PHONY SEALS Extreme SEAL Experience

Dear Mr. Ryan,

I greatly appreciate your interest in upholding the honor of the US Navy SEAL Teams, and your search for the TRUTH. Before answering your questions I must make clear that I am a private individual, not affiliated with the US Dept. of Defense or any other government organization. I am one of about a dozen men in America who possess a copy of the SEAL Database, a comprehensive and regularly updated listing of all men who trained and served with the Naval Special Warfare units (SEALs, UDT, NCDU, S&R) from the end of WWII to the present day. I also have access to archival sources who can verify/deny claims of service DURING WWII. As a former US Navy SEAL myself, I am fully familiar with the NSW training program and the standard operating procedures used by the Teams, as well as an in-depth personal knowledge of many of the �insider� events and incidents which UDT �Frogmen� and SEALs offer as a part of their bona fides. My efforts to expose SEAL imposters are performed free of charge, as a service to the public, and in honor of my SEAL Teammates who gave their lives in service to our nation� men who truly earned the right to the title �US NAVY SEAL� but who are no longer able to stand forward in defense of their honor, their reputations, and their TEAMs.

If the name you provided is spelled correctly, I do NOT find a listing in the SEAL database for anyone named JOSEPH CHUTE. Be aware that I have also examined possible alternate spellings, and names with similar pronunciations. In fact there are no entries in the entire SEAL Database for anyone with a last name �CHUTE�.

Unless he has undertaken the unlikely action of a legal name change (an action for which there would be court documentation) since his claimed service with the SEAL Teams, and based upon the information you have provided, I can state conclusively that JOSEPH CHUTE has NEVER completed SEAL training, and he is not now, nor was he ever a US Navy SEAL or UDT �Frogman�. Please be aware that the SEAL database includes the names of all men who served with the Underwater Demolition Teams (�Frogmen�). Since 1983 when the UDTs were all re-commissioned as SEAL Teams it has been the convention within the Naval Special Warfare community to use the modern term �SEAL� when referring to all men who ever served in any of the SEAL �precursor� units.

When members of the Naval Special Warfare community meet others who claim similar service, but whom they do not recognize, there is a conversational exchange of information that establishes the bona fides of each to the other. There is no set formula for this exchange, nor for the information that is exchanged, but it ALWAYS takes place, and the REAL Naval Special Warfare members can ALWAYS spot a phony as a result of this exchange. These three key items are always involved in such an exchange:

(1) What was his BUD/S Class Number? (NB: No SEAL ever forgets the class number he shouted all day long, every day, for 6 months)

(2) Where did his training take place? (NB: Training has been conducted at several locations over the years; different portions in different places)

(3) When did he graduate from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training? (i.e. a specific graduation DATE)

The answers to those three questions may be compared to hard, firm, comprehensive documentation to absolutely verify his claims. There are many other questions which could be asked to further establish the level of veracity or untruth regarding his claims, but those three questions are absolutes; the answers are totally UNCLASSIFIED, and every real SEAL will gladly provide that substantiating information upon request. Mr. CHUTE has declared to you that his �class number� is/was �1178�. That number is preposterous and totally bogus; there are only four classes held in any one calendar year. I graduated from training as a member of Class 59 in Feb 1971, and by the end of calendar year 2007 the Naval Special Warfare Center will not yet have convened Class 280.

The only men who can legitimately call themselves SEALs are US Navy sailors who have completed the entire SEAL training program which lasts approximately 2 years and who have received a formal/official designation as �Combatant Swimmer [SEAL]� with an attendant entry in their military records of a specific Naval Enlisted Classification Code (NEC). There are no SEALs in any other branch of the US military armed forces. While many units of different branches of the military services are called upon from time to time to work �WITH� the SEAL Teams, it is incredibly rare for any non-SEAL to ever be engaged in an operation as a part of a deployed SEAL unit. These rare exceptions generally involve members of highly trained Special Operations Forces from those other branches of service or �other government agencies� involved in gathering/evaluating intelligence information. Non-SEAL Navy units and other branches of the US military services do occasionally send men to the SEAL Teams for brief training sessions. Those training sessions do NOT confer the qualifications for being a SEAL on any of those �students�. Such training is most generally intended to facilitate a familiarity with the way SEAL Teams operate, and are intended to make cooperation between different units easier and more effective when they are in the same area of operations. The claim of �working WITH the SEALs� is often offered by imposters who have been called to account for their false claims of being a SEAL; generally the imposter suggests that his comments have been �misunderstood�, and that he only claimed to have �worked with the SEALs�. Of course that statement, like the false claim of actually being a SEAL, carries the implication that somehow the claimant has acquired the knowledge and skills required to be a SEAL Team operator. In truth, every member of the US Navy whose tasking requires interaction of any sort with members of the SEAL Teams can truthfully state that they �worked with the SEALs�, including cooks, mail clerks, truck drivers, small boat crews, ships� crews, aircraft crew members, barracks managers, and many more. The simple fact is that there are no support elements or personnel �working with the SEAL Teams� whose members carry/hold SEAL operator qualifications.

It is quite common for those making fraudulent SEAL claims to cite a �secret� training class, �special selection and skills which allowed them to bypass BUD/S training�, or �secret missions� as an explanation for the lack of military documentation to back up their stories. SEAL imposters also tend to claim their military records are �sealed� and cannot be accessed. This situation is often portrayed in Hollywood movies, TV programs, and comic books as a plot element to suggest why there is no evidence that an otherwise �normal� person is actually an undercover super-hero or super-secret-agent. Despite Hollywood�s claims/portrayals, that�s not the way it works in real life. Occasionally inventive imposters claim their records were destroyed in a fire at the National Personnel Records Center. While that facility did experience a fire, no Navy records were involved, damaged, or destroyed. I would caution you that despite anything the man might have told you, there are NO secret SEALs. Before any classified operations may be undertaken, a man must first successfully complete the totally unclassified BUD/S Training program; the names of all those who successfully graduate from that training program are compiled in the SEAL database. Later participation in classified operations has no impact on whether or not a person is listed as a graduate of the training program. No one gets to the SEAL Teams without completing BUD/S training; there are NO EXCEPTIONS! The graduates of that training program are listed in the SEAL database � an unclassified document which is nonetheless considered �highly sensitive� and therefore not available for general public circulation. There are records of every man who has qualified for the title of �SEAL�; there have been and will continue to be secret missions, but there are NO secret SEALs� we know them all.

I might suggest that you also ask Mr. CHUTE to specifically identify WHICH SEAL Team(s) he served on, and when. I am in direct contact with several hundred of my SEAL Teammates whose collective experience covers virtually all time periods from the Korean War to the present; I can quickly contact those individuals to verify any specific names, events, or other claims offered by Mr. CHUTE. If he feels that his name has somehow been mistakenly omitted from the SEAL records, I�d be pleased to speak with him and hear details of his service which would serve to validate his claims. The Director of the Naval Special Warfare Archives � a close personal friend and SEAL Teammate � is only a phone call away and standing by to amend the records if this is ever found to be true. However, I�ve made the same offer to more than 3,600 SEAL imposters in the last six years, and none of them ever turned out to be a valid SEAL. If Mr. CHUTE subsequently suggests to you or others you know that he has contacted me, the Department of the Navy, or �the government� in some way and �straightened things out�, I�d be very interested in hearing from you again.

Most employers take a very dim view of someone offering any false claims or �creative writing� exercises on resumes and/or job applications in order to positively influence the prospects of their being hired. Mr. CHUTE�s claims of his medals being destroyed by a former wife are totally unrelated to the issue of whether or not he has made false claims of military service; I suspect his comments were offered as a weak excuse for not having proof of his documented claims. I�d strongly recommend that you institute a program wherein anyone listing military service on their job application is required to sign an SF-180 (available online at no cost) which releases their full military records for verification by potential employers. Failure to sign the form would suggest that cited military credentials might not match the archived versions.

It was formerly a violation of federal law to WEAR specific military unit insignia, badges, patches, pins, tabs, awards, commendations, medals, or uniform garments for which one did not have formal/official authorization. Such actions were listed as a prosecutable offense under Title 18 US Code Section 702 and 704, which specified up to $5,000 in fines and up to 6 months imprisonment per each count on which an offender was convicted. It was subsequently recognized by lawmakers that a loophole of sorts existed within the wording of Title 18 USC which allowed imposters to make false verbal claims regarding military credentials, and to then display items for which they had no legitimate authorization as keepsakes without legal repercussions so long as they did not actually wear them on their person. To avoid prosecution false claimants often filled their walls with forged citations, commendations, and awards for valor, and then posed for pictures beside those false certificates, but never actually WORE them on their person.

A recent amendment to Title 18 USC, Section 704, called the �STOLEN VALOR ACT� (S.1998), which was signed into law on 20 Dec 2006, now makes it illegal to even make false VERBAL claims of receiving �any of the service medals or badges awarded to the members of such forces, the ribbon, button, or rosette of any such badge, decoration, or medal, or any colorable imitation of such item�. It must be presumed that since the earning of the status of US Navy SEAL carries with it a special Naval Enlisted Classification (NEC) code and a unique breast insignia (SEAL Trident badge) that the offering of false verbal claims of being a SEAL would fall within the jurisdiction of this amended version of the 18USC. This matter, of course, would be for the courts to determine. Mr. CHUTE�s self-documented claims of being awarded the PURPLE HEART (three times) is an entirely different matter and there are no questions regarding applicability to be decided by the courts. The PURPLE HEART is one of the awards that is specifically cited in STOLEN VALOR ACT of 2005. Mr. CHUTE�s triple claim makes him a three time candidate for prosecution under the STOLEN VALOR ACT of 2005; if found to be false, his claims could potentially garner him some very serious fines and jail time. You might mention this fact to him when next you see/interview him.

Thank you again for your concern in this matter, and for your assistance in upholding the honor of the US Navy SEAL Teams. As noted in my opening paragraph, I am a private individual and am in no way affiliated with the US Department of Defense or the US government. Despite any reports you may make/send to me regarding Mr. CHUTE�s false SEAL claims, any such information which I might pass along to the authorities in this matter would be classified as �hearsay� and therefore inadmissible in a court of law. The responsibility for reporting the individual named in your inquiry to the federal authorities rests with you and with anyone else who may have personally heard or received these claims from the individual himself. Whether or not you decide to report him to the federal authorities is entirely up to you, but at least you now know the truth regarding his bogus claims. If I can be of any further assistance to you in this matter, or in any future efforts to verify SEAL claimants, please contact me at your convenience.

Very respectfully,

Steve Robinson

USN 1970-1978

SEAL Team ONE

Inshore Undersea Warfare Group ONE

UDT-SEAL Association - Member

Special Operations Association - Member

POW Network Advisory Board

Naval Special Warfare Archives - SOF Analyst/Contributing Journalist

Disabled American Veterans - Life Member

FORMER Special Investigator - SEAL Authentication Team

Author of the book NO GUTS, NO GLORY - Unmasking Navy SEAL Imposters