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BACKGROUND

Duane Allen Hoffman comes to us from San Francisco, California.  Hoffman is either 58 or 60 years old at the time of this writing – December 2020.  Two dates of birth (DoB) are listed for him, one in 1962 and the other in 1960.  We accounted for both DoBs when we filed a FOIA for his records, so not sure which one the pulled records for since they don’t confirm dates of birth.

Hoffman went by the nickname “Hoffie” back in high school in Connecticut, but we’re not sure if he currently uses that.

On a Twitter account that bears his name, he is referred to as a “U.S. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE OFFICER (’81 to 96).”  He implies being wounded making reference to having asked “WHAT DID I BLEED FOR AS NAVAL INTEL. COMBAT OFFICER.”

Hoffman signs a post with the rank of CAPT (O-6), then merely one day later signs another post with the rank of VICE ADMIRAL (O-9). Hoffman is either forgetful about what rank he achieved, or he was promoted at warp speed – skipping a few ranks – which is impossible.

In another Twitter post, Hoffman claimed that he was awarded the Navy Cross for Heroism from actions in Beirut, Lebanon – presumably 1983 or 1984.  I say these two dates because there was a bombing of the U.S. Embassy on April 18, 1983 and another bombing of the U.S. Embassy Annex on September 20, 1984.  The Annex was the facility that was designated after the first Embassy was destroyed.

Hoffman does not distinguish between the two bombings, but it is clear that he claims he was awarded the Navy Cross.

Hoffman coupled the Navy Cross claim with solicitation for cash for an incident he claimed happened to him during riots in San Francisco in June 2020.

He repeated the Beirut and Navy Cross claim again in another tweet.

In the following Tweet, Hoffman claims to be a survivor of the Marine Barracks Bombing, which was a separate incident from the U.S. Embassy bombing.  He is either claiming he is a survivor of both, or he has them confused.  The POTUS response is standard for anybody that writes, so not unique to Hoffman.

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ACTIONS CONDUCTED BY MILITARY PHONIES

After checking with people knowledgeable on the U.S. presence in Beirut from 1982-1984, we were told that there were NO Navy Crosses awarded during that time. To date, the highest award issued was the Bronze Star, of which there were several. Some with the “V” and some without.

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Duane Hoffman’s military records were ordered through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. As mentioned above, there were two dates of birth listed for him but both were accounted for in the FOIA request.  The records were ordered through the National Personnel Records Center which maintains Navy records up until the mid-1990s.  Since Hoffman claimed he retired in 1996, we also made a FOIA request to the Department of the Navy which maintains records from the mid-1990s onward.

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FOIA RESULTS

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY (DoN)

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NATIONAL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER (NPRC)

The NPRC provided the following records.

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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE MANPOWER DATA CENTER (SCRA)

The SCRA database only shows records from September 1984 to present day.  A systematic search was performed for Duane Hoffman but it came up empty.  This further reinforces the results above – that he was discharged before September 1984.  The NPRC service dates are June 25, 1981 – September 25, 1983.

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OTHER RESEARCH

HIGH SCHOOL

We were able to identify a photo from the Wilby High School yearbook in Waterbury, Connecticut where Hoffman spent his youth. This made us believe that the date of birth in 1962 was the correct one. This also places him in high school in 1981.  He claims he was in the Navy in 1981 which is plausible if he joined right after High School. That appears to be the case because the official military records from the NPRC state that his date of entry was June 25, 1981.  The point is he would not have sufficient time to go to college and graduate with a degree to allow for a commission in the Navy.

In fact, he could not have been in either of the Beirut bombings as an Intel Officer based on the timeline of high school if you factor in four years of college.

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NAVY CROSS

Hoffman is not in any of the official and non-official Navy Cross databases where we would expect to find him if he was awarded the Navy Cross.

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CRIMINAL

Hoffman seems to have had an extensive career as a con artist as some have labeled him.  Then, when in prison awaiting trial for theft and fraud, he successfully won a federal lawsuit allowing him to wear a yarmulke in jail.

July 4, 2009 – Inmate gets way, but won’t drop suit (San Franciso Chronicle)

July 9, 2009 – Jewish inmate gets yarmulke back (Washington Jewish Week – DC)

Duane Allen Hoffman was sentenced in 2010 to two years in prison for using a stolen credit card.

Then, Hoffman found himself back in jail again, this time in 2013.  More fodder for the newspapers.

November 21, 2013 – Con artist back in the clink (The San Francisco Examiner)

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DISCUSSION and SUMMARY

The official military records for Duane Allen Hoffman point to a two-year service in the U.S. Navy.

There is no record of him being an officer let alone a Vice Admiral or Captain.

There is no record of him being awarded a Navy Cross.

There is no record of him being in Beirut, Lebanon.

There are no awards for combat.

If Hoffman has used these claims to gain anything of value – especially the combat and Navy Cross claims – he may be in violation of the Stolen Valor Act.

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PHOTOS

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SOCIAL MEDIA

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/DUANEALLENHOFF1

 

ARTICLES:

• http://vivian64.rssing.com/browser.php?indx=11204975&item=38
• https://www.sfgate.com/weird/article/S-F-jail-inmate-pushes-lawsuit-he-already-won-3226835.php
• https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/man-who-sued-sf-sheriffs-department-over-jewish-headdress-is-back-behind-bars/

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This Ain’t Hell: https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=108347