TERRY   MUSSER         

                 STATE  REPRESENTATIVE    -    92ND Assembly District

                                                           MARCH  23, 2007             

 

 

Statement by State Representative Terry Musser

 “I need to take this opportunity to set the record straight and clarify the details of my military service.

 My biography states that during my military career I served two tours in Vietnam as a ‘paratrooper and Green Beret, 6th Special Forces, Fort Bragg, NC, 1965-1968.’ 

 It is true that I wore the Green Beret when I served with the 6th Special Forces at Fort Bragg .  However, I was not Special Forces qualified.  My biography does not make that distinction clear enough. 

 After returning from Vietnam in 1966, I was stationed with the 6th Special Forces, but was not old enough to begin training for Special Forces qualification.  In 1967, I returned to Vietnam for my second tour of duty and ended my tenure with the Special Forces.

 I will immediately correct my official biography in the Blue Book to avoid any further confusion.  It has never been my intent to mislead anyone about my military service.  I apologize if anyone felt I misled them in any way.”

 

Musser, Terry M 01/2007 WI http://www.legis.state.wi.us/leginfo/contact/legislatorpages.aspx?house=
Assembly&district=92&display=bio

quote
Born Black River Falls, November 15, 1947; married; 2 children, 3
grandchildren. Graduate Melrose H.S.; attended UW-La Crosse 1973-76. Farmer.
Former driver license examiner. Vietnam veteran, 2 tours; paratrooper and
Green Beret, 6th Special Forces, Fort Bragg, NC, 1965-68. Member: Wis.
Vietnam Veterans Chapter 3 (life mbr.); Vietnam Veterans of America (life
mbr.); American Legion (life mbr.); Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 2112,
Sparta (life mbr.); Disabled American Veterans, Black River Falls (life
mbr.); AMVETS, Post 5494, Black River Falls (life mbr.); Monroe County 40 et
8; Wis. Farm Bureau Federation; Cataract Sportsman Club. Elected to Assembly
since 1984.
end quote
--------------------------
http://www.lzreflections.com/Voices2.htm
Terry Musser

Green Beret, Vietnam 1965-66, 1967-68
=================================
http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=BS021395

quote
Organizations:

A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments (ABATE) of Wisconsin
Life Member/Past Post Commander, American Legion
Life Member, AMVETS, Post 5494, Black River Falls
Cataract Sportsman Club
Life Member, Disabled American Veterans, Black River Falls
Millston-Knapp Sportsmen Club
Monroe County 40 et 8
Life Member, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2112 Sparta
Life Member, Vietnam Veterans of America
Honorary Council, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Project
Life Member, Wisconsin Association of Concerned Veterans Organizations
Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation
Life Member, Wisconsin Vietnam Veterans Chapter 3.
end quote

From: Sherman Stephen <sherman1@flash.net>
Subject: Re: Fwd: fraud from the Vietnam era. His name is ... Please help.
To: "P.O.W. Network - Chuck and Mary Schantag" <info@pownetwork.org>
He is not in my database. 6th Special Forces Group did not serve in Vietnam, but he does not ID his actual Vietnam assignments.

 =======================

ACTUAL MILITARY RECORDS
No Special Forces "Q" course training shown, no Special Forces Tab authorized.
CIB in Vietnam with 1st CAV Div (AIR) 
Army Commendation in Vietnam with HHC 173rd Airborne Bde.

-------------------------------
02/27/2006

Negative, he cannot claim SF, he was assigned to the Signal Company in a non-SF assignment. He did not attend SF nor graduate from SF training group, he is not awarded a "S" suffix to his MOS, thus, he is not SF.

He is however "P" qualified, parachutist/airborne.

Robert

=====================
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 09:24:29 -0800 (PST
From: Sherman Stephen <sherman1@flash.net>
Subject: Re: Musser
To: "P.O.W. Network - Chuck and Mary Schantag" <info@pownetwork.org>

I would say that as he did not have an S suffix while assigned to Signal Co 6th SFGA, he was probably a candy-striper, wearing a bar instead of a flash on a beret. it may be academic.

==========================
02/27/2007

His MOS code has P on the end of it, which means he was airborne, but to be
SF-qualified or to make that claim, his MOS code would have to have an S on
the end of it, (for officers, it is a 3 prefix). So from what I see he was a
SP4 lineman attached to the 6th SFG. It does not make him any different than
if he was a lineman attached to a commo unit supplying a  Ranger unit, or an
armor unit. Does not make him a Ranger or a Tank Commander. We had support
personnel in various jobs like this attached to us, but that does not mean
jack if claiming to wear an SF tab or Green Beret. He was a paratrooper with
the 173rd Abn, and that is why he was awarded a CIB. That is okay and he got
an arcom, but he has no right to claim SF, "only attached to SF." He still
wore a baseball cap with his fatigues. He is basically stretching the truth
some, and can be called down on that. He would qualify to join the SFA as an
Associate Member, which is for support personnel, cooks, linemen, truck
drivers, etc. attached to SF Groups. They all wore baseball caps.
Blessings,
 
Don Bendell  
03/24/2007

State rep admits he wasn't Beret
By David Callender

After nearly two decades of identifying himself as a former Green Beret, state Rep. Terry Musser, R-Black River Falls, says that description is inaccurate.

In a statement issued Friday, Musser said he wanted to "set the record straight and clarify the details of my military service."

Musser's statement came after The Capital Times contacted Musser this week about allegations by a national advocacy group that he was misstating his service record in Vietnam.

The Missouri-based P.O.W. Network charged on its Web site that Musser's military records show he never completed training for the Special Forces, popularly known as the Green Berets.

Mary Schantag, a historian for the P.O.W. Network, called Musser's attempt to portray himself as a Green Beret "a slap in the face" to those who serve in the Special Forces.

"The real guys go through a hell of a lot of training to get where they are, and the fact that he is making false claims is a slap to every veteran that got out there and worked for it. When you haven't earned it, you don't have a right to wear it," she said.

Musser's official biography in the state Blue Book describes him as having served two tours in Vietnam as a "paratrooper and Green Beret, 6th Special Forces Fort Bragg, N.C." between 1965 and 1968.

Musser's military records show he first served in Vietnam from 1965 to 1966 and then again from 1967 until 1968.

He served with the 6th Special Forces, which were based at Fort Bragg and never deployed to Vietnam, from 1966 to 1967. But according to Special Forces veterans, serving with a unit is not the same as having completed the training to qualify as a member of Special Forces.

His records show that he completed training as a paratrooper. In his interview with The Capital Times, Musser said he completed 13 jumps, including the five required for a paratrooper's wings and seven others.

Musser said in a prepared statement Friday that while he wore a green beret when serving with the Special Forces in Fort Bragg, "I was not Special Forces qualified. My biography does not make that distinction clear enough."

He added that he was "not old enough to begin training for Special Forces qualification" and that upon returning to Vietnam, "(I) ended my tenure with the Special Forces."

Musser, who has been active in veterans' issues since being elected to the Assembly in 1984, said he planned to correct his official biography "to avoid any further confusion.

"It has never been my intent to mislead anyone about my military service. I apologize if anyone felt I misled them in any way," he said.

Schantag said situations like Musser's are "not uncommon" and noted that Atlantic City, N.J., Mayor Bob Levy was forced to admit last year that he had improperly claimed for years to be a Green Beret.

"It's an epidemic right now. But when you have a public official that you put your trust in and he's making the claim, it's not right," she said.

E-mail: dcallender@madison.com
Published: March 24, 2007