Well, Im very disappointed and hurt over the betrayal of someone I considered a friend. I never met the man but Ive been friends with him for almost 3 years. He sent ME a friend request as we had quite a few mutual acquaintances. I would say I have at least 30 former US Navy Veterans that I count as friends.. a dozen or so are Team Guys (SEALs). This man portrayed himself to be a Navy SEAL. He had at least 10+ other Navy SEALs that I know are SOLID (verified). One of those SEALs Ive know for 7 years now and value his friendship very much. He was a SEAL Authenticator for many years and wrote a book on exposing SEAL impostors. He was fooled as well because of this other mans subterfuge. What made it difficult was the fact his name is the same as a REAL Team Guy (Vietnam Veteran). In the end, another friend named Stephen England was checking out another guy - who also turned out to be an impostor using this person as a reference. When HIS name was checked by Senior Chief Don Shipley (SEAL Authenticator).. it also came back as NOT a SEAL. I am a US Navy Veteran but NOT a SEAL. For the last almost 8 years I have worked to help keep the Naval Special Warfare community clean. There are so few of them and SO MANY fakes trying to steal the glory. When it was totally confirmed that Thomas Sutherland was NOT who he had said he was.. I was truly heart broken. I waited for a few hours before confronting him. I told him how disappointed I was in him. He said Im working on it.. which means NOTHING. I befriended him and blocked him. He was a Navy Veteran.. but NOT a Team Guy. When was it NOT enough to have served honorably? Not everyone can be SEALs.. Force Recon... PJ... Army SF... Fighter Pilot. Im PROUD of my service.. thankful for the experiences that God allowed me to have and kept me from getting killed on two different P3C flights. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice.. Shame on me. From now on I will NOT just accept friend requests at face value unless I check them out. Shame on you Tom Sutherland... Shame.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 22:06:11 +0000
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