Major General Buckman, Urban Legend

UPDATE July 7, 2008 -- This article is undergoing revision. Maj General Buckman does exist. I thank the comment posters for additional information. Please refer to this post for more details.


ORIGINAL POST:

Despite wide circulation, there is no indication that the following email is anything more than urban legend. For the reasons why, see the comments following the email.

This from Major General (ret) Buckman

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My niece, Katelyn, stationed at Baluud , Iraq was assigned, with others of her detachment, to be escort/guard/ watcher for Martha Raddatz of ABC News as she covered John McCain's recent trip to Iraq . Katelyn and her Captain stood directly behind Raddatz as she queried GI's walking past. They kept count of the GI's and you should remember these numbers. She asked 60 GI's who they planned to vote for in November. 54 said John McCain, 4 for Obama and 2 for Hillary. Katelyn called home and told her Mom and Dad to watch ABC news the next night because she was standing directly behind Raddatz and maybe they'd see her on TV. Mom and Dad of course, called and emailed all the kinfolk to watch the newscast and maybe see Katelyn. Well, of course, we all watched and what we saw wasn't a glimpse of Katelyn, but got a hell' uva view of skewed news. After a dissertation on McCain's trip and speech, ABC showed 5 GI's being asked by Raddatz how they were going to vote in November; 3 for Obama and 2 for Clinton . No mention of the 54 for McCain.

There are a number of military personnel locators, the most comprehensive being at military.com (http://community.military.com/buddy-finder/search.do) which includes the DoD locator database. They allow search by service and by pay grade but not retired versus active or reserve.

A major general has an O-8 pay grade. (http://www.defenselink.mil/prhome/poprep2001/chapter4/chapter4_2.htm)

A search returns the following:

We did not find any matches for "Buckman, Army, O-8, Male."

We did not find any matches for "Buckman, Air Force, O-8, Male."

We did not find any matches for "Buckman, Marine Corps, O-8, Male."

I did not search for the Navy equivalent, "Rear Admiral - Upper Half."

I do not ever believe that any database is totally complete. It could be that Buckman exists. However, given that the rank of Major general comprises 0.2% of Army personnel, it's less likely that they would lose track of a two-star like they might with a two-stripe.

Personally, I would have liked to locate Buckman and follow-up on this story.

There are clear indications that the Mainstream Media are, indeed, biased. This email, however, is nothing but rumor.

Significantly, emails such as this make it easier for those in the MSM -- and their supporters -- to dismiss bias as "just another rumor," thereby encouraging denial and helping to perpetuate the bias.

If one wants to encourage more honesty on the part of the MSM, one must use factually honest material to do it.