Re: Dual Survival host change up - Stolen valor?
I've personally never heard of Canterbury claiming much...
He claims to have been an MP in the Army, claims to have been a "sniper" for the Military Police S.R.T. ( back in the day, before the SDM program, the Military Police had "Military Police Designated Marksmen" for the S.R.T., "sniper" is easier to say ), he claims to have "survival training" in the military ( doesn't every soldier get very basic survival training )....
Internet rumor is that he padded his resume ( I personally think Discovery did, though I'm not completely sure they stretched it much )
Canterbury was in the Army in the mid to late 80s IIRC, I enlisted, as an MP, in 1990. So I'll assume that our experience as MPs was similar. With that said some people have made issue of his military records NOT showing anything about "sniper" or survival training, so we'll address those from MY experience...
"Sniper": Like I said, the Military Police Corps used to have ( may still, but I'm pretty sure they use the SDM program) a "Military Police Designated Marksman" program.. As I remember it, MOST people never got any special training, some of us were lucky enough to get a week w/ AMU, most w/ basic M16s and an optic, some w/ old beat up M21s or M24s... While I personally make a point, if it comes, up to make a distinction, most guys always just said "sniper"... just like any LE does, "I'm an sniper on the SRT team"... "I'm a sniper for the PD"... both technically incorrect, but accepted easier by uneducated people.
"Survival training": Like I said, doesn't EVERY soldier receive very basic survival training? I know every one I saw did. I also seem to remember Canterbury being in Panama, which happens to be where the Jungle School was back then. While I have seen his records posted online, and Jungle Expert wasn't listed anywhere. It's not unheard of for soldiers, of that era at least, to have gotten training w/o a certificate, 1059, or it ever being on any record.. especially in this case, the instructors from the jungle school did classes for units in Panama all the time, not the full course, but shorter, semi formal classes.... This is in fact training, now if he claimed to be a "Jungle Expert".. I'd be pissed, the whole course was a bitch.
Additionally, right or wrong, when I left active duty in 1995, we all had to go through a transition program. Where they helped write a resume, had recruiters from the private sector and civil government come in, etc,etc... They taught people back then how to "pad" a resume... no flat out lies, but how to focus on the positives of experience or training and experience.
For example:
EVERYONE in the military has "leadership experience", not a single person that makes it through an enlistment w/o being in charge of a few details, so even a "terminal Lance" in the Marines, or career SPC in the Army has leadership experience.
and that's just what I can think of off the top of my head.
I've also heard people say that he claims, or implies, to be a "Pathfinder", since that's what he named his survival school. I've actually seen a video where he explains that the name has nothing to do w/ the military, that he picked it because of early explorers finding paths across the country of some such...