Rick Duncan's IVAW profile

I'm a frequent reader of many great mil blogs like Black Five and This Ain't *****.  I didn't discover blogging until I was out of the Air Force however, AFOSI was very much against blogging and the USAF chain of command was slow to see the positive Information Operations Effects that could be achieved by stepping out the way...  But thats for another post...

 One thing I've learned reading them, and soon starting my own blog, is credible and non-credible, and questionably credible sources for information.  Among the first things, Iraq Veterans Against the War has zero credibility.  Why?  Well "This Ain't *****" (http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=10619) exposed another fake (Rick Duncan) in the ranks in great detail.  He also goes on to point how quiet the organization is about just 'forgetting' the whole thing and quietly removing his materials from the site, without so much of an apology to the membership of IVAW for letting a faker slip in.  Go figure, fakers are almost a requirement for that organization since Jesse Mac Beth.  Supposedly, they were supposed have improved the vetting process and require a DD-214 for entry.  That seems to have just promoted creative forgery that the American Legion, VFW, and many other fine veterans organizations have to deal with along with the VA who gets fleeced by such forgeries.  However, I've seen local chapters remove people and apologize when such things happen (and ensure that the faker is charged under the Stolen Valor Act of 2005).  

 Why does this bother me, an ardent pro-war OIF veteran?  Well, I've got a friend, whom I greatly respect, who is an ardently anti-war OIF veteran who signed up.  Why?  Because IVAW is the only organization that  promoted his view point.  I know he is credible, we served together in Korea, and two months after I left Korea he was deployed to Iraq with the 2nd BDE, 2nd Infantry Division from Cp. Casey in 2004.  He isn't a compulsive liar, quite to the contrary, I respect him because we were on the same page spiritually and thats how I know he isn't lying.  We just never agreed on politics and avoided such discussions...  When he told me he was signing up with IVAW I warned him about the fakes and told him he should go in and take them out of the organization!  So far, he hasn't been that involved yet...  Last time we emailed, he was on his way to a third tour in Iraq.  One reason I can't blame him for being frustrated with the Army, he's one of those 45-48% of US Army soldiers who has deployed to Iraq, and on top of that multiple times while 52-55% of the Army continues to stay away from the combat zones.

 I'd actually like to see the IVAW scrapped.  Not over political differences, but over credibility.  Its an insult to the members who are actual veterans to face this kind of event.  If they continue to exist, they need a complete overhaul.  When you go to IVAW.org and look at the site, you notice its open to anyone in the military who served since 9/11/01, so its not really "Iraq Veterans" against the war now is it?  Then you see that they require a DD-214, yet the latest fake, along with Jesse Mac Beth, never served a day in the actual Army (Mac Beth at least had some time served at Basic Training...).  Perhaps they should take DD-214s, and then verify each one!  Maybe they should also start by restricting membership to just OIF veterans and require a copy of the Special Orders for the GWOT service medal and Iraq Campaign Ribbon, which they should also verify the authenticity of.  If they did that, I'd still be opposed to them but it would be purely on a political basis; I'd have a greater deal of respect for the organization.  Instead, they continue to act in a very childish manner coordinating with burnt out hippies who want to vicarious relieve the days of they're youth by protesting with IVAW members who sat stateside working as a supply clerk until they went AWOL, or some other scenario where they never stepped foot in Iraq but still call themselves "Iraq Vets Against the War".  I'm sure VVAW had similar issues...  Thank God for the Internet and Blogs so we can rip the fakers a new one these days.