Thought I might share what I have already posted on topic elsewhere and Teti’s attorney better get used to hearing it:

Joe Teti

It seems Joe Teti who appears in a show called Dual Survivor has filed a lawsuit against several people for calling some of his military claims into question. The bantering going on between all of these people has been eating at me. I am not one to sit on the sidelines and say nothing when I see something is wrong.

Since I get asked about it, I thought I would post my opinion on the whole thing. First, it appears Teti was a Marine. He did serve with RECON. I do not believe that is being disputed by anyone. It seems to me most of this could have easily been solved by Teti a long time ago. There are several parts of this dispute I can speak directly to. By the time Teti had joined the Marine Corps I had several enlistments under my belt. I was still on active duty long after he finished his only enlistment. I am familiar with some of the units he served in.

His attorney states that Teti completed the Special Forces Underwater Operations Course. Several people have done their due diligence and contacted that school only to find out there is no record of him attending. According to his records that I have seen posted online there is no record of that Army course listed. The reality is they are both partially correct. To my knowledge the Marine Corps used the Diving School at Key West and it appears Teti did attend. He then had to complete an additional transition course when he got back to his unit that made you a Combat Diver, it appears Teti did that while in Pearl Harbor. The Marine Corps no longer authorizes RECON units to conduct their own Combat Diver training. That change happened after Teti was discharged from the Corps. NDSTC did not include the Combat Diver portion until 1992. At least that is when the Corps began to officially recognize it. The Corps did not call it Special Forces anything. It was simply called SCUBA school. That is exactly what it says in his records. Most any Marine that served during that time would sound the bullshit alarm if someone makes a claim he went to Special Forces Underwater Operations in 1984. Those words were not in the Marine vernacular. The lawsuit seems to claim he did exactly that. No he did not. He was not in the Army, Navy, Air Force, or the Peace Corps at that time. He went to the SCUBA course and then later completed SCUBA school not becoming qualified until he did both. His records show he did not complete both.

It appears that Teti also made claims that he was a Combat Veteran. No he is not. Almost everyone that would ask him what years he served and with whom, would sound the bullshit alarm. Every Veteran I know would. He was not deployed to combat while he was in the military. As best I understand it he is claiming that he was a combat veteran as a civilian. Any reasonable person with a military background would call that nonsense. I do. Here is where the part that really bothers me begins.

He claims to have been in combat as a civilian, while what he was doing was so secret he can’t talk about it. Veterans like me are expected to accept this claim on face value. We are expected to accept that claim even if it is being used as a means to profit. No, I don’t think so. If you are going to use the term combat veteran to profit, you better be able to prove it. If you can’t or won’t prove it, don’t use it.

I was given classified orders while on active duty in the Marine Corps. I had to work with civilians from the ‘Agency’ in the Middle East. I cannot express my disdain adequately for a person who uses what they did during that time as a means to profit. I had to fight to get my travel expenses paid. That time in my life put my family through a living hell. The idea that I would make claims about what I did to profit is repugnant.

Teti lead any reasonable veteran to believe he was embellishing his career for profit. He willingly chose to become a public figure using his military experience to do so. The moment he did that, he was accountable to every person who ever wore a uniform. Including me. I cannot seem to find any promotions of him on this show that say ‘Joe Teti Government Contractor’. Neither can I find anything that says ‘Joe Teti Agency Operator’. Since Teti seems to be incapable of explaining himself to those of us that questioned his military career, let me try to be helpful. As a public figure he could have easily cleared this up with a public statement. I have taken the liberty of drafting my suggestion.

“Hello, my name is Joe Teti. I am not a Combat Veteran. I did not complete what people in today’s military call the Special Forces Underwater Operations Course. I did work as a Government Contractor and it is not appropriate to use those experiences for profit as there would be no way to verify them. I did serve as a United States Marine and with the U.S. Army Reserves. I was inadequately prepared for life as a public figure. To my fellow veterans I would like to express my regrets if I said or did anything that might have reflected poorly upon what it means to serve in the finest fighting forces the world has ever known.”

In summary, these are my opinions. I own them. They do not belong to any third party. I formed them from publicly available sources and my own personal experiences. It is my opinion that any damages Teti may have experienced were self inflicted. Semer Fi.

‘Another Marine’: Spot on Dave Except Teti didn’t complete the combat diver course at Key-west. That was why he was taken out of 2nd Force Recon and transferred to a guard position for 3rd Mar. Div. Then he was reassigned to 3rd Recon Bn. His MOS never changed either.

Dave Hardin: I noticed that as well. Thats why i used the word ‘Attended’. He knows exactly why that Guard entry appears in his records. I think I mentioned that in my initial post way back when. I too have a Guard entry in my records. I am sure I earned that entry in my records by serving with security forces. I suspect he earned that entry by cutting grass and picking up cigarette buts or the like. That is probably why his MOS for that duty ends with different numbers. I served during the same time he did, lived and worked with some of the same Marines he had to have known. We all lived in the same place. 2nd Force RECON, 2nd Force LSB, 2nd Force ANGLICO, and what was called 2nd Force FAG believe it or not. I was transferred to 2nd Force HQ where Gen Philips and Col Murphy gave me a Navy Ach Medal for operating a desk some Captain was supposed to be manning. I was on the IG team for 2nd Force. Part of my duties during those inspections was to check SRB’s for valid entries. That is exactly what I was doing when Cpl Titties here was with 2nd Force. I was at the same place at the same time with the right MOS and assigned the duties to clearly make the statement ‘His records do not match his claims’.

‘Another Marine’: So you can and will confirm that when a wrong entry into your SRB, The standard SOP for correcting that mistake is to draw a single line through the mistaken entry ?

Dave Hardin: Yes, I can confirm that. It was usually striked out with a line and then initialed. The use of white out or correction fluid was not authorized. On the form for his occupation specialties and education in the service schools block that I have viewed, the completion date and grade are striked out, initialed and and a date of 8310 was entered into the incomplete column. That is a correct entry for someone that did not complete the school. If there was a ‘mistake’ during that entry the entire line would have been striked and completely reentered correctly. It is done in that fashion so a person can not strike through the incomplete field and enter data into a blank fields later. An entirely new entry must be done. The most common example of this SOP on this page is for those that do not complete an MCI course. The entry is made as if it was competed and then the grade field gets striked and initialed. Additionally, In the box for Military Occupational Specialties the entry for the MOS is striked out. An entry is later made when he completes the course he did with his unit in Pearl. My opninion is he never completed the first course and that accounts for his MOS no being consistent with most RECON Corporals. If I remember correctly the ACTS Manual code cited is authorization for attendance waiver. Usually due to rank or other limitation. Could have been rank or non completion of the first course or a combination. He appears to be a case equivalent to those that claim they are Navy SEALS because the went to the course but did not complete the training. Was he in RECON, yes it saya so right there in his records. Can he claim he competed the course Special Forces Underwater Operations or its equivalent, NO he can not according to his records.

Dave Hardin: The only course I am aware of that requires a Marine to start a fire from scratch and survive with limited rations is Mountain Warfare school. There is no indication he made it to that school. I would therefore describe his special ‘survival’ skills limited to water. At different times during my career I held the MOS 0151 as either a primary or secondary. I loved my desk when I had one, never had to wash sand out of my ass as a drawer gunner. Semper Fi.

Dave Hardin: I have no problem telling anyone, anytime, anywhere, any of that