Monday, December 6, 2010

Stolen Valor - the John Letuli case



Hats off to MSG (ret) J.D. Hinton for running this loser to ground.

A senior noncommissioned officer with the North Carolina National Guard will be leaving the service a stripe lighter as a result of a Guard and Army investigation into his wearing unauthorized unit patches, tabs, decorations and badges.

Officials would not offer details on the actions of former Command Sgt. Maj. John Letuli, but a retired Green Beret who had been pressuring for the investigation since September 2009 said he is outraged that the Guard and the Army appear to be letting Letuli retire with just "a slap on the wrist."

Retired Master Sgt. Jeffrey "JD" Hinton said he has written Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, hoping for a congressional inquiry into how the Army and North Carolina Guard handled their investigation of Letuli, including why he is not being more seriously disciplined.

The investigation was launched after Hinton published photos of Letuli on his website, Professsionalsoldiers.com. In one photo, Letuli is wearing a Special Forces patch and tab on his BDUs; in another, he is in Class As, wearing the Purple Heart and Soldier's Medal ribbons, and a Military Freefall Badge, or "HALO wings" -- none of which he earned.

As a result of the investigation, Letuli is in the process of retiring, but as a master sergeant, not a command sergeant major.

Hinton, founder of ProfessionalSoldiers.com -- an online forum geared toward the Army spec ops community -- said he began looking into Letuli's patches, awards and decorations after a Soldier deployed to Iraq sent him a photo of Letuli with other command sergeants major. Hinton said the Soldier became suspicious of Letuli after asking him some questions about Special Forces that the senior NCO would not answer. Hinton, who is a retired Green Beret, said he contacted people in the active-duty Special Forces community for information.

"I sent the picture to Special Forces Command and they came back immediately and said, 'he's not SF,' " Hinton said. At that point, he began using the Freedom of Information Act to secure copies of official records, including a listing of Letuli's assignments, decorations, medals and badges.

The record does not list a Purple Heart or Soldier's Medal. It notes Letuli has a basic parachutist badge, but not the Military Freefall Badge.

Hinton said he's angry that Letuli appears to be retiring with full benefits, with only the loss of one stripe as punishment. "He needs to be court-martialed and thrown out," Hinton said. "How does an E-8 or E-9 get away with this, with only a slap on the wrist? I don't get it."

10 comments:

  1. SGM Letuli is still on ADSW orders, still with the 30th HSB and in Command, despite what web-sites want to put out. He will not retire a stripe lighter, considering he will be getting it back. Delta Co 1-252 Armor 30th HSB SGM Letuli 919-776-1212.

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  2. fuck that mother fucker

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  3. HEY ^ that "nigger" shit is not appropriate. Clearly you have never been an operator and never wore the tab, if you ever were in the SF you would know that it is a diverse bunch. Keep the keyboard warrior actions at ease and leave the opinions to those that wear the tab.

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  4. Comments are automatically e-mailed to me, however I do not remember seeing Ass Hat's racist comment from 13 Aug 2012. Poser's come in all shapes, sizes and ethnic groups.....so do racists. After 23 years in SF I can tell you racists are rare in SF, or they keep their opinions to themselves as they would be shunned and most likely chased out of the unit. Thanks to Anonymous 26 Sep 2013 to setting this straight.

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  5. Chapter six commo Sgt. I would like to agree with you, however racism is still a huge annoyance in sf. 10th group was known for its racism and blasphemy. Quote from a former 10th csm..."don't you think a don't black guy would have a problem here? " they didn't even accept my family because we are multi racial... Damn shame, and I loved being an operator.. Glad I left.

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  6. Hate to say it, but MSG/CSM Letuli sure gives his people a bad name by what he pulled. No question he served honorably, but wearing stuff he didn't earn is another is another.

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  7. I saw a picture of Larry Mitchell wearing a Special Forces ball cap. I wounder if anyone out there can say they know this man?

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  8. Since Letuli retired as an E-8, shouldn't he lose his pension because of stolen valor? I know that he was shielded by the NCNG, because of the General Lusk and CSM J. Swart. Now that both are retired has anyone looked into having his VA benefits and retirement revoked?

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    1. That would make sense if the whole thing was true but it isn’t. This was smoke and mirrors and the vendetta someone had against John. But if you’re prone to believe whatever you read then by all means go for it.

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