Crowley Political Report

SVTF FINDINGS REGARDING THE PATTERN OF EMBELLISHMENTS AND OTHER MISLEADING PUBLIC STATEMENTS BY RETIRED ARMY RESERVE COLONEL MICHAEL E. MCCALISTER:

(1) Mike McCalister deliberately misrepresented a duty assignment title of “Special Operations Action Officer” used at the 4 star USSOCOM Hqs to define the functional staff actions he was responsible for coordinating support of subordinate units that performed “black operations”, to give the impression that he was a Special Forces “i.e. green beret” officer performing covert operations in a deployed SF unit. His official Missouri National Guard enlisted and commissioned records revealed that he was an Engineer officer and never completed any Special Forces qualification training.

(2) Mike McCalister attempted to create a false impression of being qualified to be a general officer by deliberately misrepresenting his Air War College Correspondence Program to imply that the met the HQDA Military Education Level I (MEL-I) requirement for promotion to brigadier general, by falsely indicating it required a TOP SECRET Clearance like the Army War College Corresponding Studies Program (MEL-I qualifying). He compounded this by selectively releasing OER comments to give the impression that he was general officer material. McCalister’s embellished statements also indicated that representing general officer superiors of his command on Pentagon General Officer Steering Committees and other DoD panels was extraordinary for a colonel.

(3) Mike McCalister deliberately embellished his description of routine Colonel-level duties on his bio, web site and in speeches that involved the preparation of Congressional Reports, responses to GAO Investigations, Information Papers and preparation documents for his general officer superiors, to create the impression that he testified before Congress.

(4) Mike McCalister made a claim in a speech that Marc Caputo caught in reviewing McCalister’s YouTube video: “I did it all. PVT E1 active duty” to deliberately create an impression of serving on extended active duty as an enlisted man. McCalister’s enlisted DD214 revealed that as he served only in an active duty for training status while going through basic and advanced individual training for 4 months and 10 days, but never in a federal extended active duty status to qualify as a Vietnam-Era Veteran. SVTF member Ed Maxwell, a former Army Captain and 19 month Vietnam combat vet, emphasized that “in reality he joined the Guard as an alternative to being drafted during the Vietnam era.

(5) McCalister violated federal statutes and DoD policy by wearing a uniform to a partisan political fund raiser and as a candidate for public office no less. SVTF member Chuck Winn, a retired Army Colonel and Vietnam Vet, commented: “Although a misdemeanor, and understandable by an enlisted man or junior officer, this violation by a full colonel, indicates a total lack of appreciation of the fundamental Constitutional principal of civilian control of the military that guarantees our individual, economic and political liberties. I find it inconceivable that a full colonel and PhD did not know this.”

(6) McCalister inaccurately misrepresented his 1974 Officer Candidate Status on his bio identifying himself as a SGT E5. SVTF member Tim Taylor, a retired USMC Lt Colonel and Desert Storm vet, noted that “although Officer Candidates are temporarily promoted to the pay grade of E5 while in OCS to defray the additional expenses (unless they already hold that or a higher grade), this was obviously phrased to imply that McCalister served as a Non Commissioned Officer, i.e. an enlisted leader of troops in a unit.” Taylor continued “His own bio describes his last duty assignment in a unit prior to attending OCS as a lineman, PFC E3. Although it is possible for an enlisted soldier to be appointed an acting NCO on orders and authorized to wear sergeant’s stripes, National Guard units in those days were at full strength, so it is highly unlikely that this was the case.”