Michael Reagan – US Navy EOD, Shot Twice, Lone Survivor, Blog of Shame
3408/18/2019 by militaryphonies
BACKGROUND
Michael Joseph Reagan comes to us from Trafalgar, Indiana but also lists addressses in California. Sometimes his first name has the alternate spelling of “Micheal.” Reagan is 38 years old as of August 2019.
There was talk on the internet of an inspirational video that featured Michael Reagan…
It was determined that it was video put out by their church. In this video, Michael and his wife talk about his challenges which were brought about by “untreated PTSD.”
The above video was clipped and redacted from its original version. If you would like to see the video in its entirety, you can view it at:
Church: https://eclife.org/page/1244?Item=1288 (55:30)
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZT-W3k9ug8&fbclid=IwAR0ovVqH8pas1Fi46hn-fmhGIHabkVFFtnZFPFcRPEvVnlnbBRKr999anmA (55:30)
In the above video, Reagan’s wife said:
“He enlisted in 1998”
“He did the war thing – saw some terrible things.”
“… after getting himself in trouble because of untreated PTSD.”
Someone reached out to Michael and asked him some questions…
In addition, Michael Reagan’s wife was contacted and asked to expand upon some things she said in the video…
So, from her statements it sounds like Michael Reagan was boots on the ground in both Afghanstan and Iraq.
Then, there are the posts about the PTSD…
Some people that knew Michael Reagan contacted Military Phony and asked for an investigation into the matter since they had doubts about his stories.
. . . . .
ACTIONS CONDUCTED BY MILITARY PHONIES
Michael Joseph Reagan’s official military records were ordered from the Department of the Navy via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. We looked through Navy cruise books to establish and confirm time lines of military service and contacted the senior enlisted that Michael Reagan served under. We also reached out to Michael Reagan and his wife to get their side of the story.
. . . . .
FOIA RESULTS
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE MANPOWER DATA CENTER (SCRA)
. . . . .
DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY (DoN)
This last page is just a formality. Once someone completes active duty they are transferred to the non-drilling Navy Reserve to finish out obligated reserve time. When that time is up, a letter is generated such as the one above.
. . . . .
US NAVY CRUISE BOOKS
Other than boot camp and in-rate training, the bulk of Michael Reagan’s enlistment was served with VAQ-139. This is an Electronic Attack Squadron made up of aircraft that specialize in electronic warfare. Currently, they are home stationed at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington.
They often are attached with ships and in fact were attached to the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) during most of the time that Michael Reagan was in the unit. Michael Reagan was found within several cruise books for the USS Abraham Lincoln – thus accounting for his military service timeline.
Sources for US Navy Cruise Books
The two USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) cruise books mentioned here can be found several places in the public domain/internet, some book scans being higher quality than others and some requiring a paid subscription to access the books:
Navy Department Library, Ancestry, Fold3, e-yearbook.com, etc.
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) Persian Gulf Cruise Book 2000-01
https://www.navysite.de/cruisebooks/cvn72-00/409.htm
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) WestPac Cruise Book 2002-03
https://www.navysite.de/cruisebooks/cvn72-02/350.htm
. . . . .
SENIOR ENLISTED
The Senior Enlisted from Michael Reagan’s command, VAQ-139, was contacted in an effort to verify some of his claims…
NOTE: “Acting CMC” means the Acting (standing in for) Command Master Chief, who is the highest enlisted rating in a unit and oversees all enlisted as the senior enlisted advisor to that unit.
We could have contacted more people from Reagan’s unit but since we talked to the Senior Enlisted man, there did not seem any need to.
. . . . .
DISCUSSION and SUMMARY
Michael Joseph Reagan has no record of formal military training in explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and would not have been used to defuse improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Reagan had no assignments with a Marine Unit over his career as he had claimed.
Besides that, there is no such unit as 5-1 – which would imply 5th Battalion / 1st Marines. First Marines are based out of Camp Pendleton, CA. Marine units only go to three (3) Battalions, except for Parris Island which has a 4th Battalion – for all females.
The Navy views their training as an expensive investment, so they don’t have a tendency to change people’s ratings without a commitment from the individual to sign up for more service time as a condition of the training.
According to his DD-214, Michael was an Aviation Structural Mechanic and at one time held the rank of AM3 (Third Class Petty Officer – E-4), but was discharged as an AMAN (Airman – E-3). This means he was reduced in rank, which most all the time happens for disciplinary reasons.
The earlier Navy cruise book lists him as an AMSAN – AVIATION STRUCTURAL MECHANIC (STRUCTURAL) AIRMAN (E-3).
The later cruise book lists him as a AM3 – AVIATION METALSMITH PETTY OFFICER 3RD CLASS (E-4).
His final discharge DD-214 lists him as a AMAN – AVIATION STRUCTURAL MECHANIC AIRMAN (E-3).
Not sure if there was a typo in the cruise books or the ratings were so close that Reagan crossed over to strike for an rate opening.
There is no listing of a Purple Heart in his records, let alone two. Had he been shot as a result of enemy fire as was claimed, he would have been awarded a Purple Heart for each separate incident.
There is no award of the Combat Action Ribbon (CAR) in Michael Reagan’s official military records. If Reagan was a combat veteran, even on a ship, he would have this award. Often the ship itself is awarded combat medals if it has taken on direct enemy fire.
There were no incidents aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln during the time that Michael Reagan was aboard in which all members of his unit were killed except for him.
Although Reagan may have been diagnosed with PTSD, it is difficult to believe it would be related to getting shot twice or being the last surviving member of his unit since there is a claim that his entire unit was killed over time.
The claims that Michael Reagan is making are not supported by his official military records.
STOLEN VALOR
If the claims by Michael Reagan were used to leverage work, military or civilian promotions, or anything else of value, Reagan may be in violation of Stolen Valor laws. State laws may also apply.
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PHOTOS
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SOCIAL MEDIA
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/micheal.reagan.1 (deleted 8/18/19)
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O boy, O boy Another phony sole survivor. Here we go Mikey Mike. Or would it be Joey Hoey? Hope you still got those no skid shoes the troops wore on Carriers. You think it’s been tough standing in the blood and on the bodies of people that died? Son you’ve done stepped into a sure ’nuff sh^t pile now. Got the PTSD do you? From what, that bruised ‘taint? Enjoy your new found Google Fame Dippy. You do know, Micheal (Michael) Joseph Reagan, one of the Christian God’s Commandments is, Thou Shalt Not Lie (Bear False Witness). TAH Troops will be frothing at the bit to meet you on their pages.
The Bible also says, “Judge not, lest ye be judged”, and “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”….
Yes we have all sinned and fallen short, and yes I will sit in Judgement and cast stones at a lying embellishing POS that makes false claims such as this. He crapped in his own mess tray and now he’s going to have to eat it. I personally believe that there is a special place in hell for people that use the Church to further their own agenda. YMMV
Since you decided to get all biblical on us I would like you to NOT take a single verse out of context, but try reading the whole chapter. You can find that in the 7th chapter of the book of Matthew where Jesus does not simply say not to judge people. Instead, he is describing HOW to judge people. Your other verse about casting stones is similar in meaning in that it pointed out the hypocrisy of those who were about to stone a woman. — This guy can and SHOULD be judged for his bullshit.
And Poof goes the Facebook. What will the next line be “it’s classified”, “my records were lost in the fire” or the ever so popular “my lawyer said we suing!”
Or a sock puppet or his long suffering wife will come to his defense.
It saddens me to read this. After doing some fact checking of my own, I have learned that you are attacking a Navy Veteran with Honor. This article is full of what I have found to be false documents. How can you live with yourself. As a veteran I have a hard time reading articles when false valor is claimed. It dishonors those that have served and those who are serving. I am more upset that this man has valor and you post and article with false documents to claim his doesn’t. Mr. Reagan, I am sorry people with no honor are able to post false stories about you. Thank you for your service. As for the person that wrote this article, you are a disgrace and person without honor.
… Actually, it reads more like your aircraft mechanic buddy got popped making up horrifying war stories to harvest glorified respect & admiration within his community. When he should have been proud of the actual service he did and utilized the experience to be the best man on the block. Too late for that now — What “terrible things” did he see on the Abraham Lincoln while doing the “war thing” between fixing airplanes, at sea? Surrounded by a fleet.
Law of Averages is also heavily on the blog’s side, or did you simply ignore the hundreds (thousands?) of other cases they have posted about? Isn’t their first rodeo, and unless it’s a secret (or puppet of the sock variety: shoo!) you should post your “fact checking” for the rest of us to consider instead of scolding the blog for their results querying publicly available service information — Remember, people who know this individual heard his schpiel and blew him in for it. He didn’t just end up here by lottery draw, the Fakebook deletion suggests MP’s conclusions are on the money and that he doesn’t want to talk or hear about it. Especially from family, friends, colleagues and co-worshippers. So please, do tell.
Mr Steenburger you are actually Mr Reagan and lying as usual
.Jason Steenberger, the fact checker expert who finds stuff nobody else can. If the post was done at before 1950, the time of the first comment on the 8th August, he did all his checking in 3 hours via a quick line to the docs records nobody else has. Facile liars produce palpable lies and you can get no lie as stupid as the one below. Running the photos shown on the website Foto Forensics produce no obvious defects that indicate forgery. WordPress pictures do not strip exif and other details from the pics. In contrast Fakebook photos do all such stripping and remove forensic details of use You should always know what you look for and some people are completely out of depth with it all. Reagan aka Steenerger certainly is. The liar is exposed further by more lies.
Jason R. Steenberger,
I see you are Michael Reagan’s brother-in-law, so you’re opinion lends itself to being biased.
You went on and on but failed to justify anything you are saying with evidence of Michael Reagan’s supposed innocence. Where is your evidence to back up your claim of “false documents” or are you just hopeful the contents of this blog are not true? Is hope your strategy?
* You wouldn’t want me to accuse you of being convicted in 2011 of domestic battery in the presence of a child without having the proper documents to back up my claim, would you?
* You wouldn’t want me to accuse you of filing for bankruptcy in 2002 without having the proper documents to back up my claim, would you?
Most people are not squeaky clean but in Michael Reagan’s case, he appears to be staying with a lie in the face of concrete documentation that says otherwise. If you are claiming there was some kind of mistake, or worse – there was malicious intent, let’s see the proof.
Just to accuse someone of using false documents to build a case is not a wise thing to do on a public forum.
I challenge you to put up the proof of your claim that these were false documents. Put up or shut up.
In regard to several of the photos of Michael Reagan on the USS Abraham Lincoln, links were provided below where you can independently verify that he was with VAQ-139 and the USS Lincoln. Those sites are independent of this one and regardless of what you “hope” is true, there is no grand conspiracy to proliferate false documents between websites.
Again, put up or shut up.
I think Reagan use his Brother in Law’s name or composed the message to be posted. I don’t know if his wife believes him any more, takes his side, or realises he is talking crap. I find his claim to have lost everything in his accident is not credible either, unless he carries his wordly possessions around in his pockets. If I had an accident all my stuff would remain safely in my home and not have a selective disappearnce. .
Seriously, Steenberger? You were able to get all that information in just a few hours? Did he or his wife give it to you? Wait, that would be impossible. She claims that Reagan lost all his military things, to include his records and medals, in a car accident in 2007. So where did you get the information from? If what you say is true, then you should have no problem posting it here to prove the admin wrong. I won’t hold my breath waiting. I’m sure all I’ll hear are crickets.
He may really have lost everything in a car accident. I lost all of my guns and ammo in a boating accident, so it could happen.
Jason Steenberger, I was on that cruise CVN-72 2002-2003 OEF/OIF. I was attached to SEAOPDET which was a deployment of I level technicians supporting the air wing. Furthermore, I was stationed at NAS Whidbey Island, home of VAQ-139.
Mr. Reagan’s claims are pure fantasy. Nobody from CVN-72 was killed in combat. The only fatality that I am aware of on that cruise was an airman who got behind an F-14 engine was blown overboard, I was told by someone in his unit that he passed from his injuries after he was airlifted back to shore.
I was there for the entire 11 month cruise, and I was on the flight deck when George Bush showed up to tell us all “Mission Accomplished.”
This is pure, unadulterated bullshit.
The POS Michael Reagan shit all over whatever honorable service he did accomplish when he started making claims to have been shot, served as an EOD Tech with the Marines. A simple check of the unit diaries of the two Marine units he claims to have served with shows NO Michael Reagan ever having served with them.
Sorry, your defending nothing more than a lying piece of shit.
Another fucking shitbird.
[…] good folks over at militaryphony.com published a case about this Michael Reagan character. It’s always disturbing when an actual […]
Considering that EOD training by the Navy lasts 51 weeks, starting at Great Lakes, then to Dive/Salvage training at Panama City, FL, and after that, 42 weeks at EOD School itself at Eglin AFB, followed by jump school, and after that, TCS followed by EOD TTC, it seems extremely unlikely that Reagan – who has no such training in his records – can claim that he was doing any EOD stuff shore. It is, in fact, ridiculous.
Also, his claims of getting no help with PTSD just do not hold water.
Very true. Roudebush, the VA hospital he would be going to in Central Indiana, has a good PTSD program. Any veteran diagnosed is encouraged to attend. For him to say he can’t get treated is a blatant lie.
And saying he can’t get any help means that he either has NOT enrolled in any of the VA’s programs, including health care, or he is just looking for pity and attention from Other.
He is looking for money as posers always do .End of.
Having served at MU11 for a short time (Sel Res here) as well as MU17, I never saw this guy or heard of him.
However I knew 3 Techs from MU11 who were KIA, and yet you claim to have been overseas with boots on the ground. Sadly, you dishonor yourself, as well as the three who died actually performing EOD missions.
I know several Chiefs, Senior Chiefs, Master Chiefs, and Master Divers from MU11.
None have heard of you.
So your claims are obviously a lie, and the DD214 proves it.
You’re done. Finished. Kaput.
Good luck explaining your lies and deceit to your family, friends and church.
Out of curiosity, I looked up his alleged medication to get some info about it.
I’ll just leave this here:
WHAT IS GABAPENTIN (GRALISE, HORIZANT, NEURONTIN)?
Gabapentin is an anti-epileptic drug, also called an anticonvulsant. It affects chemicals and nerves in the body that are involved in the cause of seizures and some types of pain.
Gabapentin is used in adults to treat nerve pain caused by herpes virus or shingles (herpes zoster).
The Horizant brand of gabapentin is also used to treat restless legs syndrome (RLS).
The Neurontin brand of gabapentin is also used to treat seizures in adults and children who are at least 3 years old.
Use only the brand and form of gabapentin your doctor has prescribed. Check your medicine each time you get a refill to make sure you receive the correct form.
Now, unless he has herpes or shingles, why would he be taking an anti-epileptic drug? Huh? Nowhere did I find anything related to blood pressure medication in the description of it, or to any cardiac condition.
Are you a doctor? Or have you ever been diagnosed with PTSD? I am currently working on my diagnosis, ( feel free to check my background: David Bates 03/28/1985. I served in the army infantry from 06/2006 – 04/2011) I am a Purple Heart recipient, and have yet to get a disability rating or diagnosis for PTSD from the VA. So, please understand that the VA is not perfect. Some of that responsibility may lay with me, I concede. However, along with other issues, I have experienced RLS and random twitches in various parts of my body. I am not trying to be confrontational, I just would like to express that you probably don’t really understand PTSD unless you have it, or work closely with people who do…..
I live in the same state as Reagan so I know it isn’t overly hard to see a doc for treatment and to get the rating process started. He would go to the Roudebush VA Medical Center for diagnosis and treatment as I did. He doesn’t have to be rated to get into a program, just diagnosed. There are no long wait times to see a doc and one can get into a counseling program fast. So I know Reagan is lying when he says he can’t get treatment for his alleged PTSD.
Ex-PH2,
Gabapentin is also prescribed for the pain incured from radiation treatment. I was on it for about two months during my cancer treatment. It made very forgetful and caused me to stagger a bit, and bump into walls while walking down the hallway at work. (Yeah, I drove to work a couple of times while on sick leave.) There are things that happened that I don’t even recall — people taking me to hospital, visiting, etc … good things. Can’t remember them still.
No offense meant to either of you, but I worked for a large animal veterinarian for two years when I was in college. A large percentage of the drugs in use now on humans were used in the field on large animals (horses, cattle) before they ever went to the human market.
Gabapentin is, as the description states, meant to relieve pain generated by nerves. The description says nothing about emotional/mental distress, which is a different chemistry.
PTSD is a mental and emotional issue. There are plenty of psychotropic drugs (some from equine medicine) that will serve to diminish the emotional, and sometimes physical, stress of PTSD.
If Reagan was taking gabapentin for “pain”, he and his wife do not define what kind of “pain” – physical or mental? And if he WAS taking it, it is logical to ask why, isn’t it? It is not described in that brief post I made as having anything to do with mental or emotional issues. Cancer pain, yes, although you’d think there are other painkillers that are less debilitating.
But for PTSD? If Reagan was taking it, more likely it was for herpes, unless he was lying about taking that drug along with all the other fictions he has come up with. Shingles tends to not annoy people until you hit your 50s or 60s, when varicella reactivates itself and attacks nerves. In regard to Reagan’s claim of “pain”, which he does not define, he has ZERO injuries other than a bruised ego.
Gabapentin is prescribed for real vs. imagined neuropathic pain and epilepsy. I take it once a day for neuropathic pain in my feet from peripheral neuropathy. PH2 is correct, it is not something prescribed for psych conditions. Higher than necessary doses however can cause all sorts of side effects, that is why I was warned not to take more than 900 mg per day.
This story is pure fantasy. I was there on the cruise he is claiming. The notion that anybody on our boat was on the ground defusing IED’s can only be the product of a drug-addled fevered imagination.
Sorry Michael Reagan, you’re full of shit, “Shipmate”
Folks want to talk about being on the ground with the bad guys doing derring do shit, until it is time to ruck-up and actually carry a 140 pound combat load and walk among those who are figuring out how to kill you. Reagan needs to be honest. He chose the service where he was least likely to do that type of derring do. Then he became an aircraft wrench, not a bomb defuser. His claims of Navy EOD with only four years service are patently ludicrous, despite his photos in the ship’s cruise books as a structural aircraft mechanic (not that there is anything wrong with that).
Here is his LinkedIn profile as well: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-reagan-1a680759/
Well, that’s interesting: he’s puffing himself off as an E-5 (PO2), instead of an E-4 (PO3) busted down to E-3 (AN). Also gives himself more AD time than he actually has. That’s cute – really, really cute. Is there anything he is NOT lying about????
UNITED STATES NAVY
AM2 AWSW
UNITED STATES NAVY
Jun 1998 – Jun 20046 years 1 month
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005652194872&lst=1063483198%3A100005652194872%3A1566330813&sk=about
Why can’t these fools just accept the fact that they did what they did, no need for embellishments.
The PTSD false claims really really angers me. So many other who really need the help aren’t getting it because of jackasses like this