U.S. Senate candidates Richard Blumenthal and Mark Kirk are not the only ones to have misrepresented their military service.  Yes, your humble blogger has done so, as well.  I'm not proud of it, but nearly 45 years of lies is enough.  It's time to come clean.

Allow me to set the scene.  It was 1966, and I was a snot-nosed 5-year-old enlistee in St. Joseph's Military Academy.  I have no idea why my mother sent me there, but then again, I have no idea why my mother did a lot of things.  St Joseph's was located in the East Liberty/Shadyside section of Pittsburgh.  It was a boarding school, and for a kid who had never been away from home, a bit of a shock to the system.  Nevertheless, I soldiered on—literally and figuratively.  In addition to our academic pursuits at St. Joseph's, the students wore military-style uniforms, and engaged in various marching and drill activities.

As it turned out, my tour of duty was short.  The school closed its doors less than twelve months later, and I matriculated to St. Margaret's in Green Tree for the remainder of my elementary education.

Although my tenure at St. Joseph's was abbreviated, It's impact was lasting.

Years later, I often referenced my time in the military during the Vietnam War (conveniently omitting the academy part) .  If it gave me a leg up when competing for a job, or trying to impress someone in a social situation, so be it.  There's really little difference between a military academy and the actual military, anyway...right?  Well, that's what I had convinced myself.

Not surprisingly, one lie led to another.

During one particularly snowy day at St. Joseph's, a classmate and I were involved in a sledding accident.  The Flexible Flyer we were both riding flipped and ended up sliding across one of my eyelids, leaving a nice gash and requiring that my mother be called to approve the necessary stitches.

An opportunity was born.  The wound, as I came to describe it, "happened during the Vietnam War."  Technically correct?  Yes.  Was I awarded the Purple Heart?  No.  But was there harm in implying as much?

It didn't end there.

On November 14th, 1965 when first elements of Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion/7th Cavalry touched down at Landing Zone X-Ray in the central highlands of South Vietnam (beginning of the bloody battle of Ia Drang), who later claimed to have been there?  You got it.  Yours truly.  Sure, it was only 3 days after my 5th birthday, but who checks dates?  I was, after all, a pretty precocious kid...having been bumped up, as a 1st grader, to the 3rd grade reading and math classes and all.

Later, when the battle was immortalized in the critically acclaimed book, We Were Soldiers Once...And Young, and then the movie, I was at it again, asserting that I was the inspiration for the "...And Young" part.

Clearly, it's a tangled web that I've woven over these many years.  Now, it's time to stop the deceit and misrepresentations, and ease my guilty conscience.

I'm deeply sorry and sincerely regret all the times I may have misspoken over the past 45 years or so, but I will not allow anyone to impugn my integrity or disparage my year of hell in the military...academy, that is.

I confess!