Stolen Valor law thrown out by Supreme Court

[Pono Aloha]

Well, it's now legal for anyone (including plastic shamans) to lie about their military service. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-medal-valor-20120629,0,4032290.story The case did not involve someone who lied in order to obtain money. Presumably that is still illegal under ordinary fraud law.

[Epiphany]

This is relevant to researching Buck Ghosthorse (among others) -  the paid obituary for him states "In 2006, he received a Native American Medal of Honor for his military service in Vietnam.".

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aJk8AAAAIBAJ&sjid=JfcFAAAAIBAJ&pg=906,4420585&dq=buck-ghost-horse&hl=en

[wolfhawaii]

The only Native American medal I am aware of is called the Warriors Medal of Valor and is the project of Marshall Tall Eagle  Serna; it can be given to any veteran by anyone/any organization who wishes to purchase the medals and present them. I got mine from Marshall in 2006 on Oahu. I disagree with the SCOTUS decision re: the Stolen Valor Act being held to be unconstitutional , as there are far too many people out there posing as veterans and award winners for personal gain.

[Pono Aloha]

Agree, wolfhawaii. So many of these plastic shamans "pile on" by claiming not only to be kahunas and medicine men and members of different tribes and decorated veterans. Shame. But I think if they literally do it for personal gain, e.g. advertise being a decorated vet on a website promoting a class, then they still can be sued for ordinary fraud. They just can't be sued under the (now defunct) Stolen Valor Act which prohibited false claims independent of any commercial benefit.

[dabosijigwokush]

My personal fealing on this is total disgust
It makes the valor mean nothing, It makes the awarding of metals for valor totaly in vain
any one in question you should file a  Standard Form 180 (SF-180)

All military discharge records requests go through the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), a division of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, via a Standard Form 180 (SF-180) Request Pertaining to Military Records or the NPRC's online eVetRecs system.

Read more: How to Get a Copy of Military Discharge Papers | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_5681545_copy-military-discharge-papers.html#ixzz1zPGouP3T

then read it out loud at any event the frauds show up at, public embarrassment is a strong deterent

[dabosijigwokush]

It takes the heart of a Warrior to find deception and take it down

report a fake

http://www.stolenvalor.com/

[Epiphany]

Using Buck Ghost Horse (Leonard Albert Mattern) as a case study, since he still has many followers and his paid obit says he was given a "Native American Medal of Honor for his military service in Vietnam":

I think the medal shown here is a Medal of Honor http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq61-3.htm and the list titled "Native American Medal of Honor Recipients" means this is a list of Medal of Honors given to NDNS - not that this is a different type of medal. He isn't listed there under either of his names.

Or here: Medal of Honor Vietnam A - L http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/vietnam-a-l.html
                                                   M - Z http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/vietnam-m-z.html

Neither of his names are listed there either.

Personally, I wish the Stolen Valor Act had not been struck down. Fortunately although it now isn't illegal for frauds to lie in this manner, there are still ways we can fact check.

[wolfhawaii]

http://www.lvintertribalpowwow.com/MarshallTalleagle.shtml

Here is a link that has info regarding the Warriors Medal of Valor.

[Epiphany]

Based upon the 2012 Supreme Court Decision, false Military Career Claims and awarding of Medals fall under the First Amendment's Doctrine of Free Speech. Therefore, unless the individual making the false claims uses those false claims or Medals to gain anything of material or monetary value, they cannot be prosecuted for Stolen Valor, but can be prosecuted for Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices or the Attempt to do so.

Latest info on http://www.stolenvalor.com/index.cfm