By A Korean-American politician in Philadelphia is facing allegations of stolen valor:
City Council candidate David Oh on Friday contested a Philadelphia Daily News report that he misrepresented his military record by describing himself as an officer with the Army’s 20th Special Forces Group, an elite unit whose members are popularly known as Green Berets.
“That is not a misrepresentation,” Oh wrote Friday in a Facebook post. “I served as a 2nd lieutenant, 20th Special Forces Group [Airborne]. I provided documentation of my service.”
Oh added that he was “preparing an official response” to the Daily News front-page article, which quoted his former commanding officer accusing Oh of “stretching” his claim of having been a Green Beret. Oh declined to say anything more on the record Friday.
Oh, 51, a lawyer, is making his third run for an at-large Council seat. In the May primary, he was the top vote-getter among the Republican at-large candidates. Two of five GOP candidates are likely to win seats in November.
His current website describes his military service as follows: “In 1988, David resigned from his position as Assistant D.A. to enlist in the U.S. Army … [W]ith hard work and perseverance, he qualified for Officer Candidates School, was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, and joined the U.S. Army Special Forces ( Airborne). During Operation Desert Storm, David was called to active duty, but before he was deployed, the war ended. He received an honorable discharge and returned to Philadelphia.”
The website’s only prominent reference to Green Berets is a video clip from Glenn Devitt, president of United Northeast Neighbors, with a quotation pulled out as a headline: “David Oh has served this nation as a Green Beret, served this city as an Assistant District Attorney and served his community as a community leader.” [Philly.com via reader tip]
You can read the rest at the link but Oh is claiming to be special forces because he attended the three week SFAS. However, at the conclusion of SFAS he was not chosen to continue training to become a Green Beret. Considering past stolen valor cases at least this guy served but he is definitely stretching the truth if he is going around claiming he was special forces.
6:28 pm on September 1st, 2011 1
I think both sides are stretching it. It’s a non-issue, a distraction from the bigger picture.
6:57 pm on September 1st, 2011 2
Is it correct to say he was promoted to Second Lieutenant? I mean, a second lieutenant is an entry-level officer, a guy who’s never been promoted at all. Or am I wrong?
8:04 pm on September 1st, 2011 3
It should be commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. When you enter OCS, you become an Officer Candidate and receive E5 pay.
(I can hear Retired GI groaning now.) So after completing OCS you get commissioned and get switched to O1 pay instead of being a candidate. In OCS you get to run around with an Ascot and sing songs apparently. One of my buddies who went to OCS to commission put his Ascot in with a 40 pound cratering charge and blew it straight to hell during Basic Officer Leader Course (He would have been in Officer Basic Course if this was around Desert Storm). It would be interesting to see his branch. Maybe he was a signal guy who was going to be attached to special forces? Anyway, given all the training and the Q course, by the time he got done with Special Forces, he should have been a 1st Lieutenant. Oh, and holy crap, if he stayed a 2nd Lieutenant, was he passed over for promotion twice and not promoted to 1st Lieutenant? The military was downsizing around that time since the Soviet Union collapsed. There’s a lot of research to be done I guess…
8:47 pm on September 1st, 2011 4
I wonder what education level he had as Assistant D.A.? Why would he need to enlist first and then apply for OCS?
10:13 pm on September 1st, 2011 5
#3,
“The military was downsizing around that time since the Soviet Union collapsed. ”
In Canada, too.
A friend of mine was training to be a fighter pilot, was done with all the simulators and courses, etc. On the morning he was going to get in the cockpit of a jet for the first time, they were woken up early and told to pack their back. The course was canceled because a NATO base was closing in Europe. He ended up going to medical school instead.
12:08 am on September 2nd, 2011 6
The question is, did he actually say he was SF or that he was with the SF?
I know lots of my fellow Signal Buddies that were with SF but not themselves SF. Basically every SF unit has a signal unit attached to them to provide specialized signal support. You jump in with them and setup camp with them. But you never leave base camp to go on ops, your job is to baby sit the equipment they need.
So this really becomes splitting hairs and depends on exactly what was said.
6:11 am on September 2nd, 2011 7
I think the relevant question is did David Oh go to & graduate from SF school or not? If he did not and tried to insinuate otherwise then he is a dirtbag. All he has to do is produce his DD214. If he does not or tries to beat around the bush or parse his words then the answer is clear.
8:53 am on September 2nd, 2011 8
JoeC #4, I have a friend who has a Masters in Computer Information Systems who enlisted and applied for OCS… I think the only ways to avoid that route are ROTC and the Service Academies (West Point, Annapolis, etc.)…
8:55 am on September 2nd, 2011 9
#6, let’s see a service photo of him wearing a green beret… that will answer all…
10:07 am on September 2nd, 2011 10
#9,
Would you believe me if I should you one of my pictures in full uniform wearing my green beret? Hell, I probably still have my nicer beret (perfect according to regulations, thank you very much) somewhere here in Korea, probably in a suitcase at my inlaws.
10:12 am on September 2nd, 2011 11
#8,
Yup, you must enlist first unless you’re ROTC (ROTP in Canada, I think) or went to a military academy. That’s exactly why I enlisted (not sure how my dad became a commissioned officer, but he was in a unit that is now part of the Canadian special forces).
10:45 am on September 2nd, 2011 12
OK. I think this explains what happened He got slotted in the Maryland National Guard as an 18A but never qualified. So, on paper he was a Special Forces Officer in the Maryland National Guard. 11A -> 18A -> 11A again.
Here is the post:
If David Oh had been in the active duty Army, this would not be an issue because he would have been assigned to the JFK Special Warfare Center and School (SWCS) as a student pending completion of training to become an 18A (Special Forces Officer) and then either assignment as such to an active Special Forces unit or, as in his case, reassignment as an Infantry Officer to an Infantry unit for failing to complete the 18A course.
However, being in the National Guard, David Oh was assigned to the duty position he was seeking to fill within the unit pending preparation by his unit for him to attend and complete the training for that job. In his case, it was an 18A duty position and he was listed as being “slotted” (carried on the unit’s manning roster for unit strength reporting purposes) in that duty position even though he was not yet qualified to perform those duties.
However, for those who know and who complete the required training to earn the honor of being called a a Special Forces Officer or “Green Beret,” David Oh did not complete the requirements and – like many – merely served for a period of time with a Special Forces unit…but was never a “Green Beret” or an 18A (a duty position on the unit’s manning roster in which he was slotted for a period of time) as he seems to have alluded to over the years.
“Quote:
My resume and campaign literature say I was an Officer in the Special Forces. That is true and accurate. I openly tell people that I did not complete the Special Forces Qualification Course. However, that is not the issue or the accusation that was made towards me. The accusation was that because I did not complete the “Q course”, I could not say that I was an Officer in the Special Forces. I provided the reporter with 2 documents which showed that 1. I was not attached for training as the Daily News article states… I was a member of the unit. When we were activated we all went to Ft. Bragg and started training and preparing to go overseas. 2. While I have never made public or private statements that I was special forces qualified, I had a change of duty from 11A (Infantry Officer) to 18A (Special Forces Officer) while at Ft. Bragg. Again, contrary to the Daily News article, I did not make any claims that that change of duty made me a “Green Beret”. But the reporter wanted to know the significance of my job description which was standard 18A language for a Special Forces detachment officer. I truthfully told him that I was simply serving my country and did whatever the army and SF command told me. The reporter asked if the 18A made me SF qualifed. I said it means the army gave me a job to do. The reporter insisted on writing a story that, I wanted to be a “green beret”, joined a National Guard unit, went through SFAS and was a ‘non-select”, and returned to Philadelphia to practice law. I told him that was not an accurate story. His editors decided to pull his story. The afternoon before the story ran, the reporter called me and told me he was going to print the same story. Of course, there is more to this story but the bottom line is that the reported wanted to write a story about me making false representations. That he can not do.
As an 18A, I was an “Officer in Special Forces” which means I was an SF qualified Officer who served as such in that duty position. David Oh was not an “Officer in the Special Forces” – he was an Infantry Officer either assigned to or serving with a Special Forces unit and being carried in an 18A duty position pending completion of the training required to fulfill that job. There is a distinction and David Oh well knows it.”
For someone who either is or was truly Special Forces qualified, David Oh’s lawyerly waffling on the subject and explanatory letter to The Inquirer rings patently hollow, and is an indicator IMO that he is not as honorable as he wants others to believe. Sad.
And so it goes…
Richard
1:57 pm on September 2nd, 2011 13
#9, service photo–as in at work on base or “on assignment” wearing the hat–not a snapshop like the party or mentally-ill folks we’ve seen in earlier episodes…
And now a moot point given the “clarification”…
11:05 pm on October 7th, 2011 14
Mr. Oh, unfortunately, is a serial liar.
He is acutely aware of the distinction between being an “Infantry Lieutenant assigned to a Special Forces unit,” and being “a Special Forces officer.” They are not the same.
Mr. Oh indeed does parse his words carefully. He claims to be a “Desert Storm veteran,” when really, he is a “veteran of the Desert Storm era.” Mr. Oh never served in combat, he never received any awards or decorations for service in combat, and he never even left the United States to deploy to the region of conflict.
But Mr. Oh sure does like to foster enough doubt that credulous voters might view him as a “Green Beret” who “served in Desert Storm.”
The man has no honor, and no integrity. These are not political statements. They are assessments of his character, based on his conduct.