Candidates In Two States Under Fire For Special Operations Claims

Posted Aug 21, 2011 by Howard Altman

Updated Aug 21, 2011 at 07:49 PM

The question of who is, or is not, a member of U.S. special forces has become a campaign issue in two states.

Here in Florida, GOP U.S. senate candidate Mike McCalister, and in Philadelphia, GOP city council candidate David Oh, are battling charges they puffed up their resumes by claiming an association with special forces they may not have had.

No one is disputing that either man served his country in the military. The controversy in both cases stems from what they did while in uniform.

On Saturday, the Miami Herald reported that McCalister, a 59-year-old Plant City businessman and vet, has come under fire from a group called “Stolen Valor.” Organization spokesman Chuck Winn, according to the paper, said McCalister’s campaign appearances and materials “gives a misleading impression of a combat-hardened officer. Winn, a Vietnam vet and retired U.S. Army colonel, said McCalister’s service is “commendable,” but his record shows he hasn’t served in a combat zone.”

“There’s no question he’s a heavy-duty, high-speed intellectual who has done very important high-level staff work that were vital contributions to the success of deployed Special Operations units. That’s not the issue,” said Winn. “The issue is that he has been misleadingly vague, suggested he’s in the Special Forces when he wasn’t and was involved in hands-on ‘black operations.’”

When asked about the Stolen Valor allegations matter and his repeated statements that he “testified before Congress” on national security issues, the Herald wrote that McCalister said “I did not say ‘testify before Congress,’” McCalister said, a direct contradiction of his recorded statements from two other events. His campaign website also suggested he gave “expert” testimony before lawmakers.

Meanwhile, on Friday up in Philly, my old pals at the Daily News’ Clout column reported a similar issue with Oh’s claims that he was a Green Beret.

Lt. Col. Charles Kohler of the Maryland Army National Guard reviewed Oh’s military record and told the Daily News that his claim is not accurate. “He was never qualified as a Special Forces officer,” Kohler told the paper.

“If we weren’t called to war, if we weren’t activated, if we weren’t going overseas, I could call myself something else,” he said.
A few days later, the Philadelphia Inquirer, which shares a building with the DN at 400 N. Broad St., broadened the coverage of Oh’s military service, reporting that while he may not have completed Green Beret training, he still gave up a promising career as a prosecutor to serve his country.

Nicholas Panarella, a Philadelphia lawyer who served in Special Forces in Vietnam and who later became executive officer of the 20th Special Forces Group — part of the Maryland National Guard — defended Oh, according to the Inky.

“I know Jim [Croall]. I recruited him, and I recruited David outside a Philadelphia courtroom,” Panarella said. “This is not a stolen-valor-type issue. We are not Green Berets, that is something we wear. We are Special Forces. … While David was in our unit he was fully qualified to wear the Green Beret. … He was never Special Forces-qualified, but he didn’t have to be.”
Panarella dismissed the story as “a nonissue.”

“David is a second-generation Korean American who defined his citizenship … as owing something to his country,” Panarella said. “After he became a lawyer, when he was already in his career progression at the D.A.’s Office, he gave the government a blank check that said, ‘payable in full, even including my death.’ That’s something to honor, that’s not something to degrade.”

Both candidates say they will respond with detailed military records.