If you follow goings on in the military/special operations forces community (and chances are you do if you are reading this), you are probably already aware that Special Forces Master Sergeant Tim Kennedy has publicly apologized for making false claims about certain aspects of his military service. The most notable of these was regarding his being awarded a Bronze Star with Valor (he was not). Kennedy did receive a Bronze Star in 2006, but it was for exceptional leadership in planning combat operations, not for acts of valor in direct combat.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I should probably mention that I’ve met Tim Kennedy a couple of times. We chatted a bit. He’s a funny guy, very personable. Heck, there’s even a photo of us together in the SOFREP media kit. But it’s not like we hang out at each other’s house on the weekends and knock back bourbons while shooting the breeze. Not at all.
If you haven’t read Tim’s July 7th Instagram post that started this whole firestorm, I’m going to put it up here in its entirety so that you can read his apology in his own words.
Before we continue, I’m going to get all biblical on you and say, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” Ok, you get my point.
I’m disappointed, but I’m not going to bash Kennedy here. If you have an appetite for Kennedy bashing, there is plenty of that to be had on the internet these days. That’s low-hanging fruit, and I can’t stand it when vets crap on each other, especially in a public forum. And I suppose it was tough for him to come clean. That’s not easy to do, especially to millions of people. He manned up and did the right thing.
I’m not going to go around high-fiving him either. Parts of the apology sound a little “lawyerly,” and then there is that word “unintentionally”. It’s kind of like saying, “yeah, I lied about that…but not on purpose”. To me, it’s not taking full ownership.
Into the Storm
Tim Kennedy’s name hits the internet like a steel-toed boot. Green Beret. UFC fighter. Best-selling author. A man who’s made a living dancing on the edge of violence and media saturation. And now—he’s at the center of a storm that threatens to gut his reputation like a fresh deer in November.
His crime? Not fabricating service, not faking deployments or slapping on a Purple Heart from eBay. No, Kennedy’s transgression was more nuanced: as noted, he overstated a Bronze Star with a “V” device for valor that he never received. Not cool, but in a social media post on July 7, he publicly admitted the error. Say what you will, that takes guts, and it’s the right thing to do.
What happened next? The veteran community pounced, knives out.
But maybe we need to pause and ask: Why are we so quick to eat our own?
Walking the Line Between Truth and Persona
Kennedy’s explanation wasn’t some PR-crafted shrug. It was raw. He wrote, “I want to be fully transparent. I have a Bronze Star. I do not have a Bronze Star with Valor. I was not as clear as I should have been in the way I described this award in the past.”
There it is: no finger-pointing, no blame-shifting. Just a man, neck-deep in a high-profile career, admitting he allowed ambiguity to linger.
Yes, it matters. No, it’s not stolen valor. Not by the legal definition anyway (where you have to make the false claim with the intent to receive tangible benefits).
And yes, the Department of Defense and the Army are investigating the matter. It’s a big deal.
A Culture That Eats Its Own
Some of the backlash comes from a good place. Troops earned their honors in blood and sweat. But some of it veers toward bloodlust. We’re so hypersensitive to betrayal—so burned by the real frauds—that we’re tearing down one of our own without weighing intent.
A former Army infantry NCO wrote in a veteran forum:
“I’ve served with guys who said nothing for years until someone found out they had three valor awards. Kennedy may have over-branded—but he did serve, he did deploy, and he did earn respect.”
Another SF vet posted on Instagram:
“We need to be precise with words, yes. But we also need to show grace to people who come forward, especially when it costs them.”
Of course, these are the nicer of the comments. There are some nasty personal attacks out there with some of them really crossing the line and talking about his family. I won’t recognize any of those by reprinting them here. And I have to give Tim a lot of credit for not ripping into people in the comments. He managed to rise above the nonsense.
One former Green Beret turned YouTuber stated on his channel: “There is a huge movement in the Green Beret community right now to finally get this guy get his tab pulled, get his beret pulled. We do not want him representing us. He does not represent this community and it is a wave now of pressure and it’s not going to stop.”
Of course, it’s not just Tim Kennedy. Think about what people said about Chris Kyle or Marcus Luttrell or even Rob O’Neill.
The moment a veteran stumbles, the same internet that cheered him on now brings torches. That’s not accountability—that’s opportunism with a Twitter handle.
As a veteran community, we can do better.
A Possible Fix
Currently, there is no publicly available database where one can look up a servicemember’s information, including what awards they may have received.
SOFREP proposes that the government build one, with redacted personal information, of course. It may serve to prevent people who haven’t served from claiming they have and clarifying once and for all who was awarded what.
The real fix here isn’t canceling Kennedy. It’s transparency at scale. Build the database. Let the facts speak before the mobs set their torches ablaze.
Redemption Isn’t a Fantasy—It’s Policy
This isn’t a man caught faking a deployment or buying medals at pawn shops. Kennedy deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan, put his body through hell, and has spent years advocating for veterans and first responders. That doesn’t excuse mistakes—it contextualizes them.
He could’ve said nothing. Instead, he spoke up. In a world where silence is easy and lies last forever, that’s rare.
So let’s remember what matters: he owned it. He clarified. And now he’s trying to move forward.
Let’s all do the same.