BACKGROUND
Richard Wayne Jowers comes to us from Baird, Texas. At the time of this writing, February 2020, Jowers is 53 years old. He more commonly goes by “Rick” and / or “Ricky.”
Jowers is the Chief Deputy for Callahan County, Texas.
Jowers is currently running for Sheriff of Callahan County with the election being held on March 3, 2020.
In some of the debates leading up to the election, Jowers has claimed to have been a US Army Airborne Ranger. Here he asks candidate Leroy Foley if he was an Airborne Ranger and then affirms that they both were.
In a Clyde County Town Hall meeting designed to hear from the two candidates, held on January 6, 2020, Jowers states that that “was in the military – took a bullet for his country.”
In a forum on January 27, 2020, Jowers repeated the claim of Airborne Ranger, took a bullet and this time added that he was a Staff Sergeant.
There was some questions raised about the military claims of Foley, the other candidate. When that happened, Foley dropped out of the race. This may have influenced Jowers to think about his own military claims. Jowers soon put out a statement.
STATEMENT
We had received submissions about Jowers and his military claims having to do with being at the Black Hawk Down event in Somalia in 1993, being wounded, killing hundreds of the enemy, etc. We largely ignored these claims because many were wild and most all had no proof associated with them, therefore considered hearsay. However, we started hearing these remarkably similar claims over and over again from separate sources which gave us reason to pause. Again, we largely ignored these claims due to lack of credible evidence.
Jowers came out with what struck us as an odd statement. According to bigcountryhomepage.com, “Jowers goes on to explain that even though he claimed otherwise during public forums for the Sheriff’s race, he is, “not a Navy SEAL, a Green Beret, or an Airborne Ranger.”
This would be similar to someone saying they were not an astronaut and at no time did they ever walk on the moon, or that they never played football for the Dallas Cowboys.
Why would someone make such statements unless they made those claims?
Jowers also made the following post to his Facebook page. We at Military Phony had not heard that Jowers’ military service was in question, just the type of service and his experiences.
What became apparent about this post was that OTHER THAN HONORABLE appears instead of a Reenlistment code. HONORABLE as a stand-alone designation does not appear there. Stated another way, this area should have a reenlistment code. The word HONORABLE should not appear here instead of a reenlistment code. The only other things that would appear here are DISHONORABLE or OTHER THAN HONORABLE CONDITIONS.
Jowers called one of our investigators and admitted he had been discharged under OTHER THAN HONORABLE CONDITIONS.
Many were skeptical and contacted Military Phony. Others were wanting what they characterized as fair and equal treatment of the candidates. However, Military Phony only investigates claims of Stolen Valor and has no vested interest in a local Sheriff’s election in the state of Texas.
Since a quick sweep showed that Jowers spent about 18 months in the Army, our interest peaked. He could have been wounded and been discharged early because 18 months is not a typical enlistment.
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ACTIONS CONDUCTED BY MILITARY PHONIES
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Richard Wayne Jowers’ military records were ordered through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
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FOIA RESULTS
NATIONAL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER (NPRC)
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE MANPOWER DATA CENTER / SCRA
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DISCUSSION and SUMMARY
LENGTH OF SERVICE
There is a shortened length of service from what is expected for a normal enlistment.
Based on the entries common surrounding this, it appears that Jowers went AWOL (Away WithOut Leave) in March of 1989.
The military generally classifies unauthorized absence in excess of 30 days as a desertion. This is also documented by the “DMR” annotated in his records.
He was “DMR” (Dropped From the Rolls) at one month in April 1989 when usually the soldier is declared a Deserter.
In July of 1989, Jowers had an entry of “RMC” which is “Return to Military Control.”
He was then sent to Fort Sill, OK Personnel Control Facility (PCF) while awaiting probably a Court Martial. The PCF’s mission is as follows:
“PCF’s mission is to supervises and coordinates the administrative actions needed to ensure expeditious and proper disposition (administrative or judicial) of Army deserters, Army correctional facilities inmates, personnel who have received a bad conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge, parole violators, Army personnel confined by civil authorities, and personnel with a dismissal who are on excess leave pending completion of the appellate process, The facility performs all command, administrative, legal billeting, disciplinary, security and supply functions for assigned and attached personnel.”
SOURCE: https://sill-www.army.mil/usag/pcf/index.html
It made sense he was sent to Fort Sill PCF since he was FA.
The Personnel Clerk recorded an incorrect date by putting his Discharge as “870822” instead of “890822”.
His unit was in Germany and he appeared to go on leave and did not return to Germany. He turned himself in to Fort Sill. He was then discharged under “OTHER THAN HONORABLE CONDITIONS” for desertion.
RANK
He left the Army as a Private (E-1) which is probably due to the trouble just before discharge. This is in contrast to Staff Sergeant / SSG (E-6) that he claimed in the debate video above.
ASSIGNMENTS
Jowers does not show assignments indicative of being a Ranger.
MEDALS
There was no Purple Heart listed in his records. There were no medals listed that would indicate combat.
When Jowers claimed that he “took a bullet for his country” a military member or veteran would see this is a direct claim of being combat wounded and one would expect to see a Purple Heart in his military records.
TRAINING
There is nothing in Jowers’ records reflect RANGER or Airborne training.
We don’t see any Ranger School Training or Airborne Training on his Summary Records.
MILITARY DISCHARGE AND WORK IN LAW ENFORCEMENT
There is a Texas State policy that says that one cannot work in Law Enforcement if their military discharge was DISHONORABLE or OTHER THAN HONORABLE. This can be found here:
http://tcole.texas.gov/sites/default/files/documents/le_careers_lic_requir_11.pdf
So how was Jowers allowed to gain employment in Law Enforcement in the state of Texas?
Did the Sheriff’s Department know about his OTHER THAN HONORABLE DISCHARGE when he was hired? Or did Jowers submit other information?
This would have happened years ago but it appears there was an amendment last year.
People can have their military discharges upgraded from a lower status. Jowers claims that he has worked in law enforcement for two decades, so he would have had to done it before securing employment.
STATEMENTS TO THE MEDIA
Jowers put out the following statement:
“I have something that I would like to say to the citizens of Callahan County, I deeply and wholeheartedly apologize for misleading you about my military service. I do have discrepancies on my DD 214 from 30 years ago and I’m currently working on correcting those. The problem was this, I had a couple of tragic accidents that happened in my family that caused me to be released from the military a year early. I received an “Other Than Honorable Conditions”. I feel that that is no one‘s business but mine and my family’s. I’m not a Navy SEAL, a Green Beret, or an Airborne Ranger.
I sincerely and completely apologize for saying that at the forums. I was upset and angry at a certain person, and let my emotions get the best of me. If I have offended any military or citizen I do apologize. I love my country, I love my military, and I love Callahan County.
I am not and have not attempted to use my military service to sway citizens to vote for me. My military service is NOT a part of my platform as I have said many time.
I feel that this is an extremely ugly race and I know that people are tired of seeing ugly things on Facebook. I pray that this will soon be over and we can all get back to our normal lives. I am not perfect and I have made many mistakes and I’ve learned from all of them. Thank you and God bless.”
Although Jowers came out and seemingly played down his prior claims saying that he was not running on his military record, he still made the comments about being an Airborne Ranger and “taking a bullet for his country.”
There was some value gained from such statements. One cannot deny that. Maybe some people didn’t care, but others do.
Although it is hard to measure with each individual voter, it could be valued in terms of influence.
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STOLEN VALOR
It sounds like Rick Jowers had some tragic mitigating family circumstances that contributed to his OTHER THAN HONORABLE DISCHARGE. However, he had a very long time to have those records corrected. Instead, it appears that he chose to embellish upon the lies he was already living.
If the claims by Ricky Jowers were used to leverage work, military or civilian promotions, or anything else of value, he may have been in violation of Stolen Valor laws. State laws may also apply.
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PHOTOS
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SOCIAL MEDIA
FACEBOOK (personal): https://www.facebook.com/rick.jowers
FACEBOOK (campaign): https://www.facebook.com/Rick-Jowers-for-Callahan-County-Sheriff-112993020151342/
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