bobdina
06-12-2010, 12:54 PM
Acquaintances question tales of former E-5
By Scott Fontaine - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jun 12, 2010 12:41:21 EDT
John Thomas Tullis regaled acquaintances for decades with his escapades as an Air Force officer. He flew fighters, he told San Diego’s black-tie crowd, and proudly wore what appeared to be the Air Force Cross, the Silver Star and the Purple Heart on his dress uniform.
Then, in the last few years, “Colonel Thom,” as Tullis introduced himself, began entertaining the socialites with decidedly darker stories — ones of his role in the Iran-Contra affair, his work with the CIA and his orders to fly bombing runs over Afghanistan with the aim of killing Osama bin Laden.
Tullis is, indeed, an Air Force veteran, but he never rose above the rank of staff sergeant and never received a valor medal or ribbon, according to records obtained by the POW Network, a private group that tracks possible military impostors, and verified by the Air Force Personnel Center.
In response to an e-mail from Air Force Times, Tullis insisted he has done nothing wrong.
“I was investigated by the FBI and they received everything they needed and closed the file on me. Nothing has happened since,” Tullis wrote. “I was not arrested, charged or prosecuted for anything. This is double jeopardy as I have already been cleared of any wrongdoing.”
The FBI investigation, according to what Tullis told a party-goer, took place before President George W. Bush signed the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, which prohibits the unauthorized wear, manufacture, sale or claim of any military decorations and medals.
The FBI field office in San Diego knows about Tullis and his “alleged impersonation activities,” Special Agent Darrell Foxworth wrote in an e-mail to Air Force Times.
Foxworth, however, refused to comment on whether his office is investigating Tullis.
Anyone can report suspected cases of stolen valor to the FBI, Justice Department or Defense Department law enforcement, which would be the Office of Special Investigations for the Air Force.
If convicted a faker faces up to a year in prison and a $150,000 fine.
The POW Network began to investigate Tullis last July after those on the party circuit, from newcomers to long-timers, became suspicious of his tales.
“He told me he had just flown a top-secret mission over Iraq six months earlier,” Brian Dennard said of his first meeting with Tullis, at a social club early in 2009.
Dennard, an international real estate developer, just didn’t think it seemed right that a service member involved in covert operations would openly discuss them.
He put calls out to friends in the military and intelligence communities to check his theory and to find out if they knew anything about Tullis. Only one, retired Army Capt. Matthew Shillingburg, had ever heard of him.
Shillingburg, a former intelligence officer, had been running into “Colonel Thom” on the party circuit a long time but had never doubted him until “his lies became bolder.”
A document compiled by the National Archives and Records Administration, which the POW Network received through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows Tullis enlisted Dec. 15, 1971, in Ontario, Calif., and served on active duty until Aug. 10, 1973. He served less than a month, from Aug. 11, 1973, to Sept. 5, 1973, in Air Force Reserve Command before doing four years with the Air National Guard. His separation date is Sept. 5, 1977, also in Ontario, Calif.
Under the section “Decorations and Awards,” there are five entries: the National Defense Service Medal, the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Presidential Unit Emblem and the California Good Conduct Ribbon Bar. All are given for meritorious service, not for valor such as the Purple Heart, Silver Star and Air Force Cross, which ranks second only to the Medal of Honor.
“Assignments and Geographical Locations” also lists five entries: “Hqtr, 163D Tactical Air Support Group; 163 rd. Supply Sq; Hqtr 163 Fighter Interceptor Group; Hqtrs22 Combat Support Group; 163rd Combat Support Squadron.”
The sections “Salary,” “Source of Commission,” “Promotion Sequence Number,” “Military Education” “Transcript of Court-Martial Trial” and “Photograph,” all have the abbreviation “N/A,” which indicates information is not available.
“If he had somehow left the service, went to school, got commissioned, and rose to the rank of colonel, it’d be on his DD-214 [discharge paper],” said Thomas Richards, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel who investigated the Tullis case for the POW Network. “But it’s not. It’s clearly not.”
An AFPC official pointed out that the document from the National Archives and Records Administration shows only information able to be released under the Freedom of Information Act and would not be complete, such as the DD-214.
A check of Air Force officer separation files and officer and enlisted retirement records, however, shows no mention of John T. Tullis, according to 1st Lt. Gina McKeen.
“So, it appears the information on the form stating Tullis separated as a SSgt in 1977 is accurate, at least to what the National Archives has,” she wrote in an e-mail.
McKeen went on to point out that neither AFPC nor the National Personnel Records Center has information on secret missions or classified records.
“Finally,” she wrote, “there are offices in Headquarters Air Force and within the Department of Defense [that] the individual could contact to clear his name if he has the documentation.”
When pressed to clarify the discrepancies between his personnel record and his stories, Tullis asked Air Force Times to sign a confidentiality agreement and then decided he couldn’t continue unless the reporter had a security clearance as well. He told the NBC television affiliate in San Diego that his military records are available only on a need-to-know basis.
Tullis went on to talk about testifying as a whistleblower in the late 1980s — he didn’t respond to an e-mail asking for clarification — and now believes his cover has been blown. He also did not explain why, if undercover, he wore his dress uniform to social events and introduced himself as a colonel.
“Many of the people I testified against went to prison,” he wrote. “Now, they are out! I thought that I had made a good attempt to stay out of their cross-hairs since then, but I made a mistake that drew unwanted attention to myself.
“That will never happen again. With the recent news, I’m going to be back in their cross-hairs if they can find me.”
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/06/airforce_faker_061210w/
By Scott Fontaine - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jun 12, 2010 12:41:21 EDT
John Thomas Tullis regaled acquaintances for decades with his escapades as an Air Force officer. He flew fighters, he told San Diego’s black-tie crowd, and proudly wore what appeared to be the Air Force Cross, the Silver Star and the Purple Heart on his dress uniform.
Then, in the last few years, “Colonel Thom,” as Tullis introduced himself, began entertaining the socialites with decidedly darker stories — ones of his role in the Iran-Contra affair, his work with the CIA and his orders to fly bombing runs over Afghanistan with the aim of killing Osama bin Laden.
Tullis is, indeed, an Air Force veteran, but he never rose above the rank of staff sergeant and never received a valor medal or ribbon, according to records obtained by the POW Network, a private group that tracks possible military impostors, and verified by the Air Force Personnel Center.
In response to an e-mail from Air Force Times, Tullis insisted he has done nothing wrong.
“I was investigated by the FBI and they received everything they needed and closed the file on me. Nothing has happened since,” Tullis wrote. “I was not arrested, charged or prosecuted for anything. This is double jeopardy as I have already been cleared of any wrongdoing.”
The FBI investigation, according to what Tullis told a party-goer, took place before President George W. Bush signed the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, which prohibits the unauthorized wear, manufacture, sale or claim of any military decorations and medals.
The FBI field office in San Diego knows about Tullis and his “alleged impersonation activities,” Special Agent Darrell Foxworth wrote in an e-mail to Air Force Times.
Foxworth, however, refused to comment on whether his office is investigating Tullis.
Anyone can report suspected cases of stolen valor to the FBI, Justice Department or Defense Department law enforcement, which would be the Office of Special Investigations for the Air Force.
If convicted a faker faces up to a year in prison and a $150,000 fine.
The POW Network began to investigate Tullis last July after those on the party circuit, from newcomers to long-timers, became suspicious of his tales.
“He told me he had just flown a top-secret mission over Iraq six months earlier,” Brian Dennard said of his first meeting with Tullis, at a social club early in 2009.
Dennard, an international real estate developer, just didn’t think it seemed right that a service member involved in covert operations would openly discuss them.
He put calls out to friends in the military and intelligence communities to check his theory and to find out if they knew anything about Tullis. Only one, retired Army Capt. Matthew Shillingburg, had ever heard of him.
Shillingburg, a former intelligence officer, had been running into “Colonel Thom” on the party circuit a long time but had never doubted him until “his lies became bolder.”
A document compiled by the National Archives and Records Administration, which the POW Network received through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows Tullis enlisted Dec. 15, 1971, in Ontario, Calif., and served on active duty until Aug. 10, 1973. He served less than a month, from Aug. 11, 1973, to Sept. 5, 1973, in Air Force Reserve Command before doing four years with the Air National Guard. His separation date is Sept. 5, 1977, also in Ontario, Calif.
Under the section “Decorations and Awards,” there are five entries: the National Defense Service Medal, the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Presidential Unit Emblem and the California Good Conduct Ribbon Bar. All are given for meritorious service, not for valor such as the Purple Heart, Silver Star and Air Force Cross, which ranks second only to the Medal of Honor.
“Assignments and Geographical Locations” also lists five entries: “Hqtr, 163D Tactical Air Support Group; 163 rd. Supply Sq; Hqtr 163 Fighter Interceptor Group; Hqtrs22 Combat Support Group; 163rd Combat Support Squadron.”
The sections “Salary,” “Source of Commission,” “Promotion Sequence Number,” “Military Education” “Transcript of Court-Martial Trial” and “Photograph,” all have the abbreviation “N/A,” which indicates information is not available.
“If he had somehow left the service, went to school, got commissioned, and rose to the rank of colonel, it’d be on his DD-214 [discharge paper],” said Thomas Richards, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel who investigated the Tullis case for the POW Network. “But it’s not. It’s clearly not.”
An AFPC official pointed out that the document from the National Archives and Records Administration shows only information able to be released under the Freedom of Information Act and would not be complete, such as the DD-214.
A check of Air Force officer separation files and officer and enlisted retirement records, however, shows no mention of John T. Tullis, according to 1st Lt. Gina McKeen.
“So, it appears the information on the form stating Tullis separated as a SSgt in 1977 is accurate, at least to what the National Archives has,” she wrote in an e-mail.
McKeen went on to point out that neither AFPC nor the National Personnel Records Center has information on secret missions or classified records.
“Finally,” she wrote, “there are offices in Headquarters Air Force and within the Department of Defense [that] the individual could contact to clear his name if he has the documentation.”
When pressed to clarify the discrepancies between his personnel record and his stories, Tullis asked Air Force Times to sign a confidentiality agreement and then decided he couldn’t continue unless the reporter had a security clearance as well. He told the NBC television affiliate in San Diego that his military records are available only on a need-to-know basis.
Tullis went on to talk about testifying as a whistleblower in the late 1980s — he didn’t respond to an e-mail asking for clarification — and now believes his cover has been blown. He also did not explain why, if undercover, he wore his dress uniform to social events and introduced himself as a colonel.
“Many of the people I testified against went to prison,” he wrote. “Now, they are out! I thought that I had made a good attempt to stay out of their cross-hairs since then, but I made a mistake that drew unwanted attention to myself.
“That will never happen again. With the recent news, I’m going to be back in their cross-hairs if they can find me.”
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/06/airforce_faker_061210w/