Also consider that someone who only served for 6 years could not possibly be "retired" unless he was medically retired. 

What I find curious about his awards listing is that I don't see the Vietnam campaign medals that should have been awarded had he actually been in Vietnam.  And was the 82nd even in Vietnam in 1973?  My understanding was that most of the combat units were pulled out by the end of 1972, isn't that right?  So if he joined in 1973, assuming he had 8 weeks of basic, at least 4 of AIT and then 3 of jump school, how likely is it he would have shipped to Vietnam when everyone else was pulling out? 

The photo also seems to show a young troop with no right-sleeve patch, it's a little inconceivable he wouldn't wear the 82nd patch on his right sleeve if he was entitled to.  Certainly when I came in in 1980 everybody who was authorized a patch from Vietnam wore it. 

I think this guy is basically who he says he is - possibly minus the Vietnam service - but as I said above his account of being fired his highly suspicious. 

EDIT:  Just went back and looked at the first post.  I was mistaken, he does NOT claim Vietnam service, just that he served during the VN war.  In this case, his medals would be correct for someone with that service. 

While many of the units he lists are reserve, much of his time seems to be spent on active duty.  If he enlisted in 1973 and only made staff sergeant(the highest enlisted rank he shows) in 18 years of service how plausible is it he would have received a direct commission?

The only unit I saw that could have been part of the 11th Infantry Regiment was the "4th Airborne Battalion" which a) is the incorrect designation and b) the 11th was not activated as the parent regiment for training units at Ft. Benning until sometime in the 1980's, so the 4th Student Battalion(Airborne) would not have been part of it.

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American GI.  One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

"History teaches that when you become indifferent and lose the will to fight someone who has the will to fight will take over." COLONEL BULL SIMONS

Direct commissions were quite common in the reserve components until recently.  In fact, when I mobilized in 2004, one of the LTCs in my unit (there were 8 of them!) heard that I was in law school and asked "If you've already got a bachelor's degree, why didn't you just apply for a direct commission?"  I guess he thought it was odd that a senior NCO would have a college degree, but in the RC it's not that uncommon.  Anyway, different reserve commands and different states have different rules - I know that the practice is generally frowned upon because they want potential officers to go through the "crucible" of OCS or ROTC at the very least, so as to separate out those who don't really have the "stuff" to make it.  But, given the sorry state of the Reserve Components in the 1980's, I don't doubt that a lot of direct commissions were given out for various reasons. 

I was curious about that myself.  Possibilities are (a) he was a technician or AGR during that time, or more simply that (b) he either intentionally or unintentionally listed his status as "active duty" when in fact he was an M-day reserve troop (i.e. drills one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer.) If his bio is correct I think he would have been going to college during this time so it seems reasonable that he might have been an M-day reservist who was also a "reserve bum" when he had time.  I saw plenty of guys do it in both the reserves and the guard.  In fact, a good friend of mine who just came back from Iraq last year has not held a civilian job in years - he just keeps "reserve bumming." 

Also, as to the 18 years and still an E-6, I got the impression from his Military.com profile that he actually had something of a break in service.  I'd have to go back and look to be sure but that seems right.  However, even with that, as I've posted before, you have to understand that rank in the reserve components is not the same as rank in active duty units.  With a few exceptions there is no "up or out" in the RC.  It's very common for a qualified soldier to turn down a promotion, and unlike on active duty, this is not a career killer.  RC soldiers are not as focused on their military careers as their active duty counterparts, and rightly so - after all, it's not the military career that's going to support them, it's their civilian career.  If accepting a promotion means driving all the way across the state to drill, or if it means more time spent doing guard stuff and taking away from the civilian job, or even if it just means leaving behind the friends he's made, a lot of guys will decline the promotion and stay where they are. 

If you go to his Military.com web page he lists his "unit affiliations" and among them are elements of the 11th Inf. Regt.  I believe that the 11th Regt was the "heraldic" parent of the Infantry School Brigade units when I went to jump school in 1991.  For some reason it sticks out in my mind.  I even seem to remember one of the buildings West of the line of barracks being outfitted as the "11th Infantry Regimental HQ's" but was actually something like an admin building or museum or something.  I'd have to do some 'net searching to be sure but "11th Regiment" jumps into my mind as being somehow affiliated with the Infantry School at Benning. 

Remember that some time in the late 80's the Army started giving "regimental affiliations" to units that never had real regimental affiliations before.  So, all basic training companies now have a true regimental affiliation like 1-26th Inf or 3-76th FA or 1-18th Cavalry.  Back in our day they used more straightforward school designations like D co., 2nd Bn, 1st ITB (Fort Benning, 1980) or B Co, 2nd Battalion, 1st Training Brigade (Fort Dix, 1987.)  I remember when I was at Benning in 80-81 and all the training companies for Airborne School and OCS were numbered, like 44th Co. (Airborne) and 42nd Co. (OCS) but by the time I went to jump school in March of 91, they had gone to the "historical" designations which is why I actually graduated from B Co, 1-507th PIR.   

Anyway, my point is that if he were assigned to one of these units after they got their "historical" regimental affiliation, he could rightfully claim that he was in the 1-11th Inf or some such. 

Like I said earlier, 42nd, 43rd, 44th and 45th Company were all part of the 4th Student Battalion which was the predecessor of the 1-507th.  I think OCS was the 5th Student Battalion back prior to the mid-eighties, but I am not sure about that.

As to the information about his rank and AD/RC status that does tend to make more sense.  It just seemed odd to me that he listed himself as the distinguished graduate, or whatever he called it, and yet he was only a staff sergeant after 18 years.

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American GI.  One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

"History teaches that when you become indifferent and lose the will to fight someone who has the will to fight will take over." COLONEL BULL SIMONS

If it helps I had 21 years in when I made E-7, and that was only because the Brigade Commander and CSM pulled some strings and got me a promotion to a position (13F) that I wasn't qualified for. I think for them it was kind of a consolation prize since they screwed me out of graduating from law school in 2004. 

 

IMO

SFC Richard J. Lacey
LLDS,RCG 1st Sig Bde.
31JAN1968
104535N 1063940E(XS816898)

Ive always said 509 is like an airborne idiot savant (sometimes without the savant part).

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