Is Robin Ficker committing Stolen Valor?
One of the things that has pleased me the most about the candidates for the 2016 6th Congressional District Republican field is the strong veteran representation of our candidates.
I’m slightly biased in favor of other veterans, even if they are jarheads or Zoomies.
“But wait, didn’t Robin Ficker go to West Point? He says so.
Is Robin Ficker a military veteran?
I do not believe Robin Ficker is a veteran.
Below are the facts, and I encourage the readers to decide.
Robin Ficker’s Military Records & Stolen Valor
We found articles about Robin Ficker’s time spent at West Point.
From Deadspin in 2014:
From People Magazine in 1992:
From Sports Illustrated in 1992:
“This is all you get,” he was told.
Kicked out of West Point for “being argumentative about being argumentative,” he says
The timeline of Ficker’s West Point ejection has some minor inconsistencies.
But one simple fact remains: Robin Ficker was thrown out of West Point.
Below is an exchange between myself and Robin Ficker:
Anybody who knows anything about the military knows that it would be uncommon for an active-duty soldier serving between 1963 (ejection from West Point) and 1969 (“six years in the Army”) not to deploy to Vietnam.
It would also be unlikely for a soldier to receive multiple college degrees during this period, as Mr. Ficker received a B.S., M.A., and J.D. between his time at West Point and 1973 – when he became a member of the Maryland Bar Association.
(Robin Ficker is currently disbarred from practicing law in Maryland.)
Please do the math: Four years for his bachelor’s degree.
Two years for an M.A., three years for a J.D., nine years of education that was “completed” in a four-year window, long before online classes.
Do the geography: The B.S. was completed at the Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio.
The M.A. was completed at American University in Washington, D.C., and the J.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA.
In Cleveland and Philadelphia, the nearest Army bases were ammunition factories over 45 miles away. In the late 1960s, it was a pretty long hike to take night classes after doing Army training all day.
I’ve doubted Robin Ficker’s military service for a while; I have earned the right to doubt fishy military service stories.
I spent eight years in uniform.
I was deployed to Iraq in 2006.
No, I didn’t shoot anyone; I fixed planes and stared at a local vineyard.
This is why I have strong reason to believe that Robin Ficker is a fraud and has no place in the 6th Congressional District Republican primary – let alone party politics as a whole.
Candidate Ficker: You are on notice. I encourage you to dispute my presented facts and prove us all wrong.
Please show us the DD214.
Perhaps he was a reservist during this time period? The response on Facebook seems to imply graduation from West Point – or at the least completion of a 6 year service obligation…. maybe ROTC? Not sure if getting booted from a service academy in the ’60s was a no go for other commissioning opportunities… that said there’s a waiver for everything, particularly if your father-in-law is getting the 3 star to pull strings. I’m definitely curious to hear more – it certainly doesn’t appear straightforward.
Did you ever learn more about this? I just received his flyer at home for his race for Gov.
I’ve recently seen several political ads for Robin Flicker. In each, he is shown with West Point cadets. The spot also indicates he is a veteran. As a Marine Corps veteran who served on active duty from 1969 until 1972, I was curious about his service and googled him. Wikipedia indicates he attended West Point for 5 semesters. It says nothing about his military service. I noticed this website and read what Eric Beasley had written. I second his suggestion- Mr Flicker show us your DD214.