There are several references to Prosen being a Gunnery Sergeant…As well as him having retired from the Marine Corps…
As a sidenote, the above lists Prosen’s entry into the Marine Corps as 1976. Now, the word “retired” can certainly be used in the context of a medical retirement from the USMC. However, when combined with “Gunnery Sergeant”, it implies a full career as one would have to at least have spent 6-8 years in the USMC to make GySgt. As a Marine noted “I’d have to say at least that (i.e. 10 years). In the 80s, it was very hard to make NCO in your first hitch. Just as hard to make Staff Sgt by the end of your second. So that’s 8 yrs already…” Although it has been accomplished in just over 6 years, this is an exceptional and extremely rare minimum. Many GySgts retire at that rank at the 20 year mark.
Point is — the combined use of “Gunnery Sergeant” and “Retired from the US Marine Corps” implies a full 20 year career vs. medical retirement.
Then, there are claims of “fighting overseas”, “lost many good men” including “my best friend died in my arms”.
“WOUNDED” vs. “INJURED” – There is some missing context here, but the reporters are presumably using interviews and direct quotes. In the context of speaking about the military, “wounded” has a clear implication of warfare, while “injured” is more civilian in nature.
When it concerns accidents, natural disasters, etc. victims are described as “injured”.
“Wounded” is more often used to describe battlefield and violent crime (gunshot, etc.) occurrences.
It is therefore felt that the intentional use of “wounded” is used to imply a military battle, as it is used in this context.
“FOUGHT OVERSEAS” – If someone “serves their country” while not at war, is that the same as saying they “fought for their country”? What is considered “overseas”? Hawaii? Diego Garcia? In this case it would be Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (GITMO) since there is no other overseas duty assignments Prosen could be referring to.
“I LOST MANY MEN” & “BEST FRIEND DIED IN MY ARMS” – Besides the references to “fought overseas”, it is followed quickly with “lost many men” and “lost many friends” but then to seal the deal with emotional leverage, Prosen inserts the claim that his “best friend died in his arms”. This is almost impossible to disprove if it was an automobile accident or any other non-military related accident. Prosen deliberately inserts this statement when talking about fighting overseas, so there is a direct inference to combat. As above, the death of his friend *may* be true but the choice of inserting this while speaking of combat was intentional.
Is this simply a “nuance of language”?
FOIA RESULTS – SELECTED
Since guard school was either 6-8 weeks in 1980, Prosen must have either fallen ill or had an accident while in school or just soon after. A check of Department of Defense aircraft accidents reveals nothing during the time frame of 02-03 June 1980.
As far as the guard MOS, a Marine says “Prosen was not a Marine Security Guard. He was Marine Barracks. They are a totally different job. Marine Barracks used to be at most Major Naval Stations and they performed Gate Duty. In the Mid 80s the vast majority were replaced by civilians. GITMO and some others retained the Marine Barracks. Generally, there is no Marine Corps wide “Guard School”. Since every duty station is different the new Marines are sent through training there and certified. Looking at his [Prosen’s] record he went straight from SOI [ITS] to GITMO with no training in between. The Marine Security Guard (Embassy Duty) training is only at Quantico before assignment. It would be listed as a duty station under instruction. Prosen went from SOI to Gitmo and went to school there. 8151 MOS is completely different then MSG 8156.“
The lack of overseas assignments in Mouse Prosen’s record would have precluded him from “fighting overseas” unless he was referring to GITMO. There were no hostilities in 1979-1980-1981 that the United States was engaged in and there certainly were none in GITMO. If it was a training exercise, why were they using live ammo? It’s a moot point, really, because there are no aircraft accidents listed by DoD and they would certainly list one involving loss of life if this is where his “best friend died in his arms”.
Prosen shot Marksman in boot camp. Shooting Marksman would not have gotten Prosen recruited as a sniper nor to be placed on a “special tactical team” but this is also a moot point because he doesn’t have the school or training for the sniper MOS.
FOIA RESULTS – COMPLETE
A court record reveals the only time that Mr. Prosen used a weapon in anger.
CLAIMS UNSUPPORTED BY MILITARY RECORDS – GySgt vs. LCpl, Sniper, “special tactical team”, “fought overseas”, 1979 vs. 1976
DOUBTFUL CLAIMS – Huey gunship “shot down”, “wounded” vs. “injured”, “I lost many men”
SUSPICIOUS CLAIMS – “best friend died in my arms” (if this is the case, it does not appear to be combat related, as implied)
Mouse Prosen is undoubtedly a very influential speaker. Using patriotic and passionate statements to make your points is fine if the statements you are making are truthful, but as you can see many of them are not. In looking through the videos, Mouse never hesitates to use emotional leverage to trump his audience, whether it is an official hearing or an impromptu intervention. Most individuals have deep respect for those that have served, fought wars and lost buddies in war. To be disingenuous about these experiences undermines the real experiences that other veterans have had and are dealing with. It is an unfair practice to invoke these statements when they are false claims and Mouse Prosen has many claims that are unsupported by his official military records.