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The Duffel Brief · the free edition, Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Vol. 15 · No. 130 · Sunday, 1 November 2026

Veterans

Spirit Halloween store to become pop-up ICE detention center

DHS praises seasonal retailer's expertise in occupying abandoned buildings and disappearing overnight

Army FRG unveils haunted house featuring spouses saying ‘I’m fine’

Hasan execution venue double-booked with Comic-Con

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Vol. 15 · No. 130

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Vol. 15 · No. 130 · Deployed worldwide

Sunday

1 November 2026

1222 Zulu

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Navy & Marines · Page 5

Fake SEAL team 6 Commander outs Don Shipley as real Navy SEAL

Filed · 1543

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A highly-decorated fake SEAL Team 6 commander who served in Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and top secret "black ops" inside Iran in 2009 has outed Don Shipley as a real Navy SEAL, sources confirmed today.

The commander, James Schmidt, has served in a number of fake SEAL Teams throughout his career, and left the service of stolen valor as a Lance Colonel. He graduated from BUD/S class 6991 in Pensacola, Fla.

"I put in a FOIA request and tracked down all of Shipley's supposed 'claims' about being in the SEAL teams," Schmidt told reporters while holding a military DD-214 document. "You know, all these extravagant stories about being involved in ops all over the world. The records show that's literally zero percent bullshit."

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