joe teti military

Joe Teti Military - LOS ANGELES - The fight continues for Joseph Teti, the star of Discovery's "Dual Survivor," who was kicked out of the Special Forces Association last week amid allegations that he exaggerated his military service.

Since its founding in 1962, only ten people have been forcibly discharged from the nonprofit, which serves as a fraternal organization for active and retired U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers.

Joe Teti Military

This week, the Cabela's hunting and sports chain, which supported the reality star, cut ties with Teti.

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"In light of the Special Forces Association's suspension of Joe Teti's membership, Cabela's has severed its relationship with Teti," the company said on its Facebook page.

According to the Military Times, Teti was added to the "Special Forces Poser Patrol" Wall of Shame, and watchmaker Casio, which signed Teti in August to promote its new line of Pro Trek watches, is reviewing their relationship with him.

The problem started with an appearance on "Dual Survival", in which he claimed to have sniper and aerial skills, and again when he claimed to be a combat fighter. Other service members said he technically never served in combat.

Teti told Army Times that he served in a government counter-terrorism unit "doing direct action missions right next to Tier 1 assets."

Joseph Teti Ambassador

But Scott Hughes, director of the Fake Warrior Project, and one of the first to call out Teti, isn't buying it.

"Joe is making money off these false claims and that's a problem," Hughes told FOX411. "He now claims his membership has expired, but was sent a confirmation letter and told he had 30 days to appeal the allegations against him, which he did not."

A long time member of the Special Forces Association, retired Army. Major George Davenport later called Teti "a disgrace to the regiment."

Teti did not respond to FOX411's requests for comment, but defended herself against the allegations on her official Facebook page.

Bruce Parkman, Left, Joe Teti And Ltc Mike Lazich

"I have never commented on the medals I have or don't have, or any service I have or have not done, and I have not reported in the media." "I call myself a fighter, which I am, and that has been used by some to discredit me and make it seem like I'm someone with hidden values. That's not the case."

Teti insists that he has provided all the documents Discovery wants to back up his claims, and that he is the victim of a "dirty campaign". He also says there are more than a dozen fake pages and resumes and online poses claiming to be him.

According to his official biography, Teti is a combat veteran in both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Afghan Freedom. He claims to have graduated from more than 30 public schools and during his service "planned and executed a wide range of special operations missions spanning the entire operational continuum." These missions "gave the President of the United States an option when overt military and/or diplomatic action was impractical or politically infeasible."

While many both inside and outside the Special Forces community are calling for Discovery to fire Teti, the network declined to comment on the situation.

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Ironically, Teti was cast on the show as a replacement for Army veteran David Canterbury, who was fired from the show due to allegations that he lied about aspects of his military service.

In 2012, NBC's "America's Got Talent" contestant Timothy Poe won the hearts of viewers not only because of his beautiful singing, but because of his emotional story of being injured by a bomb while serving in Afghanistan, which he He said that caused him to start singing. But it soon emerged that he had only served in the war-torn country for a month, and had to leave due to an ear infection.

Another year, Fox's "American Idol" hopeful, Matthew Farmer, had to apologize for lying about his service, in which he lied to judges that he suffered a traumatic brain injury after an IED explosion in Iraq.

Anthony Anderson Jr., director of the Facebook community Stolen Valor, which exposes cases of military service and stolen or fake honors, emphasized the importance of the entertainment industry corroborating the claims of those who put them in the public eye.

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"It not only undermines public confidence in that channel or brand, but it undermines the military community as a whole," he added. "People in general are losing faith in society because they've seen so many lies lately, and that's leading to unnecessary suspicion." Joe Teti, co-host of Discovery Channel's "Dual Survival," is suing the individuals and the Special Forces Association. for what is referred to in legal documents as a shell campaign. Credit: Discovery Channel

"I believe Joe is a sociopath [who] can be dangerous to those he believes he has hurt," writes Sgt. 1st Class Daniel McClain, a former Teti team sergeant, wrote in a letter to the Special Forces Association that is part of an official response in an ongoing lawsuit.

"I knew it was always going to be a problem," said Teti's former staff member, Lt. Col. William Sharp, in another letter, writes part of the SFA's 50-page rebuttal to the case filed by Teti late last year.

Sharp, now with the U.S. Special Operations Command, writes that he prepared the paperwork to disqualify Teti from re-enlistment, revoke his security clearance and remove his Special Forces badge, before Teti was leave the unit alone.

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"Teti is far below Special Forces standards, it's a disgrace to Special Forces and Special Operations," Sharp writes, citing several accusations.

In response to a detailed request for comment, Laurie Goldberg, senior vice president of public relations for the Discovery Channel, declined to comment.

"We intend to try the case before a jury and jury," said David Redding, a former Special Forces soldier who is representing Teti in the case.

Teti served nearly 10 years as a single-enlisted Marine, a National Guard Special Forces soldier and, just after 9/11, several years as a government contractor before eventually co-starring on Discovery's "Dual Survival," now on air. its fifth season. In 2013, he replaced another former soldier who was fired from the show for botching his military resume.

Cia Contractor Joe Teti With Afghan Counter

Leading that case was another living star of the reality show - and one of Teti's former Special Forces team leaders - Mykel Hawke.

Retired Special Forces captain and Afghanistan veteran Hawke accuses Teti of violating the Theft of Valor laws by, among other things, claiming he is a "combatant threat" but has never served in combat while in uniform. .

Teti counters that his combat claims are justified because he has served as a civilian contractor in several war zones.

Letters from McClain and Sharp, among others, convinced the SFA to disapprove Teti and permanently remove him from its membership rolls in August.

Joseph Teti, Oga Ground Branch, Sent These To Me After Today's Podcast (link In Comments)

"He should be shunned by the larger SF community for the very poor quality of his service to SF in general," McClain writes. "He has become too much of a public figure to ignore his unethical and unprofessional behavior before it reflects negatively on our community."

As news of the SFA's rejection spread and sponsors began to pull Teti out of endorsement deals, he hit back in November with a defamation lawsuit.

The 20-page complaint alleges that Hawke was "driven by jealousy to destroy Mr. Teti's successful television career" and that Hawke "recruited several co-conspirators ... to assist him in his campaign against Mr. In the morning."

In addition to Hawke and the SFA, Teti's lawsuit targets the nonprofit's president, retired colonel Jack Tobin, and retired Special Forces Sgt. Maj.

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Also named in the Teti case are former Marine Scott Hughes, moderator of the Military Phonies website, and Monique Haina, another vocal online critic.

On his official website, Teti claims that he has qualified as both a fighter caveman and a free HALO paratrooper, a skill even among the military's most elite soldiers.

In the SFA's February 10 rejection of his claim, the association categorically states that Teti "is not and has not been HALO or SCUBA qualified."

The rebuttal includes a statement from the US Army Special Warfare Center and School that Teti was, in fact, dropped from the Combat Diver course in 1983. Although he apparently graduated from the Navy's diving school, the Special Warfare Center says the school doesn't count. war diver course.

Us Army Sf/green Berets/oda

The message from the Special Warfare Center said that Teti was later expelled from the submarine surveillance course for cheating on the test.

A well-known example is former friends testifying in their statements. McClain writes that Teti manipulated the training scenarios and even praised the arsonists.

McClain writes: "I personally heard him claim that he had burned down a rival of his Las Vegas cleaning business. And I witnessed him recount the threats he had made to others. He seemed to brag about the act. "

"Joe attempted to steal the unit's equipment and supplies. I asked him to take me to my off-post storage area where I returned the unit's equipment that he did not have," writes Sharp, Teti's former XO.

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