I don't know which, if any, of these accusations are true, nor do I give a shit. Judging by their track record, I'm guessing NONE. But for the record, that "pathetic f-ck up" Scott Olsen was awarded seven medals while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, which he left as a lance corporal in November 2009 after serving for four years and 2 tours of duty. One of them was the Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal.

The Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal:



When Awarded For Professional Achievement The act or service must clearly exceed that which is normally required or expected, considering the individual’s grade or rate, training, and experience; and it must be an important contribution of benefit to the United States and the naval service.



Yes Breitbart, you slovenly disgusting little cretin, and all of your minions, we are Scott Olsen. And you are not worthy of licking the dirt off his shoes.

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Short update#1-This story is also being discussed at Firedoglake- h/t Little for the linky goodness

Also, per Kossack PSWaterspirit in the comments:

A friend of mine checked alot of this out today and the website they mention not only is down, it never existed.



I suspect whoever started this rumor was not aware you can trace the owner of a given website, find out when and if it was taken down or in this case if it ever existed at all.

Update #2- Per PoliticsUSA) the Scott Olsen who owned the domain for www.Ihatethemarinecorps.com is a Scott Olsen located in Milan Illinois.

Scott moved to California after finding a job in the information technology field in San Francisco, with the help of his roommate Keith Shannon. The distance from Onalaska WI to Milan Ill. is over 200 miles away.



The website they reference was created on January 28th 2009. Scott was deployed to Iraq twice. The first time, August 2006 to May 2007 and then from 2008-2009, he left the Marines in November of 2009.





I also would like to emphasise this point- even if it IS him, it REALLY does not matter one way or another. The fact of the matter is, Scott Olsen fought for his country and did so in some of the most dangerous provinces of Iraq. He served with honor and has the medals to prove it. It is nobodies business if he had a website, or what kind of a discharge he got, or what the reasons for it were, or if he smoked a little pot, or if he objects to Isreals military policy. He is not a celebrity and he did not ask to be thrust into the limelight. The only reason he's even being talked about at all is because he had the misfortune of getting shot in the head with a teargas canister by the Oakland PD while he stood there doing nothing but trying to keep the peace.





I would LOVE to out Breitbart as the lying scum he is, but that misses the larger point- the point is that when he and his ilk heard that a young man who had served his country was in the hospital with a near fatal injury, their response was not to drop their political differences for just one moment and show some respect, but instead to go digging around and see what they could come up with to smear his reputation. That is one of the ugliest, most malevolent things I have ever heard of in my life, and that is the real story here as far as I'm concerned.

Update #3- I have just talked to someone who knows Scott and they have confirmed that he is in fact the individual who owns the website.

And as far as I'm concerned, that doesn't make a bit of difference.

Scott Olsen was 17 when he enlisted and went to boot camp right after his 18th birthday. In the pictures of him, you can see how very young he was. He served in the battle of Fallujah and probobly saw things no human being should ever witness. Do you remember what you were doing when you were 17 going on 18? I think I was looking at colleges and picking out prom dresses. Scott Olsen was preparing to go to war.

This young man is not a bum or a druggie. He works as a Network Engineer for a security firm- it's a good job that requires high security clearance. His co-workers describe him as a humble, soft spoken guy who worked hard over long hours. At night, he would leave his job to go sleep in the park, because he was so concerned about the economic inequality he saw plaguing the country he fought for. On the night of October 25th, he was not committing any crime-photos and video clearly show him standing, staring straight ahead, in front of the police line-stoic and calm in the face of chaos. He was one of the many brave souls who stood without any protective equipment whatsoever, directly in the line of fire. He is the epitome of what Chris Hedges invoked when he spoke of "the best among us"

So go ahead Breitbart & Co, give yourselves a nice big backslap for digging into the personal life of a 24 year old combat veteran as he lies in a hospital bed with a fractured skull and a swollen brain. You really hit the paydirt there didn't you? What a scoop- a former Marine has at one point claimed he hated the Marine Corps. I bet you really love the Marine Corps, don't you? That's easy enough when all it requires is slapping a yellow ribbon sticker to the back of your car. A bit harder when you are sent on back to back deployments in the desert watching your friends get blown into peices. If you took a moment to get to know some of the soldiers you claim to support, you would probobly realize that a lot of them have a love hate relationship with the institutions they serve. Ask one of them what "FTA" means. Talk to a vet some time about their experience-get beyond the "Thank you for your service" platitudes and go to the heart of what it was really like for them to be in the killing fields. Ask them about their nightmares, and the hidden scars we cannot see. Do that before you DARE criticize something you don't even understand.

Scott Olsen never asked to be made into a hero. He didn't go to Oakland that night looking for fame or adulation-he went because unlike you, he cares about his country and the people in it. And for that, he gets rewarded with a tear gas canister projected into his skull and flash bang grenades exploding by his head as he lay face down on the pavement. And then he was further rewarded when a slimy amoeba slithered out of his fetid swamp and decided "hey this kid with the skull fracture needs to get taken down a few pegs, what can we dig up on him?"



But before you get too wrapped up in your little celebration, know this one thing- WE DO NOT CARE. There is not one person on here who thinks any less of Scott now than we did 12 hours ago. Because we do not judge people based on the same binary criteria that you use to define who is a worthy human being and who isn't. We, the 99%, stand with Scott Olsen today just as strongly as we did the day before. And we could not be any more proud of him.