There are no MARS Stations in Afgahnistan, to my knowledge, so a Marsgram is not an option. The MARS Stations of years gone by are no longer. I remember using one to call home from Korea in 1980 but those days are long gone.
 
73, 
Craig Gagner
US Army MSG Retired

http://www.army.mil/article/31642/Fort_Huachuca_is_home_to_last_MARS_station/

This was back in 2009, but you will notice no mention of any stations in either Theatre of operation back then.

The Dedicated RF web site is no more, so my guess is they are again defunct ...

http://scotty-stolenvaloroffendersexposed.blogspot.com/2013/02/dale-r-kubichek-us-navy-vietnam-combat.html

He has hit the big time now .. He is also listed on the Stolen Valor Facebook Page ..

Well New Year and new Embellishers to expose, here is my first one for 2013.

N6JSX, Dale Kubichek came up on my radar early in the year when I looked him up on QRZ. Here is what he claims on his QRZ Page.

“US Navy, 1973-1981, Fire Control Technician Petty Office 1st Class. USS Jouett CG-29 Work Center Supervisor, Vietnam combat veteran, Advanced Electronics Instructor, Company Commander & Armed Forces Police/NIS agent honorably discharged as a frocked-Chief Petty Officer FTGC. USNR 1982-1984… HAM licensed expired.”

He also has two Military Ribbons on his QSL Graphic, one is the USN Vietnam Service Ribbon, and the other is the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) Wound Medal Ribbon, which would indicate being wounded in action. No Purple Heart ??

Ok now what first caught my eye was the Vietnam Combat Veteran claim. He joined the Navy in 1973 and all Combat Operations were pretty much over by March of 1973. It would be tough to get through Boot Camp and then A School and be deployed to Combat in Vietnam when the Combat Operations were officially over. So I questioned him on it in a forum post, and shortly after that the post was deleted. His cousin chimed in with the following.

“Dale is a cousin - I was in high school when he was in the Navy.   Family was initially told he was MIA presumed dead.  He turned up pretty banged up and perforated.  Family was told a river boat incident.  Dale says he was never formally briefed that he could discuss what went on.  He remains a military contractor civilian with clearances to this date.”

Well the MIA thing is easy enough to prove by contacting Mary at www.pownetwork.org they have a complete database of  everyone ever listed as a POW or MIA, and if he were listed it would be a part of his records. Dale is not listed.

Now its time to file the Freedom of Information Act request to get his OMPF ( Official Military Personnel Records ) which would list these claims if they indeed happened. These records are the Veterans Official Records that are on file and are used by many agencies such as the VA to validate claims.

Results are as follows,
He was in the Navy during the dates claimed
He was Discharged as a Petty Officer First Class E-6
He was at NTC Great Lakes, IL and the USS Jouett CG-29
His Military Education is as follows; Basic Electricity & Electronics / Fire Control Technician (Class A) / Fire Control Technician ( Class C) / Instructor Basic
His Military Awards; National Defense Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Sea Service Ribbon, Navy E Ribbon.

Now neither of the ribbons he displays on his QSL card are in his records, no MIA time in his dates of service and nothing else that would indicate any combat time at all.

I researched the USS Jouett and it had left the Vietnam Theatre a month before Dale even joined the US Navy, and was never in a combat role after that.

I also saw no Military Education for Armed Forces Police or for NIS Agent, I am not sure what the Navy does as far as Police so I contacted a friend of mine, Don Shipley, who is a Retired Senior Chief SEAL and asked his opinion. In not so many words Don said Dale is Full of Crap.
He is asking a friend who is a current NCIS agent to check this out . When I get more I will post it as a follow up, being a retired Military Police Master Sergeant has me wondering.

Anyway I am sure I will find more Ham’s that feel the need to embellish their military careers, or have complete phony careers.

Thanks for reading !

73   Craig, W1MSG

Well I just got my records check back, and as suspected he was not in Vietnam, has unauthorized Ribbons on his QSL Card and is pretty much full of Crap. I sent him an e-mail confronting him on my findings and depending on the reply, I will be more than happy to out him here on this forum.

DD214's are only available from town halls if the Veteran brings it there, the military does not send them out to Town Halls or anyone for that matter. The best way to get verification is via the NPRC with a FOIA request. Even if someone provides me a copy of a DD214 its best to back it up with one from NPRC just because with todays technology they can be doctored up.

I have had 2 friends return 3 different 590S radios because of the lousy transmit audio ... Hopefully they fixed it ..

N0SYA,   You forget that MARS is also a Federal Entity and part of the Military, you can request all you want but if its not a Federal Disaster with Military envolvment you probably wont see them activated. I'm not sure if activated means anything as they really dont deploy to anything, they just run NETS from their home QTH.

KD8MJR,
Do you really think the military has no back up radio systems, or satellites that the public cannot use. I believe our Military is much more prepared than a bunch of civilian volunteers using off the shelf HAM gear. MARS was nothing more than a Morale Support function within the Military. Why are they trying to become a Governemnet run ARES. Dont get me wrong I have no use for ARES either ...  

Its not so much what it costs, but what it does. It does absolutely nothing for the Military, the days of phone patches and Marsgrams are long gone. The military has enough redundant systems and backups that using civilian run stations just wont ever happen. Especially since everything is now encrypted and secure.

Now the MARS folks seem to think they will get used when a local Governement requests them, kind of like ARES. I doubt the Military will be willing to spend money to mobilize civilian volunteers to support anything. Possibly a new organization under FEMA, or something along those lines, but trying to continue on with a MARS program is just futile in my opinion.

I think you hit the nail right on the head, I used a MARS station once when I was stationed in Korea in 1979. While in Iraq 2006/2007 I used a locally purchased cell phone or did VOIP when I had internet. The MARS program will surely die a slow death as budgets get cut as they serve no real purpose any longer. I joined Army MARS while still on active Duty in 2011, but quit shortly after when I realized it had no actual purpose and the way they do things is quite antiquated .

I found the training antiquated, and inadequate to do any communicating with todays military. I joined Army MARS while still on active duty and shortly after resigned.  From what I can see they no longer actually serve the Military, MARS stations are closing up on most bases, and with todays technology really have no use any longer.

The original Stolen Valor act was in fact struck down as being against the 1st ammendment, however H.R. 1775 Stolen Valor Act of 2012 did pass a house vote of 412 to 3 and has been realigned to go after those that receive benefit from such claims.
Now having someone buy you a drink at the local bar because you said you were a decorated war hero might be pushing it a bit.
Personally I think public ridicule is the best punishment, the last HAM I exposed over the air was priceless. His Bronze Star, Combat Engineer Claims from Vietnam were debunked when his records were obtained showing he served 3 yrs active duty not the 6 he claimed, he was an E-4 not the SGT he claimed, he never received a BSM, and was a MARS Operator in Vietnam, never held a Engineer job specialty (MOS). The immediate silence when confronted with actual dates, times, and places was worth every minute I spent doing the requests to get his records.

Anyway, thanks for all the responses..

Craig

I started this thread because of the BS stories I hear on the Radio, many of which I have debunked already when I received their records.

As for numerous discharge papers, you are correct, but they are all in the Archives. Notice how this guy has 3 different dates of service. That sheet is just the cover sheet that comes with the redacted DD 214's and other documentation.

It has as much to do with Ham radio as most of the other stuff posted in the MISC forum, but at least some of these violators are actually HAM Radio folks.

Ok here is one of the better examples, now this clown was outted in 2007 and is back at it again on his Facebook page with his phoney CSM Uniform and such.
This is a copy of the news article ..

http://www.w1msg.net/fakes/collier.pdf

And here is his real record

http://www.w1msg.net/fakes/collier.jpg

This is the kind of stuff that pisses me off, especially when we have guys that actually gave their life fighting in Iraq.

Thanks for the replies, and Paul thanks for explaining your post. It now makes much more sense and doesn't appear as though you were trolling. I do understand the points you are making, but here is a link to the December News of the Fake Warrior project. Now this is just December, you can go back and see the same kind of stuff for the last few years, and it continues to escalate in frequency.
I'm not sure Stolen Valor is a good title, but those that are stealing benefits and such from those that have earned it and deserve it is what chaps my butt the most.

http://www.fakewarriors.org/phonies/phonies748.htm

I only wish they hadn't taken the list of phonies down, there were hundreds of them and the claims and actual records were just amazing. I will direct you to http://www.thisainthell.us they have a growing list that will leave you shaking your head.
I get several e-mails a month asking me to look at this or that online. I just had an active duty friend of mine send me a link to a facebook page. This guy has a picture of himself in Dress Greens as a Command Sergeant Major with plenty of fruit salad for awards along with a Special Forces and Ranger TAB and 30 years worth of service stripes. However reading further into his profile he says he joined the Army in 1986 after completing college. He must not be a math major as 30 years would put him at 2016, that and missing Airborne wings, but having foreign jump wings just blows him out of the water. I sent him an e-mail asking him politely to explain his photo or he would most likely get lots of e-mails from military and vets about his obvious screwed up uniform.

So as you can see it runs the entire gamut, those that are just trying to impress their friends to those that are trying to steal benefits. I have decided to lump them all together and treat them the same.

Anyway, Thanks for the comments and Thanks for your Service !!