Jose Carlos Montanez – Navy Chief, U.S. Navy SEAL, BUD/S Class 176, Panama 1990, Blog of Shame

militaryphonies

5 years ago

BACKGROUND

Jose Carlos Montanez (-Nazario) comes to us from Chesapeake, Virginia. He is originally from Bayamon, Puerto Rico and appears to still have a residence there in addition to Virginia. Montanez is 50 years old at the time of this writing – Dec 2021.

Notice in the above post that someone, presumably a friend, is under the impression that “Monty” is a Frogman. Montanez does not correct him.

On a Facebook account that bears his name, there are several posts that show him wearing a SEAL Trident. One person commented that the Trident looked Photoshopped on his Navy uniform, the medals were not the proper size and he did not have Jump Wings (i.e. a Parachute Badge).

In the following photo, there is a Navy SEAL Trident on the ball cap.

On Montanez’s Facebook page under the ‘About’ section, there is a claim of being a Chief Petty Officer and serving in the Navy from 1988-1997 with U.S. Navy UDT/SEAL Team.

On Montanez’s Facebook page there are frequent postings of Navy SEAL images. Although not representative of direct claims, some could read this as an implication.

There was another posting where Montanez commented about a photo taken on a 110 camera in 1990, allegedly in Panama.

One way to read this is that there is an implication that it is a Navy SEAL in the photo, possibly even him, and it was from the U.S. efforts to remove Manuel Noriega. The overall operation was Operation Just Cause but there was an effort by the U.S. Navy SEALs named Operation Nifty Package which was an operation launched by Navy SEALs to prevent Noriega’s escape. They were able to sink Noriega’s boat as well as destroy his jet. Unfortunately, four U.S. Navy SEALs were killed and nine wounded.

So, one can imagine how emotions run deep with someone claiming to have been there. Montanez has been called out many times on several Facebook discussions, but images and implications persist on Social Media as to SEAL claims.

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ACTIONS CONDUCTED BY MILITARY PHONIES

After contacting the UDT/SEAL archives and checking the UDT/SEAL database we found that there is NO record of “Jose Carlos Montanez” or any other variation of his name ever completing BUD/S Training or assigned to any SEAL teams.

Jose Martinez’s military records were ordered through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Due to his age and claim of service dates, we filed with the Department of the Navy which maintains records from the mid 1990s-present.

It should be noted here that Jose Montanez has several variations associated with his name and he was identified as serving under “JOSE C. MONTANEZ-NAZARIO.”

ALIASES ASSOCIATED WITH JOSE CARLOS MONTANEZ:
JOSE CARLOS NAZARIO, JOSE CARLOS MONTANEZNAZARIO, JOSE CARLOS MONTANEZEZ, JOSE CARLOS MONTANEZ NAZARIO, JOSE L MONTANEZ EZ, JOSE CARLOS MONTANEZ EZ, JOSE C MONTAEZ, JOSE CARLOS MONTA EZ, JOSE L MONTANEZ, JOSE CARLOS MONTANEZ

. . . . .

FOIA RESULTS

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY (DoN)

FOIA Results – DoN – Jose Montanez-Nazario – DD-214

FOIA Results – DoN – Jose Montanez-Nazario – Assignments

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE MANPOWER DATA CENTER (SCRA)

DoD Manpower Data Center – Jose Carlos Montanez-Nazario

. . . . .

DISCUSSION and SUMMARY

BUD/S – SEAL

There is no record of Jose Montanez-Nazario graduating BUD/S-SEAL training and no record of him serving with a SEAL Team.

We did notice that in one of the discussion threads (Navy SEALS: Only Easy Day Was Yesterday) Montanez was called out on the SEAL claim, and he said that he went to BUD/S but didn’t finish. This still doesn’t sync up with the claims of being on a UDT/SEAL team as was claimed on his Facebook page.

RANK

According to his official military records, Montanez was discharged as an E-1 vs Chief Petty Officer (E-7) as claimed on his Facebook profile.

TIME IN SERVICE

According to multiple official military sources, Montanez served from 1989-1990 vs. the 1988-1997 as claimed. He served just over five (5) months.

There are several claims of being a disabled veteran. It is plausible that he got out due to an injury, but this would not have been a result of combat or there would have been a Purple Heart in his records. He did not claim to have been awarded a Purple Heart.

PANAMA

There is nothing in Montanez’s official military records that would support him being in Panama, but the claim is somewhat murky.

If Montanez has used false claims to gain anything of value – he may be in violation of the Stolen Valor Act at worst or represent unethical behavior at best.

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