Expert: Jason Grabill - 2/26/2010

Question
what do you mean by finding fakes...? lets say there was a situation where an induvidual had been granted specific powers by an executive office that had authority over the marines for the task of carrying out a specific mission? that an induvidual whether or not they had passed basic training or not was assessed to have a higher than average skill set and was determined to be able to do the job over anyone else. with full rank and authority of the USMC to lead other men or be carry out a one man mission in the name of national security. how could you say with any surety that such a person ' claiming ' to be a marine was not? how could you prove it if you didnt have access to the person giving special permission, verbal authority, no paperwork
( highly classified ) etc. etc.....i can think of one story already that comes to mind of a guy who did just what I describe in the early fifties and wrote a book about it but died in 1980,I believed his story because there were was too much evidence of actual events to ignore, there are probably others...so would you say what you might say about not being a marine if they got shot at/shot and spent time in the blood/mud of a foreign land yourself to someone(s) who fall into that category just because they didnt do basic? even if it WAS the descision of a higher up that said so and gave authority? isnt that taking marine corps pride a little too far given that an american president/secdef and so on makes the final descisions on what is and what is not US military policy/exceptional scenarios for the nation? how many times has the USMC cooperated with the CIA for exceptional missions for example? ' the truth is what we say it is ' mantra of special ops and so on...if it accomplished the mission where is the harm?

Answer
Peter:

 I mean just what I say I mean.  FINDING FAKES.   Please provide documentation of that which you speak.   It sounds to me like you've been watching a few too many TV shows and reading a few too many books.  Oh, they make for excellent reading and watching.....but they JUST AREN'T TRUE.  By all means, though, if such a thing does exist, point me in that direction.   (FYI, the only living Marines that can make a claim of 'never having attended official recruit training' are those who were in the USMCR in the spring of 1950, who were called up as 'drilling reservists', for the Korean War.  There wasn't time for them to attend the official Recruit Training, but they got plenty of real world experience from officers and NCO's who were WWII vets prior to landing at Inchon.  They are the exception).    

 No such 'higher up' authority has been granted to send people into combat zones, 'black ops' or otherwise without spending time in some sort of 'basic' type training.   I don't care WHO you are.  Doesn't happen, hasn't happened, and will NOT happen.  But by ALL means, point me in the direction of said poser so I may laugh at the story.   Hope he sold a lot of books and made himself a nice pile.  There are no 'appointed' Marines, furthermore.  You don't just get to show up and everyone falls all over themselves because of some sort of alleged training you may have (and that goes for former army Rangers, Special Forces, etc etc) and all of a sudden Recruit training or TBS is waived, and 'presto' your a Marine.  Sorry but that's plain out and out fiction.   Also, in the future, "Marine Corps" is capitalized.   

 Lastly, anyone, and I mean, ANYONE, who served in the military, has a record of such service when discharged, called a "DD-214".   There are no 'classified' DD-214's or awards.   (There are examples of award documents that are classified, however, the award itself does in fact show up on someones DD-214).  Anyone claiming to have 'classified' DD-214's is a plain, flat, out and out liar.   

 Educate yourself by reading "Stolen Valor" by B.G. Burkett, for starters.  Go on the internet, or your local library, and discover just how many FAKES there are out there.   But, hey, you can believe what you want.  Sometimes the goofy story is worth a beer or two.   Knock yourself out.   But just know this...you are being taken.