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Military Controversy

During the 2011 campaign, The Philadelphia Daily News reported that, despite Oh’s eight-year-old claims to have served as an Officer in the U.S. Army Special Forces (commonly known as Green Berets), two of his commanding officers felt the assertion represented a stretching of the truth. Oh criticized the paper for publishing the sensationalized piece as a cover story which stated that Oh did not serve in the Special Forces and used a photo-shopped picture of Oh. The City Paper then published articles quoting another of Oh’s commanding officers defending his claims and casting doubt on the original article in the Daily News. The original accusations were to some considered a smear campaign perpetrated by political opponents and operatives. Oh received endorsements from decorated Vietnam Veteran and Former Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, and the United Veteran’s Council of Philadelphia, representing 22 veterans organizations.[11][12][13] Oh asserted that the story was based on a misunderstanding over military terminology. He noted that he did indeed commissioned a Second Lieutenant and served in the 20th Special Forces Group with the Maryland National Guard. At the time, all soldiers in a Special Forces unit wore the Green Beret. He however did not complete Special Forces training, which he asserted was what led to the misunderstanding. Oh had openly stated that he was not Special Forces qualified. "I didn’t claim to be a Q-Force qualified A Team Green Beret,”[6] said Oh, but he did later apologize for any confusion that may have been caused by not making clarifying statements when others referred to him as a Green Beret, which he characterized as an "honest mistake".[7][8][9]

11. City Paper Department of Collections http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/nakedcity/The-Taking-Down-of-David-Oh.htmlmedia-moments-2011.html 12. http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/nakedcity/Man-who-recruited-David-Oh-to-serve-defends-candidates-record-.html 13. http://davidoh.com/Inquirer_Ad_11-4-11.pdf