Michael Lindsey – No Purple Heart
909/24/2018 by militaryphonies
BACKGROUND
James Michael Lindsey, who goes by ‘Michael,’ comes to us from Haskell, TX.
Michael was recently selected as an Everyday Hero…
The article says that Lindsey “was a medic in the U.S. Army when the Humvee in which he was riding struck an improvised explosive device, killing three of the soldiers and badly injuring Lindsey.”
Then, in the aftermath of the explosion, the article says that Lindsey saved someone’s life by performing a tracheotomy…
People contacted Military Phony and said that there were aspects of this story that didn’t add up. Some knew Lindsey’s situation very well.
Michael Lindsey’s official military records were requested through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE MANPOWER DATA CENTER
NATIONAL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER (NPRC)
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DISCUSSION and SUMMARY
Lindsey retired in 2011 and since he only served for just shy of five (5) years, it would make sense that it was a medical retirement.
But there is no Purple Heart listed under the Awards section, which would indicate that he was wounded.
On his Gravatar account, he speaks about a head injury that he got in Iraq…
Lindsey was stationed out of Fort Carson Colorado and did, in fact, serve in Iraq. There is reliable data that exists for recent conflicts. Research shows that there were a total of seven (7) men killed in Iraq in 2009 that were from Fort Carson CO. They are listed here:
Source: Iraq Coalition Count – http://icasualties.org/Iraq/Fatalities.aspx
Five men were killed when they were struck by a suicide truck bomb. Two others were killed in non-hostile vehicle accidents.
There is no incident as was described in the paper – an IED.
We reached out to both the newspaper and Michael Lindsay.
We told the newspaper that we had Lindsey’s military records and there is no Purple Heart listed. They expressed an interest in getting the story right and requested proof.
Michael Lindsay was contacted as well and to his credit, he came clean about the story.
One thing that seemed odd about this is that the Purple Heart statement was not attributed to anybody as a quote — it was just a declarative statement that Lindsey had a Purple Heart. It was not attributed to the reporter, Lindsey’s friend, or Lindsey himself. However, Lindsey was quoted throughout the article which leads one to believe he was interviewed. It was odd that he had no awareness of what he claims his friend said.
He said that he wrote a letter to the paper but never sent it because his previous chain of command advised against it.
Lindsey was given the contact information for the newspaper and he promised he would call them and set the record straight. We hope that he does.
There will be a considerable amount of unraveling of who said what to who and why, but we are hopeful that the citizens that read that newspaper will know the truth, as uncomfortable as that might be. It is only right.
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PHOTOS and SOCIAL MEDIA
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- FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/michael.lindsey.106
- TWITTER: https://twitter.com/MikeL1633
- GRAVATAR: http://en.gravatar.com/2317816
This Ain’t Hell: https://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=81970
He wasn’t really sure what was going on. He wasn’t really sure what was going on.
Puff n Fresh needs six weeks on the fat
Farm…..
Good Bust… OOORAH… cant wait for answers on Michael Sonny Smith….
[…] folks at Military Phony sent us their work on James Michael Lindsey. He just goes by Michael or […]
No i was not awarded a purple heart, that story was a lie i told my friend John Kimbrough and when he was interviewed he gave the story to the reporter. I told that story to many early in my time out of the Army including John close about 2 yrs before the story was published. I lied and then when it came out i didnt know what to do so i just tried to ignore it and when someone would ask me about it i just said yes and thank you and went on with my day just waiting for it to go away. I was injured in a weight room at fob endeavour iraq where a bar with 145 pounds on it came down on my head after i felt a pinch in my back and fell to the ground. It turned out i had herniated my l4 an l5 disk and the weight on my head caused a brain injury that has left me with a sever tunnel vision and a seizure disorder, where i couldnt drive a car for many yrs. After being in recovery from the accident for anout a yr i attempted suicide and spent one week in a mental hospital in pueblo Colorado. When this article came out i was going through training to be ordained as a Minister and just thought it was best if i ignored it till it went away. I received no award no certificate and no money so i just wanted it to all go away. I know it was wrong for me not to come out right away and tell the truth, but i cant change that fact now. I have come out and told the truth about what happened to several as of late such as my former squadron commander my sergeant major from the warrior transition unit i was in when i was medically retired out, my platoon sergeant, my former first line during deployment and many others. I have also written a retraction letter for the paper but i have not sent it in yet but ive been out of Texas. I understand those who are upset with me and im trying to make it right, i understand those who hate me and i accept it, all i can do is apologize to those i have hurt and ive been trying to do that.
I served as Michael’s CSM at the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Carson. Michael share this story with me and asked my advice…what I shared with him is between us, but I can tell you that Michael Lindsey is an honorable man who served this Nation honorably and I would gladly serve with him again. Michael has acknowledged the truth about this story and I have no reason to condemn him for his previous mistake!
It AINT a “mistake”
It’s a damned lie.
PERIOD
You don’t accidentally tell someone you were with 3 of your Bros when they were killed.
Only a POS does something like that.
So- you’d “serve with him again”
That’s great.
Good for you.
As for fabricating a scenario where you witness the death of friends-
Those of us that actually have and have to live with that EVERY DAY don’t see ANTYTHING “honorable” about it.
I will wait to see your confession letter published in the paper, then perhaps, I may forgive you, but I am waiting on your letter first.
CSM u may consider him an honorable man who served his nation, which he did, but he lied and if he gained anything based off that lie he would be in violation of the Stolen Valor Act. Gaining financially from lies about military awards for valor is specifically mentioned as a crime. While I am sorry for his injury it is not a reason to make up a story for what happened. I too was injured, injured not wounded, on my deployment. When people ask I tell them simply that I fell in a hole and injured my leg. No stories of heroics that never occurred. Simple straight forward truth. Something Michael lacked when this entire show started it’s inexorable roll down the hill of truth.