‘Shameful.’ Retired Columbus soldier sentenced for using fake PTSD claims to get disability
Gregg Ramsdell had a Silver Star for which he fought no battle and a Purple Heart for which he shed no blood.
For years the retired Army master sergeant also adorned his dress uniforms with a Ranger and a Special Forces tab, though he was neither a Ranger nor a Special Forces “Green Beret,” as he claimed.
He never saw people being executed in Afghanistan, nor did he experience “women holding babies while detonating themselves, IED explosions causing severe bodily injuries and death, retrieving body parts and bagging them, having blood and body excrements being blown onto my uniform,” as he claimed in applying for disability because of post-traumatic stress.
He just made it all up — lying to claim honors that were not his, and benefits that he did not earn.
As he sat Tuesday in a federal courtroom in Columbus, awaiting his sentencing on charges of making false statements and violating the Stolen Valor Act, the judge wanted to know why.
“Do you have any explanation for this?” U.S. District Judge Clay Land asked the 62-year-old.
“I really have none, sir,” Ramsdell answered.
Land asked whether Ramsdell understood that what he did was “shameful.”
“Yes sir,” Ramsdell replied. “I’m extremely, extremely sorrowful for my actions…. It was stupid, and I can’t say that word enough.”
Under sentencing guidelines, he faced up to a year in federal prison, which his attorney, Zach Alsobrook of Opelika, hoped Land might let Ramsdell serve on probation, telling the judge Ramsdell’s wife has lupus and needs care, and Ramsdell’s own age and health put him at risk of catching COVID-19 in prison.
Land would not allow that. Noting Ramsdell took money from the taxpayers by claiming stress from combat in which he was never involved, Land sentenced him to a year in federal prison and ordered him to pay $76,000 in restitution.
But the judge did not order him detained immediately. Ramsdell may report to prison when a date for his surrender has been set, the judge said.
How deception came to light
Ramsdell’s deception came to light in 2018, after he used his false claims to get a civilian job at Fort Benning, where he put his fake medals on display.
At the home of the Ranger School, it wasn’t long before someone double-checked his credentials, and learned Ramsdell wasn’t a Ranger.
The revelation led to an FBI investigation that uncovered the former military policeman’s other acts of deception, as outlined here by federal investigators:
Ramsdell’s actual service included varying periods of enlistment in the United States Army, the Army National Guard, the Air National Guard and the Army Reserve from 1981 to 2014, including some time at the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where an online photo shows him serving soldiers meals on Thanksgiving Day 2013.
But while applying for disability benefits from the Veterans Administration on Sept. 7, 2014, he claimed to have PTSD from witnessing atrocities while deployed to Afghanistan from October 2008 to March 2009. As a result, the VA in 2015 gave him added PTSD benefits retroactive to his June 1, 2014, military discharge.
While receiving those benefits, he in June 2017 applied for the coveted civilian position of logistics management specialist at Fort Benning, on his resume claiming he had both a Silver Star and Purple Heart with cluster. His “embellished military record” helped win him the position that paid $53,137 a year, authorities said.
The Silver Star is the third-highest military honor, signifying exceptional courage under fire. The Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster is awarded to those wounded more than once in combat. Federal authorities said Ramsdell also has claimed to have a Bronze Star, which can represent heroism in combat or other meritorious service.
The federal investigation revealed Ramsdell was not in Afghanistan at the time he claimed, nor had he been awarded those medals.
Besides making false statements, he was charged with violating the Stolen Valor Act of 2013, which prohibits claiming to be a war hero to gain money, employment, property or other financial benefits. He pleaded guilty Dec. 4, 2019, and initially was set to be sentenced this past March 23, but the coronavirus outbreak delayed that.
In court Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Melvin Hyde said Ramsdell’s misconduct went beyond “bar bragging,” or using false glory for free drinks and slaps on the back. Claiming a Purple Heart with a cluster was particularly galling, the prosecutor said.
“That’s an insult to the people of this country who have been in the service and been wounded…. He felt the need to fabricate and to profit from lies,” Hyde told the judge.
This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 1:46 PM.