did knowingly wear a Distinguished Service Crosses awarded under Section 3742 of Title 10, and a Silver Star awarded under Sections 3746, 6244, or 8746 of Title 10, and a Purple Heart awarded under Section 1129 of Title 10, or any replacement or duplicate medal for such a medals as authorized by law in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 704(d).

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