Ranger Wannabes:

MIKE McDANIEL

We want to be sure the word gets out to all, far and wide about this Mike McDaniel character. There has been suspicion for some time now that McDaniel was not for real because he was not on any roster from the time period he claimed as a member of E/75 and the unit was quite smaller in late 69-70 than it was in 1968. We are in touch with many men from that time frame and nobody remembered him. Not wanting to give up on a possible unit contact who could have simply fallen through some clerical loophole or error, we've investigated him thoroughly and found just another wannabee. If McDaniel is on your membership or contact list, you might want to flag his record as phony and break contact.

 "Gentlemen:
After conducting an investigation into one Michael McDaniel who became a member of the 75th Ranger Regt Association in 1999 and claimed to be a member in RVN of E Co. 75th Inf. Ranger (Abn) at Tan An, between Oct. 1969 and Sept 1970, as well as claiming to have been a member of B/2/75 in the US the following was discovered:
1. That Michael Dewain McDaniel was an imposter and used the name of a deceased man to make application for membership to the 75th Ranger Regt. Association as well as doctored and forged documents to support his claim that he had been a member of E Co 75th Inf Ranger (Abn) in Tan An, RVN between Oct 1969 and Sept 1970.
2. On making inquiries into information that he supplied to me in support of his claim to be a member of E/75 I discovered the following:
a. On running the SSN 496-44-9527 on the ( SSDI ) Social Security Death Index the name Michael McDaniel came up under the SSN 496-44-9527 with a date of birth of 19 July 1943 and date of death of 24 Oct 1997 issued in Missouri. This is the same Name, SSN that appears on the DD214 supplied to me by the person calling himself Michael McDaniel. The date of birth on the DD214 shows as 19 July 1944 as opposed to 19 July 1943 on the Social Security Death Index. The SSN496-44-9527 and the birthdate 19 July 1944 with the name Michael McDaniel also appear on the 201 file documents he supplied to me. The information for Michael McDaniel deceased is the same as Michael McDaniel member 75th Ranger Regt Assoc. The foregoing information was checked by me on two separate Social Security Death Indexes, Ancestry.com and Rootweb.com. There is no doubt that this information pertains to the same person.
b. Apart from the obvious that he is using a deceased mans Name, SSN and Birthdate varied by 1 year he also tried to deceive us by typing a bogus DD214 and doctored 201 File Documents. On the DD214 it lists under Military Education the following:
Recondo Crs 2wks (1970) and under remarks it lists Recondo Badge #2205. On checking with Mr. Larry Chambers who has a list of Recondo numbers issued to person who completed the course, he advised that #2205 was issued in 1969 to SSG Richard G. Kaufman, 25th Inf Div. RVN. The 201 Docments showed an entry under Civilian Education And Military Schools as follows:
School-MACV NHA TRANG VN MAJOR/COURSE/MOSC-RECONDO CRS 2205 DURATION-3 WKS
COMP-YES
YEAR-70
The discrepancies on the DD214 and the 201 Documents are too numerous to list and not necessary given the major area of concern, that being the identity issue. I would recommend based on the findings that the membership of the person alleging to be one Michael McDaniel be immediately revoked. That the circumstances of this revocation be made known to all members of the 75th Ranger Regt. Association and the members of the individual Ranger/Lrp/Lrrp companies and the Ranger Batts by their Directors. I also recommend that the circumstances and the name of the Wannabee who alleges to be one Michael McDaniel be published on the numerous Ranger Assoc Web Pages and Jump Logs so as to warn others and disassociate ourselves from this person. It should be noted that this person is currently serving time in a prison in Lovelady, Texas and has been there for some time.
75th Ranger Regiment Association"