Sgt. David Budwah: Fake hero gets jail time, big-time fine

[CommunityEditor]

SABILLASVILLE, Md. — On a sultry day in July 2008, Marine Sgt. David W. Budwah strode in his battle fatigues to the front of a picnic pavilion to tell three dozen young boys what he did during the war.

With his clear gaze, rigid posture and muscled, tattooed arms, Budwah looked every inch the hero he claimed to be. He said he was on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan when a homemade grenade exploded, wounding his face and arm when he dove to shield a buddy from the blast.

He urged the boys, ages 9-12, to take pride in themselves, their country and its warriors.

“We’re here to make sure of the freedom you have every day,” Budwah told his audience at Camp West Mar, a wooded American Legion compound about 60 miles northwest of Washington.

Spencer Shoemaker, then 10, was so impressed he had his picture taken with Budwah and kept a treasured newspaper clipping about the visit.

“What he said made me feel like I wanted to join the Marines,” Spencer said.

But the Marines say Budwah is a liar, a fraud and a thief. They are court-martialing the 34-year-old Springhill, La., native, alleging he was never in Afghanistan, wasn’t wounded and didn’t earn the combat medals he wore — or the many privileges he enjoyed.

Budwah joined the Marines in October 1999 and spent nearly all of the next six years with a radio communications unit in Okinawa, Japan, according to the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va., where Budwah has been stationed since February 2006.

Phony heroes aren’t unusual. Thousands of complaints pour in annually to the FBI and civilian groups about impostors flaunting store-bought medals.

Their very prevalence exposes something else — a nation so eager to embrace its war fighters, especially the wounded, that it sometimes fails to discern between the real heroes and the fakes.

“In every society in history, the warrior is glorified,” said phony-hero debunker B.G. “Jug” Burkett of Plano, Texas. “The second you say you’re a warrior who has performed heroically in combat, everybody perceives you differently.”

Burkett, 65, a Vietnam veteran and author of the 1998 book, “Stolen Valor,” said the urge to honor the wounded can cloud one’s judgment.

“I tell reporters that when you’ve got a guy who’s vocal — ‘Let me tell you how I won my Silver Star’ — your antenna should go up,” Burkett said. “The real guys typically don’t talk about it.”

Budwah’s case is remarkable because he is an active-duty Marine facing military justice, not a civilian charged with wearing unearned medals. Of nearly 3,100 courts-martial last year in the four major armed services, only 27 were trials for wearing illegal decorations. Just two involved Marines.

Prosecutors say Budwah wore unauthorized medals and accepted VIP invitations to rock concerts, major-league baseball games, banquets and other events meant to fete wounded warriors.

He faked post-traumatic stress disorder in hopes of leaving service early and was sent to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, where he bluffed his way into 33 events from late July through November 2008, according to charges obtained by The Associated Press through an appeal of its Freedom of Information Act request.

Bethesda hospital spokesman Chris Walz said the staff tries to involve as many patients as possible in such activities, which range from free NFL tickets to speaking engagements like Budwah’s at Camp West Mar.

The charges include making false official statements, malingering, misconduct and larceny. Budwah faces up to 31 1/2 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge if convicted on all eight counts at a trial set for Oct. 20. at Quantico.

Budwah, who declined to enter a plea at his Aug. 5 arraignment, denied wrongdoing in a brief telephone interview in April. “The allegation is not even true,” he said, declining to comment further.

Defense attorney Marine Capt. Kelly Repair and prosecutor Marine Capt. Thomas Liu also have declined to comment.

Recent prosecutions of active-duty service members include Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Dontae L. Tazewell, who was sentenced in January 2008 in Norfolk, Va., to two years in prison for wearing an unearned Purple Heart and other decorations. Tazewell falsely claimed he had rescued six Marines and recovered the bodies of four others in Iraq.

Prosecutors portrayed him as a failing sailor so desperate to remain in service that he fabricated the story.

Navy corpsman Robert White, got 45 days in the brig after pleading guilty in December at Great Lakes Naval Station, Ill., to wearing a Purple Heart he bought. A former girlfriend testified White obtained the medal after he was shunned by his peers for assaulting her, the Navy Times reported.

People fabricate military injuries for many reasons, including laziness, greed, sympathy and psychosis, said Loren Pankratz of Oregon Health & Science University, who wrote about PTSD impostors in his book, “Patients Who Deceive.”

“A more common theme would be somebody who would represent sort of the antihero — the guy who’s given his all and yet been abused and misunderstood,” Pankratz said.

Burkett said others are simply con men.

Retired Gen. Walter E. Boomer, who served as assistant commandant of the Marine Corps from 1992 to 1994, vaguely remembers meeting Budwah in November when they were guests at a Grand National Waterfowl Association benefit on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. They shot at ducks, drank and dined with other VIPs and shotgun manufacturing executives.

“I accepted his story at face value,” Boomer said. “Nothing that I recall would have set off alarm bells.”

Budwah again managed his way to the center of attention at a September 2008 boxing event in Glen Burnie, Md. Organizer Scott Wagner said the highlight of the night was when he brought Budwah and dozens of other military hospital patients into the ring for a standing ovation.

“Were they injured or not? I don’t know and I really don’t care. If half of them were injured, I still feel good about it,” he said.

A year after Budwah’s speech to the youngsters at the American Legion camp, Spencer Shoemaker sat stunned in the family’s kitchen as he read the charges against his Marine idol for the first time.

“Well, it’s better that I know,” the boy said after a long silence. “It did tear me down, but I’ll still join the Marines.”

His father Michael, a construction worker, seethed at the news about Budwah.

“He scammed America,” Shoemaker said. “He scammed a kid.”


Article: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/0...budwah_092109/

[CommunityEditor]

HAGERSTOWN, Md. — A Marine sergeant charged with faking battle injuries to get freebies intended for wounded warriors will plead guilty, a Marine Corps spokeswoman said Monday.

Sgt. David W. Budwah, 34, of Springhill, La., will enter the plea at a court-martial hearing Wednesday at the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., 1st Lt. Joy Crabaugh wrote in an e-mail.

Crabaugh wouldn’t say what offenses Budwah will acknowledge. “That will all be addressed Wednesday,” she wrote.

Budwah faces eight counts, including making false official statements, malingering, misconduct and larceny. They carry combined penalties of up to 31½ years in prison and a dishonorable discharge.

Prosecutor Marine Capt. Thomas Liu declined to disclose terms of the plea agreement.

Neither Budwah nor his lawyer, Marine Capt. Kelly Repair, returned calls from The Associated Press.

Budwah is accused of bluffing his way into 33 events last year, including six rock concerts, two Washington Nationals baseball games, a Washington Redskins football game and a World Wrestling Entertainment “Monday Night Raw” show. Sponsored by various civilian groups, the events often included special recognition of injured service members in attendance.

Officials also say Budwah wore eight unearned medals and decorations on his uniform, including bronze-star campaign medals from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Other unauthorized decorations included a humanitarian service medal denoting work on the 2004 tsunami relief effort, the government has said.

Budwah claimed in a speech to young boys at an American Legion camp near Sabillasville in July 2008 to have been wounded in Afghanistan when he dove on a homemade grenade to shield a buddy from the blast — a false story, the government contends.

Instead, Budwah was with a radio communications unit in Okinawa, Japan, from early 2000 to early 2006, and then at Quantico, the Marines have said.

The government claims he faked post-traumatic stress disorder in July 2008 in hopes of leaving service early and was sent to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, where he began bluffing his way into wounded-warrior events.


Article: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news...charge_101909/

[Seasons]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33416374...news-military/

Originally posted by Associated Press
updated 2:05 p.m. ET, Wed., Oct . 21, 2009
QUANTICO, Va. - A Marine Corps sergeant pleaded guilty Wednesday to faking post-traumatic stress disorder and pretending to be an injured hero to get in free to rock concerts and professional sporting events.

Sgt. David Budwah pleaded guilty to nine charges, including making false statements, malingering and misconduct at a court-martial hearing on the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va.

Some of the charges may be condensed at his sentencing hearing Wednesday afternoon. Budwah faces up to 8 1/2 years in prison, a reduction in rank and a dishonorable discharge.

'Never deployed'
Budwah acknowledged he was never deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, as he claimed. He said he lied about having helped with the 2004 tsunami relief effort and didn't earn eight medals and ribbons he wore on his uniform.

"The truth of it is, I was never deployed and I was never injured," Budwah told Navy Capt. Bruce W. MacKenzie, chief judge of the Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary. "Everything that I said was false."

Budwah, 34, of Springhill, La., admitted to bluffing his way into 13 events last year, including banquets, rock concerts, a Washington Redskins football game and a Washington Nationals baseball game.

He also admitted obtaining under false pretenses a laptop computer and personal digital assistant from Soldiers' Angels, an organization that helps wounded service members.

Lied at Legion camp
Budwah acknowledged he lied when he told young boys at an American Legion camp in western Maryland in July 2008 that he was wounded in Afghanistan when he dove on a homemade grenade to shield a buddy from the blast.

Instead, Budwah was with a radio communications unit in Okinawa, Japan, from early 2000 to early 2006, and then at Quantico, where he worked as a store clerk.

He said he was legitimately sent to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., in June 2008 for outpatient treatment for a stomach ailment. Once there, he claimed PTSD in hopes of leaving service before his scheduled September 2009 discharge date. He became an inpatient and began bluffing his way into wounded-warrior events, he said.
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Guys like this are a disgrace to the Armed Services in general.

[Variable Wind]

I hope he gets his ass sued into oblivion.

[commonsense101]

What a looser. He threw away all of his benefits he would've received regardless if he deployed to a combat zone or not over what???

[CommunityEditor]

A Marine noncommissioned officer who faked being a decorated wounded war hero was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in the brig and fined $25,000.

Sgt. David Budwah never suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan or from seeing dead bodies piled up on the beaches of Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami, as he had told people. He never deployed to those places.

The war injuries from which Budwah pretended to suffer grew with each witness the prosecution called during his general court-martial at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. Budwah, 34, pled guilty to five charges, including making false statements, wearing medals or ribbons he did not earn, bluffing his way into 13 sporting events and concerts meant for wounded service members, and wrongful appropriation of property.

A military judge sentenced to him five years’ confinement, but a pretrial agreement will limit his brig time to no more than 1½ years. And in addition to the hefty fine, Budwah will receive a dishonorable discharge and reduction in rank to E-1.

Budwah spent six years in Okinawa, Japan, his first duty assignment, and then moved to Headquarters Company, Headquarters and Services Battalion, at Quantico in 2006. There, he worked at the Post Exchange for Marine Corps Community Services.

Around May 2008, he told at least one officer that he was suffering from stomach cancer. At the time, he was receiving outpatient treatment for PTSD at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

Because Budwah had appointments nearly every day, he was transferred around July 2008 to Wounded Warrior Battalion-East in Bethesda. He stayed there until November 2008, when allegations against him first surfaced.

He then was transferred back to Quantico as the investigation unfolded.

Budwah told the court he was sorry for his actions and that he never meant to cause anyone harm. He said he wanted to remain at hospital, where he felt part of a larger community, until he could be medically discharged from the Corps.

Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...y_plea_102109/

[SailorDave]

Originally Posted by CommunityEditor

He said he wanted to remain at hospital, where he felt part of a larger community, until he could be medically discharged from the Corps.

Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...y_plea_102109/

He will not be welcomed back there, so I don't see where he gets the idea that he'll be part of a larger community. They'll shun him like the plague. If he does go back, he'll be treated for post traumatic ass whipping.

[SSgtB1990]

What a loser. This is one guy that "Once a Marine, always a Marine" shouldn't pertain to.

[SailorDave]

He will be an "ex-Marine" vice "former Marine". Anyone drummed out of the Corps for dishonor is called that, if I remember correctly.

[THORSHAMMER69]

Commonsense, I agree with you. What a dipshit. Reminds me of a kid in my shop one time. He popped on a piss test and they were charging him. He was always b**ching about wanting to get out early and stuff. So about 3 days before his court martial he popped again. He ended up staying in an extra 9 months.

Just goes to show you...you can't teach people to stop being stupid.