Be on guard for fake war heroes like Joe Cafasso

Be On Guard For Phony Vets And Fake War Heroes

Ed Offley explains what we're dealing with here. Cafasso is merely a symptom of an epidemic.

Fox executives hired retired Army Lt. Col. Joseph A. Cafasso, purportedly a veteran of the Special Forces and participant in many top secret commando missions, to help guide them in their news coverage of the war against terrorism. Then on March 10, he abruptly resigned after Fox officials reportedly discovered his military background was a lie.

"People at Fox News had taken his credentials at face value," the Times article noted. "So had the presidential campaign of Patrick J. Buchanan, for which he was an organizer; WABC radio in New York; and several representatives, military officials and activists to whom he had sold himself for years. But records indicate that his total military experience was 44 days of boot camp at Fort Dix, N.J., in May and June 1976, and his honorable discharge as a private, first class."

It is a sad, but inevitable fact of life that there are people who find it convenient and useful to don a uniform they never wore, adorn themselves with medals and ribbons they never earned, and spout military autobiographies that are lies. During research for my book Pen & Sword: A Journalist's Guide to Covering the Military (www.marionstreetpress.com), I talked with a number of veterans activists and POW advocates who describe the incidents of false military claims as something akin to a permanent sociological epidemic.

WOW! A permanent sociological epidemic? I would presume this means we should be constantly vigilant when we hear the bar room talk, then, and even if we've never been faced with military personnel before, take the stories with a block of salt until they've been vetted.

The types of deceit are numerous: It involves criminals who invent the psychological torments of Vietnam service to explain their failures in life. It includes ordinary people who feel driven by insecurity to invent a heroic past. It even involves people who served honorably (if not heroically) but who are driven to enhance their records. And it has even involved active-duty service personnel who do the same.

This is precisely where Cafasso is in his life now, isn't it? He is indisputably a collossal failure, which explains to a degree the reason he clings so desperately to his war hero status and is proud of his being interviewed and writing op eds and columns, appearing in front of the Senate and lobbying as though he's some kind of a distinguished military hero who knows his stuff. Without that fantasy, he is quite literally, a jobless, futureless bum.

Explaining away the failures in his life by detailing imaginary torments during a conflict that he wasn't old enough to serve in even if he made it past those 44 days makes this highly amusing from my vantage point, what?

Two ongoing trends promise to ensure that this sorry phenomenon will continue: First, the war against terrorism is not going to end anytime soon, and the pressure on news media organizations to cover the conflict in the face of severe operational security will mean they will continue to rely on outside experts - "defense consultants" - who can decipher and decode arcane military subjects. The second trend is deeper and more troubling: Given the ever-widening "gap" between the military community and the wider civilian society it is sworn to defend, civilians (including civilian news executives) are less and less cognizant of military subjects and therefore are more vulnerable to victimization by self-invented commandos.

Falsely posing as a former POW or battle hero - while morally reprehensible - is not by itself illegal: Barroom bragging is still covered under the First Amendment. Or as one constitutional law expert once told me, idiocy is not unconstitutional.

(But wearing the Medal of Honor is now a federal crime that can land you a one-year prison term and/or a $100,000 fine. So too, forging government documents to support military medals or decorations, or wearing a military uniform and medals under false pretenses, is a misdemeanor that can bring a maximum six-month prison term. And, of course, using false information to secure veterans' benefits is a criminal violation.)

Mr. Cafasso (or should I say, ex-Pvt. Cafasso), was to my knowledge the first phony military hero from Operation Enduring Freedom to be unmasked. There will no doubt be others who attempt a short-cut to glory while stealing the valor of the men and women actually fighting the nation's war against terrorism.

Our responsibility is to be vigilant against opportunistic liars of all stripes; but particularly in the military realm. As Ed Offley says,

We owe it to our military people, and to ourselves, to root them out.

Ed Offley is Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at dweditor@yahoo.com.

Joe Cafasso