William George Miller – US Navy SEAL in Vietnam, Experimental Team 5, Blog of Shame

militaryphonies

10 years ago

Miller claims to have served with the Experimental SEAL Team, as far as we can tell their logo must have been “All work, no pay.”

BACKGROUND

William “Bill” Miller is active in his community both as a travel agent and as a member of the Freemasons. He not only speaks of his time in the military as a Navy SEAL, but also wears the Navy SEAL emblems designating his service with the SEAL Teams.

Source: Freemason – Glendale Lodge #23 F&AM photo

It seems like Miller had gotten comfortable with stories of his military service as a SEAL, because he tried to friend a Navy SEAL on Facebook. Telling the stories to your friends is like skiing on the bunny slopes for a while, then feeling like you’re ready for the Double Black Diamond slope your next step is to friend a real Navy SEAL. Over confidence sure is an interesting phenomenon.

In any case, whatever Miller’s reason for doing this – things didn’t go so well…

The part about never receiving a paycheck while in Vietnam is very interesting. It was nice of the Navy to spare any wives the trauma of having to wait 2 and a half hears to hear from their loved ones stationed in North Vietnam.

Just in case Bill Miller’s official military records were not actually locked in the SEEKRIT archives somewhere, we requested them through the Freedom of Information Act.

Shockingly, they seem to be unclassified and intact after all.

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FOIA RESULTS – SELECTED

In addition, we checked the BUD/S database and there was no William George Miller listed. Most of the claims were discussed in the private message above.

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FOIA RESULTS – COMPLETE

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DISCUSSION & SUMMARY

DISCUSSION

There is no Vietnam service listed for Bill Miller. Also, he has no supporting medals or awards that would indicate service in Vietnam. He would be correctly classified as a Vietnam-era veteran but not a Vietnam veteran. This distinction is important and he should be keenly aware of the difference.

There is no military training or designation for BUD/S in Miller’s records. All Navy SEALS have that training listed in their official records.

Billy here seems to be very confused since ST5 did not exist until decades later and anyone who actually served with the Teams knows the significance of their logo. There is entirely too much rich history, most of which known only to those who served in the Teams, for posers to fake service as a SEAL.

His time is accounted for in 1963-1964, when he claimed that he served on “Experimental SEAL Team 5”.

He entered the Navy in June 1963. Although it appears to have been a unit award, the citation covers the bulk of his time from 01 Oct 1963 to 30 Sept 1964. The point is that he would have an impossibly small window to get BUD/S training and serve on a SEAL team in Vietnam before joining Patrol Squadron Thirty-One out of San Diego.

For those of you who have fallen victim to the recent rate debacle in the Navy, Miller left the Navy as a AE3, which was an Aviation Electrician’s Mate Petty Officer 3rd Class.

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SUMMARY

William George Miller’s claims are not supported by official military records. According to his records, Miller was not a SEAL and he was not in Vietnam.

The good news is that he probably got paid on a regular basis when he was in the Navy.

The bad news is he should never have tried to friend an actual Navy SEAL. We guess he has been sporting this nonsense story of his for so long he began to believe it himself. It is a shame when a veteran can not be proud of his actual service, particularly when they had nothing to be ashamed of in the first place.

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