A new Republican candidate has been accused of lying about his military service in Vietnam, the Navajo County GOP said in a letter released on Sunday. It wants him to drop out of he race.
Rolling Stone reported that the letter claims Steve Slaton provided an “altered DD-214 claiming combat veteran status and showing qualifications and awards which you have not earned.”
The DD-214 form is given to veterans when they retire or are discharged from active duty. It's often used by the Veterans Administration when determining benefits.
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“That, unfortunately, has cast a shadow of dishonesty on your campaign, and by extension, on the Republican Party organizations in [Legislative District 7],” the local Republican Party wrote. “For these reasons, we respectfully request, for the good of the Republican Party, the conservative movement in general, military service members, and veterans that you withdraw from the Republican Primary race for Representative of Legislative District 7.”
The Trump ally who is running to be a state representative in Arizona, operates a MAGA merchandise shop in Showlow, Arizona, and claimed to be a helicopter pilot who served in combat during the Vietnam War.
“I was a Combat Veteran in Vietnam for four months in support of the missions of the South Vietnamese and patrolled along the DMZ,” Slaton said in an interview with Arizona radio station KMOG in April.
He also says as much on his campaign website, where he describes himself as having “served overseas in Vietnam and Korea with the 128th Aviation Company, 8th U.S. Army I Corps.”
The Guardians of the Green Beret (GOTGB) obtained a copy of Slaton's DD-214, and they gave a different story about military service. The GOTGB is an online group of retired and current Green Berets who research those who claim to be part of the elite unit but who were not.
The group obtained Slaton's record from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) and questioned his claims.
Meanwhile, Slaton has now gone after GOTGB, the website said, claiming that the group edited his DD-214 to make it appear as if he never served in Vietnam.
"That's NOT how we operate," the group said. "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."
They called Slaton personally, and a recording of the call has the "veteran" saying that he never claimed to be a Special Forces veteran. Instead, he said he was "Trained by someone who was Special Forces."
The story changed, however, when Slaton spoke to KMOG, slightly twisting the story to say, "He was trained by a guy in Korean Special Forces."
The GOTGB said that they tried to leave it be and let locals handle the matter, but Slaton kept drawing them back in. At one point he claimed that the group was scamming people out of donations and they weren't a real organization — the GOTGB said it doesn't accept donations.
"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," a group's representative said.
"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," the group said about his DD-214.
"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. 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."
The Vietnam Service Medal stopped being awarded after March 1973, but according to the official document, Slaton didn't enter the service until June 1973, GOTGB said.
The group goes into even more detail about the different stories. They also tracked the changes that Slaton began making to his website after he was outed.
MilitaryPhony.com and ValorGuardians.com also did their own independent investigations and found the same results as the Green Beret group.
