Leslie R. Coward – U.S. Navy SEAL, U.S. Army CIB, Blog of Shame
1101/09/2022 by militaryphonies
BACKGROUND
Leslie Radford Coward comes to us from Middleburg, Florida. He is originally from Ohio and appears to still have maintained a residence in Stow, Ohio in addition to Florida. Coward is 72 years old at the time of this writing – Jan 2022.
Although we do not have public claims, most are implied by the above uniform that Coward is wearing. We are told that Coward claims he was in the Army in Vietnam, then went on to be a Navy SEAL, then went into the U.S. Air Force.
Besides a U.S. Navy SEAL Trident on the left side of his uniform, there is a U.S. Army Combat Infantryman Badge (x2) on the right side.
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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 “Leslie Radford Coward” or any other variation of his name ever completing BUD/S Training or assigned to any SEAL teams.
Leslie Coward’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 National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) which would maintain records from the Vietnam era. They would also pick up any and all military service should Coward have served in different branches.
It should be noted here that Leslie Coward has several variations associated with his middle name and this was accounted for when we filed.
ALIASES ASSOCIATED WITH LESLIE RADFORD COWARD:
LESLIE B COWARD, L COWARD, LES COWARD, LUZ E COWARD, LESLIE RADFORD COWARD
. . . . .
FOIA RESULTS
NATIONAL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER (NPRC)
FOIA Results – NPRC – Leslie R. Coward – Summary Sheet
FOIA Results – NPRC – Leslie R. Coward – Assignments
FOIA Results – NPRC – Leslie R. Coward – Awards
FOIA Results – NPRC – Leslie R. Coward – Airman’s Medal
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE MANPOWER DATA CENTER (SCRA)
DoD Manpower Data Center – Leslie Radford Coward
. . . . .
DISCUSSION and SUMMARY
BUD/S – SEAL
There is no record of Leslie Coward graduating BUD/S-SEAL training and no record of him serving with a SEAL Team.
Based on his military service in the U.S. Air Force, the only window of time would have to have been before he joined the Air Force. Based on his date of birth – he was 19 y/o when he joined the U.S. Air Force. This would have made it difficult if not impossible to have done a tour in the U.S. Army as well as a tour in the Navy and complete SEAL training. It is even less likely to have done this after he retired in 1993 from the U.S. Air Force after 20 years.
RANK
There were no claims of rank to confirm. The photo is a little blurry, but he does have a rank displayed on the shoulder boards.
TIME IN SERVICE
No claims of time in service that we heard, but the timeline appears off as discussed above.
VIETNAM
Coward’s awards support a Vietnam tour. As part of a Vietnam tour, members of the Air Force can serve in various places around Vietnam – such as U.S. Air Bases in Thailand – without being in the country of Vietnam proper. Basically, this means the Vietnam War theater. This may explain his Airman’s Medal earned in Thailand. Unfortunately, a complete list of assignments were not in his military records.
AWARDS
Although the photo of Coward’s medals is blurry, there is no doubt there are more medals than are listed in his official military records. Here is a comparison with the medals listed in his records on the right side. He had five awards of the USAF Good Conduct Medal but was not sure of subsequent designations (i.e. five bronze or one silver device) but not pertinent to claims.
Leslie Coward – Award Comparison
Setting the Navy SEAL trident aside, there is nothing in Coward’s official military records to indicate that he earned the Combat Infantryman’s Badge (CIB), either once or twice as designated in the following picture.
Combat Infantryman Badge (2nd Award)
SUMMARY
If Leslie Coward has used any of these claims to gain anything of value, he could be in violation of the Stolen Valor Act.
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PHOTOS
[ NONE ]
. . . . .
SOCIAL MEDIA
[ NONE ]
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Looks like he has the ‘right’ last name.
Seems as if Mr (?) Leslie Radford Coward is an embellishing POS. Perfectly Honorable Service as a wingwiper that he took a big steaming dump on, looting and pillaging Valor from Warriors whose balls he isn’t worthy to polish. Combat Infantry Badge? Maybe the Crossed Knife and Fork Award as a leader of a Meal Team as he led the Veteran’s Day Assault on an all you can eat sealfood buffet bar. After all, he did do an Air Force Leadership Course. Get ready for your GOOOOOGLE FAME, dippy. The Troops of TAH/VG are champing at the bit to have a genuine phoney baloney seal embellisher to chomp on. You might want to swap that SF Forces Beret and Flash for the “other green beret” (you know…the one that Girl Scouts wear). ESAD Beyotch!
A few additional things worth noting:
The CIB has a star indicating a second award. The window for Vietnam era CIBs ran through 1995, so he’d have had to seen combat again after that. So, apparently Mr. Coward also served in the GWOT. With his extensive combat record, I understand how he didn’t think that was worth mentioning.
The crossed arrow branch insignia on his uniform indicates that he’s a Special Forces officer, which makes the lack of an SF Tab puzzling. Perhaps the PX was out that day?
(They’re also facing in the wrong direction for an Army uniform, although since he’s apparently wearing an Air Force uniform, maybe their regulations are different – does the AF require former Army officers to wear the AF uniform with former Army branch insignia oriented the wrong way as some sort of penance?)
As a Special Forces officer, he should be wearing his rank insignia on the green beret with 5th Group flash he’s wearing. If he were enlisted, he’d wear the SF crest. Either way, he should have something there. Again, I blame the PX supply system for greatly failing this fine example of military excellence.
The ribbons are too blurry to be sure of what any of them are, but, boy, does he have a lot of them. He’s either a sure enough, bona-fide war hero or the Air Force has an Award of the Month club I don’t know about.
Either way, bravo to Mr. Coward. Well done, Sir. Most embellishers would have picked either a Navy Seal or a Green Beret, but not you. When confronted with the choice of which lie to tell, you boldly said, “Why not both?” Congratulations on a truly exceptional imaginary military career.
I mean, if you’re going to completely trash a record of honorable service for the life of a lying POS, go big or go home. You, Sir, went big. I am humbled and awed to know that there are people such as you out there to inspire the next generation of PX warrior.
OK, in all seriousness, this comment isn’t going to get the respect it deserves. 😀
I did 23 years in the Chairforce and “Air Force has an Award of the Month club I didn’t know about…” almost made me spit my beverage on the dining room table.
His lack of lower level awards and end of career awards is notable and well, yeah, it does look like the Clothing Sales A&D aisle threw up on him, OR, there was a localized tornado in the BX and he was the only survivor. (hey I kinda like that, I may use that myself elsewhere!!)
What!? No foreign jump wings?
20 year E5. Likely only the Airman’s medal saved him from an early discharge.
This is very odd. The assignments listing is incomplete as he would have been assigned to the 347th Tac Fighter Wing or Combat Support Group if he was at Moody in 1988. I think I actually met this guy back then. If memory serves he was was in personnel. I was a 1LT then assigned to the wing (70th TFS)
Worst.Dressed.PHONY.SEAL.ever.
Oh and Leslie? THE INTERNET NEVER FORGETS.
Looks like a Christmas tree wearing that uniform.
To me, serving 20 years is honorable enough. No need for the extra embellishments and whether he served in country or in theater, he was still was or potentially was in harms way in Vietnam. Why he feels the need to do this is anyone’s guess.
First off he is donning a Green Beret with a 5TH GRP Flash while wearing a AF uniform and his unsat ribbon rack that is incomplete and as messed up as his thought process. SEAL Trident is on the wrong side and if he was in Nam as a SEAL his bird would be silver not Gold. Retired at 20 yrs AF and only made E-5 wow…Also SF and SEAL selection and service would have made it impossible to accomplish in the time frame stated. Why he didn’t go through any of the AFSOC units.PJs, CCs, JTACs, ROMAD is a mystery he only knows the answer to..