We have another stolen valor controversy this week. This time it involves Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald who was recorded telling a homeless man in passing that he was a member of the “special forces.” People are calling for his resignation. However, as someone who has written a great deal about Stolen Valor, I disagree that this is a serious case of misrepresentation or that McDonald should resign. He did not have stolen valor. He has more than enough. What happened in this case was a mistake but there is still a difference between a venial and moral sin . . . even in cases of valor.
I have previously criticized past prosecutions for stolen valor (here and here) as a threat to the first amendment. Such cases are deterred through social stigma and simple research, as it was here. However, this case does not really fit well as a stolen valor controversy.
McDonald was in Los Angeles to highlight efforts of the VA to track down and provide housing for homeless veterans. He was shown stopping and talking to a homeless man who mentions the Special Forces. McDonald responds: “Special Forces? What years? I was in Special Forces.”
McDonald never served in a special forces unit. However, after graduating from West Point, he completed Army Ranger training and was a graduate from that school. The technical distinction is between Special Ops like the Rangers from Special Forces like the Green Berets. Moreover, McDonald ended up serving with the 82nd Airborne Division. The 82nd is one of the most respected and famous fighting unit in American history.
So he graduated from Special Ops with the Rangers and served with the 82nd Airborne. Is that the same as Special Forces, no. However, this is not some pathetic Walter Mitty who buys medals on Ebay and struts around like a Soviet General. McDonald walked the walk and served in an elite fighting unit.
My concern is that the response resembles the controversy over Admiral Jeremy Michael Boorda, the 25th Chief of Naval Operations, who was a legend in the service as the only C.N.O. to have reached that position from the enlisted ranks. He committed suicide after being accused of wearing unearned “Combat Vs” on his Navy Commendation Medal and Navy Achievement Medal indicating valor in combat.
McDonald later told reporters that he misspoke while trying to “connect” with a homeless veteran. He apologized for the statement and he should. However, the irony is that I consider graduating from the Rangers school and serving in the 82nd to be as significant as being part of a Special Forces unit. It is a different type of service but it is an elite service record. Of course, I would be buried at the Ranger school if I tried to complete that course.
McDonald strikes me as a strong leader with a proud record of service. Ironically, this controversy bears some resemblance to the scandal involving Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who claimed on repeated occasions that he served in Vietnam when he had been in a Marine Reserve unit that was never sent overseas. However, McDonald did serve in an elite unit and did graduate from Ranger school.
In the end, we have to accept that people make mistakes. In today’s saturated environment with cameras and recordings, people will overstate or exaggerate but we need to keep perspective. McDonald did not have to boast about his career and should have said Special Ops rather than Special Forces. That should not be a case for a force resignation.
What do you think?
Pogo, Great comments this morning. And great job to everyone for not getting distracted by the propaganda.
Alyssa, Thanks for the great post!
As a VA nurse, I’m just glad he was willing to have a conversation with a homeless vet. It seems quite bizarre that some want to punish the guy for a meaningless exaggeration while the war criminals and torturers are untouched and even celebrated.
Men who mean what they say. Sing along.
David Swanson, author of “War Is A Lie”:
http://my.firedoglake.com/blog/2015/02/23/u-s-army-claims-to-be-full-of-liars/
“Members of the Army, we’re told, engage in “ethical fading,” using euphemisms and obscure phrases to disguise the immorality of what they are doing — namely overstating the supplies shipped or understating their own weight or some other “ethical” matter, not burning families to death in their homes with million-dollar missiles.
All of this unethicalness, the authors maintain, can create hypocritical leaders who hide billions in the “Overseas Contingency Operations” slush fund or cover up sex scandals. Really? Immorality enters an institution of mass murder that routinely deceives the public and much of the government from the bottom up? Excessive demands on troops creates a culture of lying than infects the good generals at the top? Are you kidding me? No, of course you aren’t. You’re lying to yourselves.
Soldiers realize pretty quickly that they’re not benefitting the people of Iraq or Afghanistan or whatever country they’re terrorizing. They understand that the entire mission is a lie. They learn to lie about their own actions, to plant “drop weapons,” to invent justifications, to provide support for their commanders’ efforts to believe their own lies.
Matthew Hoh, a State Department whistleblower, said today: “The culture of lying that is endemic and systemic in the Army, as found by researchers with the Army War College, finds its expression in America’s pointless wars, a one trillion dollar-a-year, pork-filled and inauditable national security budget, chronic veteran suicides, an expanded and more globally robust international terrorist movement, and untold suffering of millions of people and political chaos throughout the Greater Middle East perpetuated by our war policies.
“However, listening to our military leaders, and the politicians who adore and deify them rather than oversee them, America’s wars and its military have been a great patriotic success. This report is not a surprise for those of us who have worn the uniform, nor should it be surprising to those who have watched and paid attention with a modicum of critical and independent thought to our wars these past thirteen plus years. The wars are failures, but careers must prosper, budgets must increase and popular narratives and myths of American military success must endure, so the culture of lying becomes a necessity for our Army at a great physical, mental and moral cost to our Nation.”
In other words, War Is A Lie.”
This guy went to West Point, completed jump school, has a Ranger tab, and was assigned to the 82nd. He was not a desk jockey or a “five jump chump”. He was trained to lead men into battle as a front line warrior.
He was not “stealing valor”, in my opinion. He was trying to establish rapport with a fellow vet and in an impromptu moment slightly exaggerated his experience. It was wrong, of course, but it wasn’t anything like the other instances of intentional deceit and lying that are hallmarks of others in this administration. Clapper committed perjury while under oath to Congress and Obama does nothing to him. Professor Turley has documented the dishonorable way in which Holder has led the Justice Department. After the IRS was weaponized to target citizens for their political speech, the guy who headed the IRS was replaced by a guy who repeatedly lied under oath to Congress about Lois Lerner’s emails not being available. The list goes on and on and on ad nauseum.
The VA Secretary did not have to associate himself with this dishonorable administration, but he did. To be associated with it is an unfortunate black mark on an otherwise distinguished career. But if there can be a right reason to associate yourself with dishonorable lying scoundrels, I think he may have found it. I think he did it because he sincerely wants to do right by the vets and try to reform a corrupt and broken agency. I hope he stays and succeeds in what he has set out to do.
Well, as a vet I think he should resign. He does not represent the vets when he in effect minimizes their service by comparing to his service free life. He, like many others are living in a dream world which is so detached from the dangers and torment of a fighting service member tells me he is not the person that should be in charge of there benefits. A lie is a lie. The longer we allow this to go on without holding them accountable the worst it will get.
Pat-I totally agree. The guy was a Ranger and in the 82nd Airborne. I’d feel completely different if he had never served or was in some rear-echelon unit. He was trying to connect with a homeless vet. Period. End of story. Blumenthal, however, is totally different. He lied about his service record for political gain.
“Lying to Ourselves: Dishonesty in the Army Profession”
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=1250
“Brief Synopsis”
“View the Executive Summary:”
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/files/1250-summary.pdf
“Untruthfulness is surprisingly common in the U.S. military even though members of the profession are loath to admit it. Further, much of the deception and dishonesty that occurs in the profession of arms is actually encouraged and sanctioned by the military institution. The end result is a profession whose members often hold and propagate a false sense of integrity that prevents the profession from addressing—or even acknowledging—the duplicity and deceit throughout the formation. It takes remarkable courage and candor for leaders to admit the gritty shortcomings and embarrassing frailties of the military as an organization in order to better the military as a profession. Such a discussion, however, is both essential and necessary for the health of the military profession.”
(David Swanson wrote about this, in a posting titled “U.S. Army Claims to Be Full of Liars.” Link to follow.)
There’s no need for McDonald to resign, at this point, but the incident highlighted in this posting might serve as a springboard for a larger discussion, as noted above.
There are too many people who think they have the right to judge others and expect everyone but themselves to be perfect. McDonald is an honorable man and has explained that he was just trying to connect with this homeless veteran. I’d like to see EVERYONE look at themselves truthfully and say that they have never had a “slip of the tongue”, exagerated a basic truth, commited a white lie or in any manner puffed themselves up. By judging McDonald for this minor (and it is a minor) switch of words, you in yourself are exagerating your position and playing God. Special Ops, Rangers, Special Forces etc. are all members of an elite fighting force and yet are all human. McDonald shouldn’t be fired, ridiculed or judged by those who are not of his league.
Pat Lindau – I consider myself both honorable and an egalitarian. I have no problems with judging this man.
In a nation where our public officials are openly stealing our freedoms, I see this as Secretary McDonald giving back a sense of honor to this homeless veteran.
This is low level tit-for-tat. VA fix and deliverables is what should be measured.
I served at Ft. Bragg, 82nd Airborne support. Always went to Special Forces mess hall to eat, not my assigned mess hall. One day, the Special Forces commander flagged me in the mess hall.
He said that unit patch is 82nd, not SF, what are you doing here? I told the truth and said, my mess hall serves crap and cooks can’t cook a good meal. So I come here for excellent meals cooked to perfection.
SF commander smiled and asked if I wanted transfer orders cut for SF.
Veterans’ group accuses Bill O’Reilly of trying to ‘steal valor’ with sketchy Falkland stories
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/veterans-group-accuses-bill-oreilly-of-trying-to-steal-valor-with-sketchy-falkland-stories/
Well said Pogo.
“A ‘little slip’ like this is not something someone would forget. ”
I think that may be entirely true among service men and women.
Is it unforgivable to them??
I agree. Give the man and former Ranger a break, clearly he wasn’t stealing anyone’s valor. We need the VA and all the attention it’s getting will only serve to make it better. If we continue to have wars in which we have Americans serving, we will continue to need a VA that functions as it should.
Inga – when I misspoke you claimed it was educational malpractice. This guy misspeaks and he gets a pass? Double standard?
We have become a massively intolerant people, prone to invoke the ‘death penalty’ for even minor infractions of the current social rules (which change almost daily), and yet permit gross incompetence and abdication of duty to pass unnoticed.
A tyranny of small virtues, but indulgence of the wicked.
The VA is a joke and this is the tip of the iceberg. A ‘little slip’ like this is not something someone would forget. It is a defect of leadership and he should go down. They still have not cleaned up the mess at the VA in Phoenix. I say hang him, then we’ll give him a fair trial.
Rangers Lead the Way…..and that’s what McDonald is doing at the VA……”let he who…………cast the first stone”
much ado about very little…give the guy a break!