RONALD DEAN DOUGLAS

He allegedly “died” on February 9th of this year.  

After a month to the day, a woman answered the phone and seemed very shocked.  She confirmed that the man .... Ronald Dean Douglas and that he was very much alive and well…and the last time she’d seen him was on February 9th, when he’d had to leave and go out of town on business.

“Ron Douglas” is around 6’, 210-220 lbs (fit), etc.

ACTUAL  RECORDS                                       auto theft charges
Claims he is a severely wounded veteran.

He has been scamming money from the AA meetings, speaking to groups, under the guise of it being a fund for military dependants of “his guys” in Afghanistan and Iraq.   This guy is a scam artist and must be stopped.

Ronald Douglas also claimed to have a CDL and haul explosives.  

Had a  tiger cage story.  He told us that his wife and daughter had been killed in a accident while he was driving…

Stated he was raised in South Carolina, but it was almost like he faked a “twang”. 

*****This was a blog he published on Railbirds.com.

LIFE'S DEFINING MOMENTS!!

Dec 22, 2008 12:52 am

I have slogged through the quagmire of life like all other spirits in the human condition. Made mistakes, learned from some, repeated others until duh! finally it sinks in, or at least acknowledge my part in them. Been through the learning curve, everyone must endure. Some more than others, I'm the "more "category. No sense in lying since I'm writing this lol!

Childhood was about average I guess, probably better off than some and worse than others. Lived in a small town in Northwest Colorado . Long winters because the elevation was just below 7,000 ft above sea level.

Graduated high scool and it didn't take long for my "Friends and neighbors" to send me a telegram stating that I had hit the lottery , not the get rich instantly kind, that "other one" they called it the draft.

Reported to Denver AFEES station for the body check and induction. Then A feller told us to stand in line there and raise our right hands and repeat after him. We said the words we didn't understand the meaning of, then he told us alright every other one take one step forward. I was one of the "steppers, turns out we got to be Marines, rest went to the army.

I was actually excited to be going, in the ignorance of youth, couldn't wait to shake the dust of the small town off my boots. Reported to Marine corps recruit depot San Diego Ca. Rude awakening no.1, first time in their proud history they allowed "draftees" (or needed them )If you weren't there as A volunteer, they had A "different view of you, (not nice I must say)" Endured boot and graduated. Moved on to the 0600 Infantry school by the end of that even a country boy like me could see the "danger" of being A grunt. I was approached by The "guns" and asked if i would be interested in para marine training, (he really wasn't ASKING) So thinking I was pretty "salty" I went, then onto I.T.R which is force recon training. didn't know when I was "volunteered" about part 2. made it through that and it wasn't easy, but eeked through. Now i was under the delusion that i really was "tough" ( the ignorance of youth)

After my furlough, yep, took a little ride to okinawa, hung there for a week or so, and on to the big "V"ietnam.

11 long months later the Defining moment. Was up there in the "I" (eye corps) the mission was layed out we had been briefed. Waiting for the bird that would transport us into the den of the lion once more. The fear so thick you could cut it with A knife and take a sample back with you. all of us putting up the "front" of bravado but it was always like that before A insertion. This one really bad for me I had just become A "two digit midget" A short timer, almost to the end of the pipeline. The kid of 11 months ago long gone, The combat crazed, angry ,hateful, young man now. The short timers blues, to make it so far and see so much, and get so close then get zapped, these thoughts first and foremost in my mind, which meant i was A danger to myself and my teammates.

The ride on the bird was one scary affair, the pucker factor 10, we were being inserted into " north vietnam " 35 klicks, We were on "FLIGHT CORRIDOR WATCH" The bombing campaign at it's height. if A plane was damaged and they couldn't make it back they were to try for our "valley" contact us on guard channel and eject, and we would try to find them and call the birds for extraction. Really dangerous stuff, they would see A bird go down and the chute of the pilot deploy and float to earth and know exactly where to look, NOT GOOD MAN, NOT GOOD AT ALL I HAD TOLD ONE OF MY TEAMMATES"

A,,, A-7 corsair fighter had had a lot of damage, made it to the mouth of the valley and he punched out. We saw his chute then it disappeared, but had A line on him, so we formed into 4, 4man search parties and made our way down to the valley floor. Didn't know it at the time, but there was a NVA REGIMENT, moving through the area as well headed south.

The point team of four ,although being very careful were all mowed down instantly, the elephant grass was at least 8 or nine ft. tall . the crackle of fire alerting the other 12 of us that we had been discovered, it started to increase in volume, snicking thru the grass, we all were on our bellies crabbing back the way we had come from, it kept getting louder and louder as more of them joined in, the grass falling now like it was being cut with machetes, we made it back to the river we had forded to get to the valley floor where the pilot had gone in. now it is beginning to really increase, they were reconning by fire hoping we would break and run, exposing ourselves, we lay, the radio operator trying to whisper the emergency sit-rep and requesting emergency evac, the birds were on station, and 5 mins out, now the mortars were starting to land in our general area, and walking towards us. we all decided to split up every man on his own and haul it to the evac LZ. it was the last time I would ever see any of them. i dove underwater swimming and using the current to hopefully carry me out of the kill zone, I would have to re-orient and run for extract bird if i made it up the opposite bank that would be the motha because i would be exposed.

When i surfaced on the other side to gasp for air, i was out of the "kill zone" but downstream quite a ways I went for it, made it up the bank into the brush. popped out my compass ,shot a azimuth, got my bearings, and started to run, I made it to the foot of the hill where the birds were suppossed to pick us up. I shed my pack, kept my weapon and started running full out up the saddleback, then something tugged at my right side, i had caught a round A through and through gunshot wound. The adrenaline was pumping so hard that I hardly felt it, it burned like someone had put a cigarette out on my side. I top the hill as the bird is already flaring, coming in getting the skids to about two ft of the ground. I dived for it, the crew chief grabbed me and pulled me in the pilot pulled pitch and started away. Trying to use the contour of the mountain to gain speed, A loud crack followed by A boom , the wounded bird shudders and the trees are coming up mighty fast.

I have no idea how long I was out. When you are hurt badly the funniest thoughts pop into your head. I came back to consiousness with A snap. oh man it hurt, and i had sand in my mouth, and couldn't move ,but just a little, i wasn't in the chopper anymore, I was in the trees, wedged between the fork of some branch. I spit trying to clear my mouth. it was blood and sand, how do you get sand in your mouth up in the trees, well you don't, it was my teeth. 23 long hours in and out of consiousness, wedged immobile in the fork of A tree. they had found the shot down helicopter, and i had left a swath like A lane through the trees until i hit the branch that stopped me. The SAR man came down on a jungle penetrator.

Saw my eyes open. tried to unwedge me to no avail. told me to hang in there he would be back, and started to rise and leave me there. then the rounds from enemy weapons started coming up through the trees, they probably couldn't see us but the wash of the hovering helicopter gave them A area and they were shooting up through the trees blindly hoping to hit us. He disappeared through the top of the canopy, after a while I could here the bird leaving. At that moment the fear and resignation set in I "was going to die here" the shooting slowed down then quit all together. The tears of fear and abandonment welling up all the thoughts of it's over.I have no idea how long it was but bombs started to fall not far away.then it would go quiet for awhile, and then more would drop, the night had fallen. pitch black stuck in A tree and gonna die, I wished i was home, that small town i had been in such a hurry to leave. The night was the longest of my life, the thirst was the worse I wanted water so badly,, at first light they returned, the shooting from the ground started up again, the SAR man came back down through the trees with A chain saw. he cut me out jerked on me and that is the last thing I remember.

When I next awoke I was trussed up in bandages, tied in a hosp. bed in japan. I had had a gunshot wound in my right side. every one of my teeth upper and lower had been either powdered or there were just jagged pieces left. My right shoulder had been dislocated, my right forearm broken. I was one massive bruise literally head to toes, but i was alive.

It wasn't until later that I found out all my recon teammates had been killed, the pilot of the corsair as well. And the part i "didn't know about" two medivac birds "slicks" had been shot down, all members of the crews lost as well to get me out of those trees. 5 in each slick, 10 men had lost their lives trying to get me out of there. 10 for 1,, 10 families who lost loved ones so that one family could have their son back. It wasn't about the numbers though. It was about men doing their jobs, knowing the risks, and keeping their oaths, it was about the knowledge that if "they" were stuck in those trees, they would wnat others not to give up on them and get them out of there. It was about words like "honor" "integrity" "fealty" The marine tenet that they don't leave their dead or wounded on the battlefield.

I owed those men A debt. Not to them personally, but to their memories, to their families, and understood afterwards that there are valid reasons that some "policies" exist although at the time I can't see the reason for them. I convelased, and was discharged from Balboa naval hospital in San Diego Calif.6 months later.

I hurried home, to the small town that i had been so eager to leave just 2 short / long years before. The person who arrived wasn't the person who had left. "A TRAVELER NEVER RETURNS" It was months later that I was approached by Army recruiters and asked if i would be interested in working for them. My "gunny" sergeant had given them my name. they made their pitch. I accepted, and 29 yrs later retired As A command sergeant major. my debt being paid in full, but the memory of dying and being brought back to life, by men who didn't even know me, being snatched back from the jaws of the lions, was For me "LIFES DEFINING MOMENT"

ABSENT COMPANIONS, GONE NOT FORGOTTEN

Dec 23, 2008 8:15 am

The life of A professional soldier is one of A myriad of relationships. Men and women from all walks of life and backgrounds. Jumbled together, The mini-melting pot that is A microcosim of the nation as A whole.

The many m.o.s.'s (military occupational specialties, jobs if you wil) All with A function responsible to the "whole". The drama's, personality clashes,resentments,friendships, all the same as any endeavour undertaken by human beings. The jockeying for position, politics, backstabbing, the climb for position , no different than any vocation. All the different personalities you have to deal with and circumvent, in order to get where "you" want to go.

Sure there are differences, they all dress the same, hence the description "uniformity". But when off duty they can still wrap themselves in the "material posessions" that they put forth to say "this is who I am".

In the military the relationships that develop many times carry through to the end of your career, (if your A LIFER) MANY OF THE OFFICERS AND NCO'S that were my close friends and a part of the same "cliche" were men that i had served on and off with over the span of 3 decades I served. We all had faults and strengths, but found common ground or views and so became "friends", or we had a mutual respect even if we didn't like each other.

It is the time in my life where I have the time to reflect upon the many men I served with, and remember them and their accomplishments, for I am also reflecting on my own life and contribution.

The part of the Army I was in was once described to me by a man i had A profound respect for as the "nuts and bolts operators" The worker ants was my take on it, We were the ones who went out into harms way and did our jobs despite our fears or wants. Charlie Mike, or as larry the cable guy so aptly puts it "get er done"

Along the way, due to the nature of the missions men have fallen and returned and their families awarded a flag in their name, carry the memory,of what once was but now has passed on. At the time of the event where ever it was the only way to deal with it is don't,,. put it away in it's compartment in the mind and close the lid on it. Move on for the living still have A job to do. It sounds callous, but the truth is the truth, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. The living have to keep moving on. It happens in that line of work. one moment there is A live thinking walking talking human being, the next just the shell that housed the spirit .

On the day most of us depart this mortal coil, when we woke up that morning we didn't know it was our last day of life. In A moments time, the blink of A eye they can be there then poof, gone. Although not many wish to think on it or discuss it, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but if we dwell on it we would never get anything accomplished. Most of us know that this can happen anywhere, anytime, many people the world over are departing as I write this blog, and many are being born and coming to life as well, so it is on the planet earth.The "circle" of life.

On this day, the day before the day before christmas, with tears in my eyes and gratitude in my heart I remember those men, whom I served with, who meant something to me and I to them. We had shared lifestyles and differences, yet A common ground and beliefs, no we didn't agree on everything, nor were any of us perfect, we didn't always see eye to eye, but we found a way to get past that to the aspects that we did see eye to eye on and earned each others respect whether it was grudging or not. We had A job to do and did the best we could with what we had at that time. we knew the risks and made the choice to do the job because we had made the commitment to do so. We made mistakes, were blindsided by unforseen events that we had no control over, but kept putting one foot in front of the other until we accomplished the objectives.

I think of my best friend from the vietnam experience, languishing in prison right now as I write this he is in his 32nd year of incarceration, and never going to be released into society, he came home, made A mistake and admits that what he did was wrong, and knew it, you weren't allowed to have the same behaviors here as you were over there, I admire the fact that he acknowledges his part and the fact that it wasn't acceptable, no excuse, and no way to go back and change it.

I think of all THE ABSENT COMPANIONS WHO I KNEW IN LIFE, I CELEBRATE THEIR LIVES AND THE TIMES WE SHARED, THEY MAY BE GONE, BUT THEY ARE NOT FORGOTTEN,