Actually, I'm looking to out a fake...
... so if I'm in the wrong forum, my apologies to the mods. Please steer me to the right place as needed.
Preliminaries: I am not a Marine. My military service was in submarines 1981-1985. But as an Academy grad I was certainly indoctrinated into the history of the Corps and respect the institution as much as anyone.
Here's my issue:
I was solicited for an investment advisory service by a guy who calls himself "the Mad Hedge Fund Trader". I was mildly interested, especially since he seems to have quite an extensive breadth of experience. But after a few minutes reviewing his biography and many of his blog posts, I began to have my doubts.
Here is the bio statement he made that caused my BS-meter to peg on HIGH:
"With the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, Thomas was drafted by the US Marine Corp to serve as a pilot."
Yeah, I know: huh? Drafted? In 1990-91? And as a pilot?
And that's not all. One of his speaker bios says:
"In Operation Desert Storm he flew special ops as a combat pilot for the US Marine Corps."
It goes on and gets dumber and more infuriating, such as a Veteran's Day post in which he speaks of "putting on my faded Marine fatigues".
Fatigues.
Anyhow this guy pulls a lot of money from subscribers and attendees to his events and has managed to create a persona for himself on CNBC and other outlets, and it makes me furious.
Is there a way to prove/disprove any of the following without a FOIA request:
commissioning
graduation from TBS
qualification as a USMC C-130 Pilot
award of the SASM
The furthest I've ever gone to out a fake was to scold a dude at the airport wearing a beret, USMC dress blues, numerous USN Officer warfare specialty pins, a CIB and a rack of ribbons that would've put Zhukov to shame. That was easy. But this guy is web-savvy and moneyed. Every time I call him out in investor forums he gets me banned. I need hard info.
If anyone can assist or steer me to sources, I'd be grateful.
[Please know that I've done some searches here on the site already looking for ways to address this and the results that I've found haven't been helpful yet. Mea Culpa if my google fu was weak.]
Again: if the post is misplaced, let me know and I'll be quick to move it.
Best to all.