Thread by @jusantherguy

Hi everyone! Tonight, I'll be bringing you our latest episode of #StolenValor of the #Resistance. Our guest tonight is Rick Alvarado! Or is it? We'll get back to that. But let's meet our new friend:

Rick drew my attention because of his wild claims. I thought the guy was Captain America, so we decided to take a peek behind the curtain. Let's look at some of his claims:

Here is a claim that Rick makes ALOT! 4 COMBAT tours with the Marine Corps. That's pretty hardcore right? That puts him in combat for a minimum 36 months. Wow!

You'll notice here that not only is Rick a disabled vet, but he was wounded in combat. Gotta be on his 4th COMBAT tour right? Anybody going back after getting wounded on the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd is either crazy or just a complete bada$$ tempting fate

So, thought we'd take a look at Rick Alvarado. It was tough going at first, but a couple pics he posted put us on track. Remember that bike from his Twitter profile? Well, we found it on Instagram. Notice his name isn't Alvarado at all, meet Rick Alvarez

Oops, he posted this pic of his car too

Here is Rick Alvarez, our hardened 4 tour combat wounded Marine Corps vet

Well, now that we knew his name, it all started coming together. We checked Rick's TWS, and what did we find. Rick was an Aircraft Ordnance Tech? WTF? Loading bombs on planes is combat?

Well, sure enough, he was with the 16th Marine Aviation Logistics. He even says so

Now that we've established Rick wasn't actually some hardcore killer, let's look at what else he wasn't. On his TWS, you also post your ribbons and awards. Why is there only 1 star on that Iraq Campaign Ribbon? What happened to 4 combat tours?

Actual combat vets will have already noticed this, but Rick's ribbon bar also seems to be missing something else. Where's that (CAR) Combat Action Ribbon Rick? The Purple Heart for your combat wounds? No? Bet it's just a mistake

Here's the MC guides on the ICM. 1 star for each phase you were involved in with dates listed. But Rick got out in 2007, or was it 2008, he's not quite sure (see pics). So, he either did 4 tours from 2005-2008, or he's lying

Rick also likes to claim that Geraldo gave away his convoy's location. Well, the problem there is that Geraldo was embedded with the 101st Airborne which is an Army unit, not Marines. Another lie

The other problem there is that Geraldo was kicked out of Iraq after giving away the location of the 101st. He left in March 2003. Well, our search on Rick found he was nowhere near Iraq in 2003. His listed address puts him across the world in Japan

Rick also can't seem to make up his mind where he was born or grew up. Chicago and Sonoma, CA are a long way from that orphanage in Mexico

Apparently the Marines also let you take your service weapon home to clean while doing homework? Do they also recommend you pointing that weapon with the safety off Rick?

I think we've established that Rick is a liar and a fake. He was a REMF that never left the safety of his airbase, while he loaded bombs on planes for pilots that were actually supporting troops in active combat. He uses his account and his lies to further his political agenda

Rick Alvarez @R1ck79 you are nothing but a lying, #StolenValor POG. Your claims do a disservice to your fellow Marines that put their life at risk and actually put lead downrange.

Here's some bonus stuff, just for fun. Kurt Schlichter was almost right, if only he'd have said combat veteran

Your war cat? Btw, we can see your last name on the bag too

Super cool

I'd like to thank @BriuisOBX for her help in researching this and helping an Army guy understand the Marine jargon. Her and another (who chooses to remain nameless) are the reason I'm able to bring this to you. Also thank you to @IvanDeploravich for the lead on this

@threadreaderapp please unroll