The U.S. Department of Justice has charged 11 people in an alleged “marriage fraud” ring, accusing them of setting up sham weddings for immigration purposes. An indictment unsealed Wednesday in Florida accuses the suspects of engaging in a conspiracy to recruit Americans, preferably U.S. service members, for marriages with Chinese nationals.
Prosecutors accuse Anny Chen, 54, who lives in New York, and another conspirator of recruiting U.S. Navy service member Raymond Zumba to marry a Chinese national, Sha Xie, 38. The court documents say the pair wed in Brooklyn in April 2024, with others attending a party and taking photos at the event. Prosecutors said the photos were included in immigration paperwork to convince authorities that the marriage was real.
Prosecutors said Chen, a naturalized U.S. citizen from China, paid Zumba $10,000 in cash at the wedding for agreeing to the marriage. Zumba was then allegedly persuaded to act as a recruiter for other Navy cadets to enter into sham marriages with Chinese nationals, according to the indictment.
But Chen and Zumba, along with other conspirators, took it one step further, prosecutors said, by trying to obtaining military identification cards for the new spouses.
A “sham marriage” with possible military benefits
Once Zumba agreed to help Chen recruit Navy cadets, marriages started to move quickly, prosecutors allege. Conspirators are accused of taking part in such weddings in Jacksonville, Florida; New York, Connecticut and Nevada.
According to prosecutors, recruiters promised a cash payment up front, a second payment after the spouse obtained legal immigration status, and a final payment after the couple divorced.
Several marriages occurred from March 2024 until Feb. 8, 2025, when court documents say Zumba tried to recruit someone still in the Navy. He allegedly told the source that couples can get paid up to $35,000 for a sham marriage, with $10,000 paid up front. He also spoke to the source about obtaining military identification cards for the newly-married spouses, which would allow them possible access to the military installations, commissaries and recreation.
The Navy member was married, and his wife worked in the personnel office at Naval Air Station Jacksonville that issued the cards. According to the indictment, Zumba said the cards would be for unspecified individuals from China and that he could pay up to $1,500 per card. During a series of conversations, court documents said, he worked to entice the source to agree to provide the cards by letting him know that the Chinese nationals paid for his travel to Las Vegas and a possible upcoming trip to Miami.
He then increased the price for the cards to $3,500, according to a criminal complaint filed in his case.
“I can go to any military base at any time with this card,” Chen allegedly wrote in a text message to Zumba during a discussion about obtaining the cards, adding that she could obtain free medical care and shop on base.
The source went to law enforcement with the information, and law enforcement worked with the Navy member to set up a transaction.
The source arranged to meet Zumba, Chen and others in Florida to pick up a shipment of the military identification cards. Then, prosecutors say, the source handed over the cards, the defendants gave him the money — and agents arrested the defendants.
“This case represents the importance of joint efforts by NCIS and Homeland Security Investigations necessary to safeguard our critical military infrastructures and disrupt fraudulent methods of access,” Special Agent in Charge Norm Dominesey of the NCIS Southeast Field Office said in a statement at the time of Zumba’s arrest.
In the indictment, U.S. citizens Anny Chen, 54, Yafeng Deng, 23, Hailing Feng, 27, Kiah Holly, 29, and Jaden Bullion, 24, were charged with marriage fraud conspiracy.
Chinese nationals Sha Xie, 38, Linlin Wang, 38, Jiawei Chen, 29, Xionghu Fang, 41, Tao Fan, 26 and Kin Man Cheok, 32, were charged with marriage fraud conspiracy.
Anny Chen and Linlin Wang each face an additional charge of marriage fraud, while Hailing Feng and Kin Man Cheok had an additional bribery charge, the indictment said.
A request for comment from CBS News to Bullion’s lawyer was not returned before publication; the other defendants do not have attorneys listed yet on their court records.
Zumba, Brinio Urena, Morgan Chambers, and Jacinth Bailey, former service members in the United States Navy, have all pleaded guilty to charges related to the same scheme. Zumba faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison.
President Trump plans to award the Medal of Honor to a retired Navy captain whose daring faceoff with Soviet fighter jets remained secret for a half-century and a soldier who died in Afghanistan while protecting somebody from a suicide bomber.
Mr. Trump called Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams and the family of deceased Army Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis to inform them of the decision, a White House official told CBS News.
The Medal of Honor is the U.S.’s highest military award, with around 3,500 people receiving the medal since it was introduced during the Civil War.
The base in Afghanistan where Ollis was stationed was breached by a car bomb and a group of fighters wearing suicide vests on one day in 2013, according to the Army. Ollis discovered a wounded Cierpica after approaching the blast site and, while performing first aid on the Polish soldier, an insurgent approached them. Ollis then moved between the insurgent and Cierpica and died when the suicide vest detonated, the military has said.
Ollis, a Staten Island native, was given a Distinguished Service Cross in 2019, with Gen. James McConville saying at the time: “Every generation has its heroes … Michael Ollis is one of ours.”
Ollis’ parents, Bob and Linda Ollis, said they are “extremely grateful” in a statement by a nonprofit founded in their son’s honor.
“Knowing that Michael’s life, legacy and final act of courage have not been forgotten leaves us with a feeling of overwhelming pride and eternal gratitude,” the parents wrote.
E. Royce Williams
Another new medal recipient is 100-year-old Williams, who shot down four Soviet MiG-15 jets during a once-secret 35-minute confrontation that the military has described in the past as the “longest dogfight in U.S. military history.”
In 1952, during the Korean War, Williams and another American pilot encountered a group of seven Soviet jets while flying off the coast of the Korean Peninsula. The Soviets began firing, he said in the past, and “since they started the fight, I shot back.”
He hit one of the MiG-15s, and the other American plane followed it. Then, on his own, he shot another three Soviet planes, dodging hundreds of rounds of fire, according to descriptions of the fight that have been published by the U.S. militaryin recent years.
“In the moment I was a fighter pilot doing my job,” Williams told news outlet Task & Purpose in a 2022 interview. “I was only shooting what I had.”
After Williams’ plane was hit, he flew back to an American aircraft carrier and landed under high speed, later saying he felt the frigid conditions were too dangerous for him to eject himself.
Williams says he was told to keep secret the airborne U.S.-Soviet firefight, a rare military faceoff between two Cold War archrivals who sought to avoid direct war with each other. He didn’t discuss it with anybody for decades — including his wife.
The operation eventually became public in the decades following the fall of the Soviet Union. Williams was awarded the Navy Cross three years ago.
Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California, whose San Diego-area district is home to Williams, has pushed for the retired Navy pilot to be awarded the Medal of Honor. Last year, lawmakers authorized the president to grant him the medal, overriding the usual requirement that Medal of Honor recipients get the award within five years of the act that justified it.
Issa wrote in a statement Wednesday that Williams “richly deserves” the recognition.
“The heroism and valor he demonstrated for more than 35 harrowing minutes almost 70 years ago in the skies over the North Pacific and the coast of North Korea unquestionably saved the lives of his fellow pilots, shipmates, and crew,” Issa wrote.
Washington — The Navy quietly disciplined 18 Navy SEALs earlier this year after military investigators found a private group chat that contained racist memes targeting a Black SEAL who was also in the chat, according to documents and a Naval Special Warfare spokesperson.
Using the Freedom of Information Act, CBS News obtained the Navy’s investigation into members of SEAL Team Four, along with years of the unit’s internal surveys, which give naval officers insight into the culture, morale and effectiveness. The investigation and other records show racial harassment towards one of the team’s own members inside a force that prides itself on unit cohesion and honor—prompting action from the top commander.
One racist meme sent to the SEAL in 2022 was described in the investigation as “Slave in Chains.” Another meme sent in 2022 was titled “Monkey Face” and depicted the SEAL in uniform with his face distorted to look like a monkey. A meme sent in 2023 compared him to the movie character Radio, a mentally disabled man played by Cuba Gooding Jr.
Two of the memes included in the Navy’s investigation into racial harassment. (Redacted by the Navy)
U.S. Navy / released via Freedom of Information Act request
The full results of the Navy’s investigation and the internal surveys have not been reported on until now. The After-Action Report, a national security blog on Substack, first reported on the memes, earlier this year.
The punishments ranged from reduction in rank and forfeiture of pay to administrative measures, like formal letters of instruction and counseling, according to the Navy spokesperson.
CBS News has learned that Rear Adm. Milton Sands, then the head of Naval Special Warfare Command, acted swiftly once the allegations surfaced in March. Sands has since been removed from his position by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The reason for his removal is unknown.
Attorney William Brown of the Parlatore Law Group and a former Navy SEAL himself told CBS News in a phone interview that what happened at SEAL Team Four violates “everything the Teams stand for,” and he praised Rear Adm. Sands and other naval special warfare leaders for taking “unprecedented action” in this case.
“This was not a SEAL Team Four issue; it was a platoon-level leadership failure, but Sands took action and the system worked,” said Brown, who represented the SEAL pro bono.
Brown said Sands and other senior leaders inside the command moved to support the Black SEAL and to send a message to the wider naval special operations community that racist conduct would carry severe consequences. Brown lauded Sands for his leadership in the case, despite the fact that he has had public disagreements with the two-star admiral on other issues.
Sands has not responded to a request for comment.
The Navy launched an investigation into the memes and messages, originally shared in a private Signal group chat between 2021 and 2024, when they were raised in complaints filed by the Black SEAL in March.
The SEAL wrote in the harassment complaint that before joining his platoon, he had not experienced any racial discrimination and had “great mentors” while undergoing the notoriously grueling training to become a qualified SEAL, which takes Naval candidates roughly two years to complete.
But after he joined, “the racism I experienced…was persistent, targeted and deeply dehumanizing,” wrote the SEAL. “It wasn’t just an attack on me personally — it reflected a breakdown in the very discipline and integrity the Teams are supposed to uphold.”
In the complaint, the Black Navy SEAL said his name was scratched off two plaques where it once appeared alongside others serving on SEAL Team Four. On one of the plaques, the names are etched into a piece of wood under a hatchet adorned with Navy SEAL Tridents, the physical pin that signifies a SEAL.
The SEAL described the removal of his name as “A final, disgraceful act to make it clear that I was not welcome,” and that it was “a direct and unmistakable act of hatred.”
Undated photo: A Black Navy SEAL said his name was scratched off two plaques where it once appeared alongside others serving on SEAL Team Four. On one, the names are etched into a piece of wood under a hatchet adorned with Navy SEAL Tridents, the physical pin that signifies a SEAL. (Retractions by U.S. Navy)
U.S. Navy
Overall, the SEAL wrote of others’ behavior, “these were men who were supposed to be my brothers, but instead, they either participated in or enabled a culture of bigotry and silence.”
SEAL Team Four is based out of Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek in Virginia and falls under Naval Special Warfare Group Two, which oversees Team Four and three other SEAL Teams.
Each SEAL Team can have roughly 250 service members, including Navy SEALs and combat support personnel, according to the command climate surveys obtained by CBS News and former Navy SEALs.
The Black Navy SEAL, who declined to be interviewed, was in Delta platoon, a unit of roughly 16 to 20 SEALs. Prior to becoming a SEAL, he had earned a degree in global studies and was a trained pilot, according to the documents.
He filed the harassment complaints after his Trident, the physical pin that signifies a SEAL, was revoked after review boards found his performance was lacking. But records obtained by CBS News show he was a qualified sniper and a certified joint terminal attack controller or JTAC for short. JTACs fill a high-stress role – it requires extreme precision, since the controllers coordinate aircraft delivering bombs and missiles, sometimes near their position on the ground. A mistake can be deadly.
Brown, in refuting the SEAL’s substandard performance review, pointed out that SEAL leaders typically send their smartest service members to sniper and JTAC school.
After an investigation, the SEAL’s Trident was restored. Brown believes he’s the first Navy SEAL in history whose Trident was restored after it was revoked. The board that carried out the SEAL’s review will undergo reforms, Brown told CBS News.
Moreover, Brown said Rear Adm. Sands also called the SEAL to thank him for his service and extended his Navy tenure to enable him to get military medical treatment and moved him to a command that is closer to his family. The SEAL has since left the Navy.
A Naval Special Warfare spokesperson said the Navy had “completed accountability” regarding the SEAL’s case.
“Individuals accepted responsibility for their actions, reinforcing NSW’s commitment to accountability, transparency, and upholding the standard of the quiet professional,” the spokesperson said.
The SEAL’s superiors did not enable the chat content, according to the spokesperson, but they were counseled in front of their peers because the incident had occurred under their command. Brown, the SEAL’s attorney, said those counseled included the commanding officer, executive officer and command master chief of SEAL Team Four.
Brown told CBS News that he had previously served with the commanding officer of SEAL Team Four.
“He is not a racist man but he made a misjudgment in this case,” Brown told CBS News. “They will never command forces in NSW again.”
The leadership also held all-hands calls at various levels to address the misconduct within the group chat directly with the force, according to the spokesperson.
Some of the misconduct in the chat stemmed from “meme drop(s)” the members had periodically on Fridays “to make fun of things that happened each week,” according to one individual whom investigators found had contributed to a hostile environment because he did not stop the messages. Four of the six memes investigated were sent on a Friday, according to the investigation.
The investigated messages included one that read, “I dropped a hard R in front of a black student 3 weeks ago.” The author had a “pattern of behavior” using the word “n*****,” investigators found.
In the course of their review, military investigators also discovered some team members had referred to a fellow service member as “dragon lady” and mocked her Asian accent.
When asked by CBS News if there is any mandated racial sensitivity training, the spokesperson said there was not, adding that the command is committed to accountability. The investigations helped “identify shortcomings and implement corrective measures.”
CBS News obtained Defense Organizational Climate Surveys for SEAL Team Four through the Freedom of Information Act for the years 2018, 2022, 2023 and 2024. These surveys provide commanders with both statistical details and comments from their service members on a wide array of issues within their units.
Troops are not required to fill them out, and the responses are anonymous. But all Defense Department units are required to take them annually or whenever a new officer takes over a command of more than 50 people.
SEAL teams generally have limited numbers of troops representing racial and ethnic minorities. Nonetheless, the records obtained by CBS News show that service members have persistently reported racially harassing behavior. In 2024 for instance, 5 out of the 105 members of SEAL Team Four who took the survey reported it.
The figures were higher in 2022 when 18 out of the 105 members of SEAL Team Four reported experiencing racially harassing behaviors. The Team took two surveys in 2023 showing fluctuating but similar results.
Between 2022 and 2024, SEAL Team Four commanders writing to their direct superior underscored that they believe “diversity is key to organizational growth,” and that they “highly encourage inclusion of all personnel, regardless of ethnicity, background, rate, or otherwise.”
In a Nov. 2023 letter, Cmdr. Bryan Jennings, the commander of Navy SEAL TEAM Four at the time, wrote: “Racial and sexual harassing behaviors were 6%-7% negative, which is an overall low number, but any percentage in these categories is a weakness that should be addressed.”
A World War II sailor who died the day the war officially ended has been accounted for, military officials said Monday.
U.S. Navy Reserve Ensign Eugene E. Mandeberg, 23, was a member of Fighting Squadron 88 aboard the USS Yorktown during the summer of 1945, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. He enlisted in 1941 and first went overseas in February 1944, according to a news clipping shared by the DPAA.
His formation engaged with enemy fighter planes over Tokyo while returning from a mission in Japan on Aug. 15, on V-J (or Victory over Japan) Day, the DPAA said. Four of the six aircraft in the formation did not return to the USS Yorktown. A news clipping shared by the DPAA said that the formation was met by 20 Japanese planes.
U.S. Navy Reserve Ensign Eugene E. Mandeberg.
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Mandeberg was listed as missing in action after he failed to return. His family held out hope that he might have survived and could have been on a Pacific Island, according to a news clipping shared by the DPAA.
On March 20, 1946, U.S. personnel retrieved the remains of an unknown American servicemember from a temple in Yokohama, Japan, the DPAA said. The remains, known as X-341 Yokohama #1, were believed to belong to an American pilot who had crashed there on Aug. 15, 1945. The wreckage of the plane was linked to the USS Yorktown, but the remains could not be positively identified. The remains were interred at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial as a “World War II Unknown.”
In 2019, the DPAA exhumed those remains, and scientists used dental and anthropological studies, as well as multiple forms of DNA analysis, to identify them as Mandeberg’s.
Mandeberg’s surviving family members were briefed on his identification and recovery in March 2025. He was buried in Livonia, Michigan, on Sept. 14.
Kerry Breen is a news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University’s Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News’ TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.
Veterans in Minneapolis were treated to some healing sounds today.
At the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, a special sound filled the falls.
The Navel Aviation Alumni choir were there to honor their fellow veterans through song.
The choir has a rich history, dating back to 1949. In 2002, it was disbanded, but 13 years later, members reconvened.
Choir director and Minnesota native David Carlson helped lead the effort.
“After we struck a chord or two, I said we can still do this,” said Carlson.
Good enough to do shows across the country. Even performing at Carnegie Hall.
But the real honor is performing with and for those who share the title of Veteran.
“I feel like we went through flight training together so we share that kind of camaraderie, but we also just love to harmonize and we love to sing for audiences, especially a place like this,” said one choir member.
“When we sing their respective service songs, and you see a guy in a wheel chair, struggling to stand up, yeah that makes a difference,” said Carlson.
The Man at the Wheel statue and the city’s bustling harbor served as the backdrop to the promotion of Gloucester native Benjamin Swan from the rank of lieutenant commander to commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve on Saturday afternoon.
About 40 friends, family, neighbors and well-wishers gathered at the Fishermen’s Memorial for a short ceremony during which Swan took the oath of office just after 2 p.m. Saturday, his 39th birthday.
The ceremony took place under a cloudless sky on a warm mid-October afternoon with Swan’s friend and “battle buddy,” Cmdr. Patrick Gorman, serving as emcee.
He said this was a particularly important ceremony in the Navy as one rises from a junior officer to a senior officer. Gorman and Swan serve in the same unit at Fleet Forces Command based in Norfolk, Virginia.
“This is probably one of the most important promotions short of him making admiral someday,” said Gorman, who has been working alongside Swan since 2020. Gorman read the order of Swan’s promotion to new commander effective Aug. 1 and then administered the oath of office.
Swan’s wife, Deirdre, and his daughter, Vivian, 8, came forward and attached new shoulder boards on his white dress uniform and gave him a new commander’s hat with hugs and applause from those in attendance.
“Thank you everyone for coming out today,” Swan said. “What a perfect day. I mean we can’t ask for a better day than today.”
When he and his wife began to plan the ceremony a few months ago, one of the biggest questions was where it would be held. The choice came down to two places, possibly aboard the USS Constitution in Boston where a number of those at the ceremony were commissioned in 2008, and Gloucester, Swan said.
“While that certainly would have been great,” he said of the Navy’s oldest commissioned warship, “I never want to pass up an opportunity to come home to America’s oldest seaport.”
Although Gloucester is known more for its fishing than as a naval hub, the harbor was the first place Swan ever saw a naval warship.
That was in the summer of 1993 when the guided missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea was anchored in the harbor just behind those at the ceremony after being in dry dock in Boston. As a kid, he remembers coming home with a card with all of the warship’s particulars on it, something he committed to memory for a time.
“While it looks like the ceremony is to celebrate individual achievements,” Swan said, “the truth is I never would have made it this far without the help, love and support from many people, some of which are here, some are not.”
He thanked his daughter and his wife for holding down the household when he is away.
“None of this would be possible without you,” Swan said.
Swan was commissioned in 2008 as a strategic sealift officer, he said via an email to the Times. Such officers are licensed by the Coast Guard as either deck or engineering officers to man merchant ships such as oil tankers, containers, tugboats and others. In his last unit, he was a facilitator for the Afloat Bridge Resource Management Workshop program, boarding warships and conducting watchstander training while underway.
He transferred to his current unit in May.
“We assist operational commanders in managing risk by providing situational awareness of the merchant shipping picture, related operational impacts, and coordination and guidance to assist with safe passage during crisis and contingency,” Swan said.
Swan, a graduate of Gloucester High and the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, lives in Plymouth with his family, but he was born and raised in Gloucester and his parents Joel and Sharon Swan live in West Gloucester. Swan and his wife were married at the Elks Lodge on Atlantic Road in 2012. His siblings, brother Spencer, and his wife, Tamara, and sister Meredith, were on hand for ceremony.
Swan has been sailing since 2008, mostly serving aboard tugboats homeported in New York City. He’s a licensed tugboat captain transporting petroleum barges on the East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico.
“I always tip my hat when I’m a-beam of Twin Lights,” he said in an email to the Times.
After the ceremony on Stacy Boulevard, a backyard reception was held at the Swans’ home during which there was a “wetting down” ceremony of his new shoulder boards with seawater.
The idea of this ceremony is to age the stripes when someone goes up in rank to give the new officer the look of having experience. Joel Swan said he collected a bucket of seawater from Pavilion Beach just for this occasion.
Danvers native and Coast Guard Rear Adm. Edward “Teddy” St. Pierre will be joining more than 250 wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans at the 14th annual Department of Defense Warrior Games Challenge later this month in Florida.
The event, which runs June 21-30 at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, will see athletes representing the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force, U.S. Special Operations Command, and the Coast Guard, such as St. Pierre, competing in cycling, indoor rowing, swimming, and track.
The Warrior Games are hosted each year by the U.S. Army Training & Doctrine Command, highlighting the exceptional physical skills and mental toughness of seriously wounded, ill, and injured active-duty and veteran service members. The event celebrates personal tenacity, perseverance, and the triumph of human spirit.
The Navy Wounded Warrior’s adaptive athletics program is designed to meet the abilities of injured or ill individuals with competitions that help build self-esteem, lower stress levels, and invite service members to rejoin a supportive team environment.
St. Pierre has served in the Coast Guard for nearly 30 years, with 16 duty stations throughout his career, according to an announcement. As he was approaching retirement, he received a diagnosis of atypical early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
St. Pierre enrolled in the Navy Wounded Warrior at Naval Medical Center San Diego, which helped him and his family prepare for transition to retirement in Florida. He attended his first adaptive sports camp in February 2023, rekindling his competitive spirit. St. Pierre previously competed in the 2023 Warrior Games Challenge and medaled in swimming and track.
For more information about the 2024 Warrior Games Challenge, visit dodwarriorgames.com.
China has spent the last 20 years building the biggest navy in the world. As tensions with that country continue to rise, Norah O’Donnell boarded the USS Nimitz to report on the U.S. Navy’s readiness.
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China has spent the last 20 years building the biggest navy in the world. As tensions with that country continue to rise, Norah O’Donnell boarded the USS Nimitz to report on the U.S. Navy’s readiness.
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Only 10 women in U.S. military history have served as four-star generals or four-star admirals, the military’s highest ranks. Four of them took part in an exclusive interview with “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell to discuss their experiences.
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The White House said Thursday the administration will “reevaluate and assess” how the Department of Defense rectifies the less than honorable discharges many LGBTQ veterans received when they were kicked out of the service before and during “don’t ask, don’t tell.” That comes after an investigation by CBS News found many of those kicked out for their sexual orientation are still struggling to get their honorable discharge status.
“It’s concerning, it is very concerning that veterans who were unfairly discharged under the don’t ask, don’t tell have been facing these challenges to upgrade their discharges, denying them benefits they have earned,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday. “It’s something that we definitely are going to look into.”
During the 18 years when “don’t ask, don’t tell” was the law of the land, an estimated 14,000 service members were forced out of the U.S. military, in some cases with discharges that deprived them access to full benefits including VA loan programs, college tuition assistance, health care and some federal jobs.
The discriminatory policy was born of a compromise by President Bill Clinton to allow gay, lesbian and bisexual military personnel to remain in the armed forces as long as they remained closeted. The controversial law was repealed in 2011 under President Barack Obama.
Donnie Ray Allen, a Marine veteran, and Amy Lambre, who served in the Navy, both say the early years of “don’t ask, don’t tell” brought a fresh wave of homophobia to the military. They were both dismissed from duty with less than honorable discharges and say they’ve spent years suffering from the emotional fallout.
“I’m ‘less than’ … less than honorable,” Lambre said, explaining how this discharge changed her sense of self. “It’s a dark place.”
There are official channels that would open doors for those veterans who were less than honorably dismissed, that would give them access to benefits they would have otherwise been entitled to. But servicemembers told CBS News that many of those who qualify have been reluctant to seek an upgrade because they believe it’s difficult to access.
“The Department has conducted several outreach campaigns to inform all Veterans who believe they have suffered an error or injustice to seek correction to their military records,” the Department of Defense told CBS News. “This effort included an individualized letter campaign during the 5th anniversary of the repeal of DADT policy to those who may have been personally impacted.”
On Capitol Hill, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat who serves on the Veterans Affairs Committee, called for a review of the upgrade process after the CBS News report.
“The discharge upgrade system needs to be reviewed because right now, the burden is totally on the veteran who may be completely uninformed about what their rights are,” Blumenthal said.
Lambre says she first started the process in 2013 without success. “It just got stalled and I didn’t feel like there was any hope for anything,” she said.
The Navy said it would not comment on Lambre’s case due to privacy.
Two weeks ago, Allen learned his discharge upgrade had come through, giving him access to benefits he previously couldn’t access like VA loans and tuition assistance.
“It’s an absolute 100% game-changer. Things that I never thought that I could do or get or have or attain now are attainable,” Allen said after receiving the news.
Jim Axelrod is the chief investigative correspondent and senior national correspondent for CBS News, reporting for “CBS This Morning,” “CBS Evening News,” “CBS Sunday Morning” and other CBS News broadcasts.
The ride is sponsored by Youngstown Harley-Davidson and will raise money for the Maxton Soviak Memorial Fund.
Press Release –
updated: Sep 16, 2021
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, September 16, 2021 (Newswire.com)
– A memorial motorcycle run will be held in Youngstown on Sunday, September 19, to honor Maxton Soviak, one of the 13 soldiers killed in action in the recent Afghanistan attacks. The memorial ride, sponsored by Youngstown Harley-Davidson, will raise awareness of and funds for the newly established Maxton Soviak Memorial Fund, which will pay tribute to Soviak’s contributions and sacrifices.
Soviak was a Berlin Heights native who enlisted in the United States Navy following his high school graduation in 2017. For the past four years, he proudly served his country as a Navy Corpsman. Soviak never said no to a new adventure and had an undying love for his family, friends, and country. He never met a stranger and made friends all over the world while enlisted in the Navy.
A trust fund has been set up to honor Soviak’s memory, with contributions supporting his family during this difficult time. The September 19 ride will show appreciation for Soviak’s and his family’s sacrifices and honor his memory.
The Maxton Soviak Memorial Bike Run will start at Youngstown Harley-Davidson, located at 5700 Patriot Blvd. Registration will open on-site at 9 a.m., with the ride beginning at 12 p.m. The Biker Brewhouse will provide breakfast to all riders. Registration is $20 per bike and $10 per additional rider. A 50/50 drawing will also be available at the event. All proceeds from the event will go directly to the Maxton Soviak Memorial Fund.
“We invite all local bikers to come down to Youngstown Harley-Davidson to show support for our servicemen and women killed in the recent Kabul attacks and especially to honor the memory of one of Ohio’s own, Maxton Soviak,” said Tom Orlando, General Sales Manager of Youngstown Harley-Davidson. “While there truly is no action we can do to fully repay Maxton and his family for their sacrifice, we hope this event will offer some small show of support and comfort for the family and let them know they are not alone. We’re anticipating a large crowd, so come early to show your support for the family and contribute to this important fund.”
To learn more about Maxton Soviak’s life, visit https://bit.ly/3956VBY. To learn more about Youngstown Harley-Davidson and the Maxton Soviak Memorial Bike run, visit https://bit.ly/2YZ7wU3.
About Youngstown Harley-Davidson
Since 2007, Youngstown Harley-Davidson has been the motorcycle mecca of America. Its six-acre compound offers an exciting array of experiences for bikers and is known as Harley-Davidson Bike Town. From bike sales and service to a motorcycle riding academy and on-site dining, Youngstown Harley-Davidson is the premier location in the country for bikers to visit and feel welcome. To learn more, visit https://youngstownharleydavidson.com/.
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For more information about the Maxton Soviak Memorial Bike Run or media inquiries, please contact Jacquelyn Repomonto at jrepomonto@ytownhd.com.
