Is another
Dual Survival cast member guilty of "
resume embellishment?" According to a
post written by the "
Stolen Valor Offenders Exposed" blog, as well as a
post written by the "
This Ain't Hell, But You Can See it From Here" blog, Joe Teti did not actually serve as a member of a combat unit while in the military.
Both bloggers, who posted jpeg copies of Teti's military records, say
that even though he completed Marine Force Recon and Special Forces
schools as a member of the Marines/Army National Guard, he did not serve
as a member of a combat unit while in military service, which
contradicts the bio on his website (see main photo above).
Apparently, Teti served in the Marines during the 1980s, and in a
California Army National Guard unit from the 1990s up until 2001, when
he was discharged. During this time, Teti's full time civilian jobs
included working as a stockbroker for
Bear Stearns, and owning a Concrete Pressure Washer business in Nevada.
The main point of contention is that Teti claims to be a "combat
veteran" of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, where instead, he actually
served as a private contractor, similar to
Blackwater, etc.
This has some active and former military veterans up in arms, judging by the 200+ comments left on "This Ain't Hell's"
post on
the subject. These veterans say that a "combat veteran" denotes someone
that fought in an active military combat unit, and had to stay and
fight under penalty of imprisonment, as opposed to a private contractor,
who could just quit and return home if the going got rough.
Another issue is Teti's
claim of 20 years of service. That number doesn't match up with his
military records which record roughly 15 years of duty.
So is this another case of "resume embellishment" on the scale of
Dave Canterbury's debacle?
In my opinion, not quite, since Teti was indeed a Special Forces
Green Beret during his military career.
However, I do find his claim of being a "combat veteran" misleading, and am disappointed that he felt the need to add 5 years to his
service record. Like Canterbury, who served honorably as an Army MP before falsely adding "Ranger," "Airborne" "Grenada" and "Central American Service" to enhance his survival skills resume, Teti should just be proud of his actual service instead of pumping a lot of hot air into it.
Do you think Teti was trying to mislead viewers, or is this just a matter of semantics? Leave a comment below
About the author
Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)
