FIX BAYONETS!

…like a woman scorned; or so the old canard goes. But a woman lied to is frequently worse. Especially if she feels like someone she trusts/loves has made a fool of her. Tie that in with a Stolen Valor type of scumbag and you get a website like this one.

http://www.dramarillo.com/faq.html

Mr. McClanahan’s second wife was a bit too proud of her hero husband and felt that he should be honored for his heroism. According to an Army Times article in the 30 July edition, (http://www.dramarillo.com/ArmyTimes.pdf); she arranged to have him included in a celebration of veterans. Because of his many decorations, he was even selected to be the keynote speaker. Then it fell apart.

One of the many veterans working the event noticed something that was just a bit wrong and people started looking closer. The tissue of lies immediately fell apart. Now in the know, he was turned in by his wife and is now facing federal charges under the “Stolen Valor Act”, which could result in several years in prison and fines of over $100,000.

Salient facts were (as shown in FOIA documents here: http://www.dramarillo.com/mcclanahan.zip) that McClanahan had enlisted in the Navy, then was released to join the Army in Spring of 2001. His Enlisted Record Brief appears to show that he entered the Aviation Warrant Program at Ft. Rucker but obviously didn’t complete it, as he was next assigned as a medic at the same post.

Following Rucker, he had a tour in Korea and then was reassigned to Ft. Hood. One of the other documents shows a reassignment in April of 2005, destination unnamed, but with a copy to the Cdr, III Corps Legal Division. The final document shows a transfer for discharge in July 2005, as a Private E-1. Now, only two years later, he’s strutting around wearing Master Sergeant stripes and a chest full of medals that he says “were misplaced by the Government.”

His promotion to MSG (from PV1, mind you) was “meritorious”, and was supported by “letters” from the Secretary of Defense and the President. The actual citation was apparently written by one “General Thomas Thurman”, who doesn’t show up at all with a Google search. See, http://www.dramarillo.com/nominationletters.pdf

When he originally returned home from Korea, he had a Silver Star about which his first wife said, “He said he couldn’t talk about it.” She also stated in the Army Times article that he was given an Other than Honorable Discharge for wearing unearned decorations.Here’s what he claims to have earned: Navy:
2 Navy Achievement Medals
1 Navy Good Conduct Medal
Army:
1 Medal of Honor
3 Silver Stars
3 Purple Hearts
1 Legion of Merit
1 Meritorious Service Medal
2 Army Commendation Medals
3 Army Achievement Medals
Iraq Campaign Medal
Combat Action Ribbon
3 Combat Medic Badges
Special Forces Tab Parachutist Badge Foreign Jump wings

HALO Military Freefall
Pictured wearing CPL, SSG and SFC/MSG Rank.

Most of these are given the lie by the DD-214 from 2005 but others are easily checked. He won’t be able to provide any proper documentation for most of these, because he bought most of what he has.The most obvious falsehood is his claim for the Medal of Honor. The Army maintains a list of ALL MOH recipients at http://www.army.mil/cmh/moh.html. It’s hard to get lost in the crowd, because only two have been awarded for