Open Post

Now that Kit Jarrell and Heidi Thiess of Euphoric Reality have apparently finished their now 10-part series, which portrays us as villains, and Gary Linderer and his band of brothers as selfless heroes, we will be posting our rebuttal on the web next week. We will place a notice on Wizbang and on the Thiess/Jarrell site when it's ready and give a pointer to the web location.

The conduct of these two women in writing their "Brother Against Brother" series has demonstrated beyond a doubt that they are ill qualified to tell this story fairly. Our mistake was believing Thiess and Jarrell when they said they were "investigative journalists." Instead, they have clearly demonstrated that they ascribe to the Michael Moore school of blogging and employ the Dan Rather method of investigative journalism.

We have also learned a great lesson that you can’t tell a blog by its cover. We should have requested a copy of THEIR DD214’s before we began dealing with them in depth after they responded to our original email and said they wanted to investigate our allegations against Gary Linderer. Their DD214’s would have given us a better idea just how qualified these two women actually were to do a story of this magnitude and complexity. In their zeal to support Mr. Linderer and his buddies, they have deliberately misstated important facts, omitted inconvenient facts that support our allegations against him, and have engaged in extreme hyperbole and mischaracterization, the likes of which one usually sees on extremist left-wing blogs.

Our rebuttal next week will illustrate exactly why they are ill qualified to investigate anything to do with combat operations in Vietnam, and, in our opinion, anything to do with combat operations period. We will show readers that Thiess and Jarrell have been suckered in by Gary Linderer and his very vocal group of supporters, and that they have engaged in the very same sort of disinformation tactics that Linderer and his men have employed with great success over the years.

Because of their behavior, it is apparent to us that Thiess and Jarrell are of a character that causes them to feel a deep kinship with Linderer and his men, and as they got to know Linderer and his supporters more fully, they felt a deep desire to be accepted by them. It’s easier to go with the group against the two than it is to stand with the two against the group. And, if you have to distort facts or omit damning evidence in order to accomplish that, well, the ends justify the means. The irony is that these two gullible and mendacious women have helped Gary Linderer's small group of "Vietnam fabulists" embellish the 20 November 1968 story even further, even to the laughable point of contradicting what they wrote in their books.

As we’ve said over and over again, if a thousand people tell a lie, it doesn’t make it the truth. Stay tuned…

At last we have Annette Hall’s response---posted as commentary to Chapter One and again to Chapter Ten. True to Mrs. Hall’s accustomed form, it is more a personal attack than a response to anything in Brother Against Brother. But then, what else do the Halls have at this point, beyond personal attacks? After years of trumpeting the documents they claimed to have backing their contentions about the bloody events of 20 November, 1968, and the character of Gary Linderer, all of the Hall’s “documentary evidence” has been obliterated by the many documents that the Halls somehow (willfully?) overlooked, and that Kit Jarrell and Heidi Thiess managed to find. Heidi and Kit also managed to find and interview many survivors of the battle, eyewitnesses to the battle, and many others who listened to it on military radio nets as it was happening. The Halls have absolutely none of this testimony. They never have, and never will. The Halls’ various imaginary renderings of those bloody events never had much (if any) credibility. And now they have none. What other response is available to the Halls, except for their normal personal attacks? Silence, perhaps? An apology along the lines of the one they once promised Kit and Heidi if they were proven to be wrong? Well, they’ve been proven to have been gravely and maliciously wrong, but there is no apology from the Halls. And now Annette’s silence has been broken.

Annette Hall accuses Kit and Heidi of having written a series “which portrays us as villains, and Gary Linderer and his band of brothers as selfless heroes…” Annette and Don Hall are, rightfully, not even mentioned in the chapters that deal with the 20 November, 1968, battle. But once they do appear in Brother Against Brother, once they begin their vendetta against Gary Linderer and all connected with them, they most certainly do come across as villains. Annette blames Kit and Heidi for that portrayal. But almost all of the material in Brother Against Brother that deals with the Halls is either in Don’s words or Annette’s----and almost all of this reeks with misrepresentation, slander, paranoia, viciousness, and attempted character assassination. Mrs. Hall writes, reasons, and spells much better than her husband, but when it comes to jealous bile and virulence, the two of them are in a league they share with no one else I’ve ever encountered. If the Halls come across as villains, it is because the Halls showcase their own villainy in their almost every word and action. All Kit and Heidi did was print what the Halls themselves had sent out to them and other people, but that was enough to show the Halls’ true character. As for Gary Linderer and the other men---Lurps, aviators, reaction force, and even North Vietnamese soldiers---who fought in that 20 November, 1968, battle that Annette Hall and her husband have spent years trying to portray as a fake contact: if they are “heroes” it is their actions that day that made them so, not anything Kit or Heidi wrote about them these many years later. It certainly isn’t a judgement Annette Hall or her husband are qualified to make. If Gary Linderer has a “band of brothers” it is because Gary has earned the brotherhood of many. Annette Hall’s husband, poor Donald, on the other hand, has no brothers left anymore and no real friends either. Donald Hall has done much to earn his outcast status, and he deserves it deeply. But those of us who have had to deal with the Halls over the years know to give Mrs. Hall her share of credit for Donald’s sad state. Her nagging, goading, encouragement and irrepressible tendency to speak for him have surely played an instrumental part in his downfall.

Along with being the only literate writer involved, was Annette Hall also the animating spirit behind their self published book, I Served? And was it Annette who encouraged Don to submit the notorious “Vulture Flight” story from that book to Behind the Lines? For years Annette Hall has been commenting on military matters about which she knows only what her mentally jumbled husband tells her. But in her commentary she writes this of Kit and Heidi: “We should have requested a copy of THEIR DD214’s before we began dealing with them in depth after they responded to our original email and said they wanted to investigate our allegations against Gary Linderer. Their DD214’s would have given us a better idea just how qualified these two women actually were to do a story of this magnitude and complexity.”

Amazing! The blind stupid gall of this woman to write such a thing and post it on a site where every reader already knows what sort of person she is! Kit and Heidi are veterans. They do have DD214s---and they are under no obligation to show them to the Halls. But where is Annette Hall’s DD214? As far I know, she is not a veteran—except perhaps by very, very weak injection. If she is a military veteran, why doesn’t she send out as many copies of her DD214 as she did of her smear sheet against Gary Linderer, so that all the thousands of people to whom she libeled Gary will be able to judge her qualifications?

In her commentary Annette writes: “it is apparent to us that Thiess and Jarrell are of a character that causes them to feel a deep kinship with Linderer and his men…” Mrs. Hall is not a stupid woman, at least not if her husband is setting the baseline for stupidity. Does she not realize what a fine compliment it is to write that Heidi and Kit are of a character to feel a deep kinship with Gary Linderer and men like Riley Cox, Jim Venable, Jim Bacon, Frank Souza, Mike Reiff, Art Herringhausen, Terry Clifton, Mike Reiff, Tony Tercero and the other men of the reaction force, the aviators who flew that day, and the hundreds---no, thousands---of other people, veterans and civilians alike, who consider Gary Linderer a true gentleman and a brother?

Mrs. Hall should remember that Heidi Thiess and Kit Jarrell started looking into all of this on her instigation, not Gary Linderer’s. She obviously didn’t expect them to really investigate, nor did she expect them to write as well as they do. But she should have expected at least some minimal amount of intelligence, honesty, and basic decency. Kit and Heidi have abundant reserves of all those qualities. Mrs. Hall may have some intelligence---particularly compared to her husband. But she seems to lack even a shred of honesty and decency---and doesn’t seem to have much grasp of reality, either. Because she lacks these qualities herself, she apparently didn’t expect to find them in Kit and Heidi. Mrs. Hall made a major mistake there!

Mrs. Hall and her husband can---and probably will---continue to threaten people. They can post whatever they like on their website, and the idly curious may visit their site, but no one will ever believe them again. They can claim to have unused and secret hidden information and documents they’ve been holding back, but again no one will believe them. Their credibility in all matters is gone forever. They can---and probably will---threaten to dig into peoples’ private lives for things to use against them, and perhaps they will manage to hurt someone or someone’s family. They can continue to focus their lives around that Great Satan, Gary Linderer, but their devotion will not be rewarded. They can keep snapping and snarling and clawing themselves ever deeper into the pit they have dug for themselves, but they will be alone in that pit. They will never recover whatever honor and whatever place among decent humanity they may have once had. Donald will never dare to show his face at any military reunion or veterans function where anyone is likely to recognize him, and Annette will most likely suffer the utter humiliation of remaining married to Don for the rest of her life.

Mrs. Hall can rage and slander and threaten all she wants. She and her husband have been exposed as the spiteful and poisonous clowns that they are. No one respects her, no one fears her, and except for laughs, no one will listen to her anymore.

Kenn Miller
F/58th LRP

I have a couple of questions and comments for the Halls:

1. Did you even bother to contact the F/58th commander to verify the account of 20 November? Or was he in on the ‘conspiracy’ too? Were ALL the officers in on it? Were all those DSCs and DFCs and Silver Stars, and Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts handed out just for the heck of it?! Did you talk to ANY eyewitnesses at all, ANY? Of course, we all read about how you “supposedly” contacted General Zias, who “refused to cooperate” with you – only because HE WAS DEAD! You flat our LIED about that – on the internet no less – for everyone to see! And you lied before checking your facts! Some investigators YOU are!!! Why should anyone believe you?!

2. It’s obvious you’ve gotten away all these years with no one EVER questioning your sources, your motives, or your story. And now that the truth HAS come out all you can do is resort to AD HOMINEM ATTACKS. Is that what you’re gonna do? Tear down these authors – and their service to their country? What does that prove – except that you’re nasty, pathetic losers who can’t say their piece without destroying others?!! It’s obvious that NO VETERAN in America is safe from you guys. Apparently – you’re the one and only veteran out there, Mr. Hall, who has anything to say about this mess you’ve created!! SO who died and made you the DD214-nazi?!!

3. Speaking of service to their country… it appears that Heidi & Kit have more years in service than you do, Mr. Hall!!! But you’re gonna try and say that because they weren’t in combat in Vietnam, that they’re ‘ill-qualified’ to comment on this? By your warped standards, what makes YOUR WIFE qualified to say word ONE about anything in the military whatsoever?? Has she ever served in uniform? Did she swear an oath of service? Did she SEE COMBAT in Vietnam or anywhere for that matter?! I didn’t think so!

4. You must not have noticed that your own words have made you guys look like total asses. I never read once where Heidi or Kit judged you – they just let your own words and ultimately the truth speak for them.

5. I’ve read your insulting slurs, Mr. Hall. You can’t seem to say anything without insulting someone’s size, color, or mind. That alone shows what a dimwit you are. You & Annette are just a bunch of bullies who like to throw empty threats around. If you actually thought that they were going to believe your story then you should have done a better “investigative” job before you yourself contacted Heidi & Kit. You had the chance to read their others posts to see for yourself that they’re all about truth, which is what ultimately came out in the end. Haven’t you ever heard the saying…The Truth Will Always Find You Out??? GOTCHA!!!!!

Thanks again Heidi & Kit…..Rock On!!!!!!!