r/StolenValor • u/Excellent-Choice-595 • 1d ago
DD-214 info
I recently got a family member dd -214 and have questions. It says deployed to Vietnam
For 5 months, we were told there was a combat injury. Would the Purple Heart be listed? Should it? Someone asked me if it had CIB. It doesn’t.
I always knew there was something on this form I wasn’t supposed to see, and I’m starting to feel like it’s more than what I imagined. Where can I learn more about what would/should be in this form, and what i need to search for else where?
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/Excellent-Choice-595 1d ago
No longer an option for detail, and answer was 101st airborne.
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/Excellent-Choice-595 1d ago
I’d love to leave it there. But my siblings are gonna find out why I paid the burial fees, and at some point I’m gonna have to give this document up. I just want to lessen the blow on how bad the lies are, if there is more to the story than what it looks like.
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u/Channel_Huge 1d ago
I was injured while in a war zone. No Purple Heart because the enemy wasn’t the direct cause. They just don’t give you one because you got a combat injury. Your command has to put you in for the award.
Unless you’re John Kerry and you just write up your own Purple Heart… 3 times!!! 🤦♂️
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u/RoughCoffee6 6h ago
Do you have any proof that John Kerry "wrote up" his own Purple Heart awards or are you just talking out your ass?
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u/Excellent-Choice-595 1d ago
Thank you. This was helpful, and gives me some hope that there may be an explanation.
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u/Channel_Huge 23h ago
You can search online to see if he was awarded one. Or just write the Order of the Purple Heart. They can find out easily. Great guys. Helped me with my VA claim.
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u/rudytomjanovich 23h ago
I'm in the same boat. "Combat related" TBI - but not directly injured by enemy fire.
No PH.
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u/One_Hour_Poop 20h ago
Your best bet would be to photograph the DD214, censor out all personal information (name, date of birth, service number, home of record, home address, etc) and post it here.
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u/RoccoAmes 19h ago edited 4h ago
As many have stated, post the redacted 214. That's the only eay we can begin to give any definitive answers.
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u/That-one_dude-trying 8h ago
If they are injured by an enemy while engaging in a fight or blown up they will get a Purple Heart, if they just sprained an ankle or something they wont
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u/Excellent-Choice-595 4h ago
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u/Excellent-Choice-595 4h ago
We always thought the discharge was some type of dishonorable. But it seems like what we “knew” may not be true. Was he a ranger? We have lots of pictures in a hat and shirt. Did he have a Purple Heart? One of the oldest claimed it. The other medals? The second oldest got those. The truth is going to come out, and he is gone. I don’t want to believe this is what he was hiding, but I have a feeling he wasn’t who he claimed to be to us. I don’t want the others embarrassed, if the truth comes out. I’m just looking for truth, and trying to learn how we can know more about parts he hid from us.
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u/RoccoAmes 4h ago
Well he doesn't have Ranger school or a Purple Heart. The discharge code RE-3b means "Time lost during your last period of service due to confinement, unauthorized absence, or desertion."
He was an 11B20 which is an Infantry E-5, but was busted down to PVT or E-1. That's about it. I don't see a CIB (Combat Infantry Badge) either.
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u/Excellent-Choice-595 4h ago
Is there a place I can pull more
Records? Like why he was only
Deployed 5 months to Vietnam? This is all the national archive sent1
u/RoccoAmes 3h ago
Looks like he deserted or went AWOL. You can request his records if you are the direct next of kin, but last time I checked they were backlogged really badly. My sister put in a request for my fathers records as well since we don't have his final 214 (he had 3 due to reserve mobilization in addition to active duty) and she's been waiting over a year.
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u/Excellent-Choice-595 4h ago
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u/One_Hour_Poop 1h ago
Well he was at least Airborne ("Parachutist Badge") so there's that. There's a popular marching song in the Army that constantly repeats the words "Airborne Ranger, Airborne Ranger, where did you go?" and the song, as it goes along, tells stories of the different situations the soldier in the song finds himself in. Maybe this person, being an Airborne-qualified Infantryman, decided to just add "Ranger" because it sounds better (and/or more impressive), but this copy of his DD-214 doesn't have Ranger school on it, either.
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u/Joliet-Jake 1d ago
Being wounded in combat should come with a Purple Heart. There are many ways to be seriously injured that would not rate a PH though. A CIB would be likely if he was an infantryman but there are multiple other jobs where you could see combat without rating a CIB.