BACKGROUND

Roosevelt Dwayne Rodgers – who more commonly goes by “Dwayne” – comes to us from Irvington, New Jersey. He also is listed as having current addresses in Brooklyn NY, Philadelphia PA, and Silver Spring MD. Rodgers will be 55 years old in February 2019.

We’re not going to lie to you – this case was a challenge in terms of the sheer volume of claims. We will try to distill it down but we would encourage you to do a lot of the reading of the material we provide to get a firm grasp of the magnitude of Mr. Rodgers’ military service claims.

In a document that he labels a “DD-216” [sic], which may have been a typo, but internally it is labeled a “DD-215” [sic] which we have heard of, he claims a wide range of things.

NOTE: A DD-215 is a document designed to correct entries on a DD-214.

The document that Rodgers supplies that he labels a DD-216 / DD-215 reads like a smorgasbord of Marine Corps job titles for someone considering an enlistment. In it, he claims he was a Sergeant Major (E-9) with over 34 years in the Marine Corps serving from 1984 – 2018.

He claims that he is a veteran of the Kosovo Campaign, Liberation of Kuwait (ODS/S), Afghanistan War and Iraq War.

His accumulated awards include two (2) Bronze Star Medals, three (3) Purple Hearts and a Combat Action Ribbon.

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To make it official, it was “signed” by Captain Rock Warnick, who apparently is an adjutant at United States Marine Corps and works for the Commandant. The signature is a script font, however.

On several LinkedIn accounts, he makes many of the same claims, but some are different – i.e. one Bronze Star vs. two, five Good Conduct Medals vs. ten, etc. However, he repeated the claim of three (3) Purple Heart medals. Also, on one LinkedIn account, he claims he was recalled to active duty from March 2013 to November 2018.

Rodgers attached a four-page resume to his LinkedIn account. Most of the first three pages were IT skills, but he addressed his Marine Corps experience on the last page… highlighted below.

Notice that this resume only claims two (2) Purple Hearts instead of three (3). If these claims are true, Sgt Major Rodgers would be a legendary figure in the Marine Corps.

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ACTIONS CONDUCTED BY MILITARY PHONIES

Roosevelt Dwayne Rodgers’ military records were requested through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

We filed a FOIA request with both the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) to account for service prior to the mid-1990s since they would maintain his records as well as Headquarters, United States Marine Corps if his service extended into 2018 as Rodgers had claimed. HQ-USMC would maintain his records if he served beyond the mid-1990s.

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FOIA RESULTS – SELECTED

NATIONAL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER – NPRC

FOIA RESULTS – COMPLETE

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

Rodgers did claim he was in the Marine Corps for 34 years and got out in 2018. He also claimed he was recalled to active duty in his LinkedIn account and got out in 2018.

If release from active duty in November 2018 were true, the US Marine Corps would hold his records and not the NPRC. Since results came back from the NPRC, we choose to go with this case since it is doubtful the U.S. Marine Corps would have a positive result.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE MANPOWER DATA CENTER

The Department of Defence Manpower Data Center / SCRA database was systematically searched with the same null result. It would not have picked up Rodgers military service since it does not go back to late 1984. Rodgers said he was released from active duty in Nov 2018, so we are displaying only one below that is indicative of a null result.

USMC COMBAT ACTION & HUMANITARIAN SERVICE MEDAL DATABASE

The USMC CAR/HSM Database has been known to not be 100% reliable as far as including all CARs or HSMs. It was just another resource that we checked but no conclusions can be drawn.

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DISCUSSION and SUMMARY

SUMMARY SHEET

Roosevelt Dwayne Rodgers served in the Marine Corps from 1982 to 1984 according to his NPRC Summary Sheet. It does not say USMC Reserve although he seems to claim that he was called back to duty from the Reserve at a later time. If that were true, the Headquarters, USMC would hold his records and not NPRC.

Rodgers was a Travel Clerk (3431) which is an honorable profession but does not support his claim of holding a MOS that would constitute the plethora of skills, including Parachutist and Combat Diver Marine, that he claimed. While plausible that he could have gotten those skills at a later date, his official service record – both the summary sheet and record of assignments – do not support this.

Rodgers was discharged as a Lance Corporal (E-3) vs. his claim of being a Sergeant Major (E-9).

SKILLS

Many of the military training and skills Rodgers listed on his resume were not supported by his official military records. There is too much to address individually here.

COMBAT

Rodgers’ official military records do not support his claims of having been in the Kosovo Campaign, Kuwait Liberation (ODS/S), Afghanistan War or the Iraq War.

These claims are not supported both by awards and assignments.

STOLEN VALOR

The official military records for Dwayne Rodgers do not support his claims of valor medals – the Bronze Star Medal (BSM) that he claimed two of, the Purple Heart Medal (PH) that he claimed three of, and the Combat Action Ribbon (CAR).

Although the Bronze Star is not included in the official Stolen Valor Act of 2013, the Purple Heart and the Combat Action Ribbon are included.

Although the claims of security clearances could be leveraged for certain jobs requiring them, these claims would not hold up to proper vetting by government or company security officers.

If these claims were leveraged by Rodgers for something of value over the years, including monetary gain or work positions, Rodgers may be in violation of the Stolen Valor Act. Individual state laws may apply.

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PHOTOS

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