Mark Menting AKA (Kage Gaigan) comes to us from different sources. He has been a member as well as an administrator on numerous Facebook military groups proudly proclaiming to be a retired E-8/ MSG Ranger. Below was the bio Menting provided to the Facebook group (U.S. Army Nation).
Pretty impressive career, right? Well if he is on militaryphony.com then you know just about everything above is false. As with any potential poser brought to our attention we started some basic investigating. With the claim of being a retired MSG who enlisted in 1983 we consulted the DoD Manpower Single record search. The results of which are below.
Now I’m not the best at math, but if you joined in 1983 and claimed to be active duty till 2003, I’m pretty sure the DoD would have you listed. Not the case here. We used multiple dates to try to verify actual service with no results. The record above was used as a mid-career example.
As with any poser Menting’s own stories were his undoing. When Menting became an administrator in the U.S. Army Nations group he got more or less power hungry and demanded that all members both existing and new complete a military history like the one we have on him listed above. If anyone refused to comply he called them out as a poser. With basic research tools in hand like the DoD Single Record search above, Menting would call out legitimate Army veterans as posers. Along the way Menting was able to infuse himself into legitimate SV communities with his pretend experience. An example of this is posted below.
Military Phonies contacted Menting via telephone to get his side of the story, and with two investigators on the line Menting said he was active for only a couple of years, then went into the Reserves and retired as an E-8. When asked for his birth-date to verify his story he gave us a date one year off of his actual birth-date. We already had his vital information So we knew he was lying. Below, when asked, Menting said Dave Hardin had his military info. (He speltided it Harding)
Mark Menting AKA Kage Gaigan, had managed to work himself into many military sites over the years. He established himself within those groups well enough to become respected and gain positions of authority. He had a long list of people who had friended him on social media over the years. He used those relationships to further bolster his credibility. He began to work his way into the Stolen Valor community by reporting potential cases and offering assistance.
We have established a policy within our community that everyone provides a DD214 and/or has a FOIA done to verify their service. Embellishers and posers often try to work their way onto friends lists of legit veterans. Menting just did it to the wrong one this time.
Menting realized he had been busted so he posted a confession to the U.S. Army Nations group stating he had completed Basic Training, and was about to graduate AIT when he was busted for a bad check. Well, the confession is posted below so you can read it for yourself.
Even with Menting attempting to cleanse his soul to members of the U.S. Army Nations group he continued to lie in his confession. Stating that he had attended and passed the Airborne course, the Air Assault course, and had atempted RIP (Ranger Indoctrination Program) as an IRR (Inactive Ready Reserve) soldier. IRR is part of the 8 year commitment required by everyone who enlist in any military service. If a person enlists for Active/ Reserve/ National Guard for even 1 year they are actually committed to the military for 8 years. After that 1 year of service the individual becomes a civilian again but is subject to recall in times of war. After the 8 years are done the individual is no longer held to any wartime commitments. Given this explanation, Menting was on the street as a civilian and would not be trained in any military specialty schools while on IRR. He also claimed to have been a part of KFOR (Kosovo Force) in 1997, KFOR did not come into existence till 1999. When he was confronted again with this lie, he quickly modified his confession to the one listed below.
On to the actual records. It should be noted that Menting has maintained that he did graduate from AIT, and received his MOS (Military Occupational Specialty). We filed a FOIA request to obtain Menting’s military records. The results of that FOIA is shown below.
According to Menting’s records he did not achieve an MOS rating as presented with the 31V00 listed above. Had he completed his AIT and graduated he would have obtained the 31V10 designation. Menting was released 6 months to the day of his enlistment. Menting has proclaimed that he is veteran because he served 181 days on active duty. The 181 day rule does not apply to Menting because his separation action started before he reached 180 days of continuous creditable active duty. The regulation is presented below. So no, despite his claims he did not receive his MOS, or should he be considered a veteran in our opinion.
Below are photos of Menting in his Kage Gaigan persona trying to look the part of an actual Army veteran, he failed.
In both pictures above Menting is wearing a beret with the Special Operations Support Command flash with no DUI ( Distinctive Unit Insignia) attached. The flash is pictured below.
Menting is pictured above wearing Army BDUs (Battle Dress Uniform) and a BDU style cap with Airborne wings on it.
A word to the wise, don’t get upset when someone asks you to verify your service. Even people within the Stolen Valor community can be taken for a ride…but its usually a short ride and ends with a boot in their ass.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100015509049292&hc_location=ufi
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This Ain’t Hell Blog: http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=72114