Jonny Kim solos the T-6

[GroundPounder]

View attachment 35677
Met this guy a week or so ago. Most recently a Reserve JAG Officer. Yes, that is a Ranger tab. Can't make out the other shoulder tab. I met him in a flight suit. Had me scratching my head. There is a story, but it still makes me wonder.

The red patch on his left shoulder is the Special Forces Operations insignia. The " Airborne " tab is a part of that patch and it appears as if he wearing the " Ranger " tab and above that " Special Forces " Those are displayed correctly. The oval cloth patch under his jump wings does not appear to be from the 160th, but it is hard to tell in that picture.

The branch insignia that he is wearing are Aviation, not JAG. In addition, he would have had to have been either in an Infantry or Special Forces unit in order to have earned his CIB. Not super rare to have done so prior to going Aviation, but it does perk your eye.




The green tabs that he has under his unit insignia are for leaders, and to the best of my knowledge stopped being worn in 2017. It's possible some units wear them unofficially, my firsthand knowledge is 33 years out of date

The unit insignia that he is wearing on his right side, above the foreign jump wings is that of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment ( Airborne ) , commonly known as the Night Stalkers.

The wings he is wearing should be below his CIB, as that is a group 1 badge, the wings are group 3. So that is wrong.

The airborne wings, pathfinder badge, diver badge and air assault wings are correct, but the diver badge is the old style. It could be that folks continue to wear the style they earned originally, I don't know. The new badge came on line in 2004.


The uniform itself is the old Class A, which has been replaced by the blue jacket and pants. I don't think anyone wears the greens anymore. Again, I could be wrong.

If this guy is on the up and up, he has been there and done that. I make no claim that he has not, but it does seem a little off.

 

[Griz882]

View attachment 35677
Met this guy a week or so ago. Most recently a Reserve JAG Officer. Yes, that is a Ranger tab. Can't make out the other shoulder tab. I met him in a flight suit. Had me scratching my head. There is a story, but it still makes me wonder.

I’ll tell you…I’m getting a real “stolen valor” vibe from this troop. SF, Ranger, aviator (with the 160th), wearing green “leader” tabs as a JAG, not wearing the right officer insignia, He is wearing ODS campaign medals (and the MNPKF from Lebanon, 1980’s), a combat jump (but where? Panama?). It could all be real, but he’d be one really old major.

 

[jmcquate]

I’ll tell you…I’m getting a real “stolen valor” vibe from this troop. SF, Ranger, aviator (with the 160th), wearing green “leader” tabs as a JAG, not wearing the right officer insignia, He is wearing ODS campaign medals (and the MNPKF from Lebanon, 1980’s), a combat jump (but where? Panama?). It could all be real, but he’d be one really old major.

And those lapel devices look like USAAF insignia.

 

[skybert]

I’ll tell you…I’m getting a real “stolen valor” vibe from this troop. SF, Ranger, aviator (with the 160th), wearing green “leader” tabs as a JAG, not wearing the right officer insignia, He is wearing ODS campaign medals (and the MNPKF from Lebanon, 1980’s), a combat jump (but where? Panama?). It could all be real, but he’d be one really old major.

And…. He has his hands in his £^¥§ing pockets!

 

[JoeBob1788]

That’s the wrong dive bubble too. Army gets the Combat Diver Badge, he has a SCUBA bubble. Unless he was one of the few army engineers that go to NDSTC. Haters will say it’s fake…

He’s fake.

EDIT: good luck getting a guy with a real USASOC shoulder patch to wear everything in public voluntarily.

 

[Griz882]

That’s the wrong dive bubble too. Army gets the Combat Diver Badge, he has a SCUBA bubble. Unless he was one of the few army engineers that go to NDSTC. Haters will say it’s fake…

He’s fake.

EDIT: good luck getting a guy with a real USASOC shoulder patch to wear everything in public voluntarily.

In the olden days that was the “scuba” device before all the daggers and such came out…but I still think he is a fake.

 

[Griz882]

And those lapel devices look like USAAF insignia.

Those are army aviation branch insignia.

 

[Griz882]

Props to this guy for not going full on Medal of Honor, DFC, 300 Air Medals and all…but there is something not right here. Maybe he had a very, very long break in service?

 

[wink]

If this guy is a fraud he will be found out real soon. He showed up as a new member of the AAHF at one of our static display events. Our members will sniff him out real quick. But I am sure no one has seen that picture (don't know when it was taken). He has been seen in civies or a flight suit. He has to be a legit Army pilot or they would have figured that out right away. How common is public "exaggerated" valor in vets? Pretty ballsy to join an organization of combat vets and try and pull off a fraud. Story is he was prior enlisted, Desert Storm. Pick up AWOC and became a Dust Off pilot flying Blackhawks. Got out. Earned a JD in the early 2000s. Joined the Reserves as a JAG. Got recalled to Afghanistan as a JAG. I asked if he had retired from the Guard or Reserve and he said "no". All that could fit the uniform, I guess.

I had a bad vibe from him at the start. While sitting next to him I googled him and checked the state bar. That is how I got the picture. Even I noticed the branch insignia, and 160th stuff. Does the 160th even have dedicated in house Dust Off? The beret flash is red for SpecOps. If not a Panama jump (too young) I suppose the only other opportunity would be a secret squirrel thing. Gunna wear a device for a secret op?

I tell you what, that guy is NOTHING like the Army Special Forces or SEALs I have met. Even giving him credit for age, he does not seem the type. Just not serious or professional enough. Too superficial.

 

[Renegade One]

WTF...are you KIDDING me?!? No SEAL/Astronaut wings? What the "F" is the Uniform Board doing about this???

 

[Griz882]

If this guy is a fraud he will be found out real soon. He showed up as a new member of the AAHF at one of our static display events. Our members will sniff him out real quick. But I am sure no one has seen that picture (don't know when it was taken). He has been seen in civies or a flight suit. He has to be a legit Army pilot or they would have figured that out right away. How common is public "exaggerated" valor in vets? Pretty ballsy to join an organization of combat vets and try and pull off a fraud. Story is he was prior enlisted, Desert Storm. Pick up AWOC and became a Dust Off pilot flying Blackhawks. Got out. Earned a JD in the early 2000s. Joined the Reserves as a JAG. Got recalled to Afghanistan as a JAG. I asked if he had retired from the Guard or Reserve and he said "no". All that could fit the uniform, I guess.

I had a bad vibe from him at the start. While sitting next to him I googled him and checked the state bar. That is how I got the picture. Even I noticed the branch insignia, and 160th stuff. Does the 160th even have dedicated in house Dust Off? The beret flash is red for SpecOps. If not a Panama jump (too young) I suppose the only other opportunity would be a secret squirrel thing. Gunna wear a device for a secret op?

I tell you what, that guy is NOTHING like the Army Special Forces or SEALs I have met. Even giving him credit for age, he does not seem the type. Just not serious or professional enough. Too superficial.

The 160th doesn’t do dedicated “dust off” but they can readily rescue damaged toys and do have medics assigned to specific ships so that is possible - but “dust off” pilot isn’t a standard 160th assignment.. The only jumps he could have made are Grenada or Panama. There was a jump in ODS, but it was a single SFODA and a HALO so he’d have to be one of 12 guys (ask him what SF ODA he was in…if he says 074 he is probably real). His beret flash looks like 1st Battalion 160th SOAR. His rank and certain badges are throwing me off. To jump in ODS (1991) he would have had to enlist no later than 1987 to fit in all the specialized training he shows - that is certainly possible. But when did he go to WOCS? To wear the Master Aviator wings he would need 7 operational flying years and 1000 hours of flight time. Again, possible but pretty tight but not impossible if he was a WO. I’d like to know why he is wearing the wrong branch insignia, not wearing the correct shoulder patch for his unit, and wearing a long out of date uniform! If he is a major and a JAG…fine…but dress for the job.

 

[wink]

How long ago was that uniform hung up? I don't know how old the photo is, but judging from his face, it wasn't more than a couple years ago. Then again, regs do allow you to wear the uniform of your service as a vet for certain special occasions.

The aviator wings have just the star, so that would be Senior vis Master, correct? I am certain his flight suit had the senior aviator wings.

So I guess Pathfinder, scuba, helicopter assault and airborne would be picked up as part of Special Forces and Ranger training. The 160th SOAR and combat jump is what is really stumping me. He had a Dust Off patch on his flight suit and that is what he told me he flew.

On top of it all, he is no longer practicing law. He just got hired as a customer operations suit at an airline HQ.

 

[Griz882]

I don’t know. Seems fishy. Best case scenario he is just sloppy about his decorations, rank, badges,…I did a little research and figured out the following to “potentially” make it possible.

Enlisted in US Army in 1987 and goes to Airborne and 82nd ABN Division.
Gets selected for SF in 1989 and runs a flawless training pipeline.
While assigned to 10th SFG (ODA 074) he makes the one and only HALO drop into Iraq during ODS in 1991 (to get his combat jump).
Selected for WOCS in 1992.
Completes WOCS and army flight school and is assigned to an Air Ambulance Company in late 1993.
Manages 500 flying hours between 1993 and 1995 (required for joining SOAR) and pulls in all his HAC training.
Assigned to 1st Battalion 160th SOAR until late 2000 (7 years operational flying for Master Av badge).
Leaves army in 2000 or early 2001.
Law school, joins reserves, JAG school (commissioned as O-3 at best) by 2004.

So, yeah, it could work. His ribbon rack doesn’t tell that story for that kind of experience but it is distantly possible. His uniform is a complete shit show. As a WO in the late ‘90’s he would have worn WO branch insignia, not aviator. As a lawyer he wasn’t aviation branch assigned. I’m still not convinced but who knows?

 

[JoeBob1788]

He doesn’t have HALO wings, and his Purple Heart is out of order. His NDSM doesn’t have a star… It doesn’t add up at all.

I’ve met three people who when they heard I was Navy started talking about being SEALs… when I asked good questions and they learned I was on an NSW platoon they back pedaled and left pretty quickly. You’d be shocked at how common it is. Full uniform is less common but you still see it. Dead give away a guy is probably real… everything adds up easily. Here it does not.

 

[Griz882]

He doesn’t have HALO wings, and his Purple Heart is out of order. His NDSM doesn’t have a star… It doesn’t add up at all.

I’ve met three people who when they heard I was Navy started talking about being SEALs… when I asked good questions and they learned I was on an NSW platoon they back pedaled and left pretty quickly. You’d be shocked at how common it is. Full uniform is less common but you still see it. Dead give away a guy is probably real… everything adds up easily. Here it does not.

I feel ya, but HALO wings didn’t exist back in the 1990’s. But, you are right about his decorations….they are a mess. I can’t tell what is before his PH but I do wonder how a senior aviator could have only two Army Commendation medals.