Local VFW commander caught at Stolen Valor scam
Robert L. Deppe, the local commander of the Lakeport, CA VFW resigned earlier this month because he couldn’t prove any of his claims about his military service;
Robert L. Deppe, 57, also was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of stealing money from a family member and replacing the $100 bills he took with phony money, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Deppe resigned this month two days after the VFW post asked him to authorize it to request his military records, said Kirk Macdonald, adjutant of VFW Post 2015. He’d been the commander three years.
Yeah, well, it looks like he doesn’t have ANY military service according to our friends at POW Network. But the best part of the story is this part;
Deppe is not on the roster for the U.S. Army, Company H, 75th Infantry, for 1971, as he claims, said William Page, who fought in Vietnam during the time Deppe claims to have been there and who occasionally works with the POW Network. Nor did the National Personnel Records Center have record of his service, said Page, who obtained the information under the Freedom of Information Act.
“We cannot find any record of him being in the military,” said Page, who was an infantryman during the war and now lives in Louisiana.
Page said he began looking into Deppe’s background in 2005 after he recognized his own story in Deppe’s autobiographical account of his year in Vietnam and how he earned his medals.
“I saw this story and I said, dang, this guy is talking just like me,” said Page, who has a combat infantryman’s badge and a Bronze Star, among other “little doodads.”
Page also found excerpts from the story of a man who saved his life in Vietnam and that of a man from his platoon who died.
The William Page in the article is a frequent commenter here at TAH, I won’t out his screen name, just take my word for it. In fact he linked me up with POW Network years ago. You know you’re a studly man when phonies start stealing your exploits, though.
February 28th, 2011 at 12:41 pm
I would have thought that, by now, nothing of this sort would surprise me anymore. I’d be wrong, I guess.
February 28th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Also, of douchebaggery.
February 28th, 2011 at 1:27 pm
How long was he a post member, and how come he wasn’t checked out? What a douCHE! Stealing money, stealing stories, stealing valor,,,,, now someone will come forward and claim all the good he has done…….
February 28th, 2011 at 1:33 pm
But was he wearing a 1st Cav patch?
February 28th, 2011 at 1:55 pm
You know, they say Stolen Valor isn’t a crime. But we know for a fact that Stolen Identity is. I wonder if, in a case like this one, Stolen Valor could be prosecuted under the Stolen Identity laws, particularly if some unlawful gain came from it?
February 28th, 2011 at 2:11 pm
#5 PN: unless the guy used the other man’s SSN, or other unique identifier for personal gain, the prosecution is likely to be a no-go. Using another man’s story isn’t a crime, or most stand-up comics would be doing hard time in jail.
February 28th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
Wow, he actually was the VFW Post commander? Amazing…When I was asked to join the VFW to start a JR Rifle team, they had to see my DD214 first. Now I have 3 DD214′s.
February 28th, 2011 at 4:06 pm
When I became Commander of my Legion Post, they asked for a copy of my DD214, before I could accept the position.
February 28th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Why would anyone want to be a post commander these days?
February 28th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
I ran into Deppe back in 2005 and this one is PERSONAL. The Silver Star citation he had posted was almost word-for-word the citation for the SS POSTHUMOUSLY presented to my closes friend SP4 Jaime Pacheco. (THose who like HomeOfHeroes.com or appreciate the work my wife and I have done should thank Jaime’s memory…it is what motivates us.) In a narrative story he even had the gall to use Jaime’s name and say he carried the body out. This guy needs to go down in a VERY BIG WAY.
February 28th, 2011 at 6:16 pm
Well, DaveO, I was a district Vice Commander for a few years and I got tired of being gone at this or that function every weekend, so I decided to concentrate on local stuff.
February 28th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
I wonder if the man had any idea exactly who was on his tail, LOL! Well Done!
February 28th, 2011 at 9:45 pm
It’s a requirement that ALL officers in the VFW have a DD214 on file showing they’re qualified to be in the VFW. With this in mind, did he forge or otherwise alter a DD214??
February 28th, 2011 at 10:42 pm
They obviously didn’t feel the need to check his service record and DD-214 until a month ago? Unfrigging believable.
March 1st, 2011 at 1:17 am
What? They can’t find his records? They must’ve been destroyed in that one fire in St. Louis…
March 1st, 2011 at 8:26 am
Dave O….well you must be psychic….Hotel Company was the 1st Cav Ranger Company. Another 1st Cav Wannabee…..well what did someone say about immitation and flattery…I am no longer flattered by these douches.
Honor and Courage
March 2nd, 2011 at 1:22 am
I’ve had people steal my photos, but never any of my stories. Probably because most of them end with things like, “And then we hung back and took pictures while the F-18s, A-10s, and SF blew the shit out of what was left of the village. Then we went back to the base and had Thanksgiving dinner.”
March 10th, 2012 at 7:59 pm
Hi, my name is Ray Strischek, a Vietnam Veteran in Athens Ohio. This is a story about one Kevin Martin, an Era Veteran Post Commander of VFW 8804, New Marshfield Ohio.
If you want supporting documents of everything I am about to tell you, send me and email with and address to mail it to.
Kevin Martin makes his money in part through a carry/conceal instruction business. He was conducting these classes at an open to the public shooting range at Dow Lake State Park, just east of Athens. But, the state closed the shooting range down for reasons that are unclear. Kevin blames rich OU Students who were shooting at propane tanks as the cause thus ruining it all for locals who would never do such a thing.
Therefore, Kevin had no shooting range for his business.
Out of nowhere, Kevin suddenly and mysteriously becomes Commander of VFW Post 8804 which supposedly had been holding its meetings in an abandoned gas station in New Marshfield Ohio.
VFW Post 8804 had at one time in the post WWII past given some property to the HILL TOP GUN CLUB (owned by one or more members of that VFW Post way back then. The HILL TOP GUN CLUB has been defunct for many years and owes about $2500 in back taxes. It is overgrown with weeds and the building on that site is weather worn with a bad roof.
Then, an article appeared in the local news paper,
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/new-marshfield
The Messenger, stating that “VFW Commander” Kevin Martin and volunteers were cleaning up the building at the old HILL TOP GUN CLUB site for the future home of VFW 8804. Over the years, houses had been built up around the old gun club site and immediately after the above article appeared in the Messenger, the paper received numerous phone calls from neighbors who were fearful that Kevin was going to re-open the shooting range in their back yards.
Shortly thereafter, the building burnt down, ruled an arson. Kevin stated in the Arson Fire article that ran in the Messenger that he believed the arson was the work of neighbors who are anti veteran and promised to put together a citizens committee of concerned citizens to hunt down the guilty parties. In this article Kevin also claimed to have a lease for the gun club property. In that article Kevin also claimed he had no intention of re-opening the shooting range. But: take a look at his HILL TOP GUN CLUB web site:
http://www.hilltopgunclub.com/ Classes scheduled for 2012.
In some of the text on that web site you will note how he complains of the Dow Lake shooting range being closed down but that he will soon have another range set up.
Some of those neighbors who were worried about Kevin opening a shooting range in their back yard were also his relatives, some of whom were members of the VFW POST 8804 Women’s Auxiliary.
The Women’s Auxiliary questioned Kevin Martins eligibility to be a VFW member. A series of letters then were written.
One from Kevin to the Women’s Aux ordered them to cease questioning his “combat status and honors in both North Vietnam and South Vietnam, threatened them by name with legal action for their “conspiring”, and told them they were not allowed to participate at the Women’s Aux representatives in any up coming Veterans Memorial services, and that he would hold a disciplinary meeting against them.
One letter from from VFW Judge Advocate Jeffries to the Women’s Aux stating Kevin’s DD0214 discharge paper showed no VFW eligibility because it had no Vietnam Service or Campaign Medals listed. To be eligible without the service or campaign medals, Kevin would have to provide the VFW with his service record or pay record to show combat assignments or receipt of hazardous duty or combat pay. Kevin has failed to do this even though he has been asked to provide it by the VFW.
I have seen Kevin’s DD-214, it says honorable discharge but also has an RE-4 code which means “unsuitable for reenlistment” and a BUPERSMAN code 3420180.2c -265- which my search through the internet seems to indicate a pre-existing condition of character disorder.
I have copies of other letters, from the VFW to Kevin telling him he does not have the authority to tell the Women’s Aux what they can or can not do and can not hold any disciplinary meeting against them, another from the VFW telling the Women’s Aux that they can not file a complaint questioning Kevin’s Eligibility. Such complaints questioning Kevin’s eligibility must come from a member of the post.
And here is the rub: VFW Post was as nearly defunct as the old HILL TOP GUN CLUB. Exactly how Kevin became the Post Commander is a real mystery. The post has members but they are members in name only, not active members. Any meetings the post have are apparently sparsely attended basically by Kevin and his Vice Commander, a Mr. Brown. In some other letters back and forth between Kevin, the VFW State, and the Womens Aux, it appears Kevin thought he had the authority to hold a meeting and try to remove the current leadership of the Women’s Aux and insert Vice Commander Brown’s wife in their place. It did not fly. However, the VFW State knows the situation but so far have done nothing to clean their own house. The State VFW wants the post membership to take care of the problem. I don’t see on paper only members coming forth to do what has to be done.
So, the only other alternative is to raise a public stink about Kevin Martin and his stolen valor. He is an ERA Vet, not a Nam Vet.
It seems pretty obvious to me that Kevin, having lost his shooting range when the state closed down the Dow Lake site, decided to use the VFW angle to do a squat on the old Hill Top Gun club. Though he told the reporter in the Arson Fire that he has no intention of reopening the shooting range at the Hill Top Gun Club site, he then tells the Women’s Aux in one of his letters that the Post gave him 100 percent support in reopening the the hill top gun club shooting range. I think in the same letter he also told the women that the VFW Judge Advocate had attended the same meeting, viewed his DD-214, and declared him eligible to be a VFW member.
I have an email from the VFW Judge Advocate who denies ever having been at any such meeting.
Backing up a little. In the Arson Fire story, Kevin claimed he has a lease for the gun club site. The neighbors want an injunction against Kevin re-opening the shooting range. Apparently a deposition meeting was called by Kevin’s lawyer. The neighbors attended. One of them demanded to see the deed (lease). Kevin’s lawyer allegedly said, “Kevin, produce the deed”. Kevin took the lawyer outside into the hall way. The lawyer walked back into the room and immediately adjourned the deposition meeting.
There is no lease on file with the County Recorder.
The only “claim” Kevin has on the gun club site property is that he paid $50 down on the past unpaid property taxes and had the mailing contact for tax purposes changed to his name, his girl friend’s address, and VFW Post 8804.
See N010010008200 at:
http://www.athenscountyauditor.org/Data.aspx?ParcelID=N010010008200
That’s about as short and sweet as I can make it. This is about stolen valor, an Era Vet claiming to be a Nam Vet, and using a VFW to get a shooting range for his for profit carry/conceal business.
Ray Strischek
President
Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 100
March 11th, 2012 at 12:15 am
So, the only other alternative is to raise a public stink about Kevin Martin and his stolen valor. He is an ERA Vet, not a Nam Vet.
Greetings: I agree. Dave
March 21st, 2012 at 9:39 pm
Ray Strischek is a dumbass. He cant get a story straight nor can he write a straight story. I am the infamous Kevin Martin and I am setting the correct story straight.
1. Ray Strischek will be sued once all this shit comes out in the wash. He has publically embaressed me and for that he will pay either the piper or me. The piper wont hurt as much.
Now to the truth for those of you who “gives a rats ass.”
1. I am not a Vietnam Era veteran. I am a Vietnam veteran who served aboard the U.S.S. Butte AE-27 in hostile waters both in South and North Vietnam. For sure I did or the Veterans Administration would not be giving me a compensation payment for PTSD. Unless the VA is so friggin stupid they cant even do a proper investigation.
2. I happen to have two leases on two pieces property to conduct my firearm training businesses. Matter of fact one of Rays former best friend who he ran out on is a current student of mine and he has trained at one of those ranges. So the issue of me taking over a piece of land to set up a gun range is totally wrong and off the wall. I do not need another gun range trust me.
3. I did not suddendly become a Commander of a VFW post. I was asked by my uncle Laird Llewellyn to come rejoin the post and help it before it went out of business. I told him I would think about it. He came again. I answered the same. 3 days later he was dead. I joined the VFW the next day. I trained under Past Commander Dana Hunter for 3 years before taking over the post in 2008. SO shove that lie up your ass Mr. Stretch-It. I was voted in by 6 members. 5 of those members are still alive and still part of the post.
4. I have supplied all of my U.S Navy military records. Matter of fact I have supplied 49 pages of my military records to Gilham-Frank VFW Post 8804 and to both Commanders of District 12 and Ohio Department VFW. I was indeed “vetted” by the post members with a District officer in attendence. The post deamed me a worthy and true Combat Veteran having served in hostile waters against the United States of America. Nuff said.
5. Mr. Brown is not a Vice Commander, he is the post; quarter master. Mr. Ray Stretch-It you are a God Damn liar and cant even get the true story straight.
6. Mr. Brown never once wanted his wife to be the Ladies Aux. president. It was the former quarter masters wife Mrs. Barron. Gawd damn the way the ongoing lie continues. And no I did not want or attempt to get her elected. Our post has no say so what happens at the ladies auxillary.
7. Both the District 12 and State Department VFW have spoken to me personally and I agreed again to submit request to National Personal Records Center for the 4th time since 2007 for another DD214 or DD215. Same ole broken record. Same old military record. The District or State VFW commanders are not “covering their or my ass” nor are they hiding anything.
8.There has never been any neighbors at the Hilltop Gun Club site ever talk to me or Mike Brown about an injunction to stop a gun range. There is no such thing. There never has been an injuction filed or applied by any judge in Athens County Ohio against Kevin Martin or the Hilltop Gun Club.
9. Kevin Martin and family has owned the name HillTop Gun Club since 1986 and has operated a business of the same name in a full time status since 1996.
10. Again another reply to another lie by Mr. Stretch-it. I have never met with any lawyer concerning an injunction or deposition in my entire life ever. I will sware to it on a bible and in court. There has never been a meeting with a lawyer requesting me to “submit a deed” to any person ever. Ray Stretch-It is a God Damn liar. He is spreading shit into a community that at one time will turn against him. Then he will have to face me one day in public. I call Ray Stretch-It a coward.
11. I have never lied about my military service, I have never worn any medals that were not mine. I have never worn a purple heart as I dont deserve one. I do however own a Vietnam Campaign Ribbon and medal that the Navy gave me in 1975 after I came home from the service.
12. I do have a discharge that says I cannot re enlist into the military. Who gives a damn> Do you? Would you want to re-enlist after months on steady terror and stress from being in a war zone? I asked to be released from the Navy and signed myself out. So who gives a fuck? I mean what are they the good people in the world going to do? Send me back to Vietnam?
13. David Jenkinson is a moron, a liar, a mental health patient and a total liar. Ray Stretch-It is a liar. I one day will come upon them both. At that time I will bring to bear the courage of a warrior who does not hide behind an opaque shield as both of these cowards and pansies do. You both will recieve the wrath of Kevin one day.
Kevin Martin
Gilham-Frank Post 8804 New Marshfield Ohio 45766
March 21st, 2012 at 11:37 pm
Kevin Martin:
I won’t comment on either your or Ray Strischek’s accounts above, as I have no personal knowledge of the matter. But I will observe that trotting out the old “the VA pays me compensation, so I must be telling the truth” story isn’t exactly a convincing argument.
The VA is indeed stupid enough to pay literally hundreds (if not thousands or tens of thousands) of false claims, and often does a piss-poor job of investigating frauds. Read B. G. Burkett’s book “Stolen Valor” for some examples. Or read the articles on the “Chippendale SEAL” on this site.
Of course, there’s an easy way you can prove your claims regarding your service while also proving Ray Strischek wrong. Just post your full name and former Navy Service/Serial number here (it’s not protected by the Privacy Act and is releasable as part of a FOIA request). I’m certain someone here will almost certainly do a FOIA request concerning you with the NPRC. And I’m reasonably certain they’ll also post the results here.
March 23rd, 2012 at 8:15 am
Kevin replies to Hondo.
You have a good point. Although you state the VA has FUBURED up hundreds possibly thousands of claims I can assure you as of March 5 2012 I asked for a complete review of my miliary records at the Chilicothe Ohio VA Medical Center. The result? Same as I have been saying since 1973. I served in naval combat in both South and North Vietnam, that the VA has done a complete review and the finding is correct.
Im not about to publish my Navy service number onto a website that I know nothing about. I have 3 NPRC replies as of 2007 and have asked for another within the last 3 weeks.
You will all have the chance to call both David Jenkinson and Ray Stretches-it a liar very soon.
Kevin
March 23rd, 2012 at 9:02 am
Kevin Martin: I’m pretty sure that, unlike your SSN and other PII, your old service number is NOT exempt from release under a FOIA request. I’ve seen it on too many FOIA requests concerning Vietnam-era Veterans. I don’t recall seeing one where it had been redacted.
In any case, it’s not essential for a FOIA request. It just makes the job of the folks at NPRC easier by helping them find your file more quickly.
In any case, suit yourself on the service number. How would you feel about posting your dates of service and the name you used in the Navy (First/Middle/Last) here instead of your former Navy service number?
March 23rd, 2012 at 10:39 pm
I do not believe my service number was included with my recent request to the NPRC. Thats an interesting tip you have made. Although the request was sent 24 days ago I do not belive it would be approprate at this time to attempt to contact NPRC and submit the Service Number.
I served with the U.S.S. Butte AE-27 while it was attached to the 7th Fleet during the early months of 1973. The Butte was in operations with TASK FORCE 77 while we are in North Vietnam.
We deployed into Haiphong Harbor North Vietnam twice from March 27th to around the 25th or so of April 1973 in direct support of Operation Duck Hook and END SWEEP UNIT. That was when President Nixon decided to bomb North Vietnam back to the negioating table and close off their most important deep water sea port. Our division (E) Enginemen (as I was) operated the small Whale (boats) and Officer gigs while UDT and or SEAL Teams set water mines out and then retrieved them. I was a primary engineman on multiple trips out in Haipong Harbor while a detached SEAL and or UDT pulled the Mark Type underwater mines up from below the surface of the sea. That trip was a stressor for sure.
My full name is Kevin Edward Martin and that is the only name I have ever used for anything in my entire life.
If you are knowledable about the United States Navy then you will know that the Navy must doesnt just carry around cases of medals to hand out while in an operational war zone. My discharge says I didnt recieve my Vietnam Service Medal while onboard. I recieved my medals in 1975 after I came home.
This entire bag of shit that David Jenkinson and Ray Stretch-it threw into the fan blades is all about a very short line on my DD-214 that simply says Medal Not Issued.
So I say fuck em and the horse they rode in on.
K
March 24th, 2012 at 4:44 pm
That’s interesting, Kevin Martin. Because my research indicates that the USS Butte didn’t participate in either Operation Duck Hook or Operation End Sweep. And we weren’t bombing North Vietnam in March or April of 1973, either.
Operation Duck Hook was never executed. It was a proposed intensive bombing campaign against North Vietnam studied by DoD in 1969 at the request of the Nixon Administration, and purportedly included use of tactical nuclear weapons on targets in the Hanoi/Haiphong area. Duck Hook was the White House code name for the operation; Pruning Knife was the DoD title. Nixon decided against executing this operation on or about 6 October 1969. It was never executed.
http://www.paperlessarchives.com/vw_nuclear_option.html
Operation End Sweep was indeed executed during the time frame you indicated (the operation was conducted between 6 February 1973 and 5 July 1973), but the USS Butte did not participate. Operation End Sweep was a US mine-sweeping operation to remove US-laid mines in various North Vietnamese harbors, including Haiphong. It was conducted by Task Force 78 – not Task Force 77. Ships participating in Operation End Sweep included 10 ocean minesweepers, 9 amphibious ships, 6 fleet tugs, 3 salvage ships, and 19 destroyer-type vessels operated in Task Force 78. However, the USS Butte was a Kilauea-class ammunition ship. No ammunition ship is listed among the ships that participated in Operation End Sweep. And the USS Butte is also not listed by-name as having participated in Operation End Sweep.
http://102msos.8m.net/operationendsweep.html
http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/vietnam/minenorviet.htm
The bombing campaign you reference here would seem to be either Operation Linebacker (9 May – 23 October 1972) or Operation Linebacker II (11-29 December 1972). Both included both USAF and USN participation, so you may be referring to either. However, both ended during 1972; neither extended into March/April 1973. Further, the US suspended all hostile actions against North Vietnam on 15 January 1973. Finally, US POWs were returned in multiple releases between 12 February 1973 and 1 April 1973. We’d hardly have been bombing North Vietnam while they were in the process of releasing our POWs.
In short, your comment above is simply not accurate. Per the US Navy, the USS Butte did make make one cruise to the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War, presumably in support of Task Force 77. However, based on the gross inaccuracies in your last comment above I’m now wondering if you were actually on that ship at the time – or at all.
March 24th, 2012 at 7:08 pm
Addendum to comment 25: Although official Navy summaries don’t show the USS Butte supporting Operation End Sweep, one unofficial source I’ve found says that the USS Butte did make two trips into Haiphong harbor in March and April 1973 to support that effort – the first, for a total of 5 days (30 Mar thru 3 Apr) and the second for a single day (12 Apr). Some others also indicate the Butte went to Haiphong, but don’t completely specify the dates. So it’s possible Kevin Martin’s comment 25 is partially accurate. None of the sources I’ve found that indicate the USS Butte actually entered Haiphong harbor are Navy sources, though.
Unofficial sources, so I regard them as suspect. But it does mean that part of the story in comment 24 above might – and I stress, might – be accurate. The USS Butte might have spent as much time in Haiphong harbor after the end of hostilities in Vietnam as Mathis Chiroux spent in Afghanistan – 6 days.
March 24th, 2012 at 8:38 pm
Kevin Martin writes.
Ok I might have made an error on exactly when Nixon bombed North Vietnam. All I know for sure is that the Butte sure did unload a massive amount of ordinance to air craft carriers and destroyers in and around and during the March to April time periods.
Also I have numerous ship mates that I stay in contact with that were on the Butte at the same time I was. We all with a lot of other sailors were on the Butte in the waters in and around Haipong. We never actually went into Haipong and I never implied that. However we were close enough to shore to take photographs. The Butte was involved with two operations neither which was long in time.
The Butte also entered the Haiphong area during the cease fire in support of operations of the de-mining of some parts of the harbor area. Unless I was tripping along with the Beatles when they played Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and thought I was eating LSD I can prove and attest I served on the Butte AE-27 while in hostile waters of an enemy of the United States.
According to the Butte Ship Log we were indeed in Vietnam and we did have UDT or SEAL team (teams)on board and those men did enter waters to locate and bring Mark type water mines to the surface. As said before I was 1 of 3 of the operations enlisted engineman on the Butte’s whale boat and officers gig. The gig was used to help ferry men out into the waters. The boat was used to manuaver the UDT team around in the waters and to help hold the surfaced mines with hooked poles while the swimmers worked on same. We were inspected each time we went over board onto the waiting gigs and boats to make sure we had no metal on us or with us at any time as that could attract the Mark Mines. Matter of fact I had a wood tool box with all brass tools. I have never forgot that as I am still to this day a professionial mechanic.
I do however appericate all of your comments regardless if they are pro or con. This internet discussion can be of help to the anti Kevin’s and as equally for the Pro Kevin’s.
What will happen sometime before I retire is the National Records Personal Center will respond with a new DD-215 which will officially say I am a Navy Combat Veteran, that I have the right to wear the Vietnam Campaign Ribbon which qualifies me to be a member of a VFW. Then hopefully all the anti Kevin’s will shut the hell up and leave me at peace. Ive battled 4 rounds of cancer, Ive had attacks of the heart, I have the onset of demintia, I have a sever case of PTSD and Ive have lived a life of pure hell attempting to make the ghosts of those times spent in Vietnam go away. I dont care what the anti’s think or say about me as I know where I was and what I did in Vietnam.
Kevin Martin
March 24th, 2012 at 9:31 pm
The USS Butte did receive campaign credit for the Vietnam Ceasefire Campaign:
6 and 8 to 14 February 1973
22 February to 3 March 1973
28 March 1973
March 24th, 2012 at 11:22 pm
charlie six:
The USS Butte did in fact do one WESTPAC tour that supported the Vietnam War, in early 1973. However, that alone would not prove that the USS Butte supported the de-mining operations in Haiphong and other North Vietnamese ports/coastal areas. As I recall, the geographical designation of the nautical portion of SEA that qualified for the Vietnam Service Medal covered a fair portion of the Gulf of Tonkin and South China Sea.
It’s possible that the USS Butte did support Operation End Sweep (the US de-mining operations in North Vietnam after cessation of hostilities). But as noted above, they don’t seem to have been given credit for participation in that operation by the Navy.
‘Course, what’s available on the Internet is hardly the complete set of official records, so that may be due to incomplete records being incomplete rather than non-participation.
March 24th, 2012 at 11:24 pm
Damn. Last sentence should read “due to on-line records being incomplete”. It’s late. ‘Night, all.
March 25th, 2012 at 10:50 am
An update.
According to the U.S.S. Butte AE-27 ships log written by N. Arlov, ENS, USNR, Personell Officer by direction of the Commanding Officer that on March 30th 1973 personel of Surface Warfare Ship “Entered Hai Phong Harbor (his spelling not mine) onboard USS BUTTE (AE-27) this date, in full support of Operation Endsweep Units.
Again Arlov wrote on April 12th 1973, “Entered Hai Phong Harbor onboard USS BUTTE AE-27 this date, in full support of Operation Endsweep Units.
Arlovs last entry concerning BUTTE’S tour in and off the combat line in the China Sea both in South and North Vietnam in regards to Kevin Martin; June 16th 1973. Authorized to wear Vietnam Service Medal for the period commencing 23 February 1973, while serving in a permanent duty status onboard USS BUTTE (AE-27) operating in waters to Vietnam. Medal not issued.
Im assuming once I recieve this magical updated and corrected DD-215 (that everyone is clamoring for) that the 215 will show I served in Vietnam and have the right to wear the Vietnam Campaign Ribbon with medal.
Thank you for the updates. I do appericate that someone out there in internet land agrees with me for once.
Kevin Martin
March 26th, 2012 at 6:06 am
I haven’t seen that source, Kevin Martin. Can you provide a link to an online version of it?
The DD215 should show your entitlement to the VSM if your official Navy records show you served on the USS Butte at the time the ship qualified for the VSM, or had other service qualifying for award of the VSM.
March 26th, 2012 at 9:04 am
There is no link. I recieved the copies of the Buttes ship logs from Navy archives. You can go down that path if you choose so.
March 26th, 2012 at 11:16 am
Kevin Martin: Turns out I won’t need to. I finally found the official Navy history for the USS Butte online.
Having read that, I have good news and bad news.
The good news: the official history confirms that the USS Butte spent 6 days in Haiphong harbor: 30 Mar – 3 Apr 1973 (5 days), and 12 Apr (1 day).
The bad news: all of that was after the end date for the VSM (28 Mar 1973). So participating those operations doesn’t qualify anyone for the VSM. In order to qualify for the VSM the crew would need service in the defined zone of operations prior to 28 Mar 1973 while performing missions in support of US combat operations in Vietnam.
The ship’s official history (part 1, commissioning to Jan 1982) is available at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b11/butte-ii.htm This official history implies, but does not state clearly, that the USS Butte did support operations within the area of eligibility for the VSM during Feb and early March 1973. Or maybe it states that and I’m just not good enough at deciphering “Navy-speak” of the period; if so, maybe some of those reading this with a Navy background could tell us.
I’ve seen other unofficial sources ( http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/05/0527.htm ) that support the claim that the USS Butte’s crew for the WESTPAC cruise in early 1973 did qualify for the VSM, as charlie six noted above. However, at least a couple of those dates are IMO very problematic. The USS Butte’s official history indicates it departed Subic Bay on 6 Feb and 28 Mar 1973 – dates for which the navsource site above gives the USS Butte Vietnam Campaign credit. Since Subic Bay was somewhere around 600 miles east of the easternmost edge of the area of eligibility for the VSM, it doesn’t seem credible for the USS Butte to have actually entered the VSM AOR by midnight local on either 6 Feb or 28 Mar 1973. The other periods listed (8-14 Feb 1973 and 22 Feb to 3 Nar 1973) are plausible and are close to those listed in the ship’s official history as dates where the USS Butte resupplied other Navy ships supporting operations in Vietnam. The only I question I have now is whether or not that occurred within the defined VSM AOR.
Bottom line: I’m still looking, but haven’t yet found a definitive official source that verifies that the USS Butte’s crew qualified for the VSM for that WESTPAC cruise. But the Haiphong harbor support alone won’t do it. That was after the end of the period of eligibility for the VSM. So if someone got on the ship for the first time at Subic on 28 Mar 1973, they appear to be SOL.
March 27th, 2012 at 9:25 am
I think you have resorted to Nit Picking the Navy as to exactly when the Butte was in territioal waters within a combat zone. I along with a few other hundred swabbys were indeed in a combat zone supporting missions. We are all authorized to wear a Vietnam Campaign Medal and Ribbon.
You can now focus your attention onto other phony veterans. And for you information I was 1 of 2 men that exposed one of the biggest phony veterans ever to walk face of the earth. His name is Dr. Maung Gyi of the American Bando Association. We worked hand and hand with the POWNETWORK.ORG operation and exposed the piece of shit for all he is worth.
I am not a phony veteran. I have spent 55 of my 60 years working with and working for veterans and their families. My father was a combat veteran of WW1. My mother spent her entire life supporting veteran causes. She was District 12 VFW Ohio Ladies Aux. President and held the role of other line offiecs. I dont take lightly to being accused by some cowards as being a phony veteran.
I have done more for veterans and their families in 1 year than Dave Jenkinson and Ray Stretch-It have combined in their entire lives.
Fuch the both of themn and the horses they rode in on!
Im signing off from this site for ever
Kevin Martin
March 27th, 2012 at 10:17 am
“I think you have resorted to Nit Picking the Navy as to exactly when the Butte was in territioal (sic) waters within a combat zone.” If what Hondo has pulled up is true, then it is valid research and not “nit picking” but valid dates of qualification that USS Butte does not fit into. If that were the case, most of us could be wearing a variety of badges and awards and claim to anyone who questioned them based on records that they were just nit picking. At the onset of the Iraqi invasion, I spent 28 days in Kuwait. The regulations say that I need to spend 30 consecutive days in a combat zone for award of the GWOT Expeditionary Medal. 28 is close enough to 30, so I’ll run out and buy my medal now. I also personally know two people who were told at the last day of SFQC not to come to graduation the next day since they wouldn’t be graduating. I’ll let them know that they can sew on that long tab. I’m sorry that Hondo, and I’d venture to say, most of us here, didn’t take your claims at face value and actually did some research that made your claims questionable. There were also remedies recommended to you to bolster your claims, which you refused. If that is enough to sign off from this site forever, so be it. As far as I’m concerned, that’s more than enough to prove what I suspected already.
March 27th, 2012 at 10:32 am
Mr. Martin,
The U.S. Navy officially refers to both enlisted and officers as “Sailors”. Meaning one who sails as a profession or in the defense of their country. It should be noted that as per US Navy Regulations, the “S” in “Sailor” is always capitalized. In my 32 years of service, I never once refered to a Sailor as a “swabby or swabbie”. The term “swabby or swabbie” in a seafaring conotation was first used in a Hollywood movie produced in 1944. A “Swabbie” is someone from Swabia. To refer to a U.S. Navy Sailor as a “swabby or swabbie” is technically incorrect. To suggest that a “swabby” is one who swabs decks is patently offensive and does not belong in the vocabulary of a real “Sailor”.
MMCM(SW) Terence B. Hoey, USN (Ret.)
1979 – 2011
SEA Class 94 Honor Graduate
March 27th, 2012 at 11:03 am
“Signing off this site forever.” Hmmmm.
Sounds like someone’s a bit sensitive about “nit-picking”. I rather am beginning to wonder why.
Ray Strischek (comment 18): If you’re reading this, please check the hotmail VVA e-mail account for Post 100. Thanks.
March 28th, 2012 at 5:50 am
Bobo:
I’m not ready to call Mr. Martin a liar. But I don’t regard his claim to Vietnam Veteran status as being proven yet, either.
IF he was on the USS Butte for the first part of that WESTPAC cruise, it’s entirely possible he rates the VSM – and is thus technically a Vietnam Veteran. (I’ll admit I have a bit of a problem personally with allowing folks who never got closer than about 100 nautical miles or so to the land/airspace area of SEA during the period of eligibility to qualify for the VSM – and Yankee Station was about that far off the South Vietnamese coast. But rules are rules, and my opinion about that is just that: my opinion.) The USS Butte apparently resupplied TF 77 ships during the period of eligibility for the VSM. The question is whether those resupply operations occurred within our outside of the designated area of eligibility for the VSM.
So far, it’s looking like it probably happened inside the designated area. However, I haven’t yet confirmed that from official Navy sources. (Sorry, Mr. Martin – by the book, anything after 28 March 1973 just doesn’t count. Navy folks get cut a huge break by being eligible for serving approx 100 nautical miles off the coast, but you don’t get a 2nd break on the dates.)
And what Mr. Martin hasn’t yet done is prove he was actually on that ship during that part of its WESTPAC cruise (early Feb to early March 1973). If he wasn’t on-board – e.g., if he wasn’t assigned to the USS Butte at all, or he was assigned to the USS Butte but was in Subic for medical treatment or other reasons in Feb/early March and missed that part of the deployment – he would not qualify.
March 30th, 2012 at 4:56 pm
Hey Kevin, if you are going to sue me, do it or shut up. I already told you in an email that if you want, you and I can lay our DD-214s down side by side in public and let a jury of our peers view them and decide for themselves which DD-214 is that of a Vietnam Veteran and which is the DD-214 of an Era Veteran.
I already told you in an email that if you have the barrel of money you claim to have for the purpose of suing everyone who disagrees with you, that you should buy a piece of worthless land abutting a hill out in the county and make your own shooting range instead of trying to squat a defunct one that the neighbors don’t want to see re-opened.
And one more thing Kevin, if you are protected by free speech in claiming to have combat status and honor in North and South Vietnam in 1974, the year after you were discharged from the Navy, then I have the same free speech protection to point out that according to your own DD-214 you were discharged in Dec 1973 with an RE-4 code meaning unsuitable for reenlistment, and only having a National Defense Ribbon.
Ohio VFW Commander Ward gave you 60 days and paperwork you were supposed to sign and send away for OFFICIAL Navy Records. Have you done that yet? In the mean time, I go with Ohio VFW Judge Adjutant Jeffers’ letter stating your discharge shows no eligibility to be a VFW member.
Ray Strischek
ohioatlatl@hotmail.com
March 31st, 2012 at 3:04 pm
I’d like to reply to Kevin Martin’s statement that he has done more for Veterans than Dave Jenkinson and I combined. It was Dave and I who worked many years to reform the Veterans Service Commission system in Ohio. Ohio has 88 counties and each county has a Veterans Service Commission Office, funded by county property tax dollars, and required to provide a Service Officer and a Financial Assistance program for needy veterans. When Dave and I started, the county offices were in free fall, annually reducing the amounts put out for financial assistance, increasing their own wages, and returning more of their budgets back to the county commissioners unspent on Veterans, to be spent filling pot holes or gas for the sheriff or into the general fund for disbursement to county commissioner pet projects. There were no written rules or regulations. Many of the service officers had no training and no incentive to produce. The amounts available to the county VSCs varied wildly, with Franklin County (Columbus) having several million dollars available, while a small county like Athens had $300,000. Smaller counties had even less. Unspent monies must be returned to the county commissioners so you can see the pressures that existed for VSC board members who are appointed to 5 year terms by the County Court of Common Pleas. The funding (like that for Judges)was mandated by the State and budgets can not be reviewed and revised by the county commissioners, always a bone of contention.
So anyway, here is an example of what Dave and I did:
See: http://www.theveteransvoice.com/JimStrickland/Strickland-OhioVets.html
Ohio Veterans See A Winner!
“Ohio now has the opportunity, maybe the burden, to follow through…and set the standard for other states.”
05.02.08
Ray Strischek of the Athens County Veterans Service Commission in Athens County, Ohio writes to me with this good news. This follows up a recent series of articles published on VAWatchdog telling veterans, particularly Ohio veterans, about the quality of the services provided them by various agencies.
As I researched facts surrounding this important topic, it became apparent that Ohio’s state leaders had decided that their veterans were being short changed and they were now determined to act aggressively and make hard decisions to improve how veterans should and would be treated in Ohio.
Being at the bottom of the rankings will do that. Ohio was last or near last in a number of veterans benefits categories even though their state and county veterans staff are among the best trained and experienced in the country.
Ohio now has the opportunity…maybe the burden…to follow through with this recent legislation and set the standard for other states to follow. Only time will tell if they are to be as successful as the new structure of their veterans services administration will allow them to be.
To have the new authority for successful operations reporting directly to the governors office indicates that Ohio is taking this action very seriously indeed.
Personally, I have high hopes for progress for veterans in Ohio. I spoke (often off the record) with a great many individuals who were well aware of the importance of positive change. From the office of the governor to the front-line County Veterans Service Officers out in the field, every individual I talked with seemed educated to the issues and highly committed to getting it done right.
You can read about the issues in Ohio (and the rest of that series) by clicking here: http://vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfAPR08/nf040308-1.htm
Congratulations to all the veterans, legislators and other involved leaders of Ohio who worked long and hard to get this done. We hope you’ll continue the progress…the rest of America’s veterans are watching.
—————————————-
April 23rd 2008
Dear Jim,
In Ohio, Senate Sub Bill 289 has been passed by the Senate. Below, in bold font and underlined, are the changes in current Ohio Veterans Laws that Dave Jenkinson and I were lobbying for.
Eighteen years ago, Dave and I and many others started a reform movement to bring accountability to county Veterans Service Commissions. We were only partly successful. We managed to get CERTIFICATION and TRAINING required for Veterans Service Commissioners and County Service Officers. We managed to get the Governors Office of Veterans Affairs the power to require ESTABLISHED rules and procedures from the county VSC offices. However, that success was limited in that there was no enforcement power for the Director of GOVA to require PRODUCTIVITY and no ability for the Director of GOVA to do anything to either the VSC board members or the county Service Officers who failed to PRODUCE.
The passage of Senate Sub Bill 289 holds out the hope for completing the process Dave and I started eighteen years ago. If passed by the Ohio House (which seems probable) and signed by the Governor (again, probable), the new Director of the new Ohio Department of Veteran Services will have the authority to gather the necessary data and evidence to remove NON PRODUCTIVE VSC board members and county Service Officers.
In addition, the Service Officers of the several veterans organizations will be required (for the first time ever) to make reports to the Director of the Ohio Department of Veterans Services on their PRODUCTIVITY in accordance with rules and requirements to be developed by the Director of ODVS.
See below:
Sec. 5901.02 (Veterans Service Commissioners are appointed by the County Court of Common Pleas.)
The appointing authority shall remove a member who fails to maintain certification or whose certification is revoked by the director of veterans services.
Sec. 5901.07 (Service Officers are hired by the County Veterans Service Commission.)
The commission may remove a veterans service officer who fails to maintain accreditation or whose certification is revoked by the director of veterans services.
Sec. 5902.02 (Duties of the new proposed Director of the Ohio Department of Veteran Services.)
(C) Adopting rules pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code pertaining to minimum qualifications for hiring, certifying, and accrediting county veterans service officers and, pertaining to their required duties, and pertaining to revocation of the certification of county veterans service officers;
(D) Adopting rules pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code for the education, training, certification, and duties of veterans service commissioners and for the revocation of the certification of a veterans service commissioner;
(V) Developing and maintaining a relationship with the United States department of veterans affairs, seeking optimal federal benefits and services for Ohio veterans and their dependents, and encouraging veterans service commissions to maximize the federal benefits and services to which veterans and their dependents are entitled;
(Y) Investigating complaints against county veterans services commissioners and county veterans service officers if the director reasonably believes the investigation to be appropriate and necessary;
On the down side:
Dave and I were unable to convince the Senate Finance Committee to delete some proposed language (in bold font and underlined) in (W) below:
(W) Developing and maintaining relationships with the several veterans organizations, encouraging the organizations in their efforts at assisting veterans and their dependents, and advocating for adequate state subsidization of the organizations;
In my opinion, the only reason for ‘the several veterans organizations’ push to change the Governors Office of Veterans Affairs to the Ohio Department of Veterans Affairs (which ended up being called the Ohio Department of Veterans Services), was to get that clause into the law. By speaking out about this naked money grab, however, our efforts did cause the following clause to be added:
(X) Requiring the several veterans organizations that receive funding from the state annually to report to the director of veterans services and prescribing the form and content of the report;
To that extent, I suppose one can say that some sense of accountability to the State of Ohio is now possible and with it, the possibility that one or more of ‘the several veterans organizations’ could actually lose their funding if they are found in violation of (X) above. More over, we were able to educate a whole new generation of veterans and concerned citizens about the tax subsidies that ‘the several veterans organizations were getting from the state with no strings attached.
There is now no good reason for Ohio to remain at the bottom of the barrel as it relates to the number of veterans applying for VA Disability and Pension Claims, and no good reason for the dollar amounts of the approvals to be likewise in the bottom of the barrel, and no good reason for any Service Officer not to pursue multiple disability claims. That was the problem that existed on Ohio’s side of the VA Regional Office Desk. That problem existed because PRODUCTIVITY from Veterans Service Commissions and there Veterans Service Officers was not required by the State of Ohio. That problem existed because the State of Ohio required no PRODUCTIVITY from the Service Officers of ‘the several veterans organizations’ working at the VA Regional Office. Now, PRODUCTIVITY is a matter of law, or will be when Sub SB 289 is passed by the Ohio House and signed by the Governor.
Whether PRODUCTIVITY as a law will be enforced remains to be seen. But the tools are there now. It is now all a matter of the attitude of the new Director of the ODVS, whoever that may be. If the changes do not work, then the question of whether the VSC system of Ohio and its costs to tax payers should continue, and the question of whether tax subsidies to ‘the several veterans organizations’ should continue, become fair game to voters. The bar has been set.
Veteran organization leaders should consider themselves on notice. The costs of Veterans Service Commissions and the tax subsidies to ‘the several veterans organizations’ constitute a big chunk of change. If it can be proven that Veterans can file for VA Disability or Pension Claims on their own and succeed in getting top dollar amounts on their own, and/or if, a law change to allow attorney’s to represent Veterans would prove more cost effective, then the Ohio System, which has been so generous and accommodating to the leadership of veteran organizations statewide would naturally be in jeopardy.
I have high hopes the system will sort itself out and work. I believe the State of Ohio has a responsibility to its veterans (and a monetary self interest) to help all its veterans receive every dollar of every benefit they earned as part of their service to America. I don’t believe a veteran should be left adrift to fight the VA on his/her own but I don’t believe a veteran should be required to use the Ohio System if they feel they can handle it alone and get the benefit they deserve.
All along, Dave Jenkinson and I have tried to work within the system that exists, to get it to work, to get it to work right, and change it if it is not working right. The passage of Sub SB 289 is just another day at the office for Dave and I. We are basically happy with the bill. Lot’s of good stuff that to us mean lots of good stuff for Ohio’s Veterans.
Ray Strischek
Athens County Veterans Service Commission
Athens County Ohio
April 1st, 2012 at 1:34 am
Greetings; The first lie, there is a anti-Veteran movement in New Marshfield, Ohio. Good people living in total Fear by a child-man who is nothing really than a bully. When it benefits him, he is a Veteran. When it benefits him, he is a bully.
I’m starting to believe even the officials of the Ohio VFW are afraid of this bully. I never said there was a cover up by VFW, the VFW gave Martin 60 days to provide proof of service. July 2010 they found out he is a ERA Veteran. Why giving him March-April 2012 to provide same request, well there is the question.
Nothing I have found shows Martin to be anything except a phony, he has rode this ride for 40 years, time to get off the carousal and let the children ride. However, VFW still has to figure what do with Keirs and Jefferies. Martin says they approved his being Commander.
April 1st, 2012 at 4:41 pm
Latest word on Kevin E Martin our own America Hero. Three years ago Kevin came up with the idea of Rally in the Valley Cruise-In and of course he had Gilham-Frank VFW POST 8804 presents. Now this year he has added; Athens Lawn and Gardening and because of a $100 dollar electric bill has moved the 3rd Annual Cruise-In from New Marshfield, Ohio to the Athens Community Center 701 East State Street Athens, Ohio 45701.
Last years Rally in the Valley vendor used the electric at the Seniors Community Center and when asked for payment, out the door went Martin. After leaving this years latest flyers about May 27th, 2012 Rally in the Valley
The web site of The Plains Lions Club still shows the date and place of New Marshfield,Ohio as being this years site of Cruise-In. Guess in his haste, Martin forgets. Say goodbye Kevin-goodbye. Dave
April 3rd, 2012 at 8:16 am
FOIA away.
April 3rd, 2012 at 3:10 pm
I’m not a veteran, so I have no idea whether I have any right to comment here. But my dad was a veteran, he came home from his service in a wheelchair. Maybe that counts for something. It does to me. I also know my pastor just died. He was a Vietnam vet, a member of Gilham Frank post 8804, and no finer man ever lived. Now fellers, he was a member of the post which Kevin Martin serves as Commander. It’s my understanding that every eligible veteran in Waterloo twp is a member of that post. Maybe some of them are just members on paper, but how many other posts would like to have 100% membership? It seems to me that it would take leadership to achieve that goal. I’ve known Kevin Martin for a long time; known his family for a long time. And yeah, I won’t lie to you, Kevin’s pretty F-ed up at times. The Kevin that came back is a lot different than the Kevin that went across. Seems to me that I can say that about an awful lot of guys. I found this site because one of the men posting here came to me a while back wanting to dig up all the dirt he could on Kevin. At the time, it seemed an awful lot like a witch hunt. Still does. I read a book once, man in the book said “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”. There’s plenty of rocks in the world, boys. Hope it’s worth it.
April 3rd, 2012 at 4:27 pm
David McBride: of course you can comment. And since you are not a military veteran, you will doubtless bring a different perspective to the discussion than those of us who are.
Since you’re not a military vet, I’ll try to give you some background. Among military veterans, there are a few cardinal sins. Disloyalty to nation is one of them. Disloyalty to your brothers/sisters in arms is another. Failure to do your duty is right up there as well, and is arguably being disloyal to your brothers/sisters in arms anyway (they have to pick up your slack).
And among active military and veterans, lying about having “been there, done that” is pretty high on the list of cardinal sins. Those “little bits of colored ribbon” mean one helluva lot to most of us. IMO, you really need a military background to understand just how much.
I don’t know if Kevin Martin is telling the truth about being a Vietnam Veteran, or if he simply served during the Vietnam era. But if he’s lying about being a Vietnam Veteran, then he’s done something most veterans find extremely objectionable. And if he doesn’t qualify for the Vietnam Service Medal, he’s by definition not a Vietnam Veteran.
Soon enough we should know. Official records don’t lie.
April 3rd, 2012 at 4:33 pm
Discovering the truth and shining light on lies is always worth it, even when the cost is high. Successful societal continuity relies on trust and trust can not be achieved nor maintained without honesty. Whether it happens over a span of years or over a span of generations, if truth is not respected, pursued, and fostered, polite society will collapse.
I can understand the reluctance to face facts about someone you may respect or admire, and I understand the desire to look the other way when uncomfortable truths come to light. The bigger man, and better friend, would encourage his comrade to face his transgressions while examining his own motivations in trying to excuse the behavior, not cast dispersions on a worthy effort to discover the truth.
I read a book once too, it was written in that book “Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness.”
Cheers
April 3rd, 2012 at 5:04 pm
I have not seen the facts, my friend. Not here or anywhere else. But I will certainly remember what you said about bearing false witness. I hope everyone else does, as well
April 11th, 2012 at 11:26 pm
Greetings: Kevin Martin DD214 was recorded Jan 2, 1974 at the Recorders Office at the Athens County Courthouse. It shows his signature but no Vietnam service, No Medals for serving in Vietnam. What proof he showed anyone else, well he never showed it to me. July 2010 the VFW Judge Advocate saw Martins DD 214 and said he is not eligible for membership, thus he cannot be Post Commander. February 2012 the Ohio VFW Commander gave Martin 60 days to show proof of service. We are still waiting. Kevin lack of service or proof of service is not what started this look see. Martin desire to gain access to the HillTop Gun Club, not owned by VFW Post 8804 and his PUSH to claim 3.5 acreas and way he went about attacking residents and Life Members of Post 8804 is just what it is. Stay tuned for Sheriff sale coming not soon enough. As to military changing people, like Martin I’m a Era Veteran, I went any and came back three years older-wiser and have never claimed Vietnam service. The difference also includes i served all of my three year Tour, Navy was four years, not two years and two months and I never saw the inside of any BRIG, on ship nor one land.
April 11th, 2012 at 11:38 pm
Above post is by David M Jenkinson, my friends call me Dave. Kevin E. Martin can call me Mr. Jenkinson.
I also knew Dave Cogar and thought I had time to talk to him about Martin, turns out we both ran out of time. At no time have I spoke about getting dirt on Martin, I did ask his oldest Son to ask his Father if the DD 214 on file at the Courthouse was not correct, why did he sign it? I’m still waiting for a answer. I provided copy’s of our attempt at learning facts to those I have talked to. Martin could end this but, I guess he still has 20 days……
April 12th, 2012 at 6:27 am
David Jenkinson: There are reasons a DD214 can become incorrect after the fact. It is not unheard of for an individual to be determined eligible for an award after his/her separation. The correct process in that case is for the individual to be issued a DD215 showing the correction.
I frankly doubt that’s the case here, but it could be.
However, a FOIA request typically includes units/ships of assignment and dates of assignment. From that, it should be possible to determine whether Kevin Martin qualifies for the Vietnam Service Medal (VSM) – and thus as an actual Vietnam Veteran. I’ve submitted a FOIA request on Martin, so we’ll soon know what official navy records show about his status re: the VSM and his claims of being a “Vietnam Veteran”.
For what it’s worth: I understand Martin’s final ship of assignment was the USS Puget Sound. If he was assigned to that ship for his whole abbreviated enlistment – or if he was transferred to that ship before 1 February 1973 – then he’s simply not eligible. The USS Puget Sound never deployed to the area of eligibility (AOE) for the VSM. The USS Butte first departed Subic Bay for the VSM AOE on 6 February 1973.
And as I’ve documented before, the USS Butte operations in Haiphong harbor in March/April alone don’t cut it; they occurred after the end of the period of eligibility for the VSM. So if Martin was assigned to the USS Butte but for some reason wasn’t physically on-board during February 1973 and/or the first two weeks of March 1973 (e.g., off-ship medical treatment, confinement, AWOL, leave, TAD, whatever), he’s also not eligible for the VSM. That’s the only period of time during which the USS Butte was ever in the VSM AOE.
April 12th, 2012 at 6:29 am
Comment 51 is mine. Posting from a different machine, and haven’t figured out how to permanently store ID information on same without opening the door to tracking by all sites – which I refuse to do.
April 12th, 2012 at 12:59 pm
I, for one, will keep an eye for when Hondo posts the FOIA findings. I was a peace time Infantryman (1981-1987). My dad was floored that I enlisted, being a long-haired weed-smoking teen. Ending up with novice wings thrilled him so much, he and mum drove down to graduation. Pittsburgh to Benning is a LONG haul. They grew up in the UK and did not not dig driving in the States. Those ‘bits of metal and coloured ribbons’ have a very high value, indeed. Joey (RIP) was an airborne medic and Tony did 6 years in the signal corps.
We could of all been cooks or whatever and our folks would of been every bit as proud. To me, THAT is what punishment for SV is all about. Ain’t no nit-picking about it, “Either you’se a virgin or not. If not, no one wants to hear your excuses” Rock on POW network, TAH, and all the cats keeping it as honest as they can in a sadly dishonest world.
April 12th, 2012 at 11:43 pm
Well, it took one phone call to confirm that McBride is one of the last friends Martin still has. Sad state of affairs that he will go down with the ship even though he was never in the service. Just say goodbye Kevin goodbye. Dave
April 13th, 2012 at 12:05 am
#24 Kevin Martin post about operation Duck Hook April 1973.
Kissenger recommended against Duck Hook on 17 October . On 1 November 1969, Nixon himself decided to abandon it. This was reportedly because:
there were reservations about Duck Hook’s potential effectiveness;
public support for the war continued to decline;
there were signs of political slippage; and
Defense Secretary Melvin Laird and Secretary of State William P. Rogers opposed military escalation[2]
At the same time that he cancelled Duck Hook, it seems that Nixon embarked on a new strategy to start a “series of increased [nuclear] alert measures designed to convey to the Soviets an increasing readiness by U.S. strategic forces,” according to Kissinger aide Col. Alexander Haig.
April 13th, 2012 at 12:15 am
#24 Kevin Martin said End Sweep Unit. operation END SWEEP information
for MAG-36
MAG-24
HMH-462
USS DUBUQUE
From date 730413 to 730730
MAG-36 was a US Marine Corps unit
MAG-24 was a US Marine Corps unit
HMH-462 was a US Marine Corps unit
USS DUBUQUE was a US Navy unit
Primary service involved, US Marine Corps
Operation END SWEEP
North Vietnam
Location, Haiphong Harbor
Description: Marine helicopters were used in the mine clearing operations in NVN harbors and elsewhere. MAG-36 assets including CH-53s, CH-46s, and UH-1Es on board at least USS DUBUQUE (LPD-8) plus CH-53Ds from MAG-24 were committed to assist the Navy in the mine clearning task. Early in the development of the CH-53, it was acknowledged that the aircraft was suitable for tow operations in a mine countermeasures roles. As a result, hard points were incorporated to allow for towing of a mine detonating apparatus. For the NVN operation, the CH-53s used a Magnetized Orange Pipe (MOP). CH-46s perform SAR, photographic documentation, and logistics missions with the UH-1Es involved in the C&C effort.
The source for this information was The Marines in Vietnam Anthology P:200, 208
April 13th, 2012 at 12:34 am
I can e-mail copy of Kevin E Martin DD 214 that shows his signature, No Vietnam Service, No Medals other than National Defense. Send request to Davesdrb@aol.com
From my two last Post, K would lie about the day of the week. Dave
April 13th, 2012 at 6:26 am
Dave Jenkinson: thanks, but not needed. I have already submitted the FOIA on Martin. I had all the info I needed for same.
As I noted above, it’s possible Martin was determined to rate additional awards after his separation. I kinda doubt it in this case, but it’s possible. His records should show that definitively.
For what it’s worth: as indicated above in comment 34 above, the USS Butte’s official history does show it entering Haiphong harbor in Mar and Apr 1973, presumably to support END SWEEP. The USS Butte spent a total of 6 days there. So if Martin was actually assigned to the USS Butte and was on-board for that time frame, he’s actually been to Vietnam. He just went there after the end of the VSM period of eligibility and thus has no right to call himself a “Vietnam Veteran” if that’s the only time he ever entered the VSM area of eligibility.
Hopefully the FOIA results will come back soon. Assuming the results are definitive, I’ll write up a short something and ask Jonn to post it – either way – when I get the results. And the FOIA results should be both definitive and complete; no Navy records were affected by the 1973 records fire in St Louis, which in any case occurred before Martin’s discharge.
April 15th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
Greetings: Some Democrats in Athens County has not heard his stories/Truth about service, but they are hearing facts. In addition to contributions of lesser amounts, Maiden’s report lists more than two dozen contributions of $100 or more. Included were contributions of $100 each from Deborah McDonald of Millfield, Frederick Drake of Columbus, Mike Brooks of Nelsonville, David Kline and Dale Warton of Nelsonville, Claire “Buzz” Ball, Frank Lavelle, “Kevin Martin”, Mary Anne Flournoy, Leonard Eliason and Brad Jeffers of Athens, Jesse McKee of (Dowler Ridge) New Marshfield and Ray Huffman of Amesville; of $250 each, from Guy Philips, Carol Blue and Bruce and Susan Mitchell of Athens; of $300, from Robert Kirkley of Delaware; of $400 each, from Brent Hayes of Guysville and Matt Gaiser of Albany; of $500 each, from Deana McKinley and Scott Cunningham of Albany, Floyd Cozort and Les Cornwell of Athens, Tom McGuire of Coolville and Daniel Buck (and Trista Black) of Guysville; of $900, from Jesse McKee of (Becker Road) New Marshfield; of $1,000, from Don Birchfield of Vermillion.
April 17th, 2012 at 1:31 pm
Greetings: Off line I was asked why I put the above story of Democrat party contributions. You ask about any member of the Athens County Democratic Party about Martin and they will tell you he is a Vietnam Veteran, ask customers of his Lawn and Gardening company and you can see for yourself at http://www.hilltopgunclub.com
His concealed carry company.
All of this shows his for profit side. Its the residents of New Marshfield, Ohio who convinced me to keep digging. First home the man said: Honey this is the man we have been praying for over ten years. I had just shared with him I was looking for the anti-Veteran movenment that Martin claimed threatening him and the Post 8804 Quartermaster. Martin had told State of Ohio Fire Marshal it was the residents who benefited by the fire on the property he is trying to steal for Future Home of VFW Post #8804.Phoney Veterans live good do to lies about their military service, I’m certain everyone here has seen this before.
April 20th, 2012 at 8:46 am
To whom it may concern,
I have been contacted by a friend of a friend in Athens County Ohio about alligations being made by Dave Jenkinson concerning Kevin Martin.
I will be posting on this website in counter defense of Kevin. I served with him from our time of Engineman A School in the Great Lakes untill our departure from the Butte after we left Vietnam and Panama.
Dave Jenkinson is mentally ill and has caused a tremendous about of grief for a multitued of people in and around the state of Ohio. Jenkinson during a recent phone call to a VFW officers home at 10:30 in the evening told said officer “to get fucked I’ll fuck your wife and go fuck yourself in the ass” after that person told him to never call his house again.
There are probably 50 of these sort of attacks Jenkinson is doing and saying to anyone who doesnt want to talk to him or be involved with him.
I ask the operators and or moderators to be more careful as to what you are allowing Jenkinson to do on your website. We all need to stand strong for our fellow veteran however by standing by a mental heath person who is causing terror and fear in people is just wrong.
PPH
April 20th, 2012 at 9:29 am
Are we having fun yet?
Ya gotta love all the folks coming out of the woodwork making unsubstantiated claims. It seems to be the one constant we can count on. Every time.
April 20th, 2012 at 9:56 am
“Peas Porridge Hot.” WTF kind of screen name is that, amigo?
You might want to read the whole discussion above, fella. There may be some serious holes in Martin’s story – and there is reason to doubt that he’s entitled to call himself a Vietnam Veteran.
As I’ve said before: if he wasn’t on board the USS Butte between approx 8 Feb 1973 and approx 3 Mar 1973, well, he simply ain’t a Vietnam Veteran. Eligibility for the VSM ended on 28 March 1973 – the same day the USS Butte departed Subic for Haiphong. There’s no way the USS Butte made it into the VSM Area of Eligibility that day. Service in the defined area of eligibility after 28 March 1973 doesn’t count – and the USS Butte didn’t enter Haiphong harbor until 31 March 1973.
Soon enough I’ll have the results of a FOIA on Martin. When it comes in, I’ll write up a short blurb and ask Jonn to post it.
April 20th, 2012 at 1:08 pm
Finally, the shouts of a drowning man. Hey, since VA gave me some happy pills, I’m good to go. In long lines at Kroger’s, I’ve been known to step aside so those older than me can go on. Only take it at bed time, do it sooner and you’ll nod off, no I will not share. Dave
Looks like Jr. has shown up again, thought he would have been here sooner, heard Kevin got a cease order from fellow in Columnus.Finally some fun.
April 21st, 2012 at 8:49 am
To OBW in response,
how would you suggest that I or anyone else who is tired of the unrentless mindless and foolish attempts by Dave Jenkinson to discredit Kevin go about, not making “unsubstainted claims?”
I have very carefully read every word written here on this website and what Jenkinson has written to county commish’es, not for profit board of trustees, veterans service boards, VFW members and VFW local-district-state and local line officers, radio, newsprint, blogs and social media outlets, county elected officials and private individuals?
Im under the impression this web site can hang some out to dry without checking facts first before they let some totally unknown fool and loud mouth such as Jenkinson spout lies and untruths about a person.
Dave Jenkinson admits that he is under medical care and guidence for his mental health issues by the Veterans Administration so that should be taken into consideration as to his ability to know the difference between good and evil and or right and wrong.
Dave Jenkinson has written that Kevin Martin has a cease order from some fellow in Columnus, the word is Columbus dumbass, so please gentlemen and Jenkinson if Kevin has such an order I and others request that it is to be posted on this website for all to see immedietly!
PPH
April 22nd, 2012 at 11:45 am
Feb. 24-25 Dave Jenkinson challenges Kevin Martins son to an altercation in Columbus Ohio. Son Martin warns Jenkinson that he is doing telephone harassment which is against the law in Ohio.
Feb. 25 Dave Jenkinsonn states that Kevin Martin is seen wearing Vietnam Service and Purple Heart medals at funerals and that he (Martin) has been banned for life from membership at the local American Legion.
Feb. 27. Dave Jenkinson floods Mary Schantag (POWNETWORK.ORG) with a flurry of mindless and non-issue complaints and rants concerning Martin’s ability to belong to a VFW. Mary more or less sugguests to Jenkinson that she doesnt have time to deal with him.. Unknown to Jenkinson Chuck Schantang is dying in the local hospital the same time he is “strongly sugguesting” that she (Mary) start posting the “truth” about Kevin and asks why isnt she posting.
Now people here on this website I ask you is this the sort of person you want to be involved with while “Outing” supposed phony veterans?
Trust me there is much more to come including that late in the night April 18th 2012 a red Ford truck was seen stuffing photocopies of a context from Kevin Martin’s USA Bando website in folded up envelopes in peoples mailboxes in and around the area of New Marshfield Ohio. A local deputy sheriff stated in a Crime Watch meeting in the same town that a federal crime was committed by doing such as illegially placing unstamped letters in a mailbox. The deputy sugguested the reciepents contact the FBI and the Postal Service.
David M. Jenkinson drive a red Ford truck fitting the exact description.
PPH
April 22nd, 2012 at 11:48 am
excuse me, that was to read, “a person seen driving a red Ford truck,” not a red Ford truck was seen.”
PPH
April 22nd, 2012 at 1:07 pm
PPH…if you’re calling out Mary Schantag, you’re barking up the wrong tree. And for future reference, try having a point and communicating it without sounding like a booger-eating moron, would you? Trying to read your posts makes my brain hurt.
April 22nd, 2012 at 10:13 pm
To NHS Sparky, dude what are you talking about? I have no tree to bark with Mary and if you would have read my post it says that Jenkinson was bothering her not me.
And I assure you if you had the courage to call me a booger eating moron I dont think you would do it to my face. Your brain must be very small indeed if you think my posts are causing you to have a headache.
April 22nd, 2012 at 10:40 pm
I’m still wondering why you two are having a dick measuring contest here. The problem is that your posts read like some monkey banged on a keyboard and that somehow my brain is smaller because I don’t really want to waste the time to decipher your blathering?
Both of ya’ll need to run along. This horsey ain’t just dead, its carcass is pretty much flat.
April 23rd, 2012 at 7:45 am
UPDATE: Dave Jenkinson the self proclaimed exposure of Kevin Martin as a phony veterans is the issue here. Although Martin’s discharge paper does not show he was indeed on the U.S.S. Butte or have had served in both South and North Vietnam water’s I will testify in a court of law that he did indeed, as did I.
Now lete up take some more of your reading pleasure time about David M. Jenkinson.
Feb. 20 2012. Jenkinson sends out mass emails to many unwarrented recieptients claiming that, ” two local newspapers this week is going to expose Martin. I (Jenkinson) contacted Columbus Police Department, Columbus Dispatch (news paper) FBI, Have contacted Cleveland Plains Dealer, (newspaper). Claims District VFW 12 Commander Mulligan is involved in a “Cover up.” *****After calling both local news desk reporters of the above mentioned newspapers I was told that they had no intentions of printing anything about Kevin Martin based on some frightening telephone calls from a known “nut case!”*******
March 3 2012. Dave Jenkinson approaches a VFW in Albany Ohio to speak to the post commmander. He was promptly told that he had no business there and that the commander had no comment. Jenkinson rushes to his key board and accuses the post commander who is also the District 12 Commander of being involved in a “Cover up.”
March 3 or 4 2012. Jenkinson arrives at another VFW in The Plains Ohio to speak to the post commander about Kevin Martins cover up by the local district and state VFW officers. Jenkinson runs into the wrong person and is told he has no business being involved with VFW issues-that he is causing undue embaressment within the entire VFW organization-that what business was it of his-that Kevin Martin brought fresh ideas and had kept Post 8804 from closing and to prove that he (Jenkinson) is a veteran. Jenkinson is then asked to show his discharge papers. Dave leaves in a huff after being told he is a loud mouth a trouble maker and is an embaressment to all veterans. Jenkinson goes on a rant the same day with his idiotic emails that he sends to mass media outlets and veteran service officers and offices. Again he accuses the VFW State and National line officers in being involved in a “Cover up.”
Davin Jenkinson visited a local newspaper building in an attempt to see a person. He was told she was not available. Later that night he called her late at home and demanded she prove that Kevin Martin was in Vietnam. This is the same Dave Jenkinson that called up the Quarter Master of VFW Post 8804 and told him to go fuck hisself in the ass.
Peas Porridge is getting Hotter!
April 23rd, 2012 at 7:49 am
Why don’t all of you send me your DD214s and let me sort this out instead of throwing fingers. I don’t have a dog in this fight and don’t care how it turns out.
April 24th, 2012 at 8:30 am
[...] 2012 For those of you who may or may not have noticed there’s been a slap fight going on in the comment thread of this post about a VFW post commander who was busted for stolen valor among other things. The slap fight was [...]
April 24th, 2012 at 9:18 am
UPDATE: Dave Jenkinson thinks he has a local Ohio VFW post Commander busted for being a Phony Veteran. There are those who jumped on Jenkinson’s band wagon to play along. Its called “Hang em out to dry” before we have all the evidence.
I a friend of said accused veteran, Commander Kevin Martin VFW Post 8804 New Marshfield Ohio will continue to spill the beans about Martin’ accusers. There will be others posting in near time about Jenkinson.
Martin does not deny that his DD214 does not show his time spent in Vietnam onboard the United States Navy ship USS Butte (AE-27) however in the rest of his military record and Administrative Remarks it states Martin was in both South and North Vietnam from Jan 1 to April 18 1973.
Feb. 26 2012: Dave Jenkinson posts on Yahoo Group that Kevin Martin “did not get PTSD from being in a BRIG. Kevin was never in a brig while serving in the Navy.
Feb. 27 2012: Jenkinson posts on social media sites on in his mass emails that, “Local Athens Messenger & Athens News -paper will do a “Front Page” cover story on Martin. Where is that front page story?
Mar. 4 2012: Jenkinson states in another mass email to POWNETWORK and others, “Kevin Martin is telling people that ( I ) Jenkinson is accused of stealing from the National Leaque of Families POW-MIA.
I ask you the moderators of your website. does this sound like a sane and rational man to you?
Dave Jenkinson started this fight with Kevin and others. Kevin and others intend to end the fight in an honorable way, not the way Jenkinson does by being a coward and hiding behind opaque shields!
Peas Porridge Hot
April 24th, 2012 at 9:30 am
Greetings: Thank you all for what you do. This site is important and as you see from the above Post, the battle for truth must continue.
Ohio VFW has given Martin 60 days to comply with of providing proof he is a Vietnam Veteran. Start date was March 1, 2012.
April 24th, 2012 at 9:47 am
All reading this thread probably should read this one as well:
http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=29662
Turns out Mr. Martin actually IS a Vietnam Veteran. Per the NPRC and official Navy records, he indeed rates the VSM.
April 24th, 2012 at 9:59 am
Peas Porridge Hot: A DD214 will not show a full record of assignments. That’s documented elsewhere in a person’s military records.
However, as noted in the article cited in comment 76, official Navy records on-file at the NPRC show Martin did serve on the USS Butte and did qualify for the VSM. This presumably means he was on-board for that portion of the USS Butte’s late 1972/early 1973 cruise that actually qualified the USS Butte’s crew for the VSM.
Martin’s service in Vietnam after 28 Mar 1973 is irrelevant. That’s after the end date for the VSM and doesn’t qualify him for the medal – or as a Vietnam Veteran. However, his earlier service on the USS Butte (early Feb to early Mar 1973, when the USS Butte supported operations within the defined area of eligibility for the VSM) does. That occurred before the end date of VSM eligibility.
April 24th, 2012 at 1:19 pm
I’ve been following this thread from the beginning and finally feel compelled to comment.
It is obvious to anyone reading this saga with an objective mind that Mr. Jenkinson and Mr. Strischek have engaged in a coordinated slander campaign against Mr. Martin due to his opening of a gun range that they don’t like. It is abundantly clear is that both of them have had their asses handed to them publicly by a FOIA request posted by Hondo above.
I want to be very clear about something. We all get very passionate about individuals who lie about their military service, and rightfully so. What is necessary is an equally strong reaction against lunatics who try to destroy a legitimate veteran’s legacy. I would expect Mr. Jenkinson and Mr. Strischek to publicly apologize on this website for their behavior, to acknowledge that Mr. Martin is a legitimate U.S. veteran, and further I would expect the members of this site to hold them accountable for their actions. It is only fair and just that we defend exonerated victims of slander as vociferously as we pursue those who lie about their service to the country.
April 24th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
Anonymous (@78): Let me clarify one point regarding your comment 78 above. Mr. Martin has to my knowledge NEVER provided any official documentation to anyone that backs his claims to Vietnam Veteran status. His Dec 1973 DD214 – which I have seen (a copy was sent to me unsolicited) – does NOT show him having been awarded the Vietnam Service Medal. No VSM means someone is a Vietnam-era Vet – and NOT a Vietnam Vet. Further, Mr. Martin’s comments above indicate he does not have any official documentation showing him being awarded the VSM. As far as I know, he still does not possess such documentation.
It is eminently reasonable for anyone viewing only Mr. Martin’s Dec 1973 DD214 to conclude he is lying about being a Vietnam Veteran. His DD214 from Dec 1973 clearly indicates that he does not qualify as a Vietnam Veteran, as it does not show award of the VSM. Mr. Martin really needs to obtain an updated document – either a reissued DD214 showing all of his awards, or a DD215 – that clearly documents his entitlement to the VSM (and thus Vietnam Veteran’s status). To date, I don’t believe he has done so.
The fact that some of the other information Mr. Martin provided above was (to be charitable) not entirely accurate or consistent also aggravated the issue above. Frankly, until I got the FOIA I was pretty much convinced that Mr. Martin’s claims were false based on the other “holes” in his story – because stories with that many holes often are bogus. In this case, Martin’s story was the exception to the general rule and turned out to be true.
Yes, Mr. Martin is probably owed an apology from Mr. Jenkinson and Mr. Strischek. But I can’t say I’d blame them much if they didn’t apologize. Based on what Mr. Martin provided them as documentation for his claims, Mr. Martin did not qualify as a Vietnam Veteran. His Dec 1973 DD214 clearly identifies him as a Vietnam-era Veteran.
April 24th, 2012 at 9:47 pm
Ben Frankin probably America’s most knowledgable Fore Father said quite often, “take care of thy shop and thy shop will take care of thee.” Franklin was talking about his print shop. He knew his shop meant money and public interaction acknowledgement and status. Ben Franklin had status.
Kevin E. Martin has status.
In response to the person who lurks behind the screen name of Hondo here on this web site admits that many people led and influenced by Dave Jenkinson and Ray Strichek called Mr. Martin a “Phony Veteran.”
Kevin has had and has a sever case of Vietnam Syndrome or Vietnam Stress as it was called during and after the Vietnam War. His doctor at VA Athens Ohio told him in 2009 you are affected with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and not in a good way. As his friend I have watched Kevin go from a young innocent hillbilly boy in his home town of New Marshfield Ohio who left to “Nam” to return as some rather strange and unique individual. Kevin came home fucked up! He would say when he was “flipping out” about some flashback what are they going to do send me back to Vietnam? Locals around Southeastern Ohio said Kevin was ate up.
He helped start the first Vietnam Veterans Association Chapter 100 in Athens Ohio. Just ask his accuser Ray Strischek he knows as he was there. Kevin helped to start the first ever Vietnam veterans rap group in the entire United States in Athens Ohio at the state mental health center. There were a tremendous amount of veterns coming home from Nam who were way out and far out and many of those who were out of their minds lived in Athens city and Athens County Ohio.
Kevin Martin’s best friend was killed in Vietnam.
From what I have understood of the Lets Hang Kevin out to Dry by Jenkinson and Strischek story is those two punks ratted Kevin out to anyone they could get the attention of. Their story says Kevin Martin is a phony veteran, a thief, a scoundral, manic and some some other choice words which i wont list. This website decieded to just the fray and turn the tempature up on a man no one here has ever seen. You are total strangers to Kevin Martin his family and friends and the thousands of people in Southestern Ohio love and respect him but not doing your homework first. Or as our fore fathers said, ‘dont go off half cocked,”
I saw and watched Kevin Martin in 1996 train for 6 months in the Bando system of full contact bare knuckle knockout boxing, I mean full contact! Kevin sparred 350 rounds with his students and others to get prepared to go to a kickboxing challange out of his state. It was another veteran who had a bone to pick. Martin took the pick and told the dude i’ll be out. It is best to learn your enemies enemies. The fight lasted 3 rounds before Martin put his opponent out on the floor.
Kevin Martin has never in the 50 years I have known him ever brag about Vietnam, hell he doesnt talk about it much to this day. The Athens VA clinic doctor has helped turn this man into a calmer less anxous dangerous man into a calmer person that is nice to be around. He has never worn any military medal other then his Good Conduct and Vietnam Service Medal and I think he wore that at his uncles funerals.
I hope and pray that for the sake of you those who chastise and terrorise and stress Mr. Martin than any of you could walk a mile in his shoes. At the near age of 60 Kevin is one of the toughest hardest smartest loyal person you might ever meet. Hell one time he drove a vehicle for Prince Abdulla as security, challanged Lynn Thompson owner of Cold Steel Knives to a fist fight and was the first ever and only Chief Instructor: Ka-Bar Knives.
Mort Ward, Commander of Ohio Department of VFW has recently ordered all 12 District Commanders to stand down on any talk about Mr. Martin. The issue with Ohio and National VFW is Martin is indeed a Vietnam Veteran who is to now wear his Service Campaign Ribbon for this coming Memorial Day Service in New Marshfield Ohio.
Martin’ family business has donated to the tune of $50,000 in Southeastern Ohio with a group founded by Martin, called Southeastern Ohio Veterans Memorial Support Group. All of these resources were in direct support of dead or living veterans and their widows and family.
Never once has he ever in his or others lives mislead any person as a phony veteran. You, Dave Stinkinson and Ray Stretches-It all need to man up and quit hiding behind your opaque shields and issue Kevin Martin a public appology.
I assure you that Kevin Martin will be paying a visit to Dave and Ray. You ought to pray for them both!
April 24th, 2012 at 10:23 pm
Fascinating. We seem to be in the midst of a soap opera here.
So, the official paperwork may support a technical claim of being a Viet Nam vet, but it does not support a claim to have been in country, exposed to that which the grunts on the ground, or those fired upon in airships or ships asea, those folks we all generally recognize as being the vets who suffered, had to endure.
Thanks, Peas, for clarifying for us that we really should hold relatively little sympathy for a guy who you are now telling us suffers from things to which he was never exposed.
Meanwhile, it’s a local issue. Y’all handle it in your own neighborhood. But, having failed to provide proof, which as Hondo has already pointed out he has evidently STILL not provided, he would be ordered out of my VFW as well. It is required documentation, which anyone involved with the group can and should demand be shared prior to being inducted in as a member.
Don’t want to follow the rules of the group? Fine. Don’t whine when others expect it of you.
There are lots of fine folks walking around out there. Many never served in the military at all. They also are not eligible to join the VFW.
So, in summary, my only concern with this mess is that someone who has not provided documentation to prove eligibility to become a member of the VFW has been taking advantage of the benefits of membership. That is not honorable behavior, and not something for which those who questioned his credentials need appologize here or anywhere else as far as I am concerned.
April 24th, 2012 at 11:54 pm
I have to say that the behavior exhibited in this thread is a discredit to ALL of those directly involved in the dispute, the VFW Post, as well as the District & VFW of the State of Ohio.
As it reflects poorly on the VFW itself, that 3 of its members would use such a public forum to air their differences, it also effects me, as a member of the VFW.
The bottom line is this: the accused has been awarded the VSM, hence has earned membership in the FRATERNITY of the VFW.
It appears that he was previously unable to demonstrate conclusive proof of that. At this point it doesn’t matter who all is in that line of failures. His eligibility has now been proved, thanks to the integrity and research of Hondo.
As to who did more and in what way for Veterans, that does not impact the eligibility for membership. In reality all of that is tarnished by this episode.
There is a procedure within the VFW, to challenge eligibility, as well as make allegations of wrongdoing of fellow members. Airing your dirty laundry and disputes in such a public forum brings discredit to the Fraternity of Warriors, and should be avoided. Frankly, this episode sounds more like the antics of High School girls, than a healthy post.
And then you’ll ask: “How do we attract the new generation of Veterans?” Look at your behavior, and ask if you would want to join such an organization, as an outsider looking in on this dispute.
April 25th, 2012 at 1:17 am
To Kevin Martin:
Congratulations. I have received the first documented evidence to support your claim of being a “blue water” Vietnam Veteran. A Freedom of Information request was sent and received providing proof that you were actually on the USS Butte just in time to be included among the ranks of those aboard to be eligible for the VSM.
My doubt about your eligibility was based first and foremost on the DD-214 you filed with the court house in 1974 which showed no VSM award, which mentioned only the USS Puget Sound as a duty station, which listed an RE-4 reenlistment code, and a rank of E-3 at the time of your discharge in 1973. Also creating doubt was your post on the USS Butte web site where you claimed to be an E-4 while your DD-214 said you were an E-3 upon your discharge in 1973.
Against that was your often repeated claim of having:
“military credentials and combat status while serving in the United States Navy with awards and honor in both South and North Vietnam during the Vietnam War 1973 to 1974.”
Your DD-214 showed no “combat status” or “awards” for same, and your DD-214 says you were discharged in 1973 and not in either South or North Vietnam in 1974.
Usually, for someone to claim “combat status” in Vietnam, they offer up things like their earned Combat Action Ribbon, Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Silver Star, Navy Cross, or Medal of Honor as proof of said “combat status”. Neither A Vietnam Service Medal nor even a Vietnam Campaign Ribbon is immediate evidence of actual “combat status”. Lot’s of people who actually served inside Vietnam spent a great deal of time in the rear with the gear, perhaps having to put up with incoming rocket, artillery, or mortar fire, but never being in a position to return fire, which (receiving and returning fire) is what is required to earn the Marine Corps Combat Action Ribbon or its other branch of service equivalent. And of course, as a “blue water” Vietnam Veteran, you never actually set foot ” in” either North or South Vietnam.
Except for the 54 days I spent at Khe Sanh during the siege, where I earned my Combat Action Ribbon, the rest of my 2 years, 3 months, and 20 days of in-country Vietnam Service was spent in the rear with the gear in Da Nang. And yes, even while in Da Nang there was the occasional incoming rocket and mortar attacks but it was always a case of watching them sail overhead on their way to fuel tanks and aircraft on the airstrip across the road. I feel for all those all those in country vets who had to hunker down under such attacks and got no award to show for it except those who got purple hearts from shrapnel.
The information received via the Freedom of Information Act request does not change your dates of service, so I think it is pretty safe to say you were never in either North or South Vietnam in 1974. The information does say you earned a VSM, but no Combat Action Ribbon, no Purple Heart, no Bronze or Silver Star, no Navy Cross, no Medal of Honor, and therefore no proof of “combat status” as far as I can see.
The second issue that made me doubt your credibility was your attempt to squat the old Hill Top Gun Club property. You have never provided any proof that you have a deed or lease to that property and no such deed or lease of you as owner is as yet recorded in the Athens County Court House. You claimed you just wanted that property for the future home of the VFW Post 8804 and had no intention of trying to re-open the gun range but there is substantial documented evidence to show re-opening the gun range was in fact what you intended and still intend to do. The neighbors protested. The club house got burned down. You claimed having received death threats from a hostile anti-veteran group among the neighbors. You went to war against your Post’s Women’s Auxiliary. You sent out your own self styled Cease and Desist orders to people who opposed your plans to reopen that gun range.
As I see it, you were attempting to move your Non Profit VFW Post from a squat at an abandoned gas station to a squat of the HTGC Club House, basically to get yourself a gun range for your personal for profit Carry Concealed Weapons Instruction business. In the process, you unnecessarily burnt a lot of bridges between yourself, the neighbors living around the HTGC property, and your relatives in the Post’s Women Auxiliary. How you expect such behavior to help you rebuild your two active member VFW Post is a mystery to me, yet, I hope you can or will at least try to rebuild your bridges with the community and the Women’s Auxiliary and proceed henceforth in a honest and above board manner to rebuild that Post.
So, bottom line, through the Freedom Of Information Act, we have been able to establish your claim of being a “blue water” Vietnam Veteran. though not for the year of service you claim (1974), nor your claimed “combat status and honor and awards”, but, yes, after 39 years, you finally have documented evidence to support your claim of being a Vietnam Veteran.
Congratulations.
Ray Strischek
April 25th, 2012 at 5:51 am
Peas Porridge Whatever:
Someone who comments here regularly using a consistent screen name is not “lurking”, dipstick. If you’re going to make a feeble attempt at insulting somebody, at least use the terms correctly in your insult.
If you’re referring to my use of the screen name “Hondo” here, remember: you’re assuming that I’m using a screen name. Assuming often makes an ass out of the one making the assumption. And in any case, what name I use while commenting, or whether I choose to post anonymously, is my freaking business – not yours. Judge the words, not the name associated with them.
And quit lying about what I said here.
Above, I said nothing about who influenced the opinions of others, or about who influenced me. Others can speak for themselves; I’ll speak for myself.
A combination of documentary evidence (Martin’s Dec 1973 DD214) and Martin himself initially convinced me – wrongly, as it turns out – that he was a liar. Martin contributed to this assessment through his blowhard, self-serving, and inaccurate comments above. I fully expected NPRC to expose him as a false claimant to Vietnam Veteran status. However, I also promised above to make the results of my FOIA request public on receipt; I live up to my word. When my FOIA request came back with what were to me surprising results, I made it available as I’d promised.
I have no interest in a local dispute hundreds of miles away from where I live; that’s not my business. However, as a veteran I do have interest in exposing phony claimants to military honors and status – as well as in exonerating those who are falsely accused of making phony claims. That’s precisely and solely why I got involved in this matter.
Per official Navy and NPRC records, it appears that Mr. Martin is indeed a Vietnam Veteran. But as WOTN notes above, Martin still has not complied with VFW rules regarding providing proof of eligibility for membership. I have no idea if the results of my FOIA request regarding him will suffice or not. If he asks, I’ll send him a copy of the FOIA results – just as I would anyone else who asked. It’s publicly-available information.
A last point: you, Pease Porridge Whatever, are one hypocritical jerk. You have an obvious bias and agenda here, and castigate those who are neutral because they didn’t support your guy. Further, you attempt to put words in others mouths; you also gloat because your guy was “proven right”. Remember this, numbnuts: he was only proven right through the efforts of others – who did something Martin could and should have done himself years ago. He still needs to obtain proper documentation of his status.
So now, why don’t you run along like a good little boy. Go home to your basement – or your mommy’s basement – and flog your log in celebration of your “victory” like the immature jackass you are. Enjoy.
Then just STFU. I can and will speak for myself. I don’t need tools like you trying to speak for me.
April 25th, 2012 at 6:27 am
Jonn, PLEEEASE make this all go away!?! It’s making my head hurt, and with a melon the size of mine, you’re talking some real pain!!!
April 25th, 2012 at 8:40 am
Hondo, you are a self-righteous prick and bully on a two-bit website that specializes in drama queen gossip and unsubstantiated slander. That makes you cooler than the other kids in the neighborhood. Congratulations on achieving the rank of Official Internet Armchair Douchebag.
April 25th, 2012 at 9:49 am
Anonymous (@86): you’re entitled to your opinion, as am I. And my opinion is that you should go fornicate yourself. Now. With an ocotillo stalk.
April 25th, 2012 at 10:10 am
Yat–see my comment @ 68. See what it got me?
Anon, Porridge, or whoever you are, STFU and let it go already.
April 25th, 2012 at 11:08 am
I am done with this pony show once and for all. I think my supporters who ever they are.
I can tell you Mr. Hando that you and Stinkinson and Stretch-It can come to my town and we will go hang out and then settle this once and for all.
You have the courage to talk potty mouth on this screen and call people jerks,inmature, liar, blowhard, self serving, dipstick and the list goes on and on.
I find that one heck of a way to run a public social site for the entire world to read and see.
Dave Jenkinson and Ray Strischek started this fight. I intended to end it, but I will end it on my terms not yours or theirs!
And who knows I might walk up and knock on your front door some day!
Fuck you and the horses you all rode in on!
Kevin Martin
April 25th, 2012 at 11:53 am
Kevin Martin: Interesting. I prove your claim that you are indeed a Vietnam Veteran, and then you tell me to get fucked. Interesting way to express gratitude to someone who helped you out. Takes all kinds, I guess.
I’ll take your rant in comment #89 as a “no thanks” to my offer of a copy of the FOIA results proving you actually qualify as a Vietnam Veteran. That’s OK by me. Good luck proving that claim with your Dec 1973 DD214 alone. And you’re on your own in getting any updated documents as far as I’m concerned.
I also really wouldn’t recommend you show up at anyone’s door without being invited.
April 25th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
So much for gratitude, Hondo. Eff ‘em all.
April 25th, 2012 at 12:46 pm
Greetings: My full name is David M Jenkinson, I’m a Vietnam Era Veteran, I joined US Army 11/65 – 11/68, spent my time in US and Germany. Only Veterans group I joined was Athens Chapter Vietnam Veterans of America. I was looking for an answer, over 18 years later I went home. Still active in Veterans issues but, I chose issues I work on.
Never claimed to be a VFW member, here or anywhere else, joined once the Legion/AMVETS to be heard on their floor about our state mandate of having County Veterans Offices in all 88 counties. After finally understanding who is Veterans of Ohio worst enemy, chose to pick where I can do best good, the Big Four fought reform for over twenty five years; Legion, AMVETS,VFW and DAV in that order, they are the enemy of VIET NAM WAR Veterans, at least in Ohio.
On April 24, 2012 Kevin Edward Martin post on #80 makes some wild claims; of starting VVA #100, Vietnam veterans rap group in the entire United States in Athens Ohio at the state mental health center, best friend was killed in Vietnam- never heard that claim before.
These are but a few of his lies, only thing I saw out of Km was if there was a fundraiser, KM would be there, making a dollar.
The men and women of #100 thought that the Rap Group would help me in my life. At first meeting the notice on the door said; Vietnam Veteran’s Rap group. When Team Leader called upon me, I had raised my hand, I told him I was not a Vietnam Veteran. He told me I did not have to be in denial, everyone at first laughed and then someone said; Dave is not in denial, he was so far in the rear with the gear, he was in Germany. Martin was not present. At next meeting sign said; Veterans Rap group, Team Leader helped to save my life, Martin was never present for rest of year.
The one person more surprised than me, was Martin, when you proved he was Vietnam Veteran.
For KM or anyone to claim that this issue of looking at Martin, is only about his attempt to control 3.5 acres for his CCW class, is sadly mistaken.
For direct talk Davesdrb@aol.com
Once again, many thanks for what you do. Dave
April 25th, 2012 at 4:10 pm
Well, Ok, I got an email from Kevin Martin that tells me all about his integrity. Here it is:
Ray,
You can put all the lip stick on this pig that you want to make yourself look good, but I assure you mother fucker I have a very very long memory!
As far as the Ladies Aux in New Marshfield you have no idea what you are talking about. Those two cunts who operate that organization are my aunts, they hate me and I hate them. Enough said. I have never once in my life attempted to close or shut down or discredit their lilttle private domain. Pat Llewellyn my aunt stated in public, ” It is too bad that he didnt die when he had the cancer.’ She is the one that started this whole action in the first place. And do you know why? The reason is that she is the president of the aux and she wants it to go away!!! They cant shut it down or go away as long as there is a Gilham – Frank VFW post. Boy did you get your facts fucked up.
As far as the property of Hilltop gun range that plan worked as concieved. We laid claim to the place to force the issue in either court of into a sheriffs sale. It was a perfect coup. What it also did was bring a whole lot of nasty people who hate Kevin Martin into the fold. You included. Jenkinson is next. I now know many more of my enemys.
The property of Hilltop gun club is now going on the auction block. Our group of investors have set our bid up to $60,000. Please let all of you new friends know of that amount and if they want to buy it then bring a bigger amount of money.
As far as me being a blue water combat veteran vers you being in combat on land. Who gives a fuck? You think your stress and tramua was more “real man or real Vietnam Veternan than mine?” Fuck you punk.
As far as my being a E-4. That was given to me in 1975 after discharge. I actually could have had E-5 but I didnt give a rats ass. Get it mother fucker –Rats ASS. Thats what you and Stinkinson are going to be known as as of this morning. Dirty rats squealing coward pieces of shit! Both of you.
I am coming to the Athens County Veterans Service Commishion meeting. Iam going to call your ass out. I am going to demand a public appology from you. If you dont then you are as people say you are and that is cowardly.
Last. You can publish this world wide if you prefer. I am going to hand your ass to you somewhere some day some place where the only people who will know it is you and I. The only witness will be God.
And make Gawn Damn sure you tell that thieving worthelss fat cock sucker bed buddy of yours Mr. David M. Jenkinson the same thing
As my fore fathers like to say about chicken shit liver lillied fraidy cats like you and Jenkinson.. FUCK YOU AND THE HORSES YOU RODE IN ON`
Kevin Martin
Naval Combat Veteran – South and North Vietnam 1973!
April 25th, 2012 at 4:25 pm
Interesting. Mr. Martin STILL claims to be a “Combat Veteran” despite clear and convincing evidence that, while he was a Vietnam-era veteran, he was NOT a “Combat Veteran.”
April 25th, 2012 at 4:50 pm
Actually, Marine_7002, Martin is a Vietnam Veteran – not a Vietnam-era Veteran. Per rules in effect at the time, according to NPRC and official Navy records on file there he apparently rates the VSM for his cruise with the USS Butte in late 1972/early 1973. See this link:
http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=29662
April 25th, 2012 at 4:52 pm
@95 Hondo: thanks, mea culpa for the slip of the lip!
April 25th, 2012 at 5:01 pm
@Hondo – True, but when he signs off as “Naval Combat Veteran”, he still comes off as a pouting poseur. Unless of course, an Ammunition Ship was involved in some shit…..
April 26th, 2012 at 1:46 am
K-person engine mechanic, who never got enough fresh air. Used to much of his product.
April 26th, 2012 at 10:34 am
Jenkinson, why don’t you take another illegally-procured narcotic pain reliever? Your drug habit has taken a toll on your mental capacity and it makes for some interesting nonsensical ramblings.
April 26th, 2012 at 4:35 pm
Hey Hondo: In Kevin’s letter (comment 93 above) Kevin says:
“As far as my being a E-4. That was given to me in 1975 after discharge. I actually could have had E-5 but I didnt give a rats ass”.
Have you ever heard of anyone being promoted two years after being discharged from the military? Just Wondering.
Ray
April 26th, 2012 at 8:42 pm
Ray Strischek: There are two situations that I know of where that could happen. But I don’t think either applies to Martin.
Post-discharge promotions most commonly happens when an individual is discharged from active duty but remains in the Reserves. And generally, it only happens if they the individual is actively participating in the Reserves. If they are inactive (non-participating), from what I’ve seen rank generally remains the same as that held at discharge from active duty until final discharge from the Reserves.
Further: from what I’ve seen elsewhere, if someone stays in the Reserves after discharge from active duty FOIA results typically indicate that fact. Martin’s FOIA results don’t show service after Dec 1973 – when he was discharged from the Regular Navy.
The only other possibility I can think of would be if Martin were determined post-discharge to have been wrongfully denied a promotion during active duty. But post-discharge, that would almost certainly require action by the Board for Correction of Naval Records. That requires application by the individual – and would produce official records of such a retroactive promotion. And such a correction should in-turn be reflected in official records at NPRC – and should be reflected in any FOIA results. And I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that the rank abbreviation “ENFN” equates to an E3 – not an E4. I believe an Navy E4 in his career field would be abbreviated “EN3″.
In short: I guess what Martin claims could have happened if he stayed in the Navy Reserve after his discharge, or if he applied for a post-discharge promotion based on having wrongfully been denied a promotion while on active duty. But given his FOIA results, I’d need to see official Navy documentation of that before I’d believe it.
April 27th, 2012 at 12:40 am
Greetings: Only questions I have, since Martin received a Administrative Discharge with do not let the door hit you in the ass and do not even think about coming back, nor are you welcome in any US Military Service;
Martin keeps claiming he was never in the BRIG leading up to his Navy Service time cut short: How can we get copy of the Charges that lead to the early out.
Full name; Kevin Edward Martin
April 27th, 2012 at 1:25 am
Between all these limp dicks involved in all this name calling and finger pointing, I feel like I’m back in Jr. High again. If this is what people act like in Ohio, I’m glad I live is Az where only the politicians are forked up!?
April 27th, 2012 at 1:49 pm
Between all these limp dicks involved in all this name calling and finger pointing, I feel like I’m back in Jr. High again. If this is what people act like in Ohio, I’m glad I live is Az where only the politicians are forked up!?
!
******************************
Greetings: We are Veterans who live in Ohio and we have a person we are trying to expose as a fraud. I thought that was main purpose of this site. You on the other hand would like to talk about limp dicks. Why don’t you move on until we get our DUTY done. Anyone from Az should understand, its the citizens fault they do not have the government they want. We vote the bastards out in Ohio.
There are unanswered questions and so far, majority of posters here have been helpful. HELPFUL, is the key word. IF the bastard Martin lived in Az with other LD maybe you’d be happier. Not wanting to start another pissing contest, as soon as I get done, I’ll be gone. Dave
April 27th, 2012 at 2:35 pm
Mr. Jenkinson:
You indicated above that you have Martin’s DD214. If so, you have all the information you need to file a FOIA yourself and attempt to request that information from NPRC.
However, don’t be terribly surprised if the fOIA request comes back with little more than words to the effect that “that information cannot be released under the FOIA”. What can be released under the FOIA without consent of the individual is limited. It’s my understanding that administrative records of the nature you seek (rationale/reason for administrative discharge) are not generally available via FOIA, and require the consent of the individual for public release. I could be wrong. You might want to consult the NARA website before proceeding down this path. Doing so could save you some wasted time and effort.
A last point on what will likely be my final comment on this article: my purpose in involving myself here was to attempt to confirm or refute Martins’ claims of Vietnam Veteran status. Period. Martin’s status was clarified some 30 comments ago. Discussion since then seems mainly concerned with a local argument that, frankly, appears to be of no concern to the vast majority of readers here at TAH, together with some exchange of insults. It might be best for ALCON to continue argument elsewhere vice wasting Jonn’s storage space and site bandwidth in doing same.
April 27th, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Nah, they ain’t wastin’ nuthin’ of mine. Let ‘em go at it. But I’m not cleaning up the clumps of fur, nor mopping up the spittle. Just so long as they click the ads while they’re here.
April 27th, 2012 at 3:09 pm
The problem with all this, among other things, is that this topic was about a VFW in California and an individual who apparently appropriated the story of a friend of ours.
No, most of us do not like clowns who wear a uniform as a costume, but at least there is some humor about them. No, most of us don’t like people who otherwise served honorably embellishing their military history.
We really don’t have a TAH Rapid Response Anti-Stolen Valor Vehicle that we can deploy to Ohio to fix what some folks here when out of their way to show is a local problem. We have no magic pixy dust to sprinkle around the county that will resolve this mess.
Am now joining Hondo on the sidelines of this one. Nothing else left to do.
April 28th, 2012 at 4:46 pm
To my most favorite Dirty Fat Bastard,,
as you are well aware of your and Stretches-It ruse or scheme or mass attack of credibility on Kevin failed and failed miserably.
According to my attorney you are especially liable for damages done to me. And if you don’t know it my son Matthew, Mary of POW-NETWORK, myself and an agent have captured every single email you sent out. Yes that’s right dumb ass even though you thought you shut down your web sites and thought all of your emails just flew up into outer space they didn’t. We have them all.
Every single email you sent out to every single person is captured for my attorney. You fucked up real real bad you stupid fat fuck and I told you that you are going to get your day. Well Dave its coming. I met with my attorney yesterday at lunch and he is under the impression that you are liable for slander, harassment, public publication, liable and other damning issues.
Just how much money do you have saved anyway? A barrel full like I? I doubt that very much and if you do I’m going to dip into it pretty deep.
You fucked up stupid. You thought you were going to save all the good people on Gun Club Road and New Marshfield from the evil Kevin. Even some of those people are now patronizing to me for your antics. They are not in the position to be sued Dave. You made a real life time error taking me on. I knew once the smoke cleared off the battle field I was going to be the victor and you and Ray were going to be the ones laying on the ground beat into a buddy pulp.
What about your emails about Pat Kelly selling drugs and raping women Dave? Did you think that email was just going to disappear also?
I was told also on Friday that the National Commander of VFW and the State Department Ohio VFW has totally ordered a nationwide stand down about Kevin Martin and the issue of being a “phony veteran” Mort Ward Commander Ohio Department VFW states from both Ohio and National departments that I am a Vietnam veteran in GOOD STANDING IN THE VFW!!!!!!!!!! That is something you can never be. Ever
Dave what about the gun club property? Have you made good credit establishment with your bank as of yet? Once you started your childish game I went to the Athens county court house and forced the property into sheriff sale which will happen in 2012. Do you have the $60,000 we have set aside to buy the property? Have you gone to Pat Llewellyn or Steve Lowry or Charlesa Llewellyn or Lane Zeigler or Ronnie Stephenson and got their $10,000 set aside money yet? Are you and Ray going to pony up Dave and match me dollar for dollar at the sale to buy that property?
I will never ever let you out of my site. You are going to get the bitch slapped right out of your stupid head when I see you. Then as I told Ray I’m going to hand both of your asses to you. I suggest that you start walking that fat obese stupid head of yours up and down Bob Dettys driveway non stop for the next few years and then while doing that start in a martial arts class or go to Sams Gym to get trained. You are going to need it! Threat? You make the determination. Pat Kelly says they are allegations.
Oh by the way mother fucker did you get Pats DD-214 straightened up yet? He is waiting for you.
Wear a camera on your back stupid fat cock sucking mother fucking piece of shit.
Kevin Martin
Honored United States Navy Vietnam veteran who proudly served in naval combat in both South and North Vietnam
April 28th, 2012 at 6:31 pm
@108 – why are you still claiming that you served in “naval combat”? Nothing that we’ve seen or heard hear backs up your contention that you are a combat veteran.
April 29th, 2012 at 1:42 pm
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BlueWaterNavy/messages
Greetings: Its been fun and I enjoyed the education but its time to move on, I started new yahoo site of Quotes of Kevin Martin. Thought you all would enjoy the break.
When we find another Phoney, hope we are allowed to return.
If your ever in Athens County, Athens, Ohio we can do lunch. Dave
April 30th, 2012 at 12:54 am
Apparently Jenkinson is too fucked up on Oxycontin procured from the local kids to think straight. What’s a really interesting topic of discussion is Dave’s well-known habit of beating women. He tries to play Internet badass when in fact he’s a coward who hits women. That would be why he’s divorced and his own children won’t speak to him. Dave’s penchant for beating the women in his life is a well-known fact around his corner of Ohio.
Adding to the fun, he’s a closet case and propositioned Mr. Martin’s son for sex. I suppose Dave makes up for his own dysfunction by running around slandering random folks in Southeast Ohio. Martin may not be perfect, but Jenkinson takes disgusting to new heights.
May 2nd, 2012 at 12:31 pm
With two tours within 100 miles of the country of Vietnam, our local hero of Athens county points to his first tour being five complete days and second tour of app 24 hours, without boots on the soil, in either tour, of what he has often refers too as the Second Indochina War.
We are now offering the complete set up needed, to operate on your own property the TWO TOUR Veteran of SECOND INDOCHINA WAR certified easy to assemble, three plastic push into place poles and fifteen foot of kite string for $29.95 plus $6.95 shipping.
You to can take Instructor class of National NRA and become a certified Concealed Carry Weapons trainer. CCW instructors charge $100 for 12 hour class and you get to keep your shot up target for $5.00 more.
http://www.HilltopGunClub.com Where you can view pictures of the post. Ones on site are metal but our is plastic, another safety feature forgotten by the:
The Second Indochina WAR Hero of two Tours, Kevin E. Martin. In Kevin’s own words, combat Veteran in both the North and South Second Indochina WAR.
Trying to keep it clean, TRUTHFUL and way to go Brownie. Upsetting events coming soon to New Marshfield, Memorial Day Program with Colonel Martin controlling every act and passing out free dinner tickets- to a group he does not pay for services nor have contract.
Later driving to city of Athens for his third Rally in the Valley held by VFW Post 8804 but all funds to Athens Lawn and Gardening, owner KEM
May 2nd, 2012 at 1:29 pm
Should have taken third look at above: The owner Hilltop Gun Club claims on his web site to have the only certified concealed carry shooting range in southeast Ohio.
Pictures on site show he pulls off the county/township road, hammers few post in ground, ties on string and puts up targets. Shooting without a back stop berm, they shoot and go on the merry way. Just waiting for owner of property to get hold of county sheriff or ODNR.
I will be providing compete set up of Martin’s certified shooting range at upcoming Hearings in the Ohio house.
May 2nd, 2012 at 1:53 pm
RIP Chuck Schantag: From is web site;
A guy is driving around in the North Georgia mountains and sees a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: “Talking Dog for Sale.”
He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard. The guy goes into the backyard and sees a nice looking Labrador retriever sitting there.
“You talk?” he asks. “Yep,” the Lab replies.
After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says “So, what’s your story?”
The Lab looks up and says, “Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA and they had me sworn into the toughest branch of the armed services …. the United States Marines … you know one of their nicknames is “The Devil Dogs”. In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders; because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running, but the jetting around really tired me out and I knew I wasn’t getting any younger. So, I decided to settle down. I retired from the Corps (8 dog years is 56 Corps years) and signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in.”
The dog continues – “I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals. I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I’m just retired.”
The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog. “Ten dollars,” the guy says. “Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?”
“Because he’s a liar. He never did any of that shit. Hell, he was in the Navy!”
May 24th, 2012 at 12:59 am
Greetings: To grasp the saga concerning the DD 214 of one Kevin Edward Martin you first must consider Lt Dan of Forrest Gump and Steven Seagal, cook and all around bad ass, in the movies. Also, you might consider for this exercise that most of these thoughts came to me while mowing my lawn, as Forrest enjoyed after a full life.
First, Martin had just turned nineteen when his Uncle convinced the Navy recruiter he had a family member, gone stray and would he please help a buddy out. We know the military was not even considered by Martin until he ran into the Law, even though he had many family members who served with Honor.
Now we know he could not cut it in the US Navy and received a Administrative Discharge after a little over two years and two months service. Martin wasted no time in recording his discharge at the Athens County recorders office. Which now allows everyone to see he never served in combat.
We still do not have a clear understanding when his mind started to turn 26 months as engine mechanic into a Lt Dan WAR record and followed up with mechanic/ bando trained bad ass Steven Seagal. Martins grandstanding exposed.
Fighting in both South and North Vietnam, NOT. Living with PTSD that destroyed his marriage and made little boys/girl live in fear. With his height of 6′ plus and a bully since birth, getting his ass handed to him by a fellow Veteran, not that long ago. He lived the life of a American Hero, got appointed to Local VFW Post as Commander and then he is exposed by his own discharge. Just another phoney Vet.
Telling hundreds if not thousands of Ohio residents that he was a WAR Veteran, saw combat in both North and South Vietnam. Now we see that he never got off the ship and only reason he received the Vietnam service ribbon was because the ship sailed within a hundred miles of the shore line. Gotta love some of the Rules members of the service have to live by.
Its true he got a lot closer than I did but, I never ever claimed Vietnam service.
I liked the Post about Memorial Day, Martins two hour program will be a Hollywood production and he will milk every moment as his legacy continues to grow in his mind. Just don’t let your little girls become friends, he is still the monster of Athens County that Mothers
fear.
Martin claims to be stalking me, should I be afraid. He has always been a coward. His Ex told me he lost huge amount of weight because he had Orders to serve on a supply ship. I was stationed at a NIKE missile site during the Cold WAR and watched daily as the other side crossed over into our air space and watched our pilots chase them back. I slept fine during my time in Germany. It was Ok because I signed up as a soldier without regrets.
David M Jenkinson 11/65 11/68 RA
Sounds like you’ll read of of my past, hope we do not have to wait long. At least no one will be bored.
May 26th, 2012 at 9:04 am
I recently joined the VFW, and had to give a pair bit of personal info. Once I submitted it said I would be contacted as soon as I was verified. I don’t know where they get their info, or how thoroughly they vet applications. So it does seem like they are getting a bit more thorough.
May 26th, 2012 at 9:17 am
The wrath of Kevin? That sounds more like the name of a shitty adolescent emo band than a credible threat.
May 28th, 2012 at 10:30 pm
DAVID JENKINSON,
I am Matthew Martin, Kevin Martin’s son. I could write a book about David Jenkinson and his sidekick’s antics of late, but I’ll cut to the most disgusting part of the entire story.
1. When you say “His Ex told me he lost huge amount of weight because he had Orders to serve on a supply ship” you are talking about my own mother, who has been divorced from my father since 1979 and who has nothing to do with your witch hunt, with my father’s VFW membership, or anything else. She is 64 years old, tiny, timid, and easily scared. The only time she interacts with my father is during family events when I request that we celebrate together. Period.
2. YOU CALLED MY MOTHER AT HER PLACE OF WORK AND HARASSED HER USING VULGAR LANGUAGE ABOUT MY FATHER’S SERVICE. Knowing what you were up to because I had warned her to be on the lookout for you showing up at her house unannounced, she took notes of the conversation in case you did anything threatening toward her. She also immediately recounted the entire conversation to her coworkers to act as witnesses if you harmed her. Her notes stated that she told you that my father had lost weight when she saw him the next time after seeing him off on his first cruise on the U.S.S. Butte, nothing about orders for a supply ship. I tend to believe her over you, particularly since she has no dog in this fight and has nothing to gain by making up any details.
3. My mother told you that she ate Christmas Eve dinner on the U.S.S. Butte with my father and his shipmates in 1972, which you forgot to mention anywhere in your rants.
4. Yesterday, May 27, at a community car show, you began to approach my 80 year old uncle (Korea & Vietnam vet, 24 years service) and my 76 year old aunt to harass them about my father. My uncle just had surgery last Thursday, but that wasn’t going to stop you from making a scene and terrorizing them, was it? Thank God my father and I saw you in the nick of time and told you to get the hell away before things got very painful for you.
5. Today, Memorial Day 2012, the most hallowed of national holidays to remember the ultimate sacrifice by our veterans, YOU DISRUPTED THE MEMORIAL DAY SERVICES AT NEW MARSHFIELD, OHIO. If you are so deranged that you are willing to interrupt and disrupt a PRAYER at Memorial Day ceremony in a cemetery in front of hundreds of people, you truly have lost your Goddamned mind, David. That is just disgusting, pathetic, dishonorable, and psychotic.
6. You are no saint, David. You have gone way beyond fighting what you thought was the “good fight.” You are now harassing family members that have NOTHING to do with the bone you are picking, you are crashing Memorial Day services, and you are making an ass of yourself in public. If you have a personal beef with my father then perhaps you should grow a pair and confront him personally and directly. Rather than do that, you harass a woman who left his life 33 years ago, you attempt to harass to elderly family members enjoying a car show, you make a scene at a solemn graveside service, you send me harassing and threatening emails, and you run to the internet to attempt to sell your make-believe side of the story.
You are a mentally ill, pathetic coward David Jenkinson. I assume you will once again send me an email challenging me to a fistfight and then not show up. Remember when you did that, David?
To the readers of this blog: You need to understand that David Jenkinson is not of sound mind by any measure. I was plenty pissed off when he started harassing my father, as would be any loyal and dedicated son. Then he started harassing ME. I may be my father’s son, but I’m my own person and I don’t appreciate being harassed by email and LinkedIn because of my who my parents are. Then he took to calling my mother at her workplace and brutally harassing her on the phone. If that wasn’t bad enough, yesterday he tried to rush my elderly aunt and uncle to use his vulgarity and threats against them. This is crossing a very serious, very wrong line. If you all want any credibility or have any honor, it’s time to explain to this psychopath what is ok and what is not ok. Harassing family members is WAY out of bounds and demonstrates that David Jenkinson isn’t trying to clarify the military record of what he perceives to be a phony veteran, but is actually a psychotic stalker OBSESSED with my family. It’s creepy, it’s sick, and it’s wrong. Stand up for what’s right and put this asshole in his place. It’s the just, honorable, and right thing to do.
May 29th, 2012 at 12:44 am
Post here are being provided to both political parties in Athens County. Sheriff Department and Athens County Prosecutors office. Both local newspapers; Athens News and Athens Messenger.
Martin claims to be sufering from PTSD and tells those who will listen, that he got his illness do to combat actions in Vietnam.
This Con Artist has faced local and state charges and used his combat crazed mind as an out.
Now thanks to efforts by members of this site, we have explained to hundreds about Martin’s one day Tour and his five day Tour off up to 100 miles from coast line of Vietnam.
I have been active in helping all Veterans including Vietnam Veterans for close to thirty years. I must have done some things right, in 1990 the Ohio State Council Vietnam Veterans of America chose me as their Veteran of the Year, many here know I did my service in USA and Germany during 11/65 and 11/68 in US Army. In 2000 I was Inducted into Legion of Honor at the Chapel of the Four Chaplains.
I left Memorial Day service today when I heard Martin dedicate today’s program to a lady I never met.
For over 30 years as Ladies Aux of the VFW Post 8804 she took part in every program. Two years ago today, Martin gave her a letter telling her services were not needed. Asking her to leave her life’s work that moment.
Her crime, she was assisting in exposing Martin as a Fraud. Several weeks ago she died after a good fight against cancer
and today Martin, knowning no one knew Truth offered up her name. One word comes to mind-Bastard. David M Jenkinson
May 29th, 2012 at 12:55 am
Mr. Lilyea,
Would you please delete or flush or burn or whatever you must do to get this thread out of here??? I love to come here to have a dialog with the regulars, even insipid, but this has become a bitch slapping match between two bitch slappers who I know nothing about nor care anything about. to me it’s getting irritating and I’m getting to old for that!
Thanks,
Yat Yas 1833
May 29th, 2012 at 2:41 am
Greetings: About the DD214, turns out a few Veterans in Athens County know that Kevin Martin has shown three different ones over the years.
Its clear he is nothing more than a phoney Vet. He has had since 1/74 to record proper DD 214 but because he has embellished his military record so much, he wants to detract from that so that he can continue to live the life of a phoney Vet.
YatYas 1833: No one is requiring you to read this thread. No one forces you to watch a TV show you do not wish.
Much good has come our way by getting Martin and his Son to post here. Give us a little more time and I’m certain all will be glad when this issue is closed. If you continue crying, visit my site at;
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/DavesDirtyRatBastardHuntingClub
You might find out your a better fit being known as a Dirty Rat Bastard. Just kidding. Dave