Garin William Sparks – US Army SGT, 20 Year Veteran, Combat Medic, Awarded ‘Army Medal of Medicine’, Blog of Shame
511/06/2016 by
All you need to make it in Hollywood is a good story.
BACKGROUND
Garin William Sparks has built quite a career for himself – both in the Army and in the film industry. He claims to have worked on over 100 films as an on-set medic, the most recent being “Olympus Has Fallen“, “Boyhood” and “True Grit“.
According to some, Sparks’ foot in the door as a medic on movie sets was in large part to the US Army experience that he claims.
First, the claim of being a US Army Sergeant (SGT / E-5) for a 20 year career…
He claims that his service was divided between 10 years active duty and 10 years Reserve…
He underscores this on his Facebook profile.
Then, the Army qualification itself seems to transfer over into civilian skills…
Many of Sparks’ claims are carried on his resume on LiveCareer, including being trained as a Combat Medic and Combat Life Saver at Fort Bragg, being awarded the “Army Medal of Medicine”, 20 years in the US Army, deployed 3 times overseas and having earned 5 combat patches…
There was even a podcast where Sparks is introduced as a 20 year Army vet and combat medic.
http://www.favoritemoviepodcast.com/#/episodes/5/ed-wood-with-garin-sparks/
Sparks posted photos of his time overseas…
The rank showed specialist (E-4) vs. SGT (E-5) although that rank could have been attained at a later date. The patches did not signify medical. Carrying a rifle vs. an M9 pistol and no medical aid bag also raised a few flags.
Sparks also spoke of being in the Indiana National Guard vs. being in the US Army. The distinction may be lost on most, or for that matter they may not care but usually soldiers make the distinction between being in the regular US Army, the US Army Reserve and the US Army National Guard. All of these components are important, but the distinction makes a difference to a lot of people that serve.
A film set medic is highly competitive work and safety is a primary concern. Skepticism grew based on the claims by Garin Sparks.
His official military records were requested through the Freedom of Information Act.
. . . . .
FOIA RESULTS – SELECTED
[NOTE: Sparks’ records show he was in the National Guard and was recalled to active duty on three occasions. This was also supported by the Department of Defense Manpower Data Center results, included below.]
. . . . .
FOIA RESULTS – COMPLETE
NPRC RESULTS |
DoD MDC RESULTS#1 |
DoD MDC RESULTS#2 |
DoD MDC RESULTS#3 |
. . . . .
DISCUSSION & SUMMARY
DISCUSSION
Specialist (E-4) vs. Sergeant (E-5)
It is only one rank, but Sparks’ official military records do not support this claim of attaining the rank of Sergeant. Makes one wonder how he got the nickname “The Sarge“?
20 Year Career
Sparks’ records only show National Guard drilling service up to 2010 vs. 2012 that he claimed. This two years is splitting hairs but one would think he would try and achieve the 20 year mark vs. 18. Maybe he rounds up and claims 20 years, but again, this is splitting hairs. The main point here is that he did not have 10 years active duty and 10 years reserve as he claimed.
Combat Medic Training
There is nothing in Sparks’ military records to indicate any type of combat medic training. He was a cannoneer, which is a profession to be proud of. There also was no indication of Combat Life Saver training at Ft. Bragg, NC.
Army Medal of Medicine
We don’t know what an “Army Medal of Medicine” is. Could not find reference to it anywhere. Regardless, it was not in his military record.
SUMMARY
Garin William Spark’s military claims are not supported by his official records.
If Sparks used his military medical experience to gain employment as a on-set medic, there may have been quite a few people under a false sense of security. Hopefully he has had civilian medical experience because we can’t find any in his military records.
. . . . .
PHOTOS and SOCIAL MEDIA
Most photos already included above.
. . . . .
SOCIAL MEDIA
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/garin.sparks
I’d love to see his NGB 22 and 23..
CLS does not make you a medic I’ve had to take it three times. Plus a level 1 first aid…
For anyone reading this it’s like first Aid on the CLS but deals with combat injuries to prep for real medics
And then a cassvac
From what I’m reading it looks like he was in Atlanta during the Olympics probably did Katrina duty in New Orleans in 2005 give or take. With what little active duty time (aka) title 10,, I’m seeing here he did not retire
From the guard if so it was some sort of NG Med board.. to be a SPC with little or no active time for 15 years is not unusual in the guard, infact its quite common because of the part time nature of the service, in other words you get out of it what you put in it… this turd is a clown I hope for the people he works with he has civilian training
Because if not he’s going to hurt or kill someone… and to think they say stolen Valor hurts no one….. NOT !!!!
[…] Source: Garin William Sparks – US Army SGT, 20 Year Veteran, Combat Medic, Awarded ‘Army Medal o… […]
[…] folks at Military Phonies send us their work on this fellow, Garin William Sparks whose claims are that he is a twenty-year […]
That’s funny, I worked on Olympus Has Fallen and I don’t remember him being anywhere on set or even in construction where they have a medic on duty. I do
however personally know the medic that did work the set. He looks nothing like this person.
You can look me up on IMDB
Well I just checked his IMDB page and he has himself listed as set medic on 6 of my shows and I was the only set medic on the whole show! I talked to other medics and he has claimed to have done their shows too. So he has over 150 shows in what? A 7 year time frame? Impossible.