Investigating Fraudulent Veteran Landon Steele Part 4: Fellow Iraq Veterans Point Out Several Lies About Landon’s Alleged Military Service
and part 3
Landon Steele is a pathological liar. For years he has been lying to women he’s intentionally manipulated, friends he’s stolen from, veterans he’s tried to impress, and people he served with. We’ve already discussed in detail the lies he’s told to the women he abused, the stories he made up in order to make them sound crazy afterwards, his fictional tales of glory in Haiti, lying about attempting to save the life of a 9 month old baby, and continuing to wear bracelets commemorating dead soldiers he never met. For this blog we’ve interviewed a number of people who served with Landon who are going to clear some things up about his alleged military service.
Landon was born in New Mexico in 1980. He boasts that his mother is a retired Navy LTC, and his father is retired marine corps. His last name growing up was Langley, as he lived with his stepdad until he left when Landon was 17. According to Landon, “alpha males” like him aren’t always raised by alpha males.
They moved to Minnesota where Landon initially went to high school, but he’s told many people he served with that he attended school in St. George’s College in Israel where he allegedly learned Arabic. Throughout his military service he used this unverified story to push the lie that he was fluent in Arabic, something his brothers and sisters in arms found out was a lie the more they dealt with him.
Landon joined the Air Force in 1998. During his two years there he told people that he worked on details with the Office of Special Investigation, claimed he was promoted ahead of his peers, and said he was the most highly decorated airman at the time. He also claimed that during this time he worked as a Secret Service detail for Hillary Clinton, who was First Lady at the time, and says that received a commendation medal from them for his service to her.
He claimed that she knew who he was from there time together, and after an alleged injury he sustained during a battle Hillary visited him in the hospital, but he wouldn’t shake her hand.
Because Landon Steele is always in control.
In July of 2000 he received a general discharge from the Air Force after a pattern of misconduct that included an Article 86 for “failure to go.” He took a two year break in service before joining the Army National Guard in April of 2002. At the time he was going by the name Landon Langley, which he says is the name of his stepfather. During his time between service he accidentally shot himself in the face while playing around with loaded firearms with a friend. As we will see, he has made up innumerable amounts of lies over the years about the circumstances that led to shooting himself in the face.
But in classic Landon style he always blows it off like it was no big deal.
When you’re an American icon like Landon Steele, sometimes you get shot in the face. It happens.
From 2004-2011 Landon served in the National Guard in Minnesota, Massachusetts, and New York. He was deployed to Iraq at least twice during that time, but didn’t see any major combat. We interviewed several people who served alongside him, and here’s what some of them had to say.
He volunteered for our deployment to Iraq and our unit had pre-deployment training in New Jersey. We thought he was a medic so he and the other medics were sent to Texas for medic training before we went to Iraq and they ended up sending him home early because there was actually no proof he was a trained medic at all. He claimed he spoke Arabic fluently. And he definitely didn’t know some. But in the very beginning part of the deployment, I started learning Arabic myself and quickly realized within a few weeks I already knew nearly as much as him. I liked him early in the deployment and he was part of the reason I was inspired to learn Arabic in the first place. Once they realized he was full of shit an investigation began and he ended up getting demoted.
A lot of the claims about his military background ended up being complete bullshit. He wore badges on his military uniform he was not authorized to wear, for schools he didn’t actually attend etc. That’s a big no-no in the military. He ended up getting demoted to private first class after an investigation proved he was full of shit.
Here is a picture of Landon in his yearbook, wearing the rank of corporal, while being listed as a PFC.
Everyone we spoke with agreed that Landon should’ve been proud of his service, and that they felt good that he had their back. But his constant need to lie and embellish his record caused many to be suspicious.
Is he a veteran of at least two tours in Iraq? No doubt about it. And good for him for that. But he is an absolute fraud in terms of nearly anything else about his service. On a deployment he was pretty much useless. I think his military specialty ended up actually being a truck driver if I’m not mistaken.
Others told similar stories.
Hello, I’ve deployed with Landon twice. First in 2005 to Tikrit Iraq with the 42nd ID and then again when he deployed with the 972nd MP Co out of Reading MA. Landon used to tell us that he was prior Air Force Security Forces and that he was shot in the face during a raid. He was the commanding general’s medic, yet there were rumors that he never finished the required training. He also claimed to be fluent in Arabic, yet he could barely conversate.
During the 2007-2008 deployment, I was approached about a sworn statement I gave in regards to a a situation where we came under fire during a mission in 2005. Landon used that sworn statement to obtain his combat action badge- allegedly. There was an investigation and I don’t know if he received an article 15, but he was disciplined.
Many claimed that he lied about being an EMT, which they discovered afterwards.
One other thing to look into is if he’s an actual EMT. My second deployment with him he was sent home cause his paper work was fraudulent believe. I wasn’t in the command staff so not sure exactly how that went down but he was sent home after a couple months cause of all his bullshit. He did not go to medical or EMT school as of at least 2008 but was claiming to be both. Also he pretend to speak Arabic but he really just knows like 10-15 phrases and repeats them over and over. He would say them around a lot of people to seem smart but he was probably just practicing the 30 or so words he learned. Great bullshitter. Our first deployment he was a medic/ MP/ linguist but none of this skills were used. His/ our first deployment he saw no actual combat whatsoever. He wasn’t there on the bad days because he was attached to the General at all times. Also he deleted all of us off fb a few years ago probably so he can lie more. I was never going to call him out, we were just enjoying the soap opera of lies. Kid has lied about a million times, finally catching up to him.
At one point he did get his National EMS Certification, but it expired in 2010, seven years before he offered his services in Haiti as an EMT.
Another source details the numerous lies Landon told him throughout their service together, many of which others substantiated.
So I deployed with him with the Mass Army National guard. I was an Military Police officer and he was a new medic. He came to the unit with a Maroon Beret in which it stands for Airborne which he is not. He had army tabs on his left chest which he never earned. We didn’t realize this stuff until later on in the deployment. He came in like such a badass and people fell for it. He puts on a good act. Funny thing is he would wear winter gear to keep warm in the summer and then not wear anything in the winter. He said it was from being shot in the face in a raid in Iraq, where his Captain wife was the one who saved him. He would draw detailed sketches of anatomy. I thought he was a high speed medic and who could somewhat speak Arabic. Anyways when we got to Baghdad he would just continue telling stories and more stories which all turned out to be lies. Like saying he knew the locals from former deployments. He and another guy would put on fake rank and pay patches when going to a larger military base. It wasn’t until he was caught did we figure it out. He would leave the FOB at night and sneak off to do who knows what. He couldn’t speak Arabic only knew a few things to say but had us all
Others reiterated that he was lying about knowing and being around the murder of Catpain Esposito, and LT Allen, the two men whose bracelets he wears and poses with in many Facebook pictures.
I deployed with him twice and if you need any sort of confirmation on the 2 bracelets I can give that. He’s 100% a pathological liar and it’s crazy how far he’s come. But 1 thing I can tell you is he did not know CPT Esposito or the 1LT Allen. We didn’t interact with them at all. I was in the same squad with him for that deployment for a year. We were assigned to a 2 star general. Nothing to do with the HHC. We never fell in any formation with them or went into that palace where the incident happened. We lived on the same base but different company. We had no association with the company. If he crossed paths with anyone it had to be super brief several months prior when we were still in NY.
Landon wears four bracelets and wants you to see them all. One of them is for Rachel Hugo, a woman he lied to one of his ex-girlfriends about. According to Landon he was supposed to replace her, and he shares her picture on Facebook every year on the anniversary of her death.
This was completely fabricated.
Here he is lying to her gold star mother in a picture he posted showing off the bracelet while holding a glass of whiskey.
This is very similar to what he did with Raelyn Balfour in part 3 – lied to a grieving mother about his closeness to their deceased child, in order to gain favor with them.
Another person who served with him in the Air Force says that Landon attempted to get a medical discharge with a pension during his short time there.
Here’s a lead you definitely want to follow – his service in the Air Force, which is where I ran into him. Security Forces, Kirtland AFB, 1998-2000. His last name then was Langley. I don’t know where the Steele thing came from. The name is different, but this is definitely the guy. Spent most of his time on the rubber gun squad while trying to weasel his way to a medical discharge with a pension. Everyone on the base knew him and hated him. He got kicked out for misconduct after a couple of Article 15’s. I don’t know what kind of discharge he got, but it wasn’t honorable. They drove him to the main gate and dumped him off.
Landon lives off the $1,500 a month he gets from the taxpayers for his alleged PTSD, despite not seeing any particularly traumatizing combat.
He also claims to be a certified linguist in Arabic, yet I had an Arab friend try to converse with him, and he couldn’t hold any conversation and would change the subject. I also believe he receives 60% or more disability from VA. That’s $1000 or more a month for life. It’s entirely possible he made up PTSD symptoms during screening and is commuting fraud and fleecing American taxpayers who pay for this, and a real slap on the face to those of us who actually suffer from depression or PTSD. It should be cut off as he would be forced to get a job like any other American. If not locked up for defrauding the VA. I’ve known many men that he lived with that he stayed rent free after promising to pay and drank all their liquor. At least 3 personally, but it wasn’t listed because it doesn’t fit the relationship narrative and they haven’t come forward.
As many of the others stated, due to the fact that he was not as qualified as he presented himself to be, and his primary job was to drive a General around.
Landon claimed to be a combat veteran in various posts. I’m an infantry combat veteran, and there is a difference between war veteran and combat veteran in the military. If you saw actual combat, you will have been awarded a CIB (Combat Infantryman’s Badge) CAB (Combat Action Badge) or – as a medic – if he really was one, a CMB (Combat Medic Badge) I don’t believe he’s been awarded any of these. The best way to source actual military service and decorations, awards (purple heart, ARCOM, bronze star, deployments and how Many, etc) with MOS’ (Military Occupational Speciality – your job) is a FOIA for his DD214.
Landon has also boasted about serving in Afghanistan.
But this was just another lie he told his ex-girlfriends. According to people who served with him in Iraq, he never stepped foot in Afghanistan.
Went to to Iraq twice and he was sent home mid tour on the second one after being demoted. On second tour he was sent to Fort Sam Houston to requal on medic stuff before the tour and that’s when we found out he was full of shit. He was an extra body that rode along because the commander found out his credentials were faked. Fraudulent enlistment I think was what they were going after him for.
Picture of him and another soldier with an Iraqi was taken inside the green zone on a trip him and an Ssg took to an apartment inside the wire and he wasn’t even allowed to do shit for medics in Baghdad because that’s when he was found out. He was lying to Iraqi people and saying he was medic. Notice he’s not wearing any patches. If it was sanctioned or part of his units mission he would be wearing his unit and combat patches
Here’s the image the source was talking about.
Yet Landon has made a post military “career” living off of lies that he for years he has hoped no one would call him out on. Here’s a 2015 post from the Made Viking Beard and Mustache Club. Landon told them several outlandish lies about about working with nuclear weapons, and serving in United Nations to train special forces in Rwanda.
None of these things are true, and Landon profits off of it.
He also sells his military patch online, covered in fake blood (red paint) that he put on in his ex-girfriend’s garage before going to Haiti in 2017.
Profiting off of fraudulent military service is stolen valor, and it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
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