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Summary: WoW! Kerry is slime!!!
Review: This book by John Kerry's commanding officers in Vietnam tell the real story behind Kerry's so-called heroism. No wonder Kerry has personally kept his mouth shut about President Bush's honorable service in the Air National Guard. After reading this account of Mr. Kerry's "heroism", no American could vote for him as dog catcher, let alone President.Not really that well written, but this is a case where content outshines style.
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Summary: you'll never agailook at a boonie hat in quite the same way!
Review: Where to begin? Well, for openers, Burkett filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the military records of the famously liberal Dan Rather, anchor of the CBS Evening News. Recalling how Rather spent much of the 1990 campaign beating up on Dan Quayle for avoiding the Vietnam draft as a member of the National Guard, Burkett gleefully discovered that Rather himself hid out from the Korean War as a member of the Reserves. When he graduated from college in 1954, after the war was safely over, Rather joined the Marines and was discharged as medically unfit after four months. Of course, this doesn't stop Rather from proudly identifying himself as an ex-Marine! This by way of preface to a CBS documentary called "The Wall Within," in which Rather and his camera team prowled the Washington woods in search of "trip-wire vets" who were so crazed by their Vietnam experience that they could not safely live in society. Guess what? They were bogus. Of the CBS poster boys for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD), most never served in Vietnam, and those who did were in non-combat roles. Some of them didn't even live in the woods. (It's not just CBS, of course. David Brinkley, Linda Ellerbee, and other television notables also take their lumps.) And so it goes! After a few chapters, what surprises the reader is the chance occasion when a story turns out to be true. Are there any genuine Viet-vet horror stories out there? Take the gent whose photograh appeared in hundreds of newspapers across the country, sobbing manfully at the Traveling Wall on Memorial Day 1996, while outfitted in the standard-issue wannabe uniform of boonie hat, fatigues, and mismatched pins and patches. He was Roni DeJoseph of Brooklyn, who evidently never served in the U.S. military, never mind the Marine division in Vietnam that he claimed as his own. This is a fascinating book that may come into its own, now that service in and around that war (Bush's stint in the Texas Air Guard, Kerry's in the Vietnam Veterans Against the War) has become a political hot-button. It took me a long time to buy it, largely because it was self-published. My loss! If you're interested in the Vietnam War, PSTD, and the perennial but mysterious phenomenon of the fake war hero (or the even more amazing phenomenon of the fake anti-war hero), get a copy for yourself. By the time you've read a couple hundred pages--it's a long book--you'll find yourself wondering if anybody is what he says he is. -- Dan Ford
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Summary: yes, Powell was in combat!
Review: One of the reader reviews tries to discredit "Stolen Valor" by declaring that it is wrong in saying that Colin Powell served in combat in South Vietnam. But the reviewer is wrong! As a 25-year-old captain, Powell served a six-month tour as advisor to an ARVN battalion, starting in January 1963. The tour ended when he was med-evacked for a foot wound from a punji stick. It was only on his *second* Vietnam tour, in 1968, that 30-year-old Major Powell filled headquarters roles, having been identified as a "water-walker" and put on the fast track for advancement.
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Summary: Let us honor the REAL Vets...
Review: This is a real stand up and cheer book for Vets and their friends and families. A two-tour Army Nurse friend recommended it the last time I sent her an email ranting about Wannabees and fakes, and I am most grateful for the suggestion. Thanks, Chris. At a time when Vietnam Vets are finally beginning to receive something like the respect and recognition that they always deserved, this is the time to wage war on those who would cash in by pretending to have served. I am particularly angry with the fakes who have actually managed to receive State help as a result of their false claims. One of my American Red Cross Donut Dollie friends has suffered from PTSD ever since her tour with the 101st Airborne, yet because the ARC-DD girls were technically civilians, they are not entitled to Veteran status. Yet unlike the fakes and liars who try to sponge off the system, the DDs Hueyed around VN, supporting the troops in Fire Support Bases and Landing Zones, which were not the safest places on Earth. Another DD friend, who was with the 1st Infantry, once had such a narrow escape from the VC, that she could feel the door gunner's M-60 casings hitting her legs as she scrambled into the Huey. It is quite chilling to read the level of faking that actually goes on and has been documented. Everything from exaggerating medal earnings and combat records to out and out faking being a Vietnam Vet - in some cases, by draft dodgers, which is perhaps the ultimate insult. From coward to hero with one big lie. We have all met people whose stories don't quite gell - in my own case, I know one guy who is about two years too young to have seen service in Vietnam, and another who was supposedly on one of the hospital ships - about a year after the last one, the Sanctuary, went off station in 1971 (the Repose left in 1970). Uh huh. Some guys even reckoned to have toured in 1975 - quite a feat, considering the US Forces left in April 1973, after a frantic year of troop withdrawals in which the medical services went down to 2 Evac. Hospitals - the 95th and the 71st (after the 24th Evac. left in October 1972) and the US Army Hospital in Saigon. Scary time. Most real Vets can quote their unit down to the Company and platoon level in a flash. Rarely do real Vets mumble something vague about being 'Infantry'. If you'd been with the 25th or the 9th for example, you'd be proud of it, and say so. Yes, the Press have been very gullible in taking a lot of fakes and their lies at face value. Way back in John Kerry's protest days, there was supposedly a demo by 1,000 Vets, many of whom are now thought to have been Left Wing protesters - liars and fakes. Stolen Valor goes a long way towards raising awareness about these worms and in doing so, the authors are defending the honor of the true Vets. The courageous American men and women who EARNED the right to be called Vietnam Vets.
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Summary: Burkett is a Liar who Stole my Valor, Part 2 Addendum
Review: Amazon.com continues its deliberate campaign to diminish my authorship. The latest inexcusable example are the series of question marks inserted around every editorial quote, when they should be quotation marks. Amazon.com tries to cleverly ridicule my books by such "mistakes", but it is deliberate and mean-spirited. The truth is that Amazon is an Evil and dishonest corporation which resorts to demeaning tricks and libel in an organized effort to destroy my publications..
Shelby L. Stanton By posting Part 2 of my review, which clearly stated that Amazon.com continues to utilize their business facilities as a fulcrum to launch further libelous attacks on my character and credentials, Amazon.com as a corporate entity admits and fully warrants that it publishes libel against me as a free service to all misfits and accepts full legal responsibility for the outcome of any civil action I deem warranted against their firm. Now, that Amazon.com admits their full civil liability when I choose to take legal action against them, I further wish to further state that Burkett is such a Supreme Evil Liar that his many lies can be refuted on the very face of their lack of merit. For example, he claims that I, Shelby L. Stanton, was "even a disaster in training". How can that be, since I completed Infantry officers Course and Airborne School (that means a parachutist badge for those blockheads like Burkett who don't know what soldiering is really all about), concluded Ranger School as an average student (who never "bawled", as Burkett falsely claims), and also finished Army Special Forces officers Course in the upper third. How can this be a disaster? What a false claim from Burkett who rewrites history to Glorify War instead of telling the Truth -- that War is a Terrible Abomination of Mankind. Yet Burkett never completed one of these courses which I undertook and accomplished well, and yet this moron claims that I am a disaster. He is the Fool of Fools in his insane jealousy that propels his dishonest Revisionist History by smearing soldiers who performed better than he ever attempted. Furthermore, my words do not indict me. Burkett never printed my words, since I never spoke to him. The words he printed were either made up in their entirety or taken completely out of context when said to someone else (for example, the quotations about the downed plane were in reference to the liberal interpretation of a painting having nothing to do with me, for goodness sake). In another example, he persecutes me in the name of Jesus for no reason whatsoever! The great irony of this traitorous book written by the treasonous villain Burkett is that he pretends to uphold the honor of Vietnam veterans. Is this why my serve is ridiculed? Burkett received the Army's highest decoration for civilian service for spitting on a Vietnam veteran. Then he stated that the Vietnam veteran was the finest this country ever produced. Ever heard of our Revolutionary War heroes who starved and froze at Valley Forge? Ever heard of the relentless Union soldiers at Cold Harbor? Ever heard of the brave US infantrymen in Western Europe or the gallant Marines at Peleliu? Ever considered the determined fighters in Korea? No, Burkett compares himself as a rear-echelon "Palace Guard" as better than any of those men -- he is part of the "finest". I have never been spit on by a hippie but I have certainly been spit on in a literary context by a fellow Vietnam veteran.
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Summary: Reviewers Don't Know What They're Talking About!
Review: Several recent reviews have cast serious aspersions on Burkett's research and honor. That is ironic, given that "Stolen Valor" was given the Colby Award for Outstanding Military Book and that Burkett himself was presented with the U.S. Army's highest civilian award, the Distinguished Civilian Service Award, by former President George H.W. Bush on December 1, 2003. Such recognition is hardly indicative of poor scholarship! The review by Shelby Stanton is particularly galling, since he knows that Burkett "has the goods" on him and is able to document where he was and what he did during Viet Nam (it was not the stuff of which movies are made!). I have not seen any evidence that Stanton, a lawyer, has brought suit against Burkett for libel. What Burkett said about Stanton in "Stolen Valor" is a matter of record. If I were Stanton, I would withdraw myself from public view, given how he appropriated reams of classified military documents and stored them in an unsecure location for several years. Only the fact that the documents were declassified AFTER Stanton purloined them kept him out of serious difficulty. I would recommend to anyone interested in the Stanton case that they should read pages 435-443 of "Stolen Valor." Stanton stands condemned by his own words as much as by Burkett's. Regarding reviewer Latham's comments about PTSD and the VA, a recent blind study conducted on 100 randomly selected records of "totally-disabled" Viet Nam vets reveals an interesting statistic--60% of those individuals were never in combat at all, and a significant number of them were never in Viet Nam. The Department of Veterans Affairs is sitting on a scandal of monumental proportions, a scandal that should earn an enterprising reporter a Pulitzer Prize, such are its ramifications. Burkett is my hero, as he is for thousands of other Viet Nam veterans and lovers of honesty. "Stolen Valor" should be read by anyone with a desire to know how the courage of true heroes is besmirched every time some "wannabe" lies about what he did in the war. As a retired Navy SEAL officer who has spent countless hours exposing phony SEALs, I am indebted to Burkett for what he does to keep the phonies in the spotlight. Keep it up, my friend!
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Summary: There's nothing wrong with Burkett's and Whitley's research
Review: Gary Wright could have avoided all this difficulty if he had simply responded to Burkett's attempts to confirm his Viet Nam service. Wright, for whatever reason, refused to provide Burkett the information that would have avoided the ensuing confusion. It appears that Wright tried to make a case that he was a VN veteran when he was not and simply avoided having to admit that he was not. Mr. Burkett and Ms. Whitley have done the country a great service in writing "Stolen Valor." The Wright incident in no way detracts from their diligent pursuit of the truth; only Gary Wright knows why he failed to assist Burkett and Whitley in their search for the "real Gary Wright."
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Summary: Burkett is a Liar who Stole My Valor
Review: Since Amazon.com insists on continuing to reference Burkett's libelous and unsubstantiated pile of filthy lies to allow reviewers to accuse me publicly (and quite falsely) of being a Thief and Fake on their European sites, such as Amazon.de, allow me to tell everyone that Burkett is the Fake and deceitful Liar and that Amazon is in full collusion with this unethical and disgusting trashman, who robs honorable veterans of their service and mocks the country bumpkins who believe his knowingly unsupported garbage. Amazon.com itself is a Lying Organization. I am Shelby Stanton who served in Vietnam, Laos and Thailand and was decorated for advisory service in support of Cambodian troops. I have the Combat Infantryman's Badge and Purple Heart, as well as the Air Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Special Froces Tab, Ranger Tab, Scuba Badge, Parachutist Badge, Vietnam Campaign Medal and numerous other decorations. I never stole anything. I never plagarized anything. I never stated that I served two tours in Vietnam. Since I never talked to Burkett, I don't know how he made up his other quotes about me. Burkett is insanely jealous of my writings. Amazon is a libelous supporter of the Burkett's unjustified smear campaign against me and his mythology of the Vietnam war veteran. You are a crazy dupe to believe this treasonous anti-American named B.G. Burkett and his equally vicious and mentally disturbed co-author. You want to know about the real Rangers and real Green Berets. Read my books. I am the Real Thing. Burkett is a counterfeit traitor who only dreams of completing the tough training I conquered -- and without difficulty.
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Summary: An Excellent Myth Busting Book.
Review: Hats off to B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley for this amazing book. I would never imagined that some media corp. would decieve a lot of Americans at the expence of Vietnam Veterans. This book also discusses Phony Veterans posing as Vietnam Veterans or some Vietnam Veterans trying to be more than he/she is e.g. a man posing as a "Green Beret" may just be a cook in Vietnam (note there is nothing wrong being a cook). There are even famous celebrities who claim to be Vietnam Veterans but records do not support his claim. But the worst part of Phonies is that they stole Millions if not Billions of dollars of our tax payer money, again at the expence of real Vietnam Veterans. There is a lot more to tell you. But I reccomend you get this book you will love it.
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Summary: Thank you for writing this.
Review: Never was a book more necessary. I only wish that it had been written about 1980. Perhaps a tremendous amount of dishonesty could have been prevented. A snappy hand salute to the authors.
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