Phony Navy SEALS dishonor true heroes, according to the men who have actually served.
This is no victimless crime, said Mark L. Donald, a retired SEAL who is currently director of the UDT (Underwater Demolition Team)-SEAL Association member Life Assistance Program. These awards are sacred.
Exposing SEAL impersonators helps discourage others from pretending to be part of the elite group of active-duty personnel and veterans who have earned their status through hard work and personal risk, Donald said.
Donald verified that the SEAL database has no record of Jason Truitt, a participant in a Montezuma County hunting program created to honor veterans. Truitt had claimed to be a SEAL.
Donald told the Journal that no SEAL has never been a SEAL prisoner of war and only one has ever been reported MIA.
Ken Garrett of California, who contacted the Journal in response to Saturdays story about the Hunt for Heroes, said he was a former frogman, a predecessor to todays SEAL, who now is a watchdog for SEAL phonies. He says there are literally thousands of SEAL impersonators around the country and Truitt is just one more falsifying his valor.
This is not a subject for you to disprove, but for him to prove, Garrett said.
One word can describe a Navy SEAL: determined, said Garrett, who indeed is determined to expose pretenders. He said that each SEAL class starts with approximately 150 participants, of whom only 25-45 will complete the rigorous 14-month training program.
Retired SEAL Don Shipley a 26-year Navy veteran from Virginia, said he deals with 12 to 15 cases of individuals claiming to be SEALs every day. He said that obtaining Truitts military records, if any exist, may take him up to 3 weeks. The Journal has filed the required paperwork with the military to attempt to verify Truitts military status.
People aspire to rub shoulders with veterans, he said, and some go to great and dishonest lengths to do so.
The U.S. Navy has records of everyone who has qualified for the title of SEAL, Shipley said, and although many impostors claim their status is classified, there is no such thing as a secret SEAL.
Phony POWs abound as well.
Retired Navy Captain Mike McGrath, a Delta, Colo., native and POW historian who is a former president of the POW Network, knows of more than 3,000 cases of phony prisoners of war and 4,000 phony SEALs. McGrath, who spent 5 years and 8 months as a POW in Hanoi, North Vietnam, said far fewer POWS actually exist.
There are 662 of us POWs. Were like a big fraternity, he said.
SEAL is an acronym for Sea, Air and Land. The Navy SEALs, commissioned in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy, will celebrate their 50-year anniversary this year, although origins of this elite group dates back to WWII. In all those years, only 17,000 men have served in the SEALs and predecessor programs. Today, less than 10,000 remain.
Reach Brandon Mathis at brandonm@cortezjournal.com.