Where to start? Let's start by saying we couldn't find any internet footprint of Steve Slaton claiming to be a Green Beret, but...
The Initial Emails and Records
We received 11 emails from people who have heard him make that statement. Are 11 people lying or did he make that statement? You need to decide. He was sent to us by one of his political opponents back in February of this year with him stating that Steve Slaton got into a verbal argument with someone at a political event/meeting and threatened him with "I'm former Special Forces and will hurt you" or something similar to that. Slaton's political opponent asked us to confirm whether he was indeed a Green Beret or not.
The emails are in the picture section. When you reach the end of the picture section, you can click on the red bar to expand his records and more pictures. 50+ in total.
We were also told he claimed to be a Green Beret to the editor of Mountain Daily Star. When she asked him to expand on those claims, he went silent and all claims of being Special Forces disappeared. We couldn't find any old claims on the Way Back Machine but why would an independent journalist with no dog in the fight make this up? This leads us to believe he did indeed claim to be Special Forces because this was on a separate occasion.
We told his political opponent that we would get records for him but we would need multiple people to confirm they also heard those claims because we see nothing on the internet. He replied that many people were there so it shouldn't be that hard. While we were waiting for those emails, we requested and received his records from NPRC.
If you've heard Steve Slaton claim to be a Green Beret or Special Forces, email us at:
contact@guardiansofthegreenberet.com
We sent his records to the guy who asked for them and told him he could deal with it on his end as we didn't see enough to move forward with an article as we hadn't (at that time) received any additional emails from people stating they've also heard him claim to be a Green Beret or Special Forces. He said he'd work on getting those emails sent in (as stated earlier, we ended up with/ 11) and now Steve Slaton is claiming either he or GOTGB altered his DD214 to make it look as though he never served in Vietnam. WAIT, WHAT????!!! That's NOT how we operate. Never have, never will, and we have no need. We simply look at one's claims vs the truth. That being said... we were drug back into it.
Steve Slaton holding his fake DD214 vs the real one we got from NPRC and confirmed by the VA.
We decided to call Steve Slaton and try and clarify issues. You can hear the call in this link:
👉The Slaton call👈
In that call he denies claiming to have been Special Forces yet claims he said he was "Trained by someone who was Special Forces". A few weeks later on a KMOG radio show, he changed his story yet again saying he never claimed he was trained by a guy who was Special Forces although you can clearly hear it on our call. On the radio show, he changed it yet again to "He was trained by a guy in Korean Special Forces". You would have thought that would have been stated on our call.
The more we tried to move on and let the locals deal with it, the more Steve Slaton would draw us back into it by making some type of statement trying to discredit GOTGB and the work we do. He said we were scam artists trying to scam people out of money and we weren't a legit org. Well, we have NEVER once, accepted money from people asking to donate to our cause. EVER, plain and simple. If people are adamant about helping our cause, we suggest they donate to the Green Beret Foundation. As for not being a legit Org, you can go to our website and see some of the heavy hitters in the Spec Ops community who have endorsed us and our mission.
The Fake DD214
Steve Slaton produced a DD214 that differs greatly from the actual DD214 that NPRC has in its database. The one he shows people has a Vietnam Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, and Army Commendation Medal in the awards section that DOES NOT appear in his official records. In the remarks section, he's added the Nixon Vietnamese Program (1974), he's added "Flightmen" after the Helicopter Repairmans Course, he's also added Army Transportation School, and Promoted to Sergeant 1976.
Steve Slaton added the Vietnam Service Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Nixon Vietnamese Program (1974), Flightmen, Army Transportation School Fort Eustis Virginia, and Promoted to Sergeant 1976.
Do you know what he forgot to add? The Air Crewman's Badge. It doesn't appear on either his fake DD214 nor does it appear on his legit DD214 but he wears it on his VFW uniform as seen below.
We received a copy of his fake DD214 from the editor of Mountain Daily Star and sent it to NPRC. They confirmed that the DD214 that Slaton claims as being his issued one, DOES NOT exist in their database.
From NPRC: Does Not Match Original Record DD214. It does Not Match the DD214 in our holdings.
Knowing Steve Slaton didn't serve in Vietnam as he claims, we thought we should reach out to our fraud investigator at the VA to see if Slaton might be getting any type of benefits that weren't earned. Guess what the VA fraud investigator saw on her end? The same DD214 that NPRC sent us. No time in Vietnam, No Vietnam Service Medal, No Good Conduct Medal, No Army Commendation Medal, No Nixon Vietnamese Program (1974), No "Flightmen" after Helicopter Repairmans Course, No Army Transportation School, and No Promoted to Sergeant 1976.
A few more thoughts on Slaton's fake DD214. The Vietnam Service Medal was no longer awarded after March of 1973. Steve Slaton didn't even enter the service until June of 1973. There's no such thing as the Nixon Vietnam Program (1974). Look closely at the 7 and 4 in 1974. It's very easy to tell that they are a different font than the rest of the DD214. What is Flightmen anyway? He shows no training as a pilot. Enlisted men weren't co-pilots.
He claims that he served with the 128th Aviation Company in Vietnam. Shelby Stanton's authoritative Vietnam Order of Battle shows that the 128th Aviation Company arrived in country on Oct. 20, 1965, and departed Jan. 30, 1972; TWO YEARS before Slaton claims to have flown with the 128th in VN.
Steve Slaton's real DD214 from NPRC. The VA has the exact same one.
Once HisAdvocate, Now His Opponent
One of Slaton's political endorsers initially asked Jack Dona to come to his defense. Jack is a retired Army Master Sergeant who served as a 33W5HI Intelligence Electronic Warfare Aviation Repairer and as a DOD contractor working as a field systems engineer on various surveillance platforms. He is listed in the MI Hall of Fame as a KnowIton Award Recipient. Slaton's endorser asked Jack to analyze his DD214 to confirm it was indeed legit. Initially, Jack Dona MSG(Ret) said by all his testing, he could confirm it as legit. We reached out to Jack and after about a 5-minute phone call, he realized he needed to make a few corrections. He said he was pressured by Slaton's endorser with a less-than-24-hour deadline to complete the initial analysis. Slaton needed it for a radio show. Jack Dona MSG(Ret) subsequently wrote an addendum to his initial opinion correcting several points. Slaton still uses the first, rushed analysis when trying to defend his fake DD214 yet never mentions that Jack Dona MSG(Ret) made several corrections when he realized it was indeed a fake.
You can see the addendum here correcting his first analysis: 👉ADDENDUM Steve Slaton DD Form 214 Analysis 4-20-2024 V3👈 This correction is NEVER mentioned by Slaton yet he still references the first, rushed analysis.
The Article in Mountain Daily Star
The Mountain Daily Star reached out and we talked many times on the phone. They wanted to make sure they got the facts correct. We sent them his real DD214 and they were the ones that acquired his fake DD214 from KMOG radio. We also sent them the denial letter from NPRC confirming the DD214 he shows people is not in their database and they ran an article.
You can read that here 👉The Mountain Daily Star article on Slaton👈
After the article went public, Steve Slaton sent the Editor of the Mountain Daily Star a 50-page rant/manifesto about her and others, along with mentioning Guardians of the Green Beret. He tried "correcting" the article with only more lies. The Editor sent us 6 pages of the 50 rant/manifesto that mentions GOTGB. Additional
You can read the 6 pages here 👉The Slaton Manifesto👈
Below we show a few blatant lies in his manifesto regarding the Mountain Daily Star article. The black text is from the article and the red is his response. In his manifesto, he says he never claimed the 128th was in Vietnam.
He must have googled Vietnamization when it was pointed out that the "Nixon Vietnam Program" as stated on his DD214 was never worded like that.
Yet on his website, you see that he did.
When many from the 128th came forward and stated they were never there in 1974, he changed it to Elements of Us, yet it still shows it on his website.
Although most of his replies in his 50-page manifesto are yet again lies, we would like to point out two more below. Does he not think people screenshot things or have use of the Wayback machine? This was
Steve Slaton states that the "Retired member of the Army" was never on his website.
Above, from his manifesto, you see he claims he didn't change his website, yet below is a screenshot from it before it was changed.
"Retired member of the Army" quietly disappeared yet he claims it was never there.
How can he think people didn't see and screenshot this? Even if they didn't, it can be found on the Wayback machine. We sent these screenshots to our friends at Militaryphony.com and Valorguardians.com yet they both also varied them independently on the Wayback machine.
Here's yet another lie below from his 50-page manifesto.
The Army Commendation Medal is NOT in his records at either NPRC or the VA. You would think he'd produce orders and/or his certificate from his "I love me wall"
You can check out this article on Militaryphony.com and see their work on him at the link below:
👉Military Phonies Article on Slaton 👈
You can check out this article on Militaryphony.com and see their work on him at the link below:
👉Valor Guardians Article on Slaton👈
We can go on pointing out more issues but we're trying to move on to other cases and Slaton keeps dragging us back in.
Here are organizations that have independently requested and received records and they are the exact same ones that we received long ago yet Slaton keeps trying to use GOTGB as a punching back, scam artists, hacks, etc... LOL
Guardians of the Green Beret, 1st to get his records, we verified a 2nd time, we verified a 3rd time with a denial letter from NPRC that his fake one isn't in their database, and also verified with our fraud investigator at the Veterans Administration that they don't have the one he shows and the only one they do have is the same one that NPRC sent us.
Mountain Daily Star requested and received the same results as us.
His political opponent requested and received the same results as us.
Militaryphony.com requested and received the same results as us.
Valorgaurdians.com requested and received the same results as us.
KPNX 12 NBC requested and received the same results as us.
As we've said before, we were initially going to pass on doing an article on Slaton but he keeps dragging us back in so we finally decided some things needed to be addressed.
The First Husband
What you see below is something we would not normally put in an article and the only reason we do now is because Slatom brought it up on KMOG radio mentioning our work and maybe even using the word slander. It's hard to remember but he did try and correct the fact that Karen's (his current wife) first husband was indeed running "Black Ops" in Vietnam with Bo Gritz and we were wrong.
From Karen Slaton's first husband's obit. Sadly this is yet another lie. Did Karen or Steve Slaton write this? Side note... Black Ops Operations is somewhat redundant
Let's explain how this even got brought into the equation. During one of the many phone calls with the Editor of Mountain Daily Star, while going over Slaton's records, she mentioned that she was told Karen's first husband was in Special Forces and was going to add that to the article and maybe that's why Steve Slaton was lying about his military deeds. GOTGB immediately asked how she knew he was Special Forces. She said it was mentioned in his obit and also talked to someone who said the same. When we mentioned the number of people we have found to be frauds only after they've passed away and been sent their obituary, she asked if we could get his records also. We had them in 3 days.
Who wrote that obit, Karen or Steve? Either way, it's yet another lie.
This is a far cry from running "Black Ops" in Vietnam.
We say again that this would normally be ignored as the guy has passed away but Slaton keeps poking the bear by slamming our work, calling us scam artists, and saying we're not a legit org.
This is a portion of his 2-1 that shows Karen's first husband was reduced in rank from an E-3 to an E-2 for misconduct. Not running Black Ops in Vietnam with Bo Gritz. Full records are in a link at the bottom of the article.
What initially was going to be a story we passed on (We could have done it back in April of 2024) is now going to be on our website forever. What we know for fact.
Steve Slaton Claimed:
Chopper Co-Pilot: Records do NOT support that claim. We see training as a Chopper Mechanic.
Vietnam Combat Vet: False, we do see he spent a year in Korea and served honorably.
Air Crewman's Badge: Both False and confusing. He wears it on his VFW shirt yet forgot to put it on his fake DD214.
Vietnam Service Medal: False, records do NOT support that claim.
Army Good Conduct Medal: False, records do NOT support that claim.
Army Commendation Medal: False, records do NOT support that claim.
Army Special Forces: We found no claims online but do have 11 emails stating that they heard him make that statement. You be the judge.
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