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A black eye for MCA

The Marine Corps Association ought to be a pretty exclusive club. Turns out, it has a problem with fakers.

Not one or two or three, but possibly dozens. At least 40 member profiles published in the organization’s most recent directory are flawed. There are 16 bogus Medals of Honor, for example, 16 fake Navy Crosses and at least eight phony Silver Stars listed, based on a Marine Corps Times analysis. There are also at least five members listed who claim to have been Marines, but who appear never to have even served in the Corps.

There are victims in this mess, as well. A handful of legitimate combat heroes are listed with incorrect medals because of data-entry errors made by the third-party firm hired by the MCA to update its 2009 members directory.

Unfortunately, some of them were lumped in with the phonies after the directory’s quality problems were exposed by an astute member of the MCA and Legion of Valor, an organization for recipients of the military’s highest combat decorations. A Navy Cross recipient, retired Marine Lt. Col. Thomas Richards was looking for fellow Marines to recruit for the Legion of Valor when the number of highly decorated vets he was finding triggered his faker radar.

A nonprofit organization comprising some 80,000 current and former Marines and dependents, the MCA fills a vital role in the Marine Corps community. It relies on membership fees and donations from members to host professional military education series and annual awards ceremonies, among other key initiatives.

To some, 40 bad apples in an association that large might not seem like a crisis. It is. It undermines the group’s integrity and flouts one of the Corps’ most basic, sacred principles: honor.

Moreover, it’s against the law to claim false military honors, and the MCA has inadvertently endorsed some of those false claims.

The MCA’s chief operating officer, Tom Esslinger, admits the possibility that “a small number of the 40” lied about their service records, but says others are innocent and the MCA has no intention to “embarrass these people.”

Why not? The MCA was used by at least five fakers to advance their lies and to legitimize their claims. Having been embarrassed by them, it ought to be putting in place new rules and systems to ensure this doesn’t happen again, and to expose fraudulent claims for what they are.

To do otherwise is to quietly advance their underhanded agendas and, in the process, dilute what it means to be one of the few and the proud who can legitimately call themselves Marines.

The most egregious fakery case within the MCA exposed thus far involves a man who claimed for years that he was a highly decorated four-star general. Pressed by Marine Corps Times, he ’fessed up to being a phony. Esslinger said the association’s staff learned a few years back that this individual, now 80, had a dubious service record. They questioned him, too, but he held fast to his claims and remained a member. Rather than do the right thing and report him to authorities, the MCA chose to look the other way.

As this and other recent faker cases confirm, the problem is not exclusive to the MCA or any one age group. Further, they prove this sad, shameful trend isn’t going away anytime soon. Marine Corps Times has reported on three cases of stolen valor in the past month alone. (Check out the May 25 and June 22 issues for a reminder).

For the good of its reputation — and its ability to attract new members and funding — the Marine Corps Association must clean house now. Expel the known liars, comb the books for others and modify the screening process for new members so no other impostors have the slightest chance of sneaking in.