curious BDU

[mp44]

Don't know what to think about this one. I would appreciate any opinions.

Thanks in advance.

[mp44]

Don't know what to think about this one. I would appreciate any opinions.

Thanks in advance.

other views.

[easterneagle87]

Previous enlisted SEAL, went to WOC and then flight school. Not impossible but rare. Had a WO1 in the other company who was in the 2nd Ranger Bat., jumped into Panama. Pretty badged up. CIB, Senior Jump wings w/combat jump star, Air Assault, Aviator wings. Most Army folks earn their beauty badges in the first 4 to 6 years of their carrer. A lot happens when you're young!

[DutchInfid3l]

Speaking of oddities. I was eating lunch on Vandenberg the other day and noticed a TSgt. ABU walk by with a Military Free Fall Parachute Badge, Jump Wings and a Fire Protection badge. I wish I would've be of the mind to ask, "Hey, how'd you manage that?"

[hink441]

I don't understand the placement of the SEAL trident. I always understood that the higher up on the chest the higher the award/qual precedence. Is the Army saying a Navy SEAL is higher in precedence than an Army Aviator?

[Spathologist]

I've known 2 former-Seal-cum-Army-Aviators and both wore their Tridents over their wings.

[hink441]

I've known 2 former-Seal-cum-Army-Aviators and both wore their Tridents over their wings.

 

I would imagine that the SEALs would want to wear them that way, but I am surprised the Army lets them wear it above the USA wings.

[Spathologist]

I would imagine that the SEALs would want to wear them that way, but I am surprised the Army lets them wear it above the USA wings.

 

I don't know that it's addressed in regulation, but I imagine it could be considered in the same category as the EIB, which is worn above the wings.

[BEAR]

According to AR 670-1 the Navy SEAL badge is to be considered as a Group 4 badge (same as the Military Freefall Wings and Master Parachute Wings). The Army Aviator Wings are Group 3 badge so therefore a higher precedence. According to the regulation the Aviator Wings should be worn above the SEAL badge.

However, I wouldn't want to to be the one to tell a SEAL that those Army wings should be above his SEAL badge. Not good juju.

BEAR

[gwb123]

Speaking of oddities. I was eating lunch on Vandenberg the other day and noticed a TSgt. ABU walk by with a Military Free Fall Parachute Badge, Jump Wings and a Fire Protection badge. I wish I would've be of the mind to ask, "Hey, how'd you manage that?"

 

Probably did all of that fun stuff for awhile and then switched career fields.

 

This was not uncommon when people sustained injuries that prevented them from making further parachute jumps (spine, back, legs, etc.)

 

Of course, being a fire fighter is not without hazard as well!

[easterneagle87]

According to AR 670-1 the Navy SEAL badge is to be considered as a Group 4 badge (same as the Military Freefall Wings and Master Parachute Wings). The Army Aviator Wings are Group 3 badge so therefore a higher precedence. According to the regulation the Aviator Wings should be worn above the SEAL badge.

However, I wouldn't want to to be the one to tell a SEAL that those Army wings should be above his SEAL badge. Not good juju.

BEAR

 

I agree...it would be bad juju. Said the Shavetail Butterbar...Now lookie here!...You can't wear that "Navy" badge over your avaitor wings...It says right here in AR 670-1. Said the Seal to the 2LT, "with all do respect sir you can kiss my rump. Now let me pull my boot out of yours!" Won the battle , lost the war.

[mp44]

I agree...it would be bad juju. Said the Shavetail Butterbar...Now lookie here!...You can't wear that "Navy" badge over your avaitor wings...It says right here in AR 670-1. Said the Seal to the 2LT, "with all do respect sir you can kiss my rump. Now let me pull my boot out of yours!" Won the battle , lost the war.

Thanks guys,I did not know what to make of it.

[P-E]

Here's another one, a DCU jacket of the US Army with an USAF aircrew badge ;

 

 

 

 

I assume it's a similar change of career ?

[Golem]

Here's another one, a DCU jacket of the US Army with an USAF aircrew badge ;

 

http://i47.servurl.com/u/f47/13/87/79/34/url_2014.jpg

 

http://i47.servurl.com/u/f47/13/87/79/34/url_2015.jpg

 

http://i47.servurl.com/u/f47/13/87/79/34/url_2017.jpg

 

I assume it's a similar change of career ?

It's not that uncommon.

 

When I was in, I ran across several soldiers with Air Force or Navy skill badges.

[hink441]

When I was in they used to call these guys OSVETS (other service vets).

[P-E]

Just found an interesting story about a US army soldier who worn the SEAL trident...even if he wasn't authorized to wear it ! :pinch:

 

Army National Guard 2nd Lt. Douglas Sofranko, a former sailor, is seen wearing a black SEAL Trident insignia on his Army combat uniform. Sofranko, who washed out of SEAL training, told Navy Times lying about his special warfare experience was due to "poor judgment."

 

"Soldier washed out of BUD/S but wore Trident

 

By Mark D. Faram - Staff writer

Posted : Monday Aug 9, 2010 10:46:44 EDT

 

Second Lt. Douglas Sofranko has spent the last year impressing his fellow soldiers in the Florida Army National Guard with stories of his days as a Navy SEAL, while proudly wearing the distinctive Trident insignia on his Army uniform. He even had the SEAL Creed hung on the wall of his office.

 

The problem is, it was all a lie.

 

The 33-year-old Army officer and former enlisted sailor, who works at the Ballard Armory in Miami as rear support for the Guard’s 1st Battalion, 124th Infantry, did attend Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training in Coronado, Calif., in 1996. But according to Naval Special Warfare Command, he washed out of training. His class graduated without him in February 1997.

 

“He did not complete training, and he is not authorized to wear the Trident insignia,” said Lt. Cate Wallace, spokeswoman for Naval Special Warfare Command.

 

Sofranko, who left the Navy in 1999, joined the Pennsylvania National Guard and later received his Army commission Aug. 17, 2009, has lived his SEAL lie for much of the last year, sources with his Army unit said. Recently, unit members became suspicious of his claims and started making inquiries.

 

Navy Times reached Sofranko by telephone at his Miami office Aug. 4. The officer initially denied wearing the SEAL insignia on his Army uniform.

 

“I do not,” he said when asked if he wears the SEAL Trident badge on his uniform.

 

But his story changed once he was told of a photograph showing him wearing the Trident on his Army combat uniform.

 

“OK, I have on occasion,” Sofranko said.

 

When asked when he last wore it, he said, “it was a few days ago.” However, sources in the office tell Navy Times he was wearing the insignia the day of the telephone interview.

 

Sofranko admitted he never graduated from BUD/S training and, when asked why he would wear a badge he did not rate, he answered: “No excuse, really. Just poor, poor judgment.”

 

He refuted co-workers’ claims that he told them he was a SEAL. “I stated that I had been to the training,” he said.

What price could he pay?

 

According to the Florida National Guard, Sofranko could face disciplinary action if found guilty of wearing the Trident.

 

Sofranko’s battalion, and the rest of the Florida-based 53rd Brigade Combat Team, is deployed with units in Kuwait and Iraq. Sofranko, who is working for the Guard on a yearlong recall, is part of the rear detachment handling pay, personnel and logistics issues.

 

Though Guardsmen on state duty aren’t subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, they do fall under their state’s military codes, according to A.J. Artley, spokesman for the Florida National Guard, in a written response to questions.

 

Under Florida code, “Wearing an unauthorized award or insignia is a prohibited act,” he wrote.

 

“We are currently in the beginning stages of investigating what, if any, misconduct has been committed by this soldier,” Artley wrote. “If he is found guilty of misconduct, the unit commander would be the one to determine punishment.

 

“Punishment could range from making sure ... Sofranko doesn’t wear the award again and a written reprimand, to fines or any number of punishments.”

 

Sources said Sofranko began telling SEAL stories around the office about a year ago. He claimed to have been both an active and reserve SEAL who was called on “from time to time” to go on missions.

 

One soldier who declined to named because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the situation said Sofranko told him such a story after he asked about the Trident insignia.

 

“He told me it was a naval special warfare device worn by qualified SEALs,” the source said. “He was very convincing and obviously knew a lot about the subject matter, especially the training.”

 

It was these types of stories to subordinates, peers and his superiors that initially prompted his leadership to encourage Sofranko to wear the SEAL insignia, the sources said. What’s unclear is how those leaders communicated this message, or whether they checked official records to verify Sofranko’s eligibility to wear the pin.

 

“After a review of his records, there does not appear to be any documentation or certificates of course completion of any kind for the prerequisite BUD/S [training],” Artley wrote. “However, we do not have complete copies of his prior service record with the Navy or the Pennsylvania National Guard, as this is not a requirement for enlistment.”

‘AWOL from the time he joined’

 

After washing out of BUD/S, according to his Navy records, Sofranko — then a radioman — spent three years at a radio station in Hawaii and was discharged in Oct. 24, 1999, as an RM3.

 

In June 2000, he enlisted in the Pennsylvania National Guard and was assigned to Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 111th Infantry. Two years later, Sofranko received a general discharge under honorable conditions for unsatisfactory participation, meaning he missed too many drills and other training periods.

 

“He was basically AWOL from the time he joined,” said Sgt. Matt Jones, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania National Guard. “He never made an annual training period that we can see, and he was discharged as an E-3.”

 

But Sofranko was given another chance.

 

In April 2007, he got a waiver from the Florida National Guard despite his poor Pennsylvania service and was allowed to join in Florida as an E-4. Artley said waivers like this are common in the Guard and are based on a review of the member’s service record and personal interviews.

 

A year later, Sofranko entered the Florida National Guard Officer Candidate Program, graduating one year ago.

 

Sofranko, while talking to Navy Times, said he planned to confess to his fellow soldiers.

 

“I’ll make sure I relay to my co-workers that they know what happened,” he said. “It’s pretty stupid on my part. That’s all I can say.”"

 

Pictures and informations from : http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/08/navy..._faker_080910w/

[P-E]

And here's another similar story :

 

 

"Fake SEAL accuses soldiers of torture

 

21 DEC 2004

 

VeriSEAL

TAMPA, Florida - A former California National Guard soldier who accused others in his unit of torturing Iraqi prisoners may have military justice problems of his own.

 

Frank "Greg" Ford claims to have witnessed members of his National Guard battalion torturing Iraqi prisoners while his unit was stationed in Samarra in 2003, according to David DeBatto, a former National Guard Tactical HUMINT Team (THT) member and author of a story titled "Whitewashing Torture" published on a far left web site in early December.

 

DeBatto says that Ford reported the alleged abuse to his commanding officer and, hours later, was strapped to a gurney and flown out of Iraq for psychiatric evaluation. According to Army sources contacted by VeriSEAL, an informal investigation pursuant to Rules for Courts-Martial was conducted in response to Ford's allegations and the allegations were determined to be unfounded. Ford was medevaced from Iraq only after exhibiting what was described as delusional behavior.

 

Ford's claims of torture and abuse witnessed while in Iraq are not the only contentious issues surrounding him. Over the years he has made numerous unsubstantiated claims including being a medical doctor, a Navy SEAL, and a member of President Nixon's security detail. In May 2003, Ford claimed to know the exact whereabouts of Saddam Hussein and Ali Hassan al-Majid known as "Chemical Ali". Hussein and al-Majid were not located and captured until many months later.

 

Just prior to his battalion's deployment to Iraq, Ford was photographed at Fort Lewis in Washington state wearing unauthorized insignia on his Battle Dress Uniform. The insignia -- a Navy SEAL Trident -- is authorized to be worn only by qualified U.S. Navy SEALs, something Ford is not and never was.

 

While in Iraq, Ford also claims to have saved the life of a wounded soldier. According to sources familiar with the incident, sworn affidavits from medics and other witnesses at the scene say Ford did nothing more than hold the wounded soldier's IV bag.

 

As for wearing a Navy SEAL "budweiser" on his Army uniform, Ford has said he attended a discontinued BUD/S program for Navy corpsmen in the 1980s and was a "medic" assigned to a Navy SEAL team. While there once was such a program for SEAL corpsmen who, at the time, were precluded by the Geneva Conventions from attending BUD/S, Navy records held by VeriSEAL do not list Ford among the graduates of that program.

 

"The subdued Trident on his BDUs is easily recognizable by any Naval Special Warfare personnel as the SEAL breast insignia," says Kent Dillingham, a retired Navy SEAL who is the founder and project director of VeriSEAL. "He wasn't a SEAL. He wasn't authorized to wear it. Period."

 

Dillingham, a 30-year veteran of the active duty military, recently retired after returning from deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan with a Naval Special Warfare unit.

 

David DeBatto acknowledges that while in Iraq he personally did not witness any incidents similar to those reported by Ford. He maintains "every army psychiatrist diagnosed Sergeant Ford as completely normal with absolutely no psychological or mental health issues whatsoever."

 

DeBatto is currently writing a work of fiction based on Army counter-intelligence which is said due to be published in 2005.

 

Ford is reportedly close to retirement as a prison guard at California's Folsom State Prison. He claims to have retired with 30 years service in the Navy, Coast Guard and Army. VeriSEAL researchers are puzzled as to how he could have spent 30 years in the armed forces along with a presumed 20-year career as a prison guard. It is not known if the Army is investigating Ford's UCMJ violations or false military qualification claims. Wearing unauthorized insignia is a violation of both military and federal law and is punishable by up to six months in jail.

 

Ford could not be reached for comment."

 

pictures and story from : http://sec-global.com/services/ctp/vsg/news/041218.html