Johnny Perez comes to us from Fresno, California. He puts on camouflage that has sniper patches with ribbons and mingles with other veterans.
His Facebook is full of photos of his exploits in Vietnam as a sniper.
He has it all covered. Ho Chi Minh Trail, Long range patrol, standing in the bamboo so he can get lit up with the tactical flash. Good stuff.
His Facebook is also full of opinions and they are all signed, USMC Sniper
He claims that he caught the PTSD and something called DBI. Acronyms, they are all so confusing.
So his official records were requested using a Freedom of Information Act request.
The records show that he was in the Marines and served from November 1970 to September 1975. He was released from the inactive reserve on September 5th 1977. It appears that he was a Messman until he went AWOL and was declared a deserter. But, after he was apprehended by the FBI and spent some time in the brig, he became an AmTrac Crewman.
He has no listing for sniper school. The awards Perez has listed include National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, and Rifle Expert Badge. He is not showing a Combat Action Ribbon among his awards so it is very unlikely that he worked in long range patrols or motored his armored vehicle down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It appears that Johnny Angel Perez has no actual combat experience at all.
We have no idea where he caught the PTSD or hurt his DBI. In any event, none of that has a thing to do with his fictitious combat experiences.
He is probably one of the last people that the Marine Sniper community wants using their name. I doubt there are many veteran groups that want him using their name.
