BACKGROUND
Thomas Eugene Gagne comes to us from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but lived in North Carolina for quite a while. Gagne is 57 years old as of May 2019.
Before deleting both profiles, Gagne implied on his Facebook and Google + pages that he was a U.S. Navy SEAL.
Oddly enough, Gagne’s LinkedIn profile does not say anything about him being a US Navy SEAL…
Gagne visited, what appeared to be Arlington, with his uniform and medals.
In the below photo, the Navy SEAL Trident, the Purple Hearts, the Combat Action Ribbons and jump wings are clearly visible…
In a version of the above photo with “Go Navy” and star sprinkles highlighting it, some friends and/or relatives commented in regard to the Navy SEAL Trident…
On Gagne’s Facebook page, he posts the following graphic depiction of a medal rack. There are no comments, but it certainly comes close to what he has in the photos above.
In BUD/S training, there is the “bell” which is significant. If a trainee wants to drop BUD/S training, all they have to do is ring the bell. It is displayed in a prominently visible position as a reminder that they can quit at any time.
In a discussion about the bell at BUD/S training, he makes a comment about never ringing it.
When Gagne said “I never rang it” he could have meant 1) that he never dropped out and finished the training or 2) that he never attended training in the first place. The 2nd point is probably true of most people so in that since Gagne technically was being truthful.
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ACTIONS CONDUCTED BY MILITARY PHONIES
After contacting the UDT/SEAL archives, the Naval Special Warfare Center and checking the UDT/SEAL database we found that there is NO record of “Thomas Eugene Gagne” ever completing BUD/S Training.
Thomas Gagne’s military records were ordered through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
FOIA RESULTS
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE MANPOWER DATA CENTER (DoDMDC/SCRA)
NATIONAL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER (NPRC)
NOTE: The assignments during the period of 1988 – 1996 was not included. We are not sure, but he may have been commissioned and that is why his tour ended early (i.e. JUL1988 vs. NOV90).
In any case, Gagne was finally discharged as a Lieutenant (O-3) in 1996.
We went back to the NPRC and asked about the missing assignments from 1988 to 1996, and this was their response via email:
So, there’s that…
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DISCUSSION and SUMMARY
SUMMARY SHEET & ASSIGNMENTS
Thomas Gagne appears to have been in the medical field his entire time in the Navy.
He did not train for and was not in the SEAL Teams and it does not even look like he was in a support role for a SEAL Team.
He never attended BUD/S, but someone very close to him insists that he was with BUD/S Class 117 and the Navy is having a system-wide screw up with military records.
We wonder how someone very close to him has the specific class number, and is under the impression that he was a SEAL? If it was an assumption on their part, why didn’t he correct them? Also, how can they be so specific with this assumption. Makes you scratch your head.
The bad news…
BUD/S Class 117 graduated in 1982. If you were to check with Gagne’s assignments, he spent the entire year of 1982 (from NOV 1981 to JUN 1983) at NAVSUBMEDCEN New London, CT. ‘NAVSUBMEDCEN’ means the Navy Submarine Medical Center (Hospital) in New London, CT.
The good news…
The US Navy may not have screwed up the records as previosly suggested.
MEDALS
There are too many medals to go through, but here is a listing of the medals that appear on Gagne’s official military records:
There are too many medal discrepencies to go through, so we’ll focus on the higher awards…
Gagne’s official military records do not list any medals from the top two rows he wore on his uniform.
Gagne does not have a Combat Action Ribbon, let alone two.
Gagne does not have a Purple Heart, let alone two.
Gagne does not have the SEAL Trident listed, nor does he have training or assignments that suggest he was a Navy SEAL.
Oddly, he does have Parachute Jump Wings listed. No school for this is listed but he has it listed on his awards. There is always the chance that he could have qualified during his years with attached with the USMC or as an Officer, but why would they send a Medical Admin Officer to jump school? There could be a reason.
If he legitimately earned the two Purple Hearts, two Bronze Stars and two Combat Action ribbons, he should probably get this straightened out in his official military records.
STOLEN VALOR
If the Combat Wounded – Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, SEAL and other claims by Thomas Eugene Gagne were used to leverage work, promotions, or anything else of value, Gagne may be in violation of Stolen Valor laws. State laws may also apply.
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PHOTOS
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SOCIAL MEDIA
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/tgagne
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This Ain’t Hell: https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=87863