Global Security, Privacy, & Risk Management

Randy Abbott – “paralyzed surfer who was robbed” AND A Recon/Sniper? Yeah..OK… February 3, 2014

UPDATE: The fine folks at This Aint Hell (but you can see it from here) just published a story on Randy Abbott and included his DD214s as well as a speech he gave at the Travis Manion 2013 Hero Run.  While he claims he: “…spent (his) first eight years assigned to Special Operations Command with  a counter terrorist unit”..His DD214s confirm what we already knew…he was NOT a Recon Marine and NOT a Marine Corps Scout/Sniper.  Mr. Abbott was a BulkFuel specialist (ran a gas station) and an Admin Marine (Made sure Marines got paid and had records updated).   Thanks to A Buncha Damn Cowboys for their work on outing this guy.  Who is this shadowing group? Pretty simple.  It is a group of Recon Marines, Scout/Snipers and SARCs who were tired of people claiming honors which they had not earned.

Two weeks ago I (and a lot of my friends) read a story about Randy Abbott.  Randy is a paralyzed surfer who said his surfboards were stolen at the beach.  According to Randy he hit one of the guys with an uppercut but they ran away with his boards.  By most accounts a pretty decent guy.

Since the report of the theft and his status as a ‘disabled vet Recon/Sniper’ there has been an international outpouring of support and numerous people donated thousands of dollars in response.  In the story, they state that after spending “fourteen years as a Marine Corps recon scout sniper”, his body was banged up.  Randy was not just a Scout/Sniper but a real life “Recon Sniper”?  WOW!…I had to do more research as the Marine Reconnaissance and Scout/Sniper community is VERY small and I had not heard of this guy!  Why..I am a Recon Marine and Scout/Sniper!!  So I did some research and found a picture on his Facebook page that was a giant tattoo of non other than the 1st MarDiv Scout/Sniper School with the motto: “Suffer patiently and patiently suffer”.  Nobody would go so far as to get a tattoo of a sacred sniper HOG (Hunter Of Gunmen) logo unless they were ‘legit’.  Since nobody could find Mr. Abbott in any of the secret ‘invite only’ Facebook pages for Recon Marines and Snipers (yup…they exist), the Sniper School “God book” or any other places that we use to verify Recon Marines and Snipers (instructors, classes, people who served with him etc.) the question was raised as to whether or not Mr. Abbott was really a Scout Sniper or Reconnaissance Marine?  A few former Recon Marines reached out and Randy said he served with “1st Recon BN, Sniper Platoon”  That seemed odd since nobody can remember a ‘sniper platoon’ in 1st Recon Bn.  More research and NOTHING…his DD214 has been requested but if you know how to contact Randy, please ask him to shoot me an email and we can clear all this up.  I have posted my own DD214 to show how easy it is to demonstrate you are Recon Marine or Scout/Sniper. Until then, it appears as if this man is simply making things up…