Social media users shared a lengthy essay online about the U.S. military and attributed it to the retired U.S. military general and former director of the CIA, David H. Petraeus. This is false; the essay was written by veteran Nick Palmisciano.
Examples can be seen here and here.
The essay begins with the author remembering the day he heard he had been offered a place in West Point, a U.S. military academy, and his dream of becoming an infantry officer. The author continues to discuss the burden on the military to defend the country.
The report adds: ‘You watch TV shows where every vet has PTSD and the violent tension with it. Your Congress discusses your benefits, your retirement, and your salary, while asking you to do more. But the wonderful thing about you is that you all know it. You know that your country will never repay what you gave up. ‘
The report ends with: “You know that the people in general will never really understand or appreciate what you have done for them. Hell, you know that in some circles you would think less than normal if you wore the uniform. But you do it anyway. You do what the greatest men and women in this land have done since 1775. YOU SERVE. Only the decision alone makes you part of an elite group. ”
Reuters could not find any evidence that Petraeus wrote this essay.
This essay was written by veteran Nick Palmisciano. Palmisciano is the CEO of Ranger Up, a brand of military lifestyle, and addresses the wrong award to Petraeus in a post on the Ranger Up website in August 2012 here.
The article says: ‘Hello America, my name is Nick Palmisciano and I wrote the essay below, not General David Petraeus,’ A Marine in Iraq, ‘General Schwarzkopf, any of the wounded warriors to whom someone has been attributed, or anyone else not.’
In the report, Palmisciano explained that his essay was published by the U.S. military on their Facebook page, which can be seen here. They attribute the essay in their post to Palmisciano.
He added: ‘There is almost a general belief that General Petreaus wrote it. This is on blogs. I have received many emails about how ‘we should post this’. So I post it again, just like when I wrote it. ”
VERDICT
Incorrectly attributed. The essay was written by veteran Nick Palmisciano, not General Petreaus.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.