Thomas Earl O’Neil – US Army Ranger, 3 Bronze Stars w/ “V”, 3 Purple Hearts, Battle of Mogadishu, Blog of Shame
1501/01/2019 by militaryphonies
BACKGROUND
Thomas Earl O’Neil comes to us from Orange, TX. He is 49 y/o as of January 2019.
O’Neil served in the Army and the high point of his military career, as posts often about on Facebook, is his participation in the Battle of Mogadishu – or Operation Gothic Serpent. According to Tom, he was boots on the ground with the 75th Ranger Regiment — 18 hours of Hell as he puts it.
People quite naturally wanted to know if the Battle of Mogadishu was like the movie Black Hawk Down.
O’Neil even claimed to serve with Master Sergeant Gordon and Sergeant First Class Shughart, the two Congressional Medal of Honor recipients for their actions in Somalia. They received their awards posthumously.
But, there was more to these postings, as Thomas O’Neil seems to struggle with painful memories of events in Somalia, and seemed to be reaching out for help.
Although people could not relate to what Tom must have gone through with bullets whizzing by his head and his buddies dying all around him, they did the next best thing and tried to show Tom support and praised him for his military service.
Thomas transitions into a questionable claim that many of the survivors have gone on to commit suicide. He even goes so far as to suggest that he is one of only a few that remain…
He also starts transitioning into asking if he can live up to their sacrifice and then into his own military awards – which consist of three (3) Bronze Stars with “V” and three (3) “Purple Stars” (later corrected to three Purple Hearts).
A larger version of the Army portrait photo allows for pinpointing the medals. Yep, there appears to be a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart if not several since it is hard to make out devices. Is that a Navy/Marine Corps Combat Action Ribbon?
O’Neil also posted about a Combat Medical Badge…
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Thomas Earl O’Neil’s military records were requested through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
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FOIA RESULTS
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE MANPOWER DATA CENTER (DoDMDC)
DEPARTMENT OF ARMY FOIA REQUEST RESULTS – DD-214
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CRIMINAL RECORD
O’Neil showed up in a criminal report in Oklahoma. He had a prior address of Ft. Sill OK and appears that it probably occurred while he was still on active duty.
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DISCUSSION and SUMMARY
ARMY RANGER
Although the FOIA result only showed a DD-214 and no record of assignments, there is nothing to indicate that O’Neil was an Army Ranger with the 75th.
SOMALIA
It also seems there is nothing in the records to indicate that O’Neil was a part of the Battle of Mogadishu. This would be indicated by his awards – or lack of awards in this regard.
BRONZE STAR(s) and PURPLE HEART(s)
There are no Bronze Stars – with “V” or otherwise – in O’Neil’s official military records. Also, there are no Purple Hearts listed.
The below ribbon appears to be a Combat Action Ribbon but that is awarded to the Navy and Marine Corps, not the Army.
This may be a case of stolen valor since O’Neil is claiming he has not only one Purple Heart, but three. A claim of Combat Action Ribbon would only add to a violation of the Stolen Valor Act.
As his DD-214 states, he does have the Combat Medical Badge but doesn’t have any jump wings listed. The combat was probably in Kosovo or perhaps ODS/S.
Thomas O’Neil had perfectly honorable service that anyone should be proud of. He does not have the medals he claims he has. Don’t know how the “official” photo was staged but it seems someone should have caught the CAR and the other ribbons.
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PHOTOS and SOCIAL MEDIA
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/thomas.e.oneil.9 (now deleted)
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This Ain’t Hell: https://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=83873
He shows not only a CAR, but also a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal and Naval Jump Wings displayed below the ribbons [which is correct Naval Regs, but wouldn’t be on an Army Uniform]. I don’t imagine he ever claimed he’d been in the Corps.
Huh, where did he get his Navy jump wings from as well?
The GCM is where he fucked-up; no jarhead in their right mind would display it.
Via his police record he was 48 in 2002. that would make him being born in 1954. Therfore he supposedly joined the army at age 34.
My bet is on prior navy enlistment, maybe as a corpsman (that would explain a lot)
Still not sure. Via his records he had a stellar career but his rank suggests something else. Would love to see a follow up with assignments and service in other branches before concluding my judgement.
That age on the booking displays current age, not the age he was arrested/charged. At the time of his booking (i.e. Dec 2002), he was 32 years/old and almost 49 y/o now.
My Bad. So far a list of ribbons and medals I could make out:
Bronze Star
Purple Heart – Joint Service Commendation Medal(?) – ARCOM
AAM – Combat Action Ribbon – Army Good Conduct Medal
Marine Corps Good Conduct (?) – NDSM – Armed Forces Expeditionaty Medal
No ???? – Humanitarian Service Medal – NCO Professional Development Ribbon
Army Service Ribbon – Army Overseas Service Ribbon (?)- Haiti Campaign Medal
NATO Medal – ??? – Kuwait Liberation Medal
Ok found the missing:
Bronze Star
Purple Heart – Joint Service Commendation Medal(?) – ARCOM
AAM – Combat Action Ribbon – Army Good Conduct Medal
Marine Corps Good Conduct (?) – NDSM – Armed Forces Expeditionaty Medal
Southwest Asia Service Medal – Humanitarian Service Medal – NCO Professional Development Ribbon
Army Service Ribbon – Army Overseas Service Ribbon (?)- Haiti Campaign Medal
NATO Medal – Kuwait Liberation Medal (SA) – Kuwait Liberation Medal (EoK)
Shit Bag ! Veterans like him always give veterans bad name ! Bring back original “STOLEN VALOR ACT”! ASAP! He also wearing US NAVY / USMC Gold Jump wings! 🤬
If he had been in Somalia, he’d have been awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and the Humanitarian Service Medal, neither of which shows on the DD 214.
Others have already pointed out the Navy bling he’s wearing, so I’ll leave that alone. He was born in 1970 or 1971 and joined the Army in 1989, so there’s no time for the Navy stuff. He’s also wearing the ribbon for the Kuwait Liberation Medal (KU), which isn’t on his DD- 214. That suggests he never set foot in Kuwait or Iraq during DS. He was probably in a Saudi evac hospital. So it could be O’Neil ‘earned’ the CMB on group orders and not for actual field combat service. Not saying that’s the case, but it is possible. He never attended BNCOC either, a prerequisite for promotion to E-6. Along with the arrest, that leads me to think his service near the tail end of his career was less than exemplary, though he did get his GCM. He never deployed after 9/11, even though he was stationed at Ft. Sill and it seems everyone was being deployed at that time. Again, that may have been due to his legal troubles. I would love to see the character of service in that final DD-214. With no fifth GCM – which he would have received if his discharge was medical, I suspect it was a general and he was given a voluntary boot rather than face UCMJ action. That being said, O’Neil had an otherwise stellar career. But he had to shit all over it with his make-believe heroism.
Good analysis. He DOES in fact have a Kuwait Liberation Medal – second to last line on Block 13 of his DD-214, right after the Kosovo Campaign Medal.
I saw that on second look.
You bagged another one!!!! Keep up the great work
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This dude was on Twitter going by the name of Ranger Frank. Oddly he would only speak with women. Piece of useless trash