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| Army Honors Man Who Exposed Fake War Records |
| 2003-12-02 |
| A Vietnam veteran who exposed more than 1,200 people trying to capitalize on bogus or inflated Vietnam war records has been saluted with a military honor. B.G. "Jug" Burkett received the Army’s Distinguished Civilian Service Award (search) on Monday from former President George H.W. Bush at the Bush Library in College Station. If you’ve heard of Mr. Burkett, this is very good news. "He exposed a mass distortion of history that cost taxpayers billions of dollars" in undeserved veterans benefits, said John W. Nicholson, an undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (search). "He returned to the Vietnam veterans their good name." He tried. Of course, there are those who will fight to the end of their days to prevent such a thing. Burkett’s mission began in 1986 with his efforts to raise funds for the Texas Vietnam Veterans Memorial (search) in Dallas. Many people refused to donate, Burkett said, because they believed they would be helping drug-abusing psychopaths with no desire to work or contribute to society. Burkett started his own research to find out who fought in Vietnam and to debunk some of the myths about Vietnam veterans. Through the work, he exposed more than 1,200 people, including politicians and entertainers, who lied about or exaggerated their claims of serving in the Vietnam War. Mr. Burkett also goes after guys with bogus claims of military service (including claims of heroism) in other wars besides Vietnam. For example: You’ll often hear that Dan Rather is an "ex-Marine" -- actually, he failed Marine basic training. To be fair, I’ve never heard that Rather has actually made the claim to have been a Marine. "I’m a little overwhelmed because none of what I’ve done exceeded just doing my duty," said Burkett, a financial adviser who served in Vietnam in the late 1960s. Burkett loudly points out to everyone that he had a non-combat role in Vietnam, by the way. Burkett said he’s happy to receive the Army’s award because it will help bring the right type of attention to his comrades. "It brings the focus back to the message," he said. "And the message basically is that the people who served in Vietnam are the finest troops we ever produced." Not all his research has to do with exposing fake veterans. In a 1998 book, "Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History," Burkett and co-author Glenna Whitley challenged the belief that young and poor minority draftees fought and died in higher numbers in Vietnam. They found that 75 percent of those killed were volunteers, not draftees. I recommend Mr. Burkett’s book -- which is both about the myths of Vietnam and the phenomenon of phoney veterans. I found it utterly fascinating. The website for the book is: here. |
| Posted by:Patrick Phillips |
| #3 I read Mr. Burkett's book and it was a fine tribute to those who served and an indictment to all the swine who pretended to. It is not uncommon to be in a bar and run into some fool who claims to be a Green Beret/Force Recon/Ranger/LRRP/Recondo/SEAL/AirCommando but doesn't know which is the business end of an M-16. The fascinating thing about the book is that people in "public life" actually do it. As if no one would find out? Stupid. And for what benefit? When I came back from 3d Force Recon in 1969, claiming 'vietveteranness' was NOT the way to popularity or advancement. Although the book was wonderfully done, it raised my blood pressure with the people who would steal what little respect might have been due to my veteran friends both living and dead. |
| Posted by: Sgt.DT 2003-12-2 7:28:25 PM |
| #2 I applaud this man for what he is doing and what has been done. As mentioned, not all of us in that era had combat jobs even if we were in country. Years after my service I was relating my glorious military career to a friend from Yugoslavia about how the more I volunteered the further I got from danger. Let me tell you folks I was one of the deadliest operators of a remmington manual typewriter in Phan Rang. The main professor in the lab, even after he had heard of my military mis-adventures, told my wife one day that I was "a ticking time-bomb". Again, hats off to Mr. Burket. |
| Posted by: Jim K 2003-12-2 2:14:12 PM |
| #1 Hat's off to this man. My dad is a Vietnam Vet and before he retired I met MANY other Vietnam Vets. Guess what? They are just like anybody else. They ONLY people who decry their military service are those who seek to bolster their argument. For instance many lefty loons like to use the tag line ‘Vietnam era Vet’ and yes this is a classification by the veterans administration. However, they were not in or near Southeast Asia. They could have served in San Antonio Texas and still have this ‘designation.’ Very few people that I work with (I work with Veterans groups) use that designation when talking about their military service. Not that they are ashamed of NOT being there, it’s out of respect of those that DID serve. BTW I ‘served’ in the USAF for 20 years 1980-2000, in case you were wondering where I am coming from. . |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2003-12-2 12:53:11 PM |