He claims to be a former SEAL who was bayoneted by a VC and killed him, of course. The wound on his hip is from surgery for a tumor which got him a medical
discharge from the Navy as a Seaman Apprentice. He never served in Vietnam, as he was not old enough. Now he lies about his age so that he’ll be old enough to have
served.
SW
Merle Todd “BJ” Johnson is (or was) a Deputy Sheriff with the Christian County Sheriff’s Dept. He’s been making false SEAL claims for years, and on two occasions
when I tried to contact him by phone he was “on a different shift” but the phone dispatcher knew him as “a former Navy SEAL”. L.E. Officers across the nation have
been trained by his outfit in Ozark – Academy of Professional Trainers (or something similar). He’s told many classes of students that “I was slitting throats in Vietnam
when you were pooping in your pampers”, and claimed to have the record for “the most hand to hand kills of all SEALs in the Vietnam conflict”… but in truth he was
only about 13 years old when the Vietnam War ended for US forces.
When the first list of Authorized CONCEALED CARRY Trainers was published by Taney County Sheriff, Jimmy Russell, it included Johnson’s outfit.. At that time Russell reportedly stated that he “knew about Mr.
Johnson”, that he was personally acquainted with an ATF agent who had confronted Johnson and told him to “cease and desist” all such claims or “suffer the
consequences”. Presumably those consequences would include loss of accreditation as an instructor and loss of employment as a Deputy Sheriff with Christian County.
Rumor had it that a couple of years ago that Johnson was not alone… that there was another SEAL imposter who had been dumped by another department –
Springfield PD maybe – but he’d transferred to or was picked up by the Christian County Sheriff’s Department… and that he and Johnson were “best buddies”. …….Reportedly
when the Christian County Sheriff lost the next election, “BJ” Johnson’s job as a Christian County Deputy Sheriff ended. He may still berunning the Academy of Professional Trainers.
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| 1 year, 6 months, 1 day. Discharged an E-1 |
